[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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All Along, I Laid, Halved
My third grade self played squash.
My third grade self could have continued playing squash.
A child is an investment to a future.
From Ayesha Raees’ “All Along, I Laid, Halved“
My third grade self was fierce. My third grade self was in the top reading group and still understood math. My third grade self sang solos in choirs and performed in Equity dinner theatre. My third grade self had the best back handspring on the cheerleading squad and got invited to slumber parties.
Life was good in third grade. I would soon meet failure. I would soon experience fear. I would soon understand doubt. Life works like that. The details of how life took me down a few notches is not really the story. In my experience, we all have our details. The details are called growing up.
The real story is about how we find/remember/know in our bones, at any age, we are fierce. Fierce means we must live authentically and share our song with the world. Fierce means we understand our strength in terms of our ability to be vulnerable, open to growth, and grateful for all things. Fierce means we have an enormous capacity and responsibility to love.
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.
