[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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Weekly Wide-Awake: Miracles Surround Us
Miracles surround us at every turn, if we butt sharpen our perception to them.
Willa Cather
I sharpen my perceptions through writing. I get in touch with joy and awe — equal parts miracles manifest — through writing. I get in touch with grief and longing — miracles in their own right — through writing, too. During a month when we specifically celebrate women’s history, I celebrate the lessons taught by women writers.
I celebrate the lesson of paying attention — in paying attention we are freed from the weight of fear by the promise of presence and connection. I celebrate the lesson of representation — representation widens the table at which we can all sit, it allows us to see the entire world. I celebrate the lesson of story — in sharing our stories, and listening to the stories of others, we learn empathy and compassion.
Somewhere in the sharpening of our perception is the gift of the imagination. Somewhere in the sharpening of our perception is the awareness of impermanence. Somewhere in the sharpening of our perception is the understanding of love as an action — something we do, a way we live, the foundation of our everyday.
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.
