Category: literature

books, children, dreams, goals, literature

My Year of Hopefulness – Motivation and The Little Prince

Christa Avampato

“If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I love The Little Prince. It was one of my favorite books as a child. I love his wide-eyed questioning of life, and his desire to explore things that are strange and unexplained. As children often do, he was able to make connections between seemingly disparate activities and relationships, and in the process showed us how to think about our lives in a larger context than just our day-to-day collection of tasks. He asks us to consider our role in and contribution to humanity as a whole.

I was thinking about The Little Prince this morning, eating my Cheerios and looking at the water towers that dot my view from my apartment. The water towers look like brave guards, standing watch; they almost seem to breathe. They make me feel safe. The city looks so different from 17 floors up. I’m always struck by that – as I get down to the street-level, my neighborhood transforms. Up above, I have the ability to be more idealistic. The height helps me dream and consider my larger motivations in life, apart from the actual tasks I’m engaged in; it helps me think like the Little Prince.

This quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery is helping me frame up my own desired contribution to humanity. I want to help as many people as I can to use their creativity to improve our world. That’s not going to happen in a business plan; it’s not going to happen through mandates and time lines and a to-do list. It can happen if I follow Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s advice in every area of my life, with every interaction I have with every person I know and meet. It’s that desire to play a part in building a better world that I must foster in all of my relationships. Individuals will find their own way to make a contribution. They all have their own talents and interests that can be used toward this common goal; my role is to be their biggest cheerleader, their champion, their advocate, and where applicable, their guide.
books, literature, technology, writing

Virtual Bookshelf

Christa Avampato

This week I finally purchased a set of bookshelves from Crate & Barrel that I’ve been coveting for a year. They display my books so beautifully that they’ve become a piece of art. I took a stroll past the shelves this evening, admiring my skills of putting together 9 straight pieces of wood with an Allen wrench and a few screws. I realized that these books aren’t just a collection of reference materials or thought-provoking stories. They are a diary of where I’ve been and interests I’ve developed over a number of years. They are beloved childhood memories and reminders of very long nights spent in a library, pouring over their pages, while in school. Some are like old friends that I visit again and again for guidance, for strength, for inspiration. 


This morning  read David Churbuck’s post about the virtual bookshelf. He loves his Kindle, though he worries that it’s destroying perhaps the greatest joy of literature – sharing it. Lending books to people, swapping them with one another, and then discussing their merits. He questions the selfishness that we embrace with our new electronic devices. 

That set me to thinking about how we might combine technology and literature in a win-win, rather than consuming one at the jeopardy of the other. This idea is particularly poignant to me because of a fiction piece I am working on that revolves around this very idea – a children’s story that I began after taking a stroll through one of the increasingly rare used book stores in New York City. I love my local Barnes & Noble, though there is something magical in the mustiness of those bookshelves that contain texts far older than me. There is history living in those shelves – those books represent pieces of people’s lives, the same way that my books represent mine. 

I don’t have any good answers for this conundrum of technology co-existing with literature, though its a question I’ll be considering in the days and years to come. I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments if you’d like to share them.     

books, career, corporation, literature, women, writer

Rise up and reach down

Christa Avampato

Last week I heard Ursula Burns, President of Xerox, speak. Like President Obama, she calls herself an unlikely candidate to the President of a company like Xerox. She was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, went to school at Brooklyn Poly, and has never accomplished a single thing on the life to-do list she created as a young student. What she has done is become a shining example of achievement and the use of adversity as a tool for advancement rather than an excuse for set-backs.

Of all the topics she discussed with us this week, there is one quote that stands out in my mind. Like me, she is a fan of author Anna Quindlen. She heard Quindlen speak a few years ago and reminds herself of Quindlen’s favorite quote that she uses to close every talk. When asked about her motto in life, Quindlen says, “Rise up and reach down.” Strive to get ahead, and take others with you.

In these times when so many people are concerned about their jobs, their financial stability, and their future prospects for success, it can be tough to imagine rising up. At the moment, they’re just trying to tread water. But rising up can mean something more than just advancing our careers. Rising up is what we did on Tuesday – regardless of the candidates we voted for, simply going out to vote is a form of rising up. Going to the leadership at our companies with innovative ideas to save on costs, delight and support customers, or diversify our offerings – that’s rising up, too. Speaking out, getting involved, lending our time, funding, and support in our communities – that is rising up.

There is something to be said for being part of a rising tide that lifts all boats. If I am successful, that is a win for every demographic that I belong to: women, Generation X, people who put themselves through school, my alma maters (Penn and UVA). Ursula Burns calls it “winning because of everything I am, not in spite of it. My race, my gender, my demographics are certainly involved in how successful I am because they make me who I am.”

Barack Obama’s victory on Tuesday was a victory for community organizers, Democrats, blacks, those of mixed races, youth, social media users, those who value and exhibit eloquence, people who seek to educate themselves to improve their lots in life. Everything that he is, “a mutt” as he called himself yesterday in his first press conference since his win on Tuesday, made his victory possible. And with his signature humility and ability to unite people from every walk of life, he took us with him. He exemplifies Quindlen’s and Burns’s ideal of rising up and reaching down. We would all do well to live by this example.