[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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Why Do I Fast?
I anoit my flesh/Thought is hallowed in the lean/Oil of solitude/I call you forth, all, upon/Terraces of light. Let the dark/Withdraw
I anoint my voice/And let it sound hereafter/Or dissolve upon its lonely passage/In your void. Voices new./Shall rouse the echoes when/Evil shall again arise
I anoint my heart/Within its flame I lay/Spent ashes of your hate–/Let evil die
Wole Soyinka
In the essay “Why Do I Fast?” Nigerian playwright, novelist, essayist, poet and Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka describes the experience of fasting as a prisoner during the Nigerian civil war. The body and mind search for control and peace within an imprisoned life as hours turn to days. The survival game played by the body and mind demand tragic strategy as life and death dance. Chaos and violence make even drinking water an unbearable choice. Fasting is a physical and mental frame Soyinka uses to describe the pain of war.
Everyday Fasting
I have been intermittent fasting for the better part of three months. For me, that basically means, most days, I fast from 7:00 pm to 11:00 am. I decided to intermittent fast for a variety of health reasons. In absolute humility, I mention my fasting experience solely in an effort to highlight the connection between the body and mind that I am continually learning. The essay reminded me that our bodies are a tool for resistance, and resistance is ultimately physical, personal and radical. Fasting – even to the extent to which I am doing it – has taught me about my capacity to chose. That feels important. In our world of chaos and cruelty, I can chose something else.
The Poem
The poem above is written days in to fasting when, “the peace that passeth all understanding” steels his soul. Fasting is his prayer for peace. Peace comes after the oil of solitude anoints his flesh, new voices that carry on the struggle anoint his voice, and the ashes of the evil’s death anoint his heart. He sees something beyond the pain he knows. He sees peace. The stakes of our current moment – for many, and as such for us all – are high. We know too much death and sickness and violence in our world. We are all mothers weeping right now. Resistance to death and sickness and violence can ultimately lead to peace. Chose peace.
About Katie
Born in Louisville. Live in Atlanta. Curious by nature. Researcher by education. Writer by practice. Grateful heart by desire.
Buy the Book!
The Stage Is On Fire, a memoir about hope and change, reasons for voyaging, and dreams burning down can be purchased on Amazon.
