Living the Comma #35

[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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Living the Comma #35

Teddy Bears. Joy Harjo. Hands.

Trust in the value of making things. Not just in the value of the things you have made.” — Maggie Smith

Dear Writer Friends,

I have been a part of making teddy bears for families impacted by our broken immigration system since March of this year. The group just celebrated its one year anniversary. It has made well over 1000 bears for Atlanta families between June 2025 and June 2026. Thus far, I have been a stuffer in the world where some people cut, some people sew, and some people stuff. (I imagine I will branch out to other tasks as our needs grow and my skills develop.) It is important to get out of my head and connect with my hands. It is important to gather with loving people. It is important to be a part of creating something soft in this incredibly hard time.

Making bears makes me a better writer. Let me explain. (I think the same could be said for any time we create with our hands.) When I stuff bears, and sit in the circle with other bear makers, I am completely present. I am paying attention to the moment and to the bears and to the others around me. (Presence and attention are essential for good writing, and require practice.) When I make bears, I am using a completely different part of my brain. The part of my brain that makes things. That part of my brain that slows down. The part of my brain that focuses on doing something — anything — to lessen the cruelty of our world. The part of my brain beyond words and sentences and punctuation. I am a better writer after I take a break from my screen.

The value of the teddy bears — the experience of making them — can be understood by hearing a story from May’s bear-making event. That afternoon, two people representing an organization that accompanies people through the immigration court system spoke to us about giving bears to families. Children having something to hold. Humanity seen in the context of inhumanity. Simple acts of love in the simplest of ways.

Conversations with Poets and Authors — Joy Harjo

I became aware of Joy Harjo in May in 2021 when she sat down for a conversation with Krista Tippett at On Being, “The Whole of Time.” The introduction to the On Beingconversation explains, “ ‘Though we have instructions and a map buried in our hearts when we enter this world,’ the extraordinary Joy Harjo has written, ‘nothing quite prepares us for the abrupt shift to the breathing realm.’ She is a saxophone player and performer, a visual artist, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. She opens up with Krista about her life, dreaming as a way of relating to time and place, and the story matrix that connects us all.” Check out the conversation here.

Praise the Rain

Praise crazy. Praise sad./ Praise the path on which we’re led./ Praise the roads on earth and water./ Praise the eater and the eaten./ Praise beginnings; praise the end./ Praise the song and praise the singer.// Praise the rain; it brings more rain./ Praise the rain; it brings more rain. — From Joy Harjo’s “Praise the Rain”

Read my thoughts on this poem.

Grace

I could say grace was a woman with time on her hands, or a white buffalo escaped from memory. But in that dingy light it was a promise of balance. We once again understood the talk of animals, and spring was lean and hungry with the hope of children and corn. — From “Grace” by Joy Harjo

Read my thoughts on this poem.

Joy Harjo and Tracy K. Smith “This world is full of everything good, everything beautiful.”

Listen to the entire talk here.

A Writing Prompt

Think about something you can make/have made/might make with your hands. [A meal. A scarf. A still life. A table. A bowl. A garden. A teddy bear.] Tell the story of the making. Describe the why, the context, the process, the product, the result. Consider how it feels to use your hands and get out of your head, to create something, to build something. What did you learn in the process?

I will make more bears this month. (I stuffed 26 last week.) I will create something to share in the world. I will spend time with my circle who make bears, too. (I am new to the group, and it already feels good.) Find something to make. Get dirty. Get lost. Get close. Measure and knead and rise. Hammer and nail and build. Return to writing with a clear mind, bringing something new to the world.

From the heart of the comma,

Katie

Thank you for Living the Comma with me. This community is truly love and light. Subscribe to the Wide-Awakeness Project and share your light. It has never been more important.