Weekly Wide-Awake: My Old Kentucky Home

[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: My Old Kentucky Home

Weep no more, my lady
No, weep no more, today
We sing one song
For my old Kentucky home
For my old Kentucky home
Far away.
John Prine singing “My Old Kentucky Home”

This week I want to celebrate the Kentucky Derby. I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. The first Saturday in May, Derby Day, is a huge deal. I have lived all over the United States and always celebrate the Derby. Here are ten reasons why I continue to celebrate the Kentucky Derby no matter where I live.

One of my favorite parts of the Derby is the food and the traditional cocktail, the Mint Julep. Hot Browns. Pimento Cheese. Benedictine Sandwiches. Cheese Grits. Burgoo. If someone talks about Derby food and drink and does not mention a mint julep, don’t trust them.

A few years ago, I hosted, along with with my friend Wendy, a Derby party in honor of launching my memoir, The Stage Is On Fire. I called the party Out Of The Gate. It was an occasion to celebrate the Bold Venture of sending a piece of writing out into the world. Derby Day was the perfect time to do that.

It would not be Derby Day without hearing Dan Fogelberg’s “Run For The Roses.”

On our wedding day, at our reception as part of the father of the bride toast, my Dad played “My Old Kentucky Home” on the harmonica. It was truly my past and future dancing together.