[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
Enter your email here to receive Weekly Wide-Awake
latest posts
Paying Attention
Canis Rufus: On Art, Myth, and Goodness
I don’t know much about wolves. Biologically, they are related to dogs — both members of the genus Canis. They are also related to coyotes — though coyotes are generally heftier with pointier, foxlike snouts. They are social creatures that...
read more
Gratitude
Call Out the Good: A Gratitude Conversation with Seana Murphy
In September of 1994, I became an inaugural AmeriCorps member. (Read about my AmeriCorps experience, here.) AmeriCorps was my first job out of college. Seana Murphy was my AmeriCorps Program Supervisor. Flash forward to February, 2025. I am sitting i...
read more
Paying Attention
Just a girl, her cat, and a good book.
Just a girl, her cat, and a good book. Jessica Locklar Art can tell a simple story. Art can simply be beautiful. Art can be soft edges. Art can be about fabric and swirls and yellow and dreams. As a woman who loves cats and books, aspires to c...
read more
Paying Attention, Weekly Wide-Awake
Desperate for Magic, Ready for Love
“For now just remember how you felt the day you were born: desperate for magic, ready to love.” Kate Baer, from What Kind of Woman I am still desperate for magic and ready for love. I am comforted knowing this has been the primordial cas...
read moreAbout 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.
