[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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In Praise of Small Kindnesses
Today’s is a soft meditation in praise of the enormousness of small kindnesses.
From “In Praise of Small Kindnesses” by Siri Liv Myhrom
In this world that celebrates bigger, faster, smarter, [insert adjective]er, I appreciate singing the praises of small kindnesses. This reminds of the thought, attributed to Mother Teresa, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Kindness and love. This seems to be the heart of the matter. The thank you. The holding the door for the person running to catch the elevator. The listening to a friend. The “How are you?” (and then actually waiting for a response). The remembering the birthday or anniversary. The “Good Morning!”on a run. The patience with a customer service representative on the phone. (This gets harder, and perhaps less small.) The giving the benefit of the doubt. The turning the other cheek. The seeing a stranger. The forgiveness.
Kindness is enormous in its simplicity and its truth. It’s enormous in the way kindness begets kindness. It’s enormous in the way seeing and being seen happens when we are kind. It’s enormous in the way kindness connects us. It’s enormous in the way kindness changes the conversation. So, we set about to do small things with great kindness and love.
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.
