[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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How Delicious to Say It
to allow it like hibiscus to wend over the tongue
From Vievee Francis’ “How Delicious to Say It“
where it opens at the gate, lending its red, unknowable
taste. What wonder the palate may embrace – in a flick
behind the teeth: loquacious, Liebchen, Schätzchen.
I completely agree. There are delicious words. Not because of their profound meaning. Not because they speak any great knowledge or virtue. Not because they allow us to preen logophile feathers. Truth is. Delicious words are simply delicious.
A few of my favorites . . . schadenfreude, meringue, purr, schmutz, mentirosa, cabernet, conch, Boca Chica, fricative, savasana, bergamot, vermillion, bubble, crisp, tingle, crumpet, fiddle, silk, bourgeoisie, and chrysalis. I could go on and on.
Just saying these words is delicious. They all taste good. I want to build ships and sail with all of them on board. I want to mix them into a magic elixir to cure all the world’s pain. I want to summit their mountains and drink in their vast landscapes. I think of Spanish telenovelas and bluegrass music, of favorite desserts I have yet to make and languages I have yet to learn, of soft things and soothing sounds. They are the nooks and crannies, and the tips of our toes and fingers.
I guess that is the point of delicious words. To remind us of our senses. To wake us up to experience. To ruffle the tail feathers of the everyday, just enough. To make us builders of things — colorful, sensual, audacious, miraculous things.
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.
