Month: January 2016

creativity

Wonder: Fall in love with your path

Christa Avampato
Screen Shot 2016-01-19 at 11.04.15 PM
Clifton Ross III

“You’ve got to fall in love with your path.” ~Clifton Ross III

On Monday, I went to Eatonville’s celebration of Martin Luther King Day with special guests Clifton Ross III and the Howard University Gospel Choir. Clifton spoke about his challenges getting through college at Howard University and his winding career in music. “You’ve got to fall in love with your path,” he said. I couldn’t agree more. There’s a temptation for us to compare our journeys to the journeys of others. You are unique and so is your path.Revel in that. March to the beat of your own drummer. Enjoy the view. Do things your way on your terms, and love every moment of it. That’s the only work we ever really have to do.

creativity

Wonder: We can find unity through music

Christa Avampato

Here’s a beautiful display of the power of music to unite us: the black acapella group Naturally 7​ & Jewish acapella group The Maccabees​ collaborated on a rendition of the James Taylor​ song, Shed a Little Light, commemorating Dr. King at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. This kind of work gives me hope that with all the problems we face in the world, we can stand side-by-side, raise our voices, and make a difference together.

creativity

Wonder: Embrace your inner weirdo

Christa Avampato

I saw this cartoon yesterday and it made me smile for so many reasons. We spend so much time trying to fit in and belong. I wonder what would happen if instead we embraced what makes us weird and different, what makes us stand out. And what if we encouraged and celebrated what makes others weird and different? Maybe then we could really see that what makes us different doesn’t divide us, but rather unites us. Let’s be weird. Let’s be awesome.

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creativity

Wonder: Behind-the-scenes at DC’s Union Market

Christa Avampato

On Friday night, I joined a meetup group to get a behind-the-scenes tour and tasting at Union Market. That area of northeast DC had been a bustling area of the city for a century before it fell into decay in the 1960s. About 10 years ago, just as I was leaving the city to go to grad school at UVA, this area started to be revitalized and Union Market is now a magnet for residents, visitors, and businesses alike.

The premise of Union Market is a food incubator, allowing enterprising people to launch a food-based business for a fraction of the price it usually costs to enter the market. These startups are varied and thriving—from brothers who own a knife sharpening business to bakeries to a 1950s-style soda shop to spice vendors to seafood to BBQ—Union Market is showcasing the very best of DC’s future food scene.

The aromas and visuals were stunning, though what really got me was the energy, the spirit of the place. Customers were smiling, laughing, and chatting. Business owners were happily cooking and serving up love on many plates and in many glasses. Union Market is a place rich in possibility, and that is a wonderful thing.

creativity

Wonder: Rhiannon Giddens’s unique sound is now finding the audience

Christa Avampato
Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, Bhi Bhiman
Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, Bhi Bhiman

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to seek out new music and see more live shows. I learned about Rhiannon Giddens on CBS Saturday Morning Saturday Sessions. I was making breakfast and when she started to sing, I popped my head around the corner from the kitchen to see who she was. Her sound was so unique—both her voice and her band’s orchestrations. She’s managed to take her multiethnic heritage and meld all of the parts of her ancestry and experiences into something wholly new and very powerful. There is something about her earthy voice and music that stirs something in everyone who hears it.

Giddens and special guests will be at Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C. on February 26th at 8pm. The concert is described as:

“Led by Rhiannon Giddens, founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, this concert will explore the songs of resistance of the South, both old and new, the deep history of protest songs from Leyla McCalla’s Haiti and Louisiana, and the modern outsider-looking-in observations of 1st generation American Bhi Bhiman.”

I snapped up a ticket immediately. I hope you will, too.

creativity

Wonder: Take your time – a lesson from Hamilton, Adele 25, and Serial

Christa Avampato
Adele
Adele

When you’ve done something incredible, there’s an urge to attempt a second lightning strike as fast as possible. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Adele did it right. They took a significant amount of time between their first monumental successes and their second attempts. They wanted to roll the dice again, and they wanted to be the most skilled dice rollers they could be. That couldn’t happen over night. It couldn’t even happen in a year. Lin worked on Hamilton for five years. Adele took 4 years between her albums 21 and 25. They were patient, persistent, and thoughtful about it.

Serial, sadly, wasn’t. The second season isn’t anywhere near as interesting, suspenseful, nor intriguing as Season 1. I’ve already stopped listening because it’s not worth my time. They should have spent more time selecting, researching, molding, and shaping season 2. They should have been more concerned with content and less concerned about turnaround. We would have waited. We would have been here.

If you’re working on your second act, take the time to get it right. Don’t rush for the sake of rushing. Move along as fast as you can, and don’t compromise quality. In a world of so much noise, quality is worth the wait.

creativity

Wonder: A kind soul in Petworth returned my stolen package

Christa Avampato

I bought a new batch of toys for my pup, Phineas, and his friend, Otis, and someone stole the boxes right off our porch. On Sunday, a good Samaritan found the open box with the partial order in an alley and returned it to me with this note. Because they didn’t sign it, I’m hoping that by posting this I’ll be able to find them and give them a proper thank you. Things that are lost can be found, with the little help from the community around us.

Thank you, neighbor!
Thank you, neighbor!
creativity

Wonder: The website Instructables teaches you to make anything

Christa Avampato
Paper collage "painting" by boddhi15 on Instructables
Paper collage “painting” by boddhi15 on Instructables

I’ve become mildly obsessed with paper collage work and I was looking for some new techniques to try. I somehow found my way to Instructables, a website that teaches you to do just about any DIY project step-by-step and gives you the chance to share your DIY process and knowledge. I’m kind of in love with it and the 2 million+ people who belong to the Instructables community.

Whether your passion is visual arts, cooking, gardening, sewing, party decor, or any and every other DIY project where the result is something you make, this site is for you. Learn, document, share, and be nice about it—those are the only guidelines on Instructables. There’s so much to learn and explore. No excuses for boredom!

creativity

Wonder: New York Public Library Digital Collection expansion takes us back in time

Christa Avampato
The Waterfront on South Street in NYC. 1935. By Berenice Abbott.
The Waterfront on South Street in NYC. 1935. By Berenice Abbott.

One thing that I really miss about New York City is the New York Public Library. Luckily, this week we saw a massive digital expansion of its collections and you can access the now 672,182 digitized items by clicking here. A few short clicks and search terms give you a passport to history like never before. And it’s all free.

Whether you want to see photos of a changing New York City (or almost any of other city for that matter!), construct 20th century floor plans of mansions through archival blueprints, or learn new paper collage techniques, it’s all here for you to use and reuse in limitless ways.

Enjoy and never stop exploring!