Living the Comma #39

[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 #39

Good Shit. Grace. Nadia Bolz-Weber.

Suleika Jaouad — “If you could offer one permission slip to everyone in the thick of it, what would it be?”

Nadia Bolz-Weber — “You have permission to experience joy right now. It’s ok. I know all the stuff. I know all of it is happening, but you have permission to notice whimsy. To experience joy. Its ok. Despair’s not gonna fucking save our asses, but joy might. Insisting on beauty and joy might.”

Hello Writer Friends,

I participated in Nadia Bolz-Weber’s project, 40 Days of Good Shit (a lenten discipline for cranky people.) She describes the Good Shit Project saying,

“Each day in Lent (which starts Wednesday, Feb 18th), I’ll either: Take one photo of something beautiful I notice in my day—like how the light comes through our front room in the afternoon, or Write one sentence about a warm interaction with a stranger—like the guy in the hospital elevator who asked which floor I was going to and pushed the button for me, or Post something helpful someone said to me that day—like the six-word prayer my friend Jackie just shared: I can’t. You can. Please do.”

We are living through a tough time for so many reasons. This project was a daily deep breath. It was a lesson in finding what we seek. It was a way into paying attention to life’s fullness. The humor. The details. The cracks. The tenderness. The sweetness. The brokenness. The wholeness. The curiosities.

Lent ended and I have not been as diligent in finding “good shit.” I feel a little less anchored. It is such a simple exercise. Taking pictures. Posting notes. Pausing in the midst of hurry. Listening in the midst of noise. Creating in the midst of destruction. Hope in the midst of fear.

I have an opportunity to write about Nadia Bolz-Weber for a women’s group of which I am a member. I am going to take the next few weeks and share what I am learning as I write my piece.

Conversations With Authors: Nadia Bolz-Weber, Part I

Craft Advice with Nadia Bolz-Weber

On finding the one thing that needs to be said, letting go of attachments, writing to break your heart, writing from our wounds, laying yourself bare, writing about other people, and getting unstuck.

“I’ve been told I wasn’t the first person to say this, but I don’t know who was: I try to preach from my scars and not my wounds. But I have amended it, I actually can preach from my wounds. I just don’t ever preach about my wounds. If you’re going be self-revealing, you have to understand why you’re doing it. If I’m doing it just because it feels therapeutic to do it, that’s a journal. And that’s fine, but I’m not journaling.

I have to do it because I’m hoping it creates a space around me that other people can step into to consider what that honest thing about them might be. It’s that form of leadership I’ve always called “screw it. I’ll go first.” I want people to have a response about themselves. If what they have instead is a reaction about me, I might not have done it right.” – Nadia Bolz-Weber

Read the entire Jane Ratcliffe’s Beyond interview.

Does Religion Still Matter? Nadia Bolz-Weber on Faith & Forgiveness | Soul Boom with Rainn Wilson

“The point of gravity in modern spirituality is grace.” — Nadia Bolz-Weber

Listen to the conversation here.

When Shit Hits the Fan: A Conversation with Suleika Jaouad & Nadia Bolz-Weber

“Sometimes we need a dark sky to remind us that we are small, that time is deep, and that wonder does not need us to manufacture it.” — Nadia Bolz-Weber

Listen to the conversation here.

A Writing Prompt

Jane Ratcliffe — “A lot of writers read Beyond. Is there a writing prompt you could offer that you find helpful?”

Nadia Bolz-Weber — “It depends on what kind of writing you’re trying to do. But if I get really stuck, I will write a letter to a friend of mine about how frustrated I am about not being able to write this thing, and how I want to write it. I will write a complaint addressed to another person in order to trick myself out of being stuck.”

I am going to trick myself into finding “good shit” again. I am going to examine how grace might enter my everyday. I am going to read and write toward humor and love.

Come along with me.

From the heart of the comma,

Katie

Thank you for Living the Comma with me. Face-to-Face meetings resume in September. Stay tuned. Subscribe to the Wide-Awakeness Project and share your light. It has never been more important.