The Night Sky

[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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What if I could fly? – a question I ask myself.

To what things am I tethered?

I am tethered to judgement of myself and others. I am tethered to past failure and its prediction of my future success. I am tethered to the endless race of starting and beginning and finishing and ending. I am tethered to isolation when reaching out is hard and rejection is painful. I am tethered to fear when apathy and indifference are easier than courage. I am tethered to negative behaviors when change feels like just one more thing that I have to do.

What does being tethered mean?

Being tethered means I can not see the sky, my feet are stuck in the mud, and I am quiet when I need to sing. Being tethered means I can not learn and grow. I am separate from others. I am heavy. I am grounded when I need to fly.

Beyond being tethered.

We all have things that tether us – negative tapes we play in our heads, toxic patterns we rinse and repeat, tired paths we walk again and again, glimmers of light we extinguish while we stay asleep, and small voices we ignore. Getting beyond being tethered is about embracing the present more, noticing more, taking more deep breaths, connecting more with ourselves and others, pushing our edge more, building more, and creating more.

Seeing the night sky.

We need to create lives in which we can see our night sky. In the night sky we can find direction in the map provided by the stars, comfort and inspiration in the stories told by the constellations, and wonder in the gift of distant galaxies and planets. That all seems important. Our night can be our shelter and freedom, our wisdom and curiosity, our foundation and dream.