[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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One Art
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
From “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop
I think back to things that I have lost. I have lost my keys and my phone. I have lost opportunities and jobs. I have even lost relationships and loves. I have lost days and years. In the moment, I have felt many of those loses as disasters. Unable to wrangle even a small victory from the jaws of defeat. Taking a longer view of losing often proves more constructive.
“So many things seem filled with the intent to be lost.” That is an interesting thought. If we are meant to lose things — as part of life’s falling apart and coming together — than the idea that things have the intent to be lost makes sense. If things have the intent to be lost, does that change the calculus of losing? Does losing becomes more like surrender or letting go. Like a deep breath or resting our eyes. Like a bridge or door.
That is the art of losing. Building strength and understanding. Releasing imagination and creativity. Making space and room. Balancing fear and faith. Knowing grace and patience.
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.
