The Taste of 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

Enter your email here to receive Weekly Wide-Awake

back

Of magic doors, there is this, you do not see them even as you are passing through. – Anonymous

I believe in magic doors.

I wait and do not hurry. I believe in the rightness of big moves and bold dreams. I surround myself with people walk through magical doors on a regular basis. I practice mantras to connect me to my breath. I read books to teach me about big magic. I watch TED talks and listen to podcasts to learn about my magic, too. I have even visited psychics and healers to walk through magic doors.

I believe in magic doors and I am tired.

Some days my body pains from waiting for magic doors to open. Some days engagement and action feel like treading in the water of inertia and doubt. Some days I do not feel like I am enough. Some days I do not remember my purpose. Some days days my heart hurts from silence and distance from connection to others and what matters. Some days my eyes open and just see despair.

Bathroom Floor Moments

I have read several books that describe bathroom floor moments. I have lived bathroom floor moments. Bathroom floor moments are when tears and cries meet years of dealing and surviving. Bathroom floor moments are moments of decision and resolve that happen in an instant. Bathroom floor moments are moments when we decide to love ourselves. Bathroom floor moments don’t happen only in bathrooms. Anywhere vulnerability and deep love abide, that is a bathroom floor moment. Magic happens there.

Magic Doors and Bathroom floors

Magic doors and bathroom floors walk hand-in-hand. Both are part of life. Both speak to what happens as we live – experiences challenge us, relationships build us, and our spirits sustain us. Both are fierce and soft. Both require trust and courage. Both are figure and ground to what we know and need. Both promise the taste of the sky.