Accountability . . . Overcoming adversity . . . Taking charge of your life . . . Learning how to succeed when others expect you to fail. These are the essences of Coach Carter's basic building blocks for winning in life. From learning about the quality of one's character to the love of learning-as well as the importance of self-discipline and spirituality-Coach Carter takes you through his own life experiences and shows you how you, too, can become successful in your everyday life. His fundamental belief is that you must start with respect for others, your community, and your environment before you can attain your own goals, both personally and professionally. As the no-nonsense head coach of the Richmond High School boys' basketball team from 1997-2002, Ken "Coach" Carter gained nationwide fame when he locked his undefeated team out of the gym in order to push them to improve their grades. Since then, Coach Carter has remained in the public eye as a highly sought-after speaker-partaking in more than 125 speaking engagements per year-for youth groups and educational panels worldwide. In January 2012, Coach Carter opened the Coach Carter Impact Academy, which provides room and board, as well as a business school for developing entrepreneurs. Over the years, the author has received numerous awards and continues to help at-risk youth daily through the Coach Ken Carter Foundation. YES MA'AM, NO SIR spells out Coach's 12 lessons for success. Inspirational, motivational, and informational, this is must-reading for anyone who truly wants to know how to get ahead.

The kids aren't all right, and it's all our fault. At every tragedy we ask "Why?" and "How did this happen?." Life is Hell and Suburbia is a Lie aims to help us understand what is going on in American culture, through the crumbling of the perfect world of an 18 year-old girl named Nicole O'Leary. Nicole's got great grades, is popular in school and successful in extracurricular activities. The day her parents tell her that they are separating, Nicole's life begins to unravel. She latches onto a new boyfriend, Jeremy Bloom. He's an unpopular kid, far beneath Nicole's caste. As he tries to rescue her, she begins to destroy him. She abandons the lifestyle she knew, and begins a vicious spiral that ends with revenge in the form of murder. With glaring wit and scathing truth, Ken Carter has brought to the eyes of many what should be painfully obvious: Life is Hell. Suburbia is a Lie. We are never safe from the human condition, no matter how pretty the garden and tidy the garage. Life is Hell and Suburbia is a Lie will make us examine ourselves and think about who we are, what we want to be, and what we are leaving behind.

But you just can't offend people like that
Well, we don't expect thin-skinned moralists or religionists, or even political right-leaners to enjoy these limericks. But that leaves a lot of us to savor some good-humored swipes at dominant figures and mores.
Here are some versified musings by one who's been around the block, and is ready to unburden himself of some residue of his prejudices, passions, and jaundiced observations.
He'd love to think that this collection might prod others to enlist whimsical measures to share theirs.