[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: Vacation
I was on vacation this week, so I had lot of time to think. The fact we went on vacation – we drove 3 and a half hours to Key West – during this time gave me pause. What does it mean when even a vacation feels controversial in my soul? We wear masks. There are no people around so avoiding crowds is easy. We hang out the by the pool and beach. We eat at outdoor spaces – accept during two torrential downpours where the only people inside were masked restaurant workers and a few distanced customers. There is a certain vigilance to the whole experience. We are in strange and difficult times when even a vacation weighs on a soul. Weight is coming from real questions – the reopening of schools during a pandemic, violent confrontation in US cities, potential economic devastation – and I took a vacation. Several other questions floated around in my head. What does responsible self care look like right now? What does it mean to relax right now? What can I do about all this going forward?
I cobbled together this Weekly Wide-Awake from the beauty of an ocean-front hotel room while watching waves crash on sand as the sun rose. Things are quieter here. Politics and pandemics seem farther away and less powerful than they normally do here. I saw a rainbow over the ocean on Tuesday morning. That seems hopeful in all that is. We head home tomorrow and that seems right, too.
Even away, I wrote a few things. Writing and reading are balm for the soul for me right now. I wrote about wishes at the end of life, nonviolence, nerve, our refrain, our bodies, and surrender. It occurs to me that a through line in all the post is the idea of letting go and owning our individual power. Letting go is fundamentally about surrendering. Letting go at the end of life. Letting go of the grip of violence. Letting go of thoughts and feelings that get it the way of our Nerve. Letting go and feeling the freedom of our bodies. This vacation week was the perfect time to think and write about letting go.
Read Weekly Wide-Awake July 25, 2020
Read Gratitude Conversations Volume V – Gratitude and Change
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About Katie
Born in Louisville. Live in Atlanta. Curious by nature. Researcher by education. Writer by practice. Grateful heart by desire.
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The Stage Is On Fire, a memoir about hope and change, reasons for voyaging, and dreams burning down can be purchased on Amazon.
Hi! Would you mind if I share your blog with my facebook group?
There’s a lot of folks that I think would really enjoy your content.
Please let me know. Many thanks
Absolutely. Share away.