Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jeremy Norton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jeremy, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
My father demonstrated dedication and focus–to a detrimental degree, really–raising us in the two years between our mother dying and him remarrying. He worked hard & steadily his entire career: that was his purpose. He taught me that doing the right thing isn’t fun but it IS right. (He also, in his human failings, taught me that people are complicated and flawed.)
My dead mother’s sister–my aunt–came into my life when I was 22 and adrift. She lost half her family in a short span, between the ages of 20 and 25 her sister, mother, and one brother all died, and she dedicated her life to caring for others as a nurse, an AIDS specialist, a hospice nurse, and a psychologist. She finds joy and meaning in this world despite AND because of her broken heart, and that inspires me.
All the folks we encounter with our work as firefighters: their struggles and survival inspire and instruct me. It pushes me to handle and work through my own issues when I see how much other people are enduring.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a 20+ year member of the Minneapolis Fire Department; I’ve been a Captain (in charge of a rig, crew, and station) since 2007–with two years a level higher, as a Battalion Chief, which I left because I missed serving the public directly. I was a school teacher before I became a firefighter, and my nerdy mind and teacher’s training has sought to make sense of what we do, how we do it, and the bigger picture.
I’ve written a book about my experiences: TRAUMA SPONGES: Dispatches from the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response. In it I examine how the 911/emergency response system works (and doesn’t work); the sociology of emergency response (who gets help, how they receive the help, and who does the helping); the ways that race, class, and gender shape our responses; and the challenges of a career spent in the suffering of others.
jeremynorton.info
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Read and think: be inquisitive and flexible. Challenge your assumptions AND stand up for what is right. I am curious and skeptical, willing to challenge things that seem inaccurate–but I’m also willing to adjust or correct my own beliefs when I learn something that deepens or corrects my understanding.
I constantly evaluate what I think/believe against what I’m seeing in the world/culture around me, looking for deeper meanings and connections, and slicing at the lies or deceits that keep too many people comfortable.
Within emergency response, I feel it is essential for workers to really consider how the system got to be the way it is. The simple appearances conceal generations of structural inequity, often. If we don’t examine, we perpetuate the lies.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
James Baldwin’s essays (‘Notes of a Native Son’; ‘The Fire Next Time’; ‘Nobody Knows My Name’) broke apart my understanding of America’s racial sickness and white supremacist delusional hypocrisy. His eloquence and wisdom make for enlightening reading, but the accuracy of his insights fifty-plus years ago are both prescient and haunting.
Contact Info:
- Website:jeremynorton.info
- Instagram: @prolixgringo
- Facebook: Jeremy Norton
- Twitter: Threads: @prolixgringo
Image Credits
All photos mine; 38/Chicago image taken by Carly Danek
