[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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What to Expect
Expect accidents. Expect acne, additives, age, and airbags. Expect
alcohol, allergies, and altitude. Expect analgesics.
From Katie Manning’s “What to Expect“
I have been thinking about expectations. Of setting them too high or too low. Of having them for yourself and/or for others. Of having them at all. Of the relationship between expectations and disappointments. Of the relationship between expectations and goals. Of the relationship between expectations and happiness.
Life has taught me to expect everything. (I suppose that is one of Manning’s points, too. With her A-Z list of expectations taken from the index of What to Expect When You Are Expecting.) Expecting everything feels more authentic than expecting nothing. Everything happens. Let me explain. To those who say expect nothing and you will never be disappointed, I say expect everything and you will always be surprised. Expecting everything is not fearful, or doubtful, or angry. Expecting everything is abundant. Expecting everything is life’s ebb and flow. Expecting everything is the empty bowl open to be filled.
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.
