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.
In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.
Enter your email here to receive Weekly Wide-Awake
The Pedigree of Honey

The Pedigree of Honey/ Does not concern the Bee -/ A Clover, any time, to him,/ Is Aristocracy –
Emily Dickinson
Finding sweetness in life matters. Like the bee finds clover on the journey to make honey, we must find sweetness. Sweetness is individual, joyous, and sustaining. Sweetness is all around, inside, and beside us. Sweetness is vital, beautiful, and royal. I would even call it sacred.
We find sweetness in the most obvious of places. In our relationships with ourselves and others. In the things we do no matter what. In our gratitude lists. In what we take pictures of and talk about. In our starts and finishes. In the minutes right after we wake up and before we go to sleep. In tears and laughter. In kisses and hugs. In a meal that tastes like it was not made by mortal hands.
Ultimately, there is no Pedigree to sweetness. There is no best in sweetness show. There is no line of sweetness succession. Honey is, honey is, honey is.
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.