[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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Darling Coffee
The periodic pleasure/ of small happenings/ is upon us
From Meena Alexander’s “Darling Coffee“
Small happenings are rituals. Rituals of the everyday. Rituals of the magical. Rituals of the universal. Rituals of the seasons. Rituals of the tides. Rituals of our days. The door opening. The clouds blowing in and blowing out. The cat covering her face with her paw as she takes an afternoon nap in the sun. Laying next to one another in the morning before the day begins. Running races. Climbing mountains. Washing dishes. Taking a bath. Breathing at a steady pace.
Pay attention to small happenings. They matter. They matter in the way that each shard of glass in a kaleidoscope matters. They matter in the way that we enjoy dear friends and miss them when they are gone. They matter in the way that we throw a single star fish back into the ocean or turn a turtle who has made their way out into a road toward safety. They matter in a way that high thread count sheets and honey walnut schmear on a sesame seed bagel matter. They matter in the way that perfect timing and grace and kindness and pleasure matter.
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.
