At the Pace of What Is Real

[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

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At the Pace of What Is Real

Stop talking, stop thinking, and there is nothing you will not understand. – Seng-Ts’an

Real

Is real your best friend, your spouse, your family? Is real anything you can put on your Resume? Is real your checking account? Is real the people with whom you spend holidays? Is real your hometown? Is real the quiet in your home at 4:00 in the morning? We know real when we see it and feel it. We know how real feels. Real happens in an instant and takes forever. Real is elusive and attainable. Real is both simple and complex. Miracles are real.

The Pace of Real

Real moves like the seasons turning. Real moves like a hug. Real moves like laughter. Real moves like a snowflake falling. Real moves like a park swing. Real moves like a river. Real moves like reading a handwritten letter. Real moves like sitting with my grandmother and holding her hand. Real moves like folding laundry. Real moves like my cat. We feel real time when we slow down.

I Fight Real

I fight real when I am scared, or angry, or busy, or distracted. I fight real because it can hurt, it takes more time, and it requires forgiveness and compromise. I fight real when the attraction of a superficial-bright-shiny-sugar-coated siren sings her song. I fight real when I am tired and overwhelmed. I fight real when I am heartbroken. I fight real when I want to ignore, or deny, or escape.

Being Real

As hard as it is to be real, being real is my path. Fake life has a cost. The weight of fake life is measured in shallow relationships and bottled emotions that lead to physical and emotional pain. Fake life looks like living small, squelched dreams, and broken promises. Real life is worth it.

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