[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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Every time you have progress
Every time you have progress, you lose something; every time you take a step back, you gain something
Deirdre Madden
I think about loss a lot in during Autumn. I feel deciduous. I turn toward color and lightness. I cool down. I hold seasons close and stand still — for a moment — then move with marked steps backward and then forward.
What do we lose when we make progress? How do we define progress? What is the relationship between loss and change? What do we gain when we take a step back? What are reflection’s gifts? These questions hover, haunt, and heal.
Today, I understand both progress and reflection take honesty, courage, and compassion. Today, I understand the rivers of loss and change are powerful, rhythmic, and deep. Today, I understand reflection’s gifts as stillness (which is absolutely different from paralysis), clarity (which is absolutely different from certainty), and growth (which looks a lot like seeds, stars, and scar tissue.)
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.
