[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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Weekly Wide-Awake: How to Christmas
“And as with prayer, which is a dipping of oneself toward the light, there is a consequence of attentiveness to the grass itself, and the sky itself, and to the floating bird. I too leave the fret and enclosure of my own life. I too dip myself toward the immeasurable.”
Mary Oliver
I like to think of Christmas as dipping toward the immeasurable. It is an annual prayer for the birth of love to happen in each of us. The birth of love is immeasurable yet deeply understood. The birth of love is a miracle yet can be felt like sunlight in the morning. The birth of love is stars and scar tissue and is spoken without words. The birth of love is an invitation open to us all. The birth of love is a sacred beginning as infinite as energy itself. The birth of love is an open heart and mind that is courageous and vulnerable. The birth of love is awake to the not yet and as if.
Essentially, knowing how to Christmas means paying such close attention to our world that we live in the presence of love all year long. As we are awake or asleep, we know there is love. As light shines through the cracks, we know there is love. As life falls apart and back together, we know there is love. As seasons change, we know there is love. As life begins and ends, we know there is love. As things are beautiful and terrible, weknow there is love. As there is joy and sorrow, we know there is love. That is Christmas.
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.
