[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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Masochism of the Knees
In the dream blindfold and bandage are one.
Jackie Wang
Sometimes I kneel. Sometimes I kneel when my heart breaks. Sometimes I kneel before a tree filled with magnolia blossoms. Sometimes I kneel in the morning awestruck at the first light of day. Sometimes I kneel at night when the moon is so bright it demands reverence. Sometimes I kneel with specific questions. Sometimes I kneel with specific burdens. Sometimes I kneel in gratitude for it all.
Sometimes kneeling is both blindfold and bandage. Blindfolds focus us inward — like shutting our eyes and breathing. Blindfolds allow an internal inventory to be taken. Blindfolds create stillness and knowing. Bandages prevent further injury. Bandages protect wounds. Bandages create the conditions for healing to occur.
Kneeling requires courage. I have been brought to my knees literally and figuratively many times. Kneeling is courageous in the same way that humility, grace, and vulnerability are courageous. Kneeling is a kind of prayer, and prayer requires courage. Prayer requires courage in that connecting with a power bigger than ourselves relinquishes control. Prayer means we are open to receive, and being open is scary.
There is a certain benevolence to kneeling. A softness can overtake whatever circumstance brings you to your knees. Desperation can shift. Anger can ease. Breath can be regained.
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.
