[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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Instructions on Not Giving Up
Patient, plodding, a green skin
growing over whatever winter did to us, a return
to the strange idea of continuous living despite
the mess of us, the hurt, the empty.
From Ada Limon’s “Instructions on Not Giving Up“
I want to say a few words about continuous living amidst the mess of us, the hurt, the empty. Falling apart and back together is all about living in the mess.
When the mess is too much, count the shades of green outside your door. Even right now.
When the mess is too much, play with a puppy.
When the mess is too much, find a fragrant tree and take 10 deep breaths.
When the mess is too much, create something.
When the mess is too much, stand in the sunshine and let warmth wash over you.
When the mess is too much, give something away.
When the mess is too much, watch bees dance with flowers.
When the mess is too much, plant something.
When the mess is too much, feel warm raindrops.
When the mess is too much, try something new.
There is beauty in making it through the mess, the hurt, the empty all together.
About Katie
From 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.
