Introducing...Patrick!

Hi y'all!


So that Esther and I are not completely disembodied voices over blogs and emails over the next several months, we thought we would take some time to introduce ourselves to you. 


My name is Patrick Burrows and I am a rising second-year student in the Master of Divinity program. I was raised as a Southern Baptist, after a rough patch in high school was confirmed in the Episcopal Church during my first year in college. Though I am an M.Div. student, I am not (currently) seeking ordination, but  planning on doing doctoral work after YDS. I get really excited about social ethics, especially as it relates to womanism and queer theory. Outside of the classroom, I am the New Initiatives Officer in the YDS Committee on Community Engagement (which plans the Day of Service among many other things) and a member of the LGBTIQA Coalition. I play trumpet in Marquand Chapel services on occasion. I work with the Office of Alumni Relations, helping to plan events and fundraising. I will be doing an internship with a nonprofit somewhere in Connecticut (doing interviews right now!) next year.

All dressed up at a formal

I am a born and bred Southerner, having grown up in Asheville, North Carolina and having gone to college at the illustrious University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. UNC is in my opinion the greatest university of all time in the entire universe (feel free to disagree, but you won't win), where I studied linguistics and French. In the year between graduating and coming to YDS, I served as a fellow in the Life Together program, the Boston iteration of the Episcopal Service Corps, a social justice corps with sites all across the US. For all of you who are as afraid as I was about New England winters, I promise that you will survive. There are plenty of people here who will show you the way (tip #1: long underwear). And if nothing else, global climate change is making winters milder...womp womp.

Holi celebration

Fun (?) facts about me: I am addicted to dried tart cherries. My love of craft beer was not born in Asheville (Beer City USA), but has been greatly encouraged by being from there. I am a 6 on the Enneagram and an ENFP on the Myers-Briggs. I have read The Alchemist so many times that my notes in the margins make it hard to read the text. I am a convert to Christianity: ACC basketball was my first religion. I had a Gold Season pass to Dollywood (yes, Dolly Parton's amusement park in Sevierville, TN) growing up. I carry a Tide To-Go pen with me everywhere I go, because I cannot make it through a day without spilling something (usually coffee) on myself.


I am so excited to get to introduce y'all over the next few months to YDS, Yale, and New Haven: your new home for the next year, two, or three!




In peace,
Patrick