No major media publication has listed the names of all 6 Senators and 121 Representatives, all Republicans, who voted against Arizona’s electoral votes without any evidence of voter fraud and after an insurrection on the U.S. Capitol incited by the sitting president. They have supported and enabled the sitting president and the violence he encourages. Their names and votes are public record so they are listed below with links to their websites that have their contact information.
The majority of Republican lawmakers in Washington D.C. voted in support of the sitting president’s call to overturn the votes of American citizens…
On election eve, my head slumped because I now sleep on an incline to help my drains from my breast cancer surgery function. This caused my hands to go numb and my muscles to spasm. I got up, took my meds, and it passed fairly quickly.
This process is a common side effect. My swelling is way down so now my muscles are aware that there’s a network of tubes in me that rivals the New York City subway around Fulton Street! I’m hopeful that my plastic surgeon will be able to remove my drains soon.
My cancer has partially…
This is the face of someone with early stage breast cancer. It’s also the face of someone who is going to kick the sh*t out of cancer and give it nowhere to hide in my body. And in the process, I’m becoming a warrior of women’s health.
I have cancer, early stage breast cancer to be precise. I went for my routine mammogram on September 11th, an ultrasound on September 21st, and biospies on September 28th and 29th that gave me a preliminary diagnosis of cancer. On October 5th I received the confirmed diagnosis. 100 hours later, I had a…
Today is my Alive Day — the 11th anniversary of my apartment building fire when I almost got trapped inside. Every day since September 5, 2009, I’ve thought about my own death. The fire started in the first floor apartment directly in my line, and it grew so big that eventually it burned through the ceiling, out into the first floor hallway, and up the stairs I ran down just moments before. The fire fighter who later spoke to me as the EMT checked my lungs told me that if I’d hesitated even a few seconds longer, I would have…
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the people who will be most impacted by Hurricane Laura are Black and Latinx; it should outrage you. It’s not right, and so we have to say something and do something. And not just tomorrow or this week when it’s front page news, but for a lifetime. This is a wrong that has to be righted, by our governments at the federal, state, and local levels, and by us as individuals.
Environmental injustice, made worse by climate change, is one of the many hideous dimensions of racism in this country, and it’s getting worse by…
Kevin*, a New York City high school teacher, sits in front of his laptop in August doing the work of two teachers for one 9-month salary.
“You can’t just take your in-person lesson plan and hop on Zoom,” he said. “To do remote learning right, you have to completely reimagine the lesson plans. So that’s what I’m doing.”
Kevin has to build an in-person and remote teaching plan because he will have to do both in the 2020–2021 school year. I (virtually) sat down with him to find out what a day will look like in his school this year.
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Nature shows us how to effectively support life, drive our economies, and improve our collective health for all kin on Earth.
I have stayed in New York City to bear witness to one of the most transformational times this city has ever seen — and to tell those stories. To keep my spirits up as I do that work, I lean on my biomimicry practice and nature’s examples of regeneration after trauma. In ki’s* 3.8 billions years, Earth has experienced ki’s fair share of destruction. Ki has lessons to teach us, and so I often find myself pulling up a…
In April, at the height of the pandemic in New York City, Central Park asked me to write an essay about what the park means to me as part of their #MyCentralPark Instagram campaign. This week, they selected a quote from my essay and printed it on a banner that now hangs in Central Park on the path that runs along the north side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art at 84th Street just off Fifth Avenue. My heart is overflowing with gratitude to have my words displayed in my favorite place in the world. …
In the product development process using design thinking and human-centered design methodologies, the very first stage is empathize. To create empathy for the people we’re creating for, a product developer like me talks with and listens to all stakeholders, and particularly to experts in the field for which we’re designing.
Teachers need to be part of the school reopening design process
I was shocked to learn from friends of mine who are teachers that this is not what’s happening in New York City schools, the country’s largest school system. None of them have been asked to participate in the design process…
Though moss is a simple plant, we shouldn’t underestimate its wisdom. It’s one of the oldest, wisest, and most experienced forms of life. Moss is an opportunist making the most of what’s available. It lies in wait, sometimes for years, for the right conditions to grow and reproduce.
Moss exhibits the skill of anabiosis When water is scarce, moss will completely dry out and play dead for as long as needed. But they aren’t dead at all. In their drying, they lay the groundwork for their renewal. Sprinkle them with a little water and the moss will spring back to…
Christa Avampato
Award-winning author & writer—Product Dev — Biomimicry scientist — Filmmaker. Runs on curiosity & joy. twitter.com/christanyc instagram.com/christarosenyc
