January | 2017 | A Peace of My Mind

Where do you stand?

January 31, 2017 by johnnoltner

***I just finished reading a book called The Nightingale. Nazi Germany rolled into France and caught its citizens by surprise. The world changed quickly and dramatically. The two main characters, sisters Isabelle and Vianne, come to a realization of what is happening in different ways…at different speeds. Isabelle is young and single. She responds to the horrors of war swiftly and boldly. She joins the resistance immediately and smuggles downed Allied pilots across the border into Spain. Vianne is focused […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: memphis, peace, refugee, Somalia, tennessee, transformation, Yemen

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Elaine Baker

January 29, 2017 by johnnoltner

Elaine Baker grew up in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Founded in 1887 by former slaves, Mound Bayou is the oldest self-governing all-black municipality in the United States. Elaine grew up in an era of segregation, with “white only” and “black only” signs in neighboring communities, though she didn’t experience day-to-day racism in Mound Bayou. She learned that her value and worth were not determined by others. As a young girl, she picked cotton for 2.5 cents a pound and went on […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: community, mississippi, mound bayou, principles, race, segregation, values

Sheila Goldtooth

January 22, 2017 by johnnoltner

Sheila Goldtooth teaches Navajo culture and philosophy at Dine College in Chinle, Arizona. She also works as a traditional healer for the Navajo Nation. Her interest in healing began at a very young age when she saw her uncle do the work. She apprenticed with him and now performs ceremonies and blessings for people to help bring them back into balance and harmony, particularly for young people who struggle to balance the pressures and competing demands of western and Navajo societies. […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: arizona, balance, children, chinle, culture, harmony, healing, Hogan, listening, native american, nature, Navajo, philosophy, traditional healing

What is your dream?

January 16, 2017 by johnnoltner

There is a typo on a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama. It’s in front of Brown Chapel, where the famed march from Selma to Montgomery began in support of voting rights. I was there a couple years ago to interview Joanne Bland who was on that march with Dr. King when she was 11 years old. The statue says, “I had a dream.” The line from his famous speech should read, “I have a dream.” […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: civil rights, Dream, History, lorraine, memphis, MLK, national civil rights museum, Selma

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Bud Welch

January 15, 2017 by johnnoltner

Bud Welch lost his only child, Julie Marie, in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. She had worked as a translator in the Alfred P. Murrah building for just five months when Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols blew it up in what remains our nation’s largest domestic terror attack. When Bud saw a news clip of McVeigh’s father, he saw a man who was as lost and broken as he was. Eventually he reached out to Bill McVeigh. The two men […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: death penalty, family, forgiveness, justice, oklahoma, oklahoma city, restoration, victim

Carl Kenney

January 13, 2017 by johnnoltner

Carl Kenney is a minister, author, advocate, teacher, and in his own words, a “prophet of the people.” He believes that we spend too much time and energy fighting one another because of our differences—with devastating and wide-reaching results. “I don’t have to tear you down for the sake of making me better.” My theology is rooted in the compassion of Christ. I’m a person who has experienced the love of God after having made my share of mistakes. I’ve […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: advocate, compassion, durham, faith, love, minister, North Carolina, religion

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Amy Robinson

January 12, 2017 by johnnoltner

Amy Robinson is a reporter for a weekly newspaper in Watford City, North Dakota—the epicenter for the oil boom in the Baaken Oil Fields, which took off just as the rest of the nation was in recession. With economic prosperity came social challenges—alcohol and drug abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence—as people flocked to the region for jobs. Like many other residents, Amy moved to Watford City for a fresh start. “The person you’re with shouldn’t make you cry more than […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: abuse, Baaken, divorce, domestic, North Dakota, relationship, struggle, Watford City

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Tony Thomas

January 10, 2017 by johnnoltner

Tony Thomas was born and raised in the Cumberland Mountains of eastern Tennessee. He worked in the coal mines and never finished high school. Tony records folk musicians in rural areas in an effort to preserve the local culture. He is also a singer and a songwriter himself. Tony says he has written more than 200 songs and when he dies, they are all going to be popular. “When something touches my life some way or has an impact, I usually write […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: appalachia, charity, clinton, community, cumberland, faith, folk, music, singer, tennessee, traditional

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Cesar

January 7, 2017 by johnnoltner

Cesar is an undocumented immigrant who lives in Riverside, California. He was born in Mexico and crossed the border on foot when he was 16 years old. On the journey, he was robbed, nearly died of dehydration, and was almost caught by border patrol agents. He works odd jobs and hopes to move toward citizenship one day. Although Cesar told me his full name, I have chosen to use only his first. “Everyone struggles. They need to get a job, […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: California, citizenship, community, ethnicity, immigration, nationality, Riverside

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Donna Watts

January 3, 2017 by johnnoltner

Donna Watts is president and CEO of the South Baldwin County Chamber of Commerce in Foley, Alabama. She has worked in business development for 30 years and takes great pride in helping people pursue the American Dream. Donna says the triple punch of hurricanes, recession, and the BP oil spill brought people in the region to their knees. She says there is a sense of community that develops through hardship after natural disasters but there is a different sort of frustration with […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: alabama, american dream, beach, community, compromise, foley, government, Gulf of Mexico, oil spill, power, privilege, protect, responsibility, struggle

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A Peace of My Mind

Building community and bridging divides through portraits and personal stories.

Monthly Archives: January 2017

Where do you stand?

Elaine Baker

Sheila Goldtooth

What is your dream?

Bud Welch

Carl Kenney

Amy Robinson

Tony Thomas

Cesar

Donna Watts