[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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Weekly Wide-Awake: Hope
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
Emily Dickinson
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
I felt hopeful this week. I cried huge tears of joy when Kamala Harris was announced as the Democratic Party’s Vice Presidential nominee. This brought back feelings of delivering my book report on Shirley Chisholm in high school, taking the AmeriCorps pledge after college, and marching for women in Washington in 2017 – which was probably the last time I was overcome with Hope. The tears flowed from the well of absolute relief. Relief that this world will make it through this time. Relief that truth and kindness will prevail. Relief that the new day that must dawn is peaking over the horizon. Relief that we will all find breath and balance and peace. Politics has been used as an instrument of cruelty for too long. I heard and saw something different this week.
This poem has always spoken to me. I have pulled it out of my positivity tool box over the years when I have needed to rebuild and recalibrate. It resonates with me a bit differently right now. I recently read another thought attributed to Emily Dickinson, is that “hope inspires the good to reveal itself.” That makes sense to me. I need to be reminded that hope sings and does not stop. Hope simply soars and flies to places that are amazing as my mind allows. Hope enfolds us, even and especially, when things are their hardest. At the end of the day, Hope is easy.
Where did Hope appear in my writing this week? It appeared as I thought about the Sabbath and Big Magic. It appeared as I remembered the fearless parts of my journey. It appeared when the question WTF was asked and answered. It appeared when I thought about beauty and bowls. In all of that, there is Hope. Right now Hope requires a little excavation. It requires a little muscle memory. It requires we turn our prose into poetry and fire.
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.
