By Norris Burkes June 26 2023 Have you ever witnessed a reluctant child standing outside an open kindergarten door? The child’s arms are wrapped around the legs of a parent, not wanting to cross the threshold of learning. If so, you’ll know the point of view I enjoyed last week from inside Chispa Project’s newly
By Norris Burkes Oct 24, 2021 We’ve all watched the news stories of Honduran families making the treacherous journey across our southern border. So today, I have only two questions. First question: What makes them take such a risk? Why do they trek thousands of miles through harsh weather, violence and rough terrain? Why
By Norris Burkes April 11 2021 Think about that moment in childhood when a scary noise sends you diving under your bed cover. Then, with trembling hands, you shine a flashlight into the room and find renewed confidence to venture out. That’s how I feel as my wife Becky and I board a plane to
BY Norris Burkes, Aug 21 2020 Over the years, people have asked me if I dance, and I often reply, “No, I’m a Baptist.” “What does that have to do with your dancing ability?” they’ll ask. My answer comes from the lyrics of George Michael’s 1981 hit song Careless Whisper – “Guilty feet have got
By Norris Burkes May 15 2020 Can you remember where you were as our world began to tilt? I was at Republica De Francia, a Honduran elementary school deep in the gang-ridden neighborhood of Honduras’ capitol, Tegucigalpa. I was there with two dozen of my readers to help Chispa Project establish their largest library yet,
By Norris Burkes May 1 2020 Recently returned from Honduras, I feel a headache developing. A quick thermometer check prompts a call to my doctor’s COVID-19 advice line. I press all the options in the phone tree until a nurse finally answers. When I report my fever of 100.3, her triage questions become more focused.
By Norris Burkes, April 3 2020 Five years ago, I wrote a book called, “Thriving Beyond Surviving.” The book is a compilation of my columns organized by themes. These days, I’m challenged to live by my own advice. If I ever republish the book, I may consider the titillating title, “Seven F-Words I Live By,”
Reader note: I wrote this on Tuesday and on Wednesday Becky and Sara caught a last minute flight. They are home! By Norris Burkes 27 March I returned home from Honduras last week with the nagging suspicion I was missing something. Turns out I was. And I still am – my wife, Becky. As you may
By Norris Burkes Sept 22 2019 If you knew what you were going to die from, would that change the way you live? It’s a question I faced in the summer of 1999, when my Air Force doctor, a graying 50-something flight surgeon at Patrick Air Force Base, brought me in for my pre-deployment physical. Talk
By Norris Burkes Sep 1 2019 FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS I’ll begin my annual book review column with a random question: Can you guess what the biggest natural disaster was to ever hit California? If you said the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, you’d be wrong. If you’ll read “The Big One: How Natural Disasters
19 May 2019 By Norris Burkes Do you ever find it helpful in risky situations to disregard worrisome thoughts and push yourself past tragedy, pain, and danger? Some call that approach denial, but sometimes denial can be a helpful tool when one opposes traffic of impossible odds. Denial is a tool I look for in
By Norris Burkes Mar 10, 2019 It’s Monday and my wife, Becky, and I board a plane flying south to Honduras. From several thousand feet aloft, we cross a border that, according to The New York Times, “76,000 migrants crossed without authorization in February ... approaching the largest numbers seen in any February in the last
