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.
In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.
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Weekly Wide-Awake: Perhaps The World Ends Here
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The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.
Joy Harjo
I paid attention to a social media post from a friend this week. She referenced the Joy Harjo poem, Perhaps the World Ends Here. Harjo places the kitchen table at the center of our lives. Joy and Sorrow. Life and Death. War and Peace. Feast and Famine. It all happens there. I am thinking about kitchen tables this week. As Thanksgiving comes and goes. As the holidays are here. As rituals remain and change.
As we all situate ourselves during this time when so many carry so much, I ask myself some questions. I consider the wisdom shared in Gratitude Conversations. I offer a Thanksgiving prayer. I think about acceptance, grace, and grief. I remember life’s gifts.
It makes sense that Harjo invokes the power of the kitchen table in her words. Kitchen tables are a powerful place. Kitchen tables are powerful enough for emotions and prayers. Kitchen tables are powerful enough to champion love. Kitchen tables are powerful enough to hold the world.
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About Katie
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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.