Endgame

[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

Enter your email here to receive Weekly Wide-Awake

back

Now there’s nothing left

but to keep dancing.

Mark Nepo

I started taking dance lessons at the age of 5. I kept dancing until I went to college at the age of 18. Dancing was a constant in my childhood world. I just kept dancing through whatever life through at me. I was never any good, but I kept dancing anyway. I still love to dance. (This posts reminds me that I do not do it enough right now.)

Dancing has taught me several important lessons.

Seek your joy

Dancing brings me profound joy. I feel an amazing release when I dance. I feel connected to my body when I dance. I feel connected to others when I dance. It becomes easy to forget, especially in our darkest times, that we can be joyful. We can actively choose joy. Dancing reminds of that truth.

You don’t have to be great.

Despite never being very good, I love to dance. I was always one of the least coordinated and graceful in dance classes, especially when it came to ballet. I always had to dance near the back of the group, despite being one of the smallest dancers. Small is relative when you dance. Your light shines its brightest from the inside. When the weight of perfection is lifted, we are free to be our true selves.

Spot before you turn.

Young dancers are taught to fix their gaze on a point on a wall before trying to turn. Dancers keep their eyes focused (as much as possible) on that point as they turn. The fixed gaze is called a spot. Spotting before a turn takes practice. Spotting before a turn requires focus. Spotting before a turn allows for balance. Spotting before a turn prevents falling. In my everyday life, I try to spot before I turn. I try to focus before I act. I try to move gracefully. I try to maintain balance. Especially at times when I am upset and angry, remembering to set my gaze and breathe before I act is really important.

I can make it through.

No matter how tough my world became, there was always dance. During really sad times, I would measure my hours by how long it would be until I could dance again. The older I got, dance was connected to performing in musicals. Dancing in musicals, and being part of a cast, provided connection at a time when I desperately needed to connect. As long as I could dance I could make it through.

https://kitt.global/february-17-endgame-mark-nepo-the-book-of-awakening/