[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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Looking For Goodness

I am looking for goodness.

The spin of lies and dehumanization and cruelty can be too much.

Where we focus matters. How we focus matters. So I am going to do a thought experiment today. I am going to deliberately and intentionally think back to a time in my life when I have most connected to the goodness in myself and others. To when I have seen the better angels of myself and my country.

I am reminded of September 1994 when I became an AmeriCorps member.

I have written quite a bit over the years about the impact that experience had on me. I was part of the first class of AmeriCorps members carrying on the strong tradition of national service that has strengthened this country throughout its history. People have built roads and bridges. People have planted trees and cleared sludge. People have painted murals and written plays. People have taught children. National servants have made our country smarter, healthier, and safer.

Over the years, I have watched AmeriCorps members responding to the needs of others.

I have been truly proud. The tradition of work and love, of which I have been a part, has continued. An ethic of service, to which I pledged as an AmeriCorps member, has extended a hand of life and hope and comfort to people in desperate need. Even in the face of the political peril, which has been part of the history of national service in this country, AmeriCorps members have gone to work and did what needed to be done in support of first responders and community members and countless others to save lives. This is love in action. These are actions from which to learn. This is the world we can create.

It is often when the darkest parts of our culture are visible and loud and strong, we forget where goodness is or doubt it’s existence.

Why does it take all that for people to recognize our interconnectedness? Why does it take all that for people to simply love, not judge, or blame, or name call, or hate? Why does it take all that for compassion and human kindness and decency to guide our hearts? How do we carry this spirit forward to create a more just and caring world every day?

Goodness is everywhere.

Today, I see goodness in AmeriCorps members. I see goodness in leaders committed to truth, compassion, and justice. I see goodness in all people whose very work makes our world kinder, safer, smarter, and healthier. I see goodness in the creative spaces that envision solutions, protect our planet, find cures, and foster healing. Where do you see goodness?

The Pledge

As the AmeriCorps pledge explains, “Faced with apathy, I will take action. Faced with conflict, I will seek common ground. Faced with adversity, I will persevere.” I spoke these words more than 25 years ago. I need to remember them and act on them right now. How am I living the pledge today? How can I make the world kinder, safer, smarter, and healthier today? These are questions I think we can all ask? If our answers speak to serving others, we are on the right track.

Get involved. Get informed. Vote.