What a fig tree taught me about the fragility of life

[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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What a fig tree taught me about the fragility of life

“Grow back? You don’t know that!” I shot back, and looked to my dad for backup. After all, he was the one who had called these landscapers. “It’ll grow back,” he said quietly.
In this country, many of us can take so much for granted in normal times. We assume that there will be a tomorrow, or a next week, or a next year for us. We go to bed assuming our families and friends will remain in our lives. We assume that our economy will work the same as it always has, that there will be classrooms to send kids to, that we can travel and socialize and live as we always have.
I assumed that my fig tree would always be lush and beautiful and there to give me a sense of hope and rest. But the pandemic has shown us: Life and its beauty can be gone in an instant.
Karen Attiah

What a fig tree taught me about the fragility of life