[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: Forward Into That Light
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,/ praise song for walking forward in that light.
Elizabeth Bishop
Election Day is coming up and I need inspiration and peace of mind. (Perhaps we all need inspiration and peace of mind.) My historian friends remind me of the power of remembering our past. My artist friends remind me of the power of words and images and music and movement to soothe and comfort. So, I turn to poetry. Specifically, poetry from past presidential inaugurations. This poetry is about hope and memory, healing and future, our natural world and our highest aspirations. This poetry reminds me of the better angels of our country at a time when I have so many questions about where to find what we love in common. This poetry lifts me up, fills me up, reminds me.
I ask myself what can I do. Am I exercising, writing, and eating well? Am I getting as much sleep as my mind will allow? Am I consuming information that informs and does not deflate? I voted last week and I will be driving people to the polls on Election Day.
I need to breathe into this moment. In an effort to breathe, I found poems from the inaugurations of John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton (both 1992 and 1996), Barrack Obama (both 2008 and 2014, and Joe Biden, 2020.) They are reminders of different times. They comfort me.
As we head in to the next few weeks, I am holding my nation and my world close to my heart. I am thinking about volunteering for Barack Obama in Indiana in 2008. I am thinking about the privilege of voting. I am thinking about the energy of the Women’s March in DC and the hopefulness of that day. I am thinking about the work that needs to happen beyond Election Day. Ultimately, that is comforting, in the way that morning and dawn are inherently optimistic. I am reminded that only love can drive out hate. That is what I see happening all around me when I pay attention. That is what I know will happen when we listen deeply and connect with one another. In the spirit of all who have given so much, all who have lost so much, and children who deserve to inherit a better world, let’s move forward into that light.
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.
