Living the Comma #27

[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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Ragtime. Transcendence. Presidential Poetry.

Beyond that road,/ Beyond this lifetime,/ That car full of hope/ Will always gleam/ With the promise of happiness/ And the freedom we’ll live to know/ We’ll travel with/ heads held high/ Just as far as our hearts can go/ And we will ride,/ Each child will ride/ On the wheels of a dream! — “Wheels of a Dream,” from Ragtime

Dear Writer Friends,

I saw the musical Ragtime on Broadway this past weekend. The Lincoln Center’s (the venue where the show is being staged) website describes the show saying,

Ragtime is a sweeping musical adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s novel that follows three fictional families in pursuit of the American Dream at the dawn of the 20th Century: Black pianist Coalhouse Walker, Jr. and his beloved Sarah, Jewish immigrant Tateh and his little girl, and a wealthy white family led by matriarch Mother. All grasping for the same dream, if only they can hold on to it.

To say this show is timely is an understatement. At this time when imagining our beyond is both vital and impossible, when hope’s headlights have dimmed, when carving the better angels of a more perfect union has left us weary and mad and questioning, this show reminded me of my 8 year-old self, who wrote poems in secret red folders and sang songs at the top of her lungs, who filled notebooks with brave love notes and biographies and performed musicals to earth shattering applause, who rode on the wheels of dreams with her body, mind, and spirit. Much of who I am today — my desire and passion and curiosity — comes from the childhood space of strength and creativity and joy.

Ragtime is an invitation. It is an invitation to be seen and heard. It is an invitation to teach our children well. It is an invitation create the world in which we want to live. It is an invitation to connect with one another and remember. We are one. From wherever. Praying to whomever or no one at all. Speaking whatever language we speak. Being whomever we are. Loving whomever we love. Holding. Creating. Imagining. We are one.

Our final in person writing session before we take a summer break is this Sunday, May 3 at VHC after snack time from 12:15 to 1:30.

Our Weekly Writer’s Hour will resume in fall.

One Year of The Book of Alchemy

Suleika Jaouad’s The Book of Alchemy is celebrating one year since its publication. It has been an invaluable guide for my journaling practice since its publication last April. In the spirit of my post-Ragtime transcendence, I am sharing a prompt from The Book of Alchemy that directly asks us to translate the magic of magical moments into words.

Prompt 324. Anthems by Jon Batiste

Information superhighway or pasted logos of it on compact discs and t-shirts. Our ancestors used music as a way to communicate deep truths, hidden messages, collective wisdom and unspoken joy and pain. But even in the modern realm, at its best, music remains a divine source. We still get glimpses of that power from time to time from our great artists, and these moments frame our lives.

Your prompt for the week:

When was the last time you experienced art that transcended enjoyment and overwhelmed you with its power. How would you translate that magic into words?

If this hasn’t been an experience you’ve had—make it up.

Poetry Might Save Us Now

Considering Inaugural Poetry During National Poetry Month

Poetry sculpts words. Poetry builds hope. Poetry restores faith. United States Presidential Inaugural Poetry can focus our gaze on our better angels — above the cruelty of dehumanization, above the violence of war, above the stench of corruption. Looking at Presidential Inaugural Poetry — which is historically rare and uniquely significant — provides a path to hope, peace, and justice. [Note: Before doing this work, I had always assumed all, or at least most, Presidents had Inaugural Poets. That is just not the case.]

Presidential Inaugural Poetry is a balm in times of pain, a meditation on our best selves, and a vision toward truth and beauty. It reminds us that our words elevate hearts and minds and actions. It reminds us that our collective wounds can be beautifully healed. It reminds us of inspiration and imagination and interdependence. I hunger for moral leadership. I thirst for the more perfect union aspired to and written about for more than two centuries. I crave what I feel when I read Inaugural Poems — the thought that we might not only survive, but thrive.

Read entire post here

Places like churches and writing groups are spaces for dreams and connection and transcendence. A deep safe breath. A beautiful story container. A traveler’s respite on a long road. A thoughtful place to explore faith and doubt, life and death, harmony and dissonance. A dance between what is and what can be. A song of I am and Not yet.

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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