Weekly Wide-Awake #47

[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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Aliveness. Re-writes. Beltline Art.

Living the Comma #19

Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefullness, and gratefullness is a measure of our aliveness.

― Brother David Steindl-Rast

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you VHC Writing Group. I am profoundly grateful. Our writing group is a measure of our aliveness. As the buds burst on the trees, aliveness is all around. As I note “40 Days of Good Shit” as part of Nadia Bolz-Weber’s Lenten project, aliveness is all around. As young adult artists embrace our church and encourage a dialogue about love, aliveness is all around. Gratitude for everything is aliveness — paying attention, truth telling, and deep connection is aliveness. It is the elemental understanding of oneness, interdependence, and complexity. It is the alchemy of joy, sorrow, and healing.

Read entire post here.

MONDAYS ARE FREE EXERCISES 191-195

Re-writes. A Phone Number. Darkness. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

EXERCISE 191: ENGAGE THE ORIGIN, PART I

re-write the first

Re-write the first poem you ever wrote.

[I re-wrote the first MONDAYS ARE FREE exercise — a poem about lucky writing stuff.]

A desk of my own. Enough table for a cat to nap between my chest and keyboard when I type. Enough notebooks to stop and start and stop again, and again, and again. Enough gel ink .5 pens to write every story I ever imagine. Enough natural light to stay focused when my mind wanders. Enough coffee to get shit done. Enough headphones to listen to news and music in my mind’s background. Enough clean contacts to see clearly. Enough prescription glasses to see when I rip or loose a lens. Enough snacks close by to energize. Enough chairs to sit for hours. Enough core strength to keep my lower back happy. Enough wrist strength to write for hours. Enough crystals and stones to balance my energy. Enough internet to remain connected. Enough pictures on the wall to ground. Enough books on the shelf to remind. Enough candles to inspire. Enough space to invite conversation. Enough bees to pollinate flowers. Enough butterflies to break free. Enough laughter to hold sadness. Enough tears to heal the hard parts. Enough scar tissue to prove we can heal. Enough music to dance and dance and dance. Enough stars to navigate darkness. Enough clouds to know rain and shine.

Read entire post here.

Taking A Walk #1

Forward Warrior, Ma’at, and Just a Girl

A few years ago, we moved to Atlanta. We decided to live in Ponce City Market — a “live, work, play” space near the center of the city. Ponce City Market sits on the Atlanta Beltline — a 20ish-mile interurban trail that will connect Atlanta’s central core when it is completed in a few years. One of the reasons we chose to move to Atlanta was the “walkability” provided by the Beltline. One of the reasons we decided to live in Ponce City Market was its location on the Beltline.

I have explored most of the Beltline’s nooks and crannies. I have celebrated when new sections open, participated in races that occur on its busy thoroughfare, marveled at the trees, and paid attention to the flow of its public art.

Read entire post here.

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