[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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The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
From Rumi’s “The Guest House“
Every morning a new arrival.
I don’t remember the first time I heard it, but I learned a question years ago that frames the idea that being human is a guest house. Let me explain. When things get tough, I was taught to ask, “What can I learn from this?” When we treat each day — all the beauty and terror and everything in between — as a guest with lessons to teach, wisdom to share, and prayer to offer, our house becomes holy. Holy in the way that welcoming is holy. Holy in the way that impermanence is a blessing. Holy in the way vulnerability soothes fear. Holy in the way that miracles occur. Holy in the way we are grateful for it all.
Things happen when we open our doors. The light comes in and past, present, and future make just a little more sense. Our worst and best meet somewhere in the middle and hold each other close. The space between what is and not yet becomes big enough for heartbreak and magic.
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.
