Yesterday I spent some time talking to a friend of mine who’s a real estate agent. She’s helping me get on a path to homeownership here in New York, which is not a task for the faint-hearted. After talking about my financial picture, we talked about the idea of willing dreams into existence. This last set of years have at times been extraordinarily difficult for me and greatly blessed. All in, they have led me to the place I am now: in my favorite neighborhood in my favorite city, starting what I have high hopes will be a dream job, and a book 8 years in the making about to be published in just over a month. A year ago, this scenario was unlikely. Hell, it felt flat-out impossible. Today, it’s my everyday life, and I don’t take a single moment of it for granted. It’s not perfect, but I’m extraordinarily grateful for it, even in the moments when I’m most challenged. With effort and a belief in the wisdom of what we don’t yet know or understand, life becomes exactly what we imagine it can be. Every difficulty and blessing I’ve had was needed; each one played a role in making my life today possible. Perspective is a beautiful thing.
Tag: New York City
In the pause: Cornell Tech campus opens on New York City’s Roosevelt Island
Yesterday’s event at Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island filled me with inspiration and possibility. It was quite a testament to what can be achieved through private – public partnerships with tech CEOs from IBM, Qualcomm, Verizon, and startups, investors, journalists, Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, Mike Bloomberg, and the President of Cornell all in attendance.
The spaces, indoors and out, are incredibly thoughtful and stunning. Best of all, it’s been built as an inviting settingĀ for the public. Bring your laptop, book, or sketch pad, grab a coffee at the cafe, and take it all in with plenty of wi-fi and collaborative space. This is a place of community, and the hope is that companies and projects started by students and incubator sponsors (yes, your company can get space here!) will diversify and grow the NYC economy. Already, Cornell Tech has spun out 38 companies, 94% of which are based in NYC.
Graduate and doctoral studies as well as Executive Education courses comprise the student body here and it will also be a stage for events at the cross-section of tech, business, art, and social impact.
Grab the F train, bus, ferry, or tram, and go check it out!
In the pause: Meet the 826NYC teaching artist cohort bringing creative writing to NYC public schools
I’m so excited to be a part of this program!
Press release: 826NYC is proud to announce its first-ever cohort of Teaching Artists! These dynamic and experienced writers and educators will be running our in-schools and partnership residencies across New York City. Each residency ranges from 4-8 sessions in length and culminates in an anthology of student work, which is professionally designed and printed for distribution.
The cohort includes writers and artists from the Iowa Writersā Workshop, the Watermill Center, the Minnesota Prison Writers Workshop, and more.
Learn more about Christa Avampato, Maryann Aita, Cameron Crawford, Joss Lake, Jason Leahey, Fatima Farheen Mirza, Krystal Reddick, and Helena Smith. Learn more about them here!
In the pause: A walking tour from Soho to the Lower East Side
On my way to brunch yesterday, I did a little self-made walking tour from Soho through Little Italy and Chinatown, and then over to the Lower East Side. It included a tour at the Tenement Museum, which I’ll detail in another post. I don’t get to this neighborhood often. After a long, difficult week in our nation, it felt so good to let sunshine and art take over my senses. Here’s what I saw and loved. Wishing you a creative Monday.
In the pause: Summer Streets 2017
A more hopeful Saturday today than last week. Phin and I enjoyed Summer Streets yesterday as our morning walk. For three Saturdays in August, the city closes Park Ave to cars from 72nd Street to the Brooklyn Bridge so that pedestrians, bicyclists, and their pooches can enjoy that stretch of the city traffic free.The quiet is comforting as New Yorkers of all shapes and sizes enjoy our city from different vantage points than we normally have.
Phin and I started at 60th Street and walked down to 34th. Then he decided to close out the walk by hanging a right to Fifth Avenue, marching up the steps of the New York Public Library like he owned it, and then over to Times Square. I guess he wanted to see if those neon lights really are bright on Broadway. (And they are!)
Phin checking out Times Square
Phin on the steps of the New York Public Library
45th Street from above
Entrance to Grand Central
Window art (you can see me and Phin in the reflection!)
Park Avenue Summer Streets
In the pause: Subway by Billy Collins
Subway
As you fly swiftly underground
with a song in your ears
or lost in the maze of a book,
remember the ones who descended here
into the mire of bedrock
to bore a hole through this granite,
to clear a passage for you
where there was only darkness and stone.
Remember as you come up into the light.
~Billy Collins
New York City’s subways have a program called Poetry in Motion in which they commission works to post on our subway trains. This one by Billy Collins was posted in my subway yesterday and it was a beautiful reminder that there are so many reasons to be grateful.
In the pause: Dale Chihuly at the New York Botanical Garden
Couldn’t have asked for a better Saturday! I spent it at the New York Botanical Garden with one of my best friends, and it was delightful. I highly recommend a visit. Stop into the Hudson Garden Grill for a wonderful lunchāit was a perfect way to start the afternoon. The Chihuly glass installation is an incredible addition to these stunning grounds and will be on display until October 29th. Relax and renew your spirit with sights like these:
In the pause: A wonderful set of New York City museum outings
I’ve been spending a lot of time at museums lately. Here is a collection of exhibits I’ve recently seen that are worth the visit:
The Met. Irving Penn: Centennial. Known popularly as a photographer for Vogue, Irving Penn also created incredible still-lifes and portraits that are prominently featured at The Met alongside his stunning fashion photography. The exhibit closes today so if you can get there, do!
New-York Historical Society. Eloise at the Museum. If you’re a children’s literature fan, I highly recommend taking in the adorable Eloise exhibit. Feisty and confident, Eloise is a hero for all of us and she gives us a glimpse into what it’s like to live at The Plaza.
Children’s Museum of Manhattan. America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far. For all of the talk in our media about Islam and Muslim culture, how much do we really understand it? This thoughtfully curated and approachable exhibit discusses architecture, travel, commerce, religion, food, art, and fashion in the Muslim world across the globe.
Museum of the Moving Image. The Jim Henson Exhibition. I am an enormous Muppet fan. Like many people, I count Jim Henson as an idol and inspiration. The Muppets provided my earliest thought that I could work behind-the-scenes in a theater. I’m heading over there this afternoon, and can’t wait to immerse myself in that colorful, hopeful world.
In the pause: What writing my book taught me about how to spend my time
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve talked to a lot of friends about the concept of how to spend our time. As they say, even BeyoncĆ© only has 24 hours in a day. We all have to make choices. Try as we might, we can’t do everything, at least not all at once.
So how do we decide what gets attention, effort, and time, and what has to fall by the wayside? And how can we be confident in those decisions once we make them? All I can give you is my own experience. I gave up a lot to write my book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters. There were many times I didn’t go out and have fun for the sake of writing, rewriting, and editing. I poured myself into that book, and that meant I spent less time on other parts of my career and personal life. I stopped teaching yoga; I took on fewer freelance projects; I spent less time trying to climb the ladder in my business career; I dated less; I made less money; I left my home in New York City to go out into the unknown. All for the sake of a book that I wasn’t sure would ever see the light of day.
You might be asking, “What the hell was she thinking?” and you’d be very right to ask.
I was thinking that if I didn’t write this book, if I didn’t get this story down and work my a*s off to get it out into the world, then I would be left with a profound sense of regret. And I don’t mean the regret varietal that goes something like, “Huh, I wonder what that would have been like.” Nope. I’m talking about the kind of regret you read in articles like Top Five Regrets of the Dying. Want to know the #1 regret in that list? “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” Ouch. I couldn’t live, or die, with that. I had to be true to myself now, and that meant I had to write this book. So I gave up what was needed to get it done. And there isn’t a single thing I gave up that I wish I had done instead of writing that book. Not one.
I had the great gift of a fire that nearly killed me at age 33. The 8th anniversary of that fire is about a month away, and every day since then has been gravy in my mind. I was infinitely fortunate to survive. I have tried hard to live a life I’m proud of, even if people don’t understand it, don’t agree with it, and criticize it. I hope I’m around to see 103. Seriously. If our world is this insane today, just imagine the crazy sh*t we’re going to experience in the year 2079! But if that’s not in the cards for me, that’s okay. Really. I wrote this book. It’s the creative act of my life that I’m most proud of. If and when you hold that book in any form in your hands, you are holding my heart. How great is it to be able to give that away in the hopes that it helps some one, somewhere, some time.
That’s what I did with my time here on this Earth in this life, and it was more than worth it. What’s your Emerson? Find that. Pursue that.
In the pause: Finding comfort at St. Pat’s
I often go toĀ St. Patrick’s CathedralĀ to find peace and solace during stressful times. I emptied my change purse, lit a candle, and said a prayer.
I prayed for my friend who passed away and for so many of my friends who are struggling through life now. To find a job where I can spend every day building a better world for all of us. For Phineas’s anxiety to subside so we can happily settle into our new home. For the continued opportunities to do my creative work, and for love.Ā
About 10 minutes later, I had an interview with a startup that is exactly the place I’ve been hoping to find. I got an email from my publisher that the pre-order page for my book is now live (more details on that later after I do a bit of polishing on it). I checked in on Phineas and he was only barking occasionally behind his new gate which was barely audible when I got to the lobby of my apartment building. And for a brief moment, I was able to imagine my friend who passed away as being in a happier, more peaceful place now.
I can’t say for sure if lighting a candle and saying a heartfelt prayer made a difference for me today but it certainly feels that way, and that’s good enough for me. Whatever you’re facing now, I hope this same shift in energy finds you and comforts you.
Christa Avampato 