Staying Crazy To Keep From Going Insane

Writer Cris Cohen has been making readers laugh for over six years with his humorous take on the little things in life. Now, he’s making a big difference by publishing a book to benefit The Miracle League.

By Mary Georger

Dryer sheets, shoe color, and the warning labels inside refrigerators that make the appliance sound like an unstable nuclear bomb: some seemingly minute topics that writer Cris Cohen has found fascinating. Fascinating enough, that is, to write about them for six years as a newspaper humor columnist in California. For Cohen, it’s the little things in life that seem funniest.

Cris Cohen

“Other people have great stories about big things that have happened to them,” Cohen, 39, says, “but for me, it’s like the label on a sweetener packet that just really catches my attention.”

In 2008, the part-time writer, husband, and father moved from the San Francisco Bay, Calif. area to Cary, N.C., where he took a job at a technology contracting company, and, more importantly, where he could provide a better quality of life for his family.

“[The Bay area] was a great and exciting place to be,” Cohen says, “but it’s a really hard place to live, especially if you want to have a family and you bring in less than a professional basketball player.”

In Cary, Cohen still writes. But his articles take form on his blog, “Nothing in Particular: An incomplete waste of time.” What’s more, the writer and blogger is about to tack “author” onto his resume when he releases his first book in September 2011. It’s called “Staying Crazy To Keep From Going Insane,” and it’s a compilation of Cohen’s funniest articles dating back to his days as a columnist.

While the self-published book will undoubtedly induce side-splitting laughter into its readers, Cohen’s book is also meant for a larger purpose: to raise funds for his local chapter of The Miracle League, The Miracle League of the Triangle. The volunteer-driven organization is a baseball league for special needs children, and it’s a safe space for Cohen’s own son, Max.

At nine years old, Max possesses Global Developmental Delay, a condition that affects many aspects of a child’s life, including cognitive functions, communication skills, and fundamental self-care abilities. Max’s gross and fine motor skills are behind for his age.

“Basically, he’s the tortoise, not the hare,” Cohen says. “He’s still moving and progressing, but he’s behind in terms of what he can do.”

Max also struggles with additional challenges including apraxia of speech (a speech disorder that limits the consistency and accuracy of speech), cataplexy (a neurologic condition often associated with narcolepsy), and severe sensitivities to chemicals in food and fragrances, as well as to particular foods themselves like corn, wheat, and dairy.

The League is the only place where Max’s barriers can disappear. There, he’s just a normal boy, as opposed to at school when his disabilities are a little more apparent.

“Kids his age don’t know how to relate to him,” Cohen explains. “He can’t physically keep up with a typical kid, so it’s a challenge to get a play date.”

Cris' son, Max, at bat

At the baseball games put on by the League, though, Max can wander or sit with friends in the stands. “He’s so comfortable,” Cohen says. “Everyone there is an expert in their own way with special needs kids.”

The League not only gives Max his own sense of independence, it also lets his personality shine. The first time Max went onto the field to play baseball, he instead walked into the visitor’s dugout to say hello to the opposing team members. And when the crowd would clap and cheer, Max played to the crowd more than to the game.

“The most intriguing thing for him at first was the social aspect,” Cohen says. “He’s a people person.”

Today, Max stills embraces the social interaction he gets at the League, but he now knows how to swing a bat and what bases to hit.

“Max wouldn’t be able to do these things in a regular league,” Cohen says. “So it takes him a few times to swing the bat or to hit the ball. He can still go out there and play. He still gets the hat, and the t-shirt, and he’s part of a team. He gets the whole experience.”

Max isn’t the only one who has benefited from the League. Cohen and his wife, Michele, are also thankful for what the League has given them.

“At first, we were the nervous parents sitting in the bleachers,” Cohen remembers. “But we’ve become more and more involved in the League.”

While the League relies heavily on its volunteers (the Miracle League of the Triangle, alone, has over 500 volunteers according to its website), Cohen and Michele join other parents in assisting operations at the baseball games. Cohen puts his former radio broadcasting experience to work by announcing at the games (he once worked as a radio DJ in California), and Michele, a former newspaper editor (including one of Cohen’s former editors), works with the League’s fundraising activities.

“It has become this whole family activity,” Cohen says.

In addition to the joy the League has given them at the baseball games, Cohen and his family have gained valuable friendships through the League.

“It’s great to be able to connect with other parents,” Cohen says. “We’ve made a lot of great friends – people who can understand what we’re dealing with.”

Cris' son, Max, and wife, Michele, at the baseball field

Cohen explains that it’s often difficult for parents with special needs children to schedule get-togethers, but the League has introduced him to other families with similar situations.

“We can get together with other families from the League, and the kids have their own way of communicating and relating with each other,” Cohen says. “Suddenly, you’re in a more normal situation.”

Friendships, family time, and an added sense of independence for his son are just a few of the things the League has given Cohen. Now, he wants to give something back. Cohen plans on donating proceeds from his upcoming book, “Staying Crazy to Keep From Going Insane,” to The Miracle League of the Triangle. He hopes the book will give the League some much-deserved, extra publicity, too.

In addition to benefiting a good cause, Cohen will fulfill his dream of publishing a book. “It’s the brass ring, the blue ribbon. The ultimate thing is to have that book with your name on it,” Cohen says.

He hopes to live up to the work of his favorite comedians, like Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist Dave Barry. “I had fun reading those books,” Cohen says. “Hopefully mine will be somewhere in that realm, but if I get reviews that say it’s not completely awful, then I’ll be happy.”

The 150-page book will include articles dating back to his stint in California as a humor columnist, to today as a humor blogger when he’s not working his full-time technology job. To choose which articles to include from his six years’ worth of work, Cohen went through and chose his favorites, tweaked a few old columns here and there, and wrote some new material altogether. His aim is to include a bit of everything – topics ranging from sports, to restaurants, to Michele when she was pregnant.

The book’s sarcastic title, “Staying Crazy to Keep From Going Insane,” is a phrase perfect for the showcase of wide-ranging topics. It’s also a phrase Cohen has used over the years himself.

“Sometimes it’s just a reply to ‘how are things?’ Maybe you’re just having one of those weeks where everything is going wrong.”

Family friend Darla Yancho, a Raleigh native and artist, drew the quirky illustration on the book’s cover (a goldfish wearing a shark’s fin) that matches the book’s carefree tone.

Both friends and family are supportive of Cohen’s self-publishing endeavor, especially Michele. “She’s just very encouraging,” Cohen says of his wife of almost 13 years. She’s also helpful with the book’s publicity. “I’m horrible at self-promotion,” Cohen says, “but Michele is sweet and nice and people like her. She’s very approachable.”

With the help of his family, friends, and supportive members of the League, Cohen hopes the book will be a success – not only for his career, but also for Max and the other lives effected by the League.

When asked what he hopes readers will gain from the book, he laughs and responds, “That there’s no regrets. That they don’t think they wasted their time and their money.” He adds, “Maybe just a break.”