[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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To Need Darkness As Much As Light
Instead, I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again, so that there is really only one logical conclusion. I need darkness as much as I need light.
Barbara Brown Taylor
We need darkness as much as we need light. It saves our lives.
How does darkness save our lives?
Darkness saves our lives by revealing what we may not see in the bright light of day — our truths, our knowings, our moon wisdom, our secrets, our quiet parts. Through revelation, we know ourselves and heal and find our way to love. Through revelation, we create peace and strength. Through revelation, we excavate and heal.
Darkness saves us by reminding us our as if and our not yet, our dreams and our desires, our unbridled tomorrows. That is the part of darkness that is more about hope and safety and quiet, not noise and cynicism and fear. That is the part of darkness that is hopeful and holy and sacred.
Darkness saves our lives as a place where we connect — beyond shame and judgment and doubt and fear — and surround ourselves and others in warmth and safety and love. Connection is the heart of darkness. Together we can navigate darkness. Together we can hold hands and mark our steps through the dark. Together can share our darkness stories and connect there in vulnerability and collective compassion.
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.
