Out and About Sacramento
A hearty congratulations to our own Norris Burkes, author of Inside’s “Spirit Matters” and the self-syndicated column “Spirituality in Everyday Life,” which appears in 35 papers nationwide. The retired military chaplain is the recipient of the 2019 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award sponsored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
In his columns, Burkes has written extensively about the humanitarian project Chispa, which sponsors children’s libraries in Honduras and equips them with quality books in Spanish.
Out and About: The Grid
A hearty congratulations to our own Norris Burkes, author of Inside’s “Spirit Matters” and the self-syndicated column “Spirituality in Everyday Life,” which appears in 35 papers nationwide. The retired military chaplain is the recipient of the 2019 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award sponsored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.In his columns, Burkes has written extensively about the humanitarian project Chispa, which sponsors children’s libraries in Honduras and equips them with quality books in Spanish.
Signing Off
In October 2001, Tom Clifford, a newspaper editor in Florida, asked me to write a spiritual response to the 9/11 tragedy.
“That’s easy,” I said. “I’ll whip that right up.”
Actually, I didn’t say that.
I struggled, dug into my soul and eventually pulled together a few hundred words. And I was humbled by the response.
Book Smart
My dad warned me about letting people know what books I read.
“Be careful who you allow in your library,” he said. “Parishioners may judge you by your book titles.”
Dad was my pastor. I followed his advice and footsteps, mostly, until I began writing a column.
For the past 15 years, I’ve told readers about my favorite books. I don’t read many religious books, which means some people may judge me. That’s OK. Here are my titles from 2025:
Let’s start with John Green, a former pediatric chaplain and author of the 2012 young adult fiction bestseller, “The Fault in our Stars.” This year, he produced an excellent nonfiction work, “Everything Is Tuberculosis.”
