Humor Book to Raise Funds for Miracle League

Cary, NC, Writer Plans Humor Book to Raise Funds for "Miracle League" - Cris Cohen will donate proceeds to the Triangle baseball league for children with special needs.

For six years, California native Cris Cohen entertained his readers with his wry and often hilarious takes on any number of everyday subjects, primarily through newspaper columns. His columns were published in various newspapers in California before he and his family (wife Michelle and son Max) moved to Cary, NC, in 2008, where he began writing his equally funny blog "Nothing in Particular: An incomplete waste of time".

Now Cohen is planning something for those columns, and a few new ones, that will do more than just make his readers laugh. He's putting together a collection in a book that he'll use to raise funds for the Miracle League of the Triangle, a baseball league for children with special needs.

After it's published in September, proceeds from Staying Crazy To Keep From Going Insane by Cris Cohen will help kids with special needs and their families in the Triangle area continue to experience joy and community through American's favorite pastime - baseball.

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One of those kids is Cohen's own son, Max.

"Max's various physical and mental challenges prohibit him from participating in a lot of fun, regular kid stuff," Cohen said. "The Miracle League is one of the few places where all of those barriers and limitations are magically wiped away. Max gets to play baseball with his buddies. It's pretty amazing."

Local businessmen Robin Rose and Tony Withers began the Miracle League of the Triangle in 2004. They opened their first official season in 2006 with 100 young baseball players. Today, the League has 200 players, or 18 teams, and more than 500 volunteers.

"We've gotten a lot from the League," Cohen said. "It's a place where Max gets to have some independence, to leave Mom and Dad in the stands and head out to the field. And we have made a lot of great friends, people who understand the challenges of being the parents of a special needs child and can offer advice, support, etc. After receiving all of that, Michele and I wanted to give something back."

Cohen's book will also feature original illustrations by Raleigh artist Darla Yancho, including cover art of a goldfish in a bowl wearing a shark fin.

"Darla is one of the few people I know who could create a picture that is worth not just a thousand words but a thousand odd, slightly off-center words," Cohen said. "The cover she created is fun, funny, and makes you do a double-take. I can only hope my writing lives up to her illustration."

To help offset the cost of publishing Staying Crazy to Keep From Going Insane, Cohen is offering sponsorship opportunities to anyone who would like to get involved. Sponsorship packages start as low as $35.

"So anyone interested in sponsoring the book and in return getting some promotion for his or her business, website, or hobby that mixes the arts of dancing and taxidermy, should email me." he said.

Cohen recently launched a website for the future book and a Facebook page.

About Cris Cohen

Cris Cohen is the author of the Nothing In Particular blog. Although he was born in Buffalo, NY, Cris grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, eventually graduating from the University of Southern California. After a stint in rock radio in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, Cris started writing his humor column for a collection of California newspapers. He eventually gravitated toward the tech world and Silicon Valley, working for companies such as Netscape and Cisco Systems. Cris, Michele, and Max moved to North Carolina in 2008.

Attribution/Source(s): This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by CARY, NC and published on 2011/03/04, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.