30 For Thursday: On The Beauty of Clouds

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

Enter your email here to receive Weekly Wide-Awake

back

30 For Thursday: On The Beauty of Clouds

I start most of my days with a run. I have done that for years, from wherever I have lived. I have always appreciated cloudy days. Whether a surprise rain shower, an interesting shape, or signal of a coming storm, I am thankful for clouds.

Clouds as Relief

My morning runs are the main time I get outside these days. Recently, clouds have meant relief from the blistering heat of the south Florida sun. Clouds are shelter. When I see clouds before a run, I know it will be a better run. My attitude brightens in their shadow. The relief the clouds bring is welcome respite from all that is.

Clouds as Silver Lining

Clouds make silver linings possible. Clouds are bright sides and rainbow ends and beginner’s mind poetry. Clouds are optimism and imagination. Finding silver linings right now is particularly important. There is a certain irony, an obvious juxtaposition of light and dark, as clouds become hope.

Clouds as Change

Anyone that has ever watched a storm roll in knows what I mean when I say clouds are change made visible. Change can roll or creep. Change can weigh or wisp. Change can crack and wail. I know change as sure as the air moves or stay. Change is as certain as clouds themselves.