On Saturday, October 21, 2023, Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais was packed for Jeremy Norton’s author talk on “Trauma Sponges: Dispatches from the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response”. Jeremy read a few excerpts from his book and went through an array of systemic problems that he has noted since 1999 within the firefighter/EMT occupation. He also shared that unlike what the general public thinks, it is less fighting fires all the time and more first responder responsibilities since firefighters are generally the first team to arrive at the emergency location. Norton has been a Minneapolis firefighter/EMT since 2000, captain since 2007, and promoted to Battalion / District Chief in 2015, but demoted himself back to captain in 2017.

To learn more about Jeremy Norton, why he demoted himself, and his book "Trauma Sponges: Dispatches from the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response”, check out an exclusive interview here.

To learn more about Drury Lane Books, visit: https://drurylanebooks.indielite.org/