Day: September 7, 2008

education, health, healthcare, innovation, politics

One Thing We Don’t Want to Change

Christa Avampato

Thomas Friedman wrote a brilliant article in the Times last week about innovation in the U.S. At the moment, we are the most innovative country in the world, though that is changing. Quickly. And though there are a lot of people in the press these days talking about change, few are talking about innovation, much less the need to foster that effort in our people. And it needs to be addressed, head on. Now. 


We are spending a lot of time talking about how to save manufacturing. The trouble is we can’t save manufacturing if we don’t save the innovative processes that dictate what to manufacture. And we can’t save the innovative process and its wonderful outcomes without seriously addressing education – and that includes K-12, college, and graduate school, the latter of which is nearly becoming a non-negotiable credential for those who want a modicum of job and financial security. In the case of K-12 education, the improvement child health and well-being is critical. And without K-12 education, we don’t have a prayer. 

Despite the fact that I have been a fan of Barack Obama since his entry into politics, I voted for Hilary Clinton in the primary. Many people ask me why when she seems so divisive and polarizing. One simple reason – I believed she would fix healthcare, which leads to better K-12 education which fosters innovation that supports our economy and global competitive advantage. Healthcare is a root cause to so many other problems we have in the U.S., and around the world. And if were going to talk about priorities and what to focus on first in this next Presidency, my wish would be that we make good health for every American a non-negotiable goal.       
books, Hachette Book Group USA, relationships, religion

The Bible Salesman by Clyde Edgerton

Christa Avampato

If you’re looking for a quirky, off-beat adventure, Clyde Edgerton’s new book, The Bible Salesman, is for you. My contacts over at Hachette Book Group sent me an advance copy to read through and at first I was skeptical. I’m not a religious person so I had a hard time imagining that I’d enjoy a book about a Bible salesman. However, I trust the insight and taste of Hachette so I gave it a shot. 

To be fair, the book gets going a bit slowly, despite the fact that it is a slim 238 pages. For much of that start we are inside the mind of Henry Dampier, the Bible salesman. It isn’t until we begin to see him interacting with the outside world that we understand how intelligent, though endearingly gullible he is. And then all of a sudden rather than trying to figure out why in the world this man appears so odd to us, we are routing for him as he gets more deeply involved with a ring of dangerous people. 
 
Edgerton does a wonderful job of weaving classic literature themes – good versus evil, love, danger, the combined hero desire and opportunity to take a life on the ride from ordinary to extraordinary – in a wholly new and entertaining way. The other piece of Edgerton’s writing that I find so brilliant in this piece is that he asks his readers to consider religion and its role in raising children by revealing how one life, the life of Henry, was forever molded and influenced by a fundamentalist upbringing. 
 
He doesn’t preach to us and he doesn’t tell us that a fundamentalist upbringing to harmful or helpful. He lays out a plot, explains Henry’s decision process and view of the world, and reveals how this character’s back story builds the main narrative of the book. With every page turn that we are uncovering a little bit more about this man who seems so simple on the surface and yet lives an enormous life underneath that sweet veneer.