[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: Aspiration
We climb the slopes of life with throbbing heart,/ And eager pulse, like children toward a star.
Henrietta Cordelia Ray, Aspiration
I love the climb. I love setting goals. My heart throbs. It is part of my wiring. I have always been that way. That being said. There is a tension between learning from the past and being open and receptive to the future. There is a tension between the now and the not yet. There is a tension between wisdom and fearlessness. There is probably even a tension between aspiration and reality. Navigating that tension is the forwardness of days.
One of my favorite writers, Martha Beck, talks about finding our North Star — our direction, our mission, where our internal compass leads. I like to think that aligning our aspirations and our North Star is part of life’s work. It is the practice of life itself, really. Steady action. Figuring things out. Resting along the way. Scar tissue forming. Action bringing clarity. Gratitude as a way of life. In that way, aspiration is the point.
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.
