A Peace of My Mind

Erica Hernandez

June 8, 2021 by johnnoltner

In honor of Pride Month, we are sharing this conversation with Erica Hernandez from Yuma, Arizona. We talked about her work as a youth minister in the church, her journey as an ally for her trans child and her volunteer leadership for PFLAG, an advocacy group offering support to LGBTQ+ people and their parents, family and allies. If you or a loved one are struggling with orientation or identity, or would like to learn more as an ally, resources and support […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: ally, lgbtq, PFLAG, pride, support

Leave a comment

What centers you?

June 4, 2021 by johnnoltner

In the midst of life’s storms, what brings you comfort? In the noise of daily life, what delivers calm? When you are feeling uncertain, what returns you to the values that you know are at the core of who you are? For many of us, the past 16 months or so have been unsettling. Uncertain. As we are pushed and pulled by the news of the world and personal circumstances, it becomes more important than ever to return to your […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: centering, nature, renewal, respite, retreat, rural, rv

Graham Bodie

May 28, 2021 by johnnoltner

I’ve gotten to know Graham Bodie over the past year as I’ve gotten involved as a coalition partner for The Listen First Project, a group of organizations focused on using dialogue to heal the social fabric of America. Graham is a Chief Listening Officer of Listen First Project and also a professor of integrated media communications at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. “Swapping stories can certainly be helpful. But what typically is more helpful is to allow that […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: bridge building, dialogue, listenfirst, mississippi, oxford, polarization, politics, storytelling

Leave a comment

Mississippi update

May 26, 2021 by johnnoltner

Last weekend a friend texted me a photo of three statues on the back of a flatbed truck in Columbus, Mississippi. It was the start of relocating a 32-foot tall Confederate statue from in front of the Lowndes County Courthouse to a new site across town in Friendship Cemetery, where more than 2,000 Confederate soldiers are buried beside 100 or so Union soldiers. It’s interesting to see in his photo, the new Mississippi state flag as well, that just started […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: change, civil war, columbus, Confederate, History, memorial day, mississippi, race, storytelling

Leave a comment

You are not alone

May 20, 2021 by johnnoltner

One of the great joys of the journey is running into kindred spirits on the road. An unexpected sense of community. The welcome realization that you are not alone. I’ve met artists reveling in the quirky charms of life. Storytellers amplifying powerful and necessary narratives, and travelers seeking beauty and wisdom in unlikely places. You are not alone. The angry voices of the world are loud. They demand your attention. Media platforms echo the corrosive bile and they consume your […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: #listenfirst, #NWOC, listen first

Leave a comment

Joe Hill

May 13, 2021 by johnnoltner

Joe Hill is from the Seneca Nation. He traveled to northern Minnesota to a Water Protectors camp north of Palisade, to protest an oil pipeline that will cross the Mississippi River and many others. He spent the winter there living in a yurt and said he had come to support an Indigenous women-led movement, to live simply, and to exercise his obligations under the Great Law of Peace. “There are very few opportunities to come together and do something selfless […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: environment, indigenous, pipeline, seneca, storytelling, treaty rights, water protectors, women-led movement

Leave a comment

Water is Life

May 5, 2021 by johnnoltner

I spent last week in northern Minnesota with a camp of Water Protectors along the Mississippi River. The Indigenous, women-led movement is currently working to stop construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline. I went, specifically because I wanted to learn more. I went because I want to get better at hearing Indigenous voices. I went because I have heard the Water Protectors called radical, and I’ve been around the block often enough to know that when that word is […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: environment, indigenous rights, mississippi, oil, protest, water protectors

Leave a comment

Lydia Koltai

April 28, 2021 by johnnoltner

Lydia Koltai is a mother, an herbalist and a civil rights activist in Oxford Mississippi. She is active in a local movement to remove a Confederate statue from the lawn of the local courthouse. “If something bothers you, if you know something’s not right, you have the power to work towards making change. You don’t just have to sit back and be upset about things, but you actually have the power to impact your community “I’m kind of drawn to […]

Categories: Podcast

Leave a comment

Signs of the times

April 26, 2021 by johnnoltner

It was a quiet drive from Oxford to Sumner, Mississippi. Karen was busy and I drove the 70 miles by myself. I don’t think I said more than a few words all day. Mostly, I read signs. And I’m going to let the signs do most of the talking today. A sign in front of the Tallahatchie County Courthouse says: “Emmett Till Murder Trial. In August 1955 the body of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black youth from Chicago, was found […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: Emmett Till, History, Lynching, mississippi, race, storytelling, Tallahatchie River

Justice

April 20, 2021 by johnnoltner

It stopped me in my tracks. On Sunday, we visited the Peace and Justice Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. It pays tribute to the 4,000 plus Black people who were lynched in America during a campaign of racial violence that has changed over time, but never really ended. Above your head as you walk through the memorial, large steel beams are suspended, engraved with the names of the victims and the county in which they were lynched. Along the walls are […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: blm, George Floyd, justice, Minneapolis

← Older posts

	미국 국경에 세워진 비시민권자 추모… on Alvaro Enciso
	Ronald Gardner on Alphonso Brown
	Ronald Gardner on Alphonso Brown
	johnnoltner on What centers you?
	lisa1951 on What centers you?

A Peace of My Mind

Building community and bridging divides through portraits and personal stories.

what does peace mean to you?

Erica Hernandez

What centers you?

Graham Bodie

Mississippi update

You are not alone

Joe Hill

Water is Life

Lydia Koltai

Signs of the times

Justice