Steve Cotler Steve Cotler

Irrepressibly True Tales

One man's squint at the metaphorical signposts, songbirds, soapboxes, street musicians, and hot dog stands of life. Criticism, lyricism, polemics, performance, and making change…all with mustard.

Death of Bin Laden

— 11:43 pm · One comment

Osama Bin Laden is dead, but this is not a time for exultation.

Crowds of mostly young people outside the White House are celebrating. Surely there is justification for bringing justice down upon terrorists. His death will undoubtedly change the nature of the world conflict for which 9/11 remains the signature event. But the hooting and chanting is unsettling and unthinking. It is as if those celebrants had just watched a team win a sporting event.

Celebrating at V-J Day marked the end of World War II. Bin Laden’s death is not an end. It is a sober reminder that many have died, and many more will die.

A Captain and the Majors

— 5:57 pm · View all 3 comments

Time and situation award only a few in each generation with an opportunity to take a place in history. How much smaller is the number who are twice-touched by fate. Today’s post is about one such man. It starts with the differences between North and South and ends with the thin line that separates fair and foul.

The Civil War was a mold for heroes and villains. Out of its tragedies and triumphs Continue reading “A Captain and the Majors” →

Henry VIII for a Five-Year-Old

— 9:54 pm · Comments Off on Henry VIII for a Five-Year-Old

One of my daughters, a medieval history scholar and expert on European royalty, recently acquired a Henry VIII mug with images of his six wives surrounding him. Appropriately, when the Queens get into hot water (e.g., tea or coffee), their heads disappear.

What she hadn’t anticipated was how fascinated her five-year-old daughter would be with the mug.

“Why do the queens disappear?” was the first question, quickly followed by, “Why did he have so many queens?”

As my daughter searched for a way to explain the pressures and consequences of primogeniture in 16th century England, she somewhat clumsily crafted an age-appropriate story to go with the old rhyme:

King Henry the Eighth had six wives he wedded:
One died, one survived, two divorced, and two beheaded.

Over the next three days, Continue reading “Henry VIII for a Five-Year-Old” →

Final Four Math — 2011

— 11:50 am · Comments Off on Final Four Math — 2011

This year’s March Madness has brought us a Final Four with no #1 or #2 seeds, unique in NCAA tournament history. But the absence of high-seed teams has not dulled enthusiasm for the last three games. In fact, some sports pundits are trumpeting the “Cinderella” factor: can a #11 seed, Virginia Commonwealth University, pull off the all-time, unexpected upset?

But no matter who matter who wins the game, the bookies win their money. The bookie’s odds always include a built-in percentage for the house. In 2009 I calculated the Las Vegas Final Four edge at 9.8%; in 2010, the edge was larger (14.3%). This year the edge, if you can actually get these published odds, is unbelievably small…only 2.2%!

Continue reading “Final Four Math — 2011” →

Cheesie Mack on Sale Today

— 4:58 pm · View all 2 comments

Several years ago I had an idea for a book about an active, inquisitive ten-year-old boy. His name was Ronald Mack, but his friends all called him Cheesie. I envisioned him as full of life, talkative, smart, and funny…exactly the kind of youngster who’d get into complicated kid situations that would require clever kid thinking to get out of.

I gave him a best friend, Georgie, and loving family…with one exception: an older sister who would be much happier if he’d never been born.

I’m a Californian, and it would have been easy to build his world on the west coast. But as I began to write the first book in what will become a Random House series, Cheesie demanded to live in Massachusetts…Gloucester in particular.

Today that book, Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genius or Anything, appeared on bookshelves across the country.

Cheesie is my little boy, and I held him in my arms this afternoon.

A Siyuntist’s Perspective

— 5:42 pm · One comment

SNAP-SPELLING-F[1]

Little Johnny can read well long before he can spell well. Should you be worried? Should you send him to a tutor?

Problem-solving technique can be deductive/analytical or inductive/synthetic. Stated another way, an approach can be convergent or divergent.

For every youngster striving for literacy, learning to read and spell requires both convergent and divergent Continue reading “A Siyuntist’s Perspective” →

Steve with students at an author event

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