Weekly Wide-Awake #45

[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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Lent. Rhyme. Update.

Living the Comma #17

Pitches. Lent. Nadia Bolz-Weber.

As Lent begins, I want to share a Nadia Bolz-Weber project as possible writing inspiration, 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.”

You can also hear Nadia preach the sermon, Phosphorescence; a Sermon For Dark Times, and listen to, “When Shit Hits the Fan: A Conversation with Suleika Jaouad & Nadia Bolz-Weber” to learn more about Bolz-Weber and her work.

Read entire post here.

MONDAYS ARE FREE EXERCISES 181-185

Image. Events. Freedom. Rhyme. Call.

EXERCISE 185: WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE IN SONG!

Bopped a bit!

The earth is wobbling off its axis! Bopped a bit from its orbit! Scientists, dancers, and hummingbirds have collaborated on a massive study that shows we can get back on track if all the working people sing! Write a piece that summons every person from every walk of life all over the globe to sing. Use “Calling all…” as anaphora.

Calling the sun that courageously rises, Sing Along. Calling all mole rats that find warmth together, Sing Along./ Calling all tree roots that understand interdependence means survival, Sing Along./ Calling all wolves that travel in packs and howl truth, Sing Along./ Calling all irises that bloom in snow, Sing along./ Calling all stars that shine day and night, Sing Along./ Calling all beach glass that knows beauty in brokenness, Sing Along./ Calling all kaleidoscopes that celebrate shards and perspectives, Sing Along./ Calling all soil that nurtures life, Sing Along./ Calling all seeds that grow where they are planted, Sing Along./ Calling all candles that dance with flames, Sing Along./ Calling all diamonds, that alchemize strength, Sing Along./ Calling all poems that syllabize beauty, Sing Along./ Calling all balms that metabolize healing, Sing Along./ Calling all hymns that fill churches with hope, Sing Along.

Read entire post here.

Spit and Spaghetti #11

Pitches from Wind and Wall

Washingtonian

[A pitch I sent to an editor with whom I previously worked.]

“The Unspeakable Gift” was published in August of 2013. That was a different time in so many ways. I am reaching out with an idea that has been percolating. As you can imagine, I have a personal interest in the fundamental changes to our public health system — of which the NIH is a vital part — over the past year. I am curious if the Washingtonian would consider a story analyzing the impact of changes to research funding on the NIH’s work? My idea is to start with taking a look at the current state of the Turner syndrome research (It was one of the few places in the world studying the condition in 2013.) and then branch out into the current state of affairs and the broader implications for the health of our country and our world. “The Unspeakable Gift” shone a personal light on the NIH. There seems to be a timely need to tell the story – to once again make plain — the work of the NIH.

Read entire post here.

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