[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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Prayer for Werewolves
Someone will probably love you for who you are.
Stephanie Burt
If not, you’ll still find friends,
friends who, given time, or given warning,
will probably gather around you, hold your hands,
and wrap you in soft coats and blankets till the violence
inside your body ends.
My prayer for us all is to be surrounded by people who love us for who we are. I am learning about the time and warning I need to be able to accept and receive love. (I never thought time and warning were important until recently when I was confronted with a boundary I did not even know I had.) I am learning about the importance of knowing how I define the kind of gathering, holding, and wrapping I require, and knowing the kind of gathering, holding, and wrapping I offer to others.
What a beautiful gift it is to be able to give and receive love. I used to think it was easy. It’s not. Our stories. Our traumas. Our desires. Our fears. Our joys. Our heart breaks. All leave us with love baggage that make true love — reciprocal and abiding love — difficult.
Our new home has beautifully carved wooden statutes of wolves on a public walkway outside our back door. The wolves arrived a week or so before we moved in. I like to think they are watching over us. Maybe inspiring, whispering, and reminding us to gather, hold, and wrap others and ourselves in love.
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.
