By Norris Burkes Jan 31 2021 Working for a small county hospice in rural northern Calif., I’ve been privileged to get my first COVID vaccine. The “Victory Vax,” as I call it, emboldened my wife to send me out for a haircut. “The peach fuzz around your collar is beginning to bear fruit,”
By Norris Burkes Jan 24, 2021 It’s a harried morning in my hospice office as I prepare for my daily home visits. I organize papers, make phone calls and update patient charting notes. I print patient “face sheets” that give me their home address, family names and diagnosis. Through phone calls, I’ve scheduled three home
By Norris Burkes, Jan 17, 2021 In 1976, I cast my first vote in a presidential election for Jimmy Carter. My vote was the naive choice of a 19-year-old ministerial student. As a Baptist attending Baylor University, I assumed I should vote for a fellow Southern Baptist. It made sense to me that our government could
Listen to Chaplain Norris tell the story By Norris Burkes, Jan 10, 2021 If you’re wondering why the stores are out of toilet paper again, it may be because a certain chaplain you know stole at least one package last week. My story starts at the Bank of America, just across the street
By Norris Burkes Jan 3 2020 My brother Milton, the one I called “Brotherman,” died from COVID last month. I know that’s not the optimism that should start a New Year’s column. But to adapt a car slogan, “This ain’t your father’s New Year’s cheer.” Unless of course, your father lived through the 1918 influenza
