[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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Incantation of the First Order
Never! is the word of last resorts,
Always! the fanatic’s rallying cry.
To those inclined toward kindness, I sayCome out of your houses drumming. All others,
From “Incantation of the First Order” by Rita Dove
beware: I have discarded my smile but not my teeth.
I long for fierce kindness. I long for kindness to heal wounds, bridge division, and create justice. I long for kindness to be loud and big and strong and everywhere.
I am reminded of the tale in which, in life, there is a good wolf and a bad wolf, and that the wolf we feed lives.
I want to feed the good wolf. I want to feed the kindness wolf.
I want to feed the kindness wolf so that she not just lives, but thrives. I want to feed the kindness wolf so that kindness may protect all that is good and loving. I want to feed the kindness wolf so that she feeds baby wolves, and they learn kindness in their bones. I want to feed the kindness wolf so that when she is old, she is held in kindness and love.
Feeding the kindness wolf is a choice — a moment-by-moment, breath-by-breath, inch-by-inch choice. The incantation of the first order is to greet the morning, come out of your house drumming, and feed the kindness wolf.
About Katie
From 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.
