Living the Comma #11

[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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Large Enough Language. Showing Up. Keeping a Notebook. Loving Hard.

Dear Writer Friends,

Thank you for another wonderful writing session yesterday. We played the game Writing Dice (gifted by Pastor Matt) to create our prompt and discussed an On BeingConversation with poet David Whyte — “Seeking Language Large Enough”. In the midst of all that is — the weight of daily overwhelm, the competing demands of time and attention, the desire to stay home and binge watch a season of my latest salve — I am always heartened by our time together. It all seems less heavy when we gather and write. I truly appreciate your presence on this journey.

Our next face-to-face writing session will be Sunday, February 1st. We are scheduled to meet from 12:15 to 1:30 (I am changing our schedule a bit in response to group needs.) in March, April, and May, too. To virtually connect with the group during our meetings, use this link — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85095318186.

This week, I am thinking about the effort it takes to simply show up. To show up to the page. To show up in body, mind, and spirit to life. To show up in relationship to myself and others. The prompt I want to share comes from the 30 Day New Year’s Project in Suleika Jaouad’s Isolation Journals newsletter, “Here Come the Warm Jets”. It is about the relationship between listening and showing up. Joan Didion reflects about showing up in our writing in “On Keeping a Notebook”. Jimmy Santiago Baca’s [It would be neat if with the New Year] beautifully describes what it means to “love hard”. Showing up is the heart of loving hard.

Again, thank you for showing up. 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.

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