Steve Cotler's Irrepressibly True Tales

Cheesie Mack in “Publishers Weekly”

Steve Cotler — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 19:29:50 +0000

My first book, Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genius or Anything, was released by Random House Children’s Books almost exactly one year ago. Since then I have visited over 80 schools across the country…in Massachusetts (Cheesie lives in Gloucester), New York, California, Oklahoma, Nevada, Florida, Washington, Idaho, and I can’t remember where else.

Kids love the book (witness this comment on Cheesie’s website today from a girl in Florida: “This book is so great i finished reading it in 2 days!!!!!i just don’t want to stop reading it!!!!!!). Even better, teachers have told me the stealth educational content I slipped into the laugh-out-loud story ties right in with middle-grades lesson plans.

Laughing and learning…the perfect combo!

The paperback will be released in May, and the second book in the series, Cheesie Mack Is Cool in a Duel, comes out in June. Publishers Weekly noted all this in today’s issue and included the terrific photo above from a visit I made this month to Calusa Elementary School in Miami.

This is great fun. I am having a ball!

photo credit: Maggie Diaz

Two Lives in a Small Town

Steve Cotler — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:22:53 +0000

The following, in Shonnie Brown’s “Neighbors” column, appeared in The Healdsburg Tribune, our local weekly, on February 9, 2012. [Most of the images were not in the original.]

* * * * *

Ann, born and raised in Casper, Wyoming, has the dubious distinction of attending high school with both Dick and Lynne Cheney and participating in student government with Dick. Dick, who Ann recalls as being “good looking” back then, wrote “I’ll be your friend forever” in Ann’s yearbook.

Ann attended a Catholic college in Denver and then got married — resulting in a breakup and three kids. She returned to college, putting herself through law school, and then became a New Jersey prosecutor. She moved to the Bay Area in 1984 and took the California Bar exam. The fact that her former firm had represented Johns Manville, a major defendant in asbestos litigation, rather directed the rest of her career in law.

Steve grew up in Oxnard, California, going to Harvard as an undergraduate and then to Harvard Business School. Early business credits include working on the Apollo Moon project for IBM and involvement in the creation of the first fax machine in 1970. In the early 1970s, events conspired for an entire self-reinvention (left brain to right), taking Steve (after a divorce and three kids) to Hollywood, where he moved in with his two single brothers, Lanny and Doug. All three worked zealously at screenwriting.

“We lived on tortillas, beans and ‘used vegetables’ way past their prime, earning a combined income of $4,000 per year writing scripts,” Steve tells me. “In 1979, Lanny wrote The Earthling, which starred William Holden and Ricky Schroder. In 1981 Lanny and I wrote the script for Backtrack with Jodie Foster and Dennis Hopper. Because Hopper rewrote and ruined so much of it, we took our names off, but then an Internet fan put our names back on. I can sure tell some stories about the amusing terrors of filmmaking.”

From 1986 to 1994 Steve worked once again out of the left side of his brain — as an investment banker in San Francisco — but he did take one last stab at filmmaking. While living in Marin, Lanny directed and Steve wrote, produced and acted in the movie, Heartwood, shot in Willits — starring Hilary Swank and Jason Robards. One night he attended the Marin Theater Company, not realizing that it was singles night. He was seated between two strange women. When one of them fell asleep, a conversation ensued with the other. So, he asked Ann for her number.

“I’ll give you a call, but it won’t be for several weeks because I have to go to Hollywood to work on my movie,” was Steve’s parting line. But he did return and eventually moved in with Ann in the city.

“When I convinced Ann to retire, we asked ourselves why we should continue living in San Francisco,” Steve recalls. “So we came up to Wine Country, explored everywhere, ultimately found Healdsburg and moved here in 2002.”

Their house, on University Street, has the ambience of an upscale Tahoe cabin. It is surrounded by giant redwoods, Douglas firs and walnut trees. Joe Puccinelli, former owner of B&B Lounge, once lived behind them, and Emma Gromo, wife of former Healdsburg grocer John Gromo, lived next door. Though the tax rolls show that their house was built in 1952, Emma told Steve and Ann that it was built shortly after she moved there in 1926. It’s a lovely spot, and to them a destination for their combined eight kids and 10 grandchildren.

“When we arrived in 2002, we had no idea what we’d do or who we’d meet,” Ann remarks. “But we are struck by the level of volunteerism in Healdsburg. Within four months I went to the museum and became a receptionist. Then Al Loebel snared me and I went on to be VP and then president of the Museum Board. Al didn’t know me, but thought I was ‘under-utilized.’

“I then discovered AAUW and became involved with the hiking group and with Tech Trek, an organization which sends seventh grade girls to a science and math camp at Stanford. Now I’m involved in finding houses for the home tour.”

Ann’s heart lies with PSST! (Public School Success Team) — a local, women-led organization committed to increasing the number of students graduating from the public school system. Steve tutored fifth and sixth graders through PSST! and Ann, a big sister to a wonderful seventh grade girl, says that she gets as much out of the relationship as she gives.

Both Steve and Ann are deeply committed to projects they love. Steve is actively involved in the Summer Science Program, a highly respected residential enrichment program in which selected high school students from around the world study college-level courses while they are tracking near-earth asteroids on two summer campuses.

“I attended the program in its second year in 1960 and it changed my life,” Steve tells me. “In 1999 another alumni and I rejuvenated the program. I gave a presentation to our local Rotary and they wanted to send a kid from Healdsburg. Even with the intense competition, local boys Dylan Scott and Raven Clayborn have both gone. My involvement, now as a trustee, has made my kids proud.”

Steve recorded in 2002 a CD of children’s songs. He sang, and Grammy Award-winning younger brother, Doug, did the music. The album (My ‘Magination) has, according to Steve, the kind of music that parents don’t get tired of.

Steve’s current passion is Cheesie Mack. Ronald Cheesie Mack is Steve’s 11-year-old self who is writing a series of three books for Random House. Cheesie Mack is Not a Genius or Anything came out last year. It’s really Steve’s way of making science fun by “stealth intelligence.” Cheesie is funny and smart and loves to follow his curiosity in a way that teaches without preaching. Kids write to Cheesie online and often ask, “Who the heck is Steve Cotler?”

“I’m having a ball going around the country promoting the book,” Steve says. “It’s written for 21st century Internet savvy kids. I read only two pages when I visit a classroom and then I fill up a blackboard with what kids have learned about Cheesie and his pal Georgie. My goal is to teach a love of reading and learning and to support kids in being smart.”

At the end of our interview, Steve tells me: “Both Ann and I went through cancer in 2009 and really appreciate where we live and the time we have.” Then he adds, “My mission now is to do good deeds.”

“I would say it a bit more modestly,” Ann suggests.

“Well, I can’t help it if my nickname in college was ‘irrepressible,”" Steve tells us.

* * * * *

Shonnie Brown is a local author and memoirist who is interested in fostering connections between people and their community. Shonnie writes personal and family histories through her business, Sonoma LifeStories, and is also a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She can be reached by e-mail at shonnie@sonic.net or on the web at www.sonomalifestories.com.

School Breakfast Sugar

Steve Cotler — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:07:13 +0000

At a school I recently visited on my Cheesie Mack book tour, I arrived as breakfast was being served. It was a sugary, carbo feast, consisting of a paper carton of chocolate milk, a plastic container of sweetened applesauce and a hard boiled egg in a twist-tied plastic bag, and a cinnamon bun in cellophane. All four items were packaged in a plastic container. Of the forty children (ages 7-11) whom I witnessed, a few paid their $1.50, but most of the breakfasts were subsidized by government funds. Since I had 15 minutes until my first group of students would arrive for their hour with an author, I observed the breakfast.

Most striking was the gusto the cinnamon buns engendered. Every child consumed every crumb and icing drizzle.Three children, seemingly swept into near unconsciousness by the sugar buzz, finished their pastries, inverted the cellophane packaging with one hand inside, and methodically, carefully, systematically licked every molecule of sucrose off the inside of the plastic as if they were zombies consuming icing popsicles.

The chocolate milk was also greatly appreciated. Every carton was opened. Three-quarters of the kids finished every drop.

Only a few children even bothered to unkink the twist-tie and get to the sugary fruit and hard boiled egg. Of those, only two children ate an egg.

The garbage can was full of food. And plenty of plastic packaging.

Final consumption:

100% Cinnamon bun
75% Chocolate milk
15% Sweetened applesauce
5% Hard-boiled egg

Childhood obesity. Diabetes. Waste.

We’re sowing. And we will reap.

Celebrating the Holidays and Rewriting

Steve Cotler — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:46:54 +0000

My web design firm, Waxcreative Design, knows how to get authors noticed.

In addition to great aesthetics, they are expert at branding, marketing, and promotion. They are also good people. I am honored this Holiday Season to be featured on their New Year’s card.

photo credit: Ros Edmonds

About 100 school sessions ago, there I am challenging students and making them laugh while they learn about character, plot, and why, when red-penciled teacher comments include a request to “correct and revise…and turn this back in tomorrow,” the correct response is not, “No! Please don’t make me. Why do you hate me?”

I tell them that pilots have to take flying lessons before they solo.

I tell them quarterbacks have to practice passing.

I tell them carpenters need to apprentice before they build a house.

I tell them no first draft is ever perfect. Writers must re-write.

I tell them that I wrote eight drafts of Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genius or Anything.

The room goes silent.

* * * * *

[full disclosure: Waxcreative's proprietrix is my eldest child, Emily Cotler.]

{fuller disclosure: I rewrote this blog post thrice.}

Cheesie Mack and Mac ‘n’ Cheese

Steve Cotler — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:25:51 +0000

Every author visit I make to schools around the country is different. Schools have distinct personalities, and my presentation is redirected by local influences. One school might put up posters and have a Cheesie Mack Day. Another might get me interviewed by the local newspaper. But for every school, in this time of tight budgets and difficult curricular challenges, my visit is always a big deal…and I am greeted with great excitement.

Some things—no matter which school—are universal.

When Cheesie comes to school, the students are enthusiastic. Their intellectual curiosity is engaged and stimulated. And their laughter is large, spontaneous, and joyful.

And then there’s the nearly obligatory mac ‘n’ cheese luncheon. The kids love it, and I love their gusto.

I often ask for a salad.

Mac Crash

Steve Cotler — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 14:21:01 +0000

My 3.5-year-old Macbook Pro went on the disabled list Wednesday.

Symptoms: Normal start up, but then, as the blue screen and desktop icons appeared, so did the spinning beach ball of death…and a queasy stomach.

Interior sirens wailing, I rushed to my not-too-far-away Apple Store where, amid dozens of milling i-enthusiasts, the patient was taken into the back room, and I was told to go home and wait. Two hours later I got the news. “It’s a severe hard disk charley horse. Maybe even a full quadriceps tear,” the Apple Genius said with great sympathy. This made sense to me; I had noticed, over the past couple of months, a not-so-subtle limp and an intermittent tendency to be slower than normal on ground balls to the backhand.

Never this empty!

Since I was soon leaving for a weekend dalliance in Monterey, followed immediately by five days of Cheesie Mack book events in Tulsa, I raced back to the Apple Store and begged for a transplant…stat!

“Sorry,” Apple Guy explained, “We don’t have any hard drives in stock. Give us two days.”

I spun on my heel, clutched my critically ill friend to my anxious bosom, and dashed out of the mall, prepared to travel to any other Apple Store within unreasonable driving distance. But as I cranked up my hybrid, I remembered that no more than a half-mile away there was an authorized Apple reseller. I burst into his otherwise empty shop and in a few minutes had contracted for a new 300 GB kidney. Cost installed: $193.

“Come back in two hours,” Mac Chap said calmly.

Two hours later and surely not calm, I re-entered his shop and, armed with a very short set of how-to instructions, took my machine home. I set it up next to my back-up Time Machine…and here the story gets scary.

As everyone knows, whenever you change anything—be it an application upgrade, a new operating system, or heaven help you, a new computer—there will be blood.

Following Mac Chap’s instructions carefully, I pressed all the buttons leading to a Time Machine restoration of my backup…and all went as expected…until the window read: “Time remaining 19 hours 54 minutes.” I was leaving for Monterey in 18 hours. Hoping for an overnight miracle (sometimes these things inexplicably speed up), I dimmed the lights, instructed the computer not to sleep, and left it to heal itself. Almost 15 hours later, I trepidatiously looked at the Migration Assistant window: “Time remaining 7 hours 33 minutes.” My hoped-for speed-up had gone south.

Time Machine really works!

When it came time to pack up the car, I put my computer to sleep and disconnected power to the Time Machine. The Mac Chap had warned me that such an action would surely mean starting the restoration from the beginning (almost 20 more hours!), but what could I do?

I carried the various parts and cables to Monterey, set them up as before, engaged the Migration Assistant…and up popped, “Time remaining 31 minutes.”

Huh?

“Maybe the electricity is faster here in Monterey,” my wife suggested.

With little hope that this would lead to a happy ending, we left the gizmos to work amongst themselves, and went out to dinner at a sports bar to watch the Cardinals beat the Rangers in Game 7. (How can any baseball fan not love the David Freese story?)

Upon my return, rays of golden light were streaming out of my Macbook Pro, the sound of elven bells accompanied each disk seek within my Time Machine, and naught but goodness filled my small computer world.

Healed…and excepting my ye-of-little-faith anxiety, all was actually painless.

How did this happen?

I do not have the expertise to ask the proper questions…and I wouldn’t, even if I could.

Thank you, Time Machine and Mac Chap.

Steve Cotler in Harvard Business School Alumni Bulletin

Steve Cotler — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 04:26:34 +0000

For fairly obvious reasons, Harvard Business School keeps very good track of and contact with its alumni. One of the best things they do is their magazine, HBS Alumni Bulletin. Some of the articles are interesting, okay, uh-huh, but the real reason alumni turn this mag’s pages is the Class Notes. Every class that still has a living member has someone who actively solicits personal stories about those individuals. Much of the blather is routine stuff: “My wife sits on the hospital board. I golf whenever I can. And the kids are struggling to make ends meet in NYC on traders’ salaries.”

I skim those entries, looking for the unusual. Like this in the September 2011 issue from a classmate in France:

I’m now preparing for my next show in the famous Théatre des Deux Anes in Paris, well known for its shows of chansonniers for ages. I do not sing, but under the name of Jean du Frout, I write fables which are told by various actors, including myself, and after the fable, a piano improvises on well-known themes related directly or humorously to the fable. Now you can laugh, as have done many spectators of the show in the past three years…We have a house in Brittany where we spend about ten days a month. ‘Frout’ means a tiny stream. I wanted a name related to the famous 18th-century French fabulist, Jean de La Fontaine, but with all due respect, the fountain had to be much smaller. This explains Frout.

Or this:

[We] traveled to the Ecuadorian mountains and rain forest in January, had three sessions with a shaman, and spent five days at an ecolodge and learning from the Achuar people, among other highlights. In May [we] did a week of bareboat sailing in Canouan and the Grenadines on a 40-foot Moorings monohull, and that has become [our] new favorite sailing destination! Two weeks later [we] were in Lima, Peru, producing a 2½-day workshop for 36 young indigenous leaders from 11 countries across Latin America and 11 participants from Peru, sponsored by Chirapaq, a Peru-based indigenous empowerment organization.

And I got a write-up in the class of 1968′s notes:

How many of us get a chance to start a new career at 67? The irrepressible Steve Cotler has just published a children’s book, and he’s zooming around, entertaining and educating kids in schools and libraries from coast to coast. His middle-grades novel, Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genius or Anything, the first in a series from Random House, is narrated by the (also) irrepressible Ronald “Cheesie” Mack, an 11-year-old from Gloucester, MA. Adventurous, outrageous, smart, curious, and funny, Cheesie sounds a lot like someone we knew in Section D (third row, center section, if I recall correctly). Appropriate for ages 8-12, Steve’s book is getting rave reviews and is in bookstores and available electronically. The second in Steve’s series, Cheesie Mack Is Cool in a Duel, comes out in June. For a copy autographed by the author, or to arrange an author event at your grandkid’s school, contact Steve.

During the past decade, Steve has also reconnected with the Summer Science Program he attended when he was 16. SSP is a summer residence program in which gifted high-school students complete challenging, hands-on research projects in celestial mechanics. Steve writes: “In 1997, I found a magic bean from SSP’s beanstalk deep in my memories and gave a talk to the future scientists at the 39th annual summer session about connecting creativity to technology. I resolved to rejuvenate and expand what had become one of the longest-lived but terminally tired science enrichment programs in the world. Replanting the magic bean, I became chmn. of an alumni-operated nonprofit that took over SSP, expanded to two campuses, built an endowment, and reconnected with its 2,000-plus alumni. I suspect my work at SSP will live and thrive long after I don’t.”

SSP summer programs are now located on two campuses: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro and Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA. SSP appears to be a fairly high-powered operation; the 72 students enrolled in SSP 2011 were selected from 1,054 applicants and will come from 22 states and 14 countries overseas. Our politicians talk about job creation, but think for a moment about what that means in today’s international economy. More than half of the tech startups in this country over the last two decades, including a number of very successful companies, have been created by young tech graduates from overseas. Tech rules, and it’s just beginning. If we were as smart as the overseas kids at SSP, we’d be offering them and their families citizenship instead of making them leave as soon as their student visas expired. Ditto the overseas tech grads at our top universities, whom we expel on graduation. The ship is leaving the dock. We need to get aboard before we get left behind.

We’re not all Wall Streeters!

Cheesie Mack: Back Home in Massachusetts

Steve Cotler — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 22:43:07 +0000

Cheesie lives in Gloucester. MA

Cheesie returns to his home state in a couple of days for a two-week whirlwind of book events. The lad “lives” in Gloucester, so of course I’ll be speaking at two elementary schools there, as well as schools, both public and private, in Cambridge, Arlington, Newton, Sutton, Millbury, and Auburn. Plus libraries in Easton, and Millbury (pizza party there!).

It’ll be great fun. My typical presentation is here.

Altogether, I’m doing 12 schools and two libraries in two weeks. Whew!

Then I’m off to Brooklyn for three schools in two days.

If you would like Cheesie in your school or library, contact me. My calendar is getting full, but there are still a few open slots.

Ruth Lilly Fellowships in Poetry — 2011

Steve Cotler — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:20:53 +0000

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, and “an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture,” has announced the five recipients of Ruth Lilly Fellowships for 2011. My son, Theodore Zachary Cotler, was one of the winners.

Quoting from the Poetry Foundations’s website:

The editors of Poetry magazine selected the winning manuscripts from more than 1,000 submissions. In announcing the winners, Poetry senior editor Don Share said, “Each year the competition grows larger—and stronger. We’re extremely pleased that the 2011 Ruth Lilly Fellowships will recognize this diverse and talented group of younger poets.” Editor Christian Wiman added, “The subjects and aesthetics of these writers are as various as their backgrounds, but there are two qualities they all share: excellence and promise. You’ll be hearing a lot from these writers in the years to come.”

Zac…I am awed by your erudition, dedication to art, and discipline.

Congratulations.

Cheesie Mack and the Reading Detectives

Steve Cotler — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:41:37 +0000

How do you get kids excited about reading?

My answer is to show them how reading a good book is an adventure in itself. I get them to ask themselves questions. Questions like: Who are these characters? Why did the plot take that turn? How did the author create this mood?

I call it being a reading detective.

And in that spirit, my school presentations consist of lots of questions. Using my middle grades novel, Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genius or Anything, first in a series from Random House, I engage students, exhorting them to become reading detectives.

Here’s a short video that captures one such Cheesie Mack presentation.

A typical Cheesie Mack day at a school can have as many as six sessions, each with 25-50 students (one class or two classes in the same grade) for 45-60 minutes. My presentation (which really works for grades 3-5) is educational and fun. It includes:

• intro to Cheesie Mack
• a short reading that emphasizes characters, followed by a spirited discussion (I ask lots of questions and get students very involved)
• another short reading emphasizing character development (more interactive discussion—the kids really get involved!)
• concepts of plot structure, supported by another short reading (and more discussion)
• Q&A about authors & writing & books.

Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genius or Anything came out in March and is doing very well. I have received excellent reviews and terrific responses to the author events I did at the end of the last school year.

The book is funny and the students are very entertained! So if you are interested in an author visit, I encourage you to contact me.