by johnnoltner
It was more awkward than I had imagined—as a white guy—to stand in the middle of a busy intersection to take a photograph of the Confederate statue. It was the reason we had come to town, to have conversations about monuments and race. But somehow, the moment I raised my camera, I felt conspicuous. It’s the same feeling I had when I pulled over in my pickup truck in Idaho and stepped out to ask the woman feeding her chickens […]
Categories: Blog
by johnnoltner
I suppose there is a line to be drawn from the Easter story to Dr King’s assassination in Memphis in 1968 to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis a year ago. Perhaps a learned theologian could articulate conclusions more clearly than me. Maybe a great philosopher could connect the dots in a way that would help everyone see the light. I’m still working on it. Last week I stood outside the Hennepin County Government Center at the start of […]
Categories: Blog • Tags: civil rights, Easter, George Floyd, Jesus, listening, memphis, MLK, truth
by johnnoltner
This one’s going to be raw and unpolished. What’s new, you might ask. As we pack up to leave southern Louisiana, my mind is full. It’s a complex region full of complex challenges. But like most things, these are not Louisiana’s problems. They belong to all of us. What follows is less journalism than it is reflection. It’s a Cliff Notes version of the science, history and sociology of the area, and for an outsider, I feel reasonably confident I […]
Categories: Blog • Tags: bayou, cultural, culture, delta, environment, History, indigenous, louisiana, Mississippi River, storytelling, stprytelling
by johnnoltner
20,000 miles. That’s how far we’ve driven since October to explore issues, listen to stories, and imagine new possibilities. All with our trailer / house in tow. We’ve stayed at state parks, horse ranches, RV campgrounds, and the back corners of distillery parking lots. We’ve met artists and activists, politicians and programmers, veterans and veterinarians. It’s true that our country is divided in many ways. Turn on the television and it doesn’t take long for both the rhetoric and your […]
Categories: Blog • Tags: America, dialogue, healing, justice, listen, peace, storytelling, travel, weavingcommunity
by johnnoltner
If you want to understand the world, get closer. Bryan Stevenson, of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy, talks about the importance of proximity as we try to grasp the nuanced realities of life. “If you are willing to get closer to people who are suffering,” Stevenson says, “you will find the power to change the world.” We have spent the last month along our southern border, trying to live and learn closer to the issues, putting […]
Categories: Blog • Tags: arizona, border, border wall, borderlands, Bryan Stevenson, immgration, mexico, proximity, storytelling
by johnnoltner
We left before the sun came up to meet Alvaro. It had snowed the night before and the roads were slow and icy. “Meet us in Amado,” he said. “By the big cow horns…you’ll see.” Alvaro Enciso is a 75-year old Colombian immigrant. He is an artist. He builds crosses and installs them in the Sonoran Desert where migrants have died trying to make the crossing into the United States. He has a list of more than 3,000 sites and […]
Categories: Blog • Tags: a peace of my mind, alvero enciso, amado, arivaca, arizona, bearing witness, border, death, immigrant, immigration, Josseline, migrant, no more deaths, samaritan, sonoran desert, storytelling, witness
by johnnoltner
Last week we set up a studio at a plaza in Nogales, Arizona, about a block away from the border wall. We asked people, “How has the wall impacted you?” The first person to stop by was Claudia. She was from Mexico, but had her U.S. residency and lived and worked in Nogales, Arizona. She had married Emanuel three years ago and his immigration process had been delayed, then stopped by covid-19. Emanuel still lived in Nogales, Sonora and was […]
Categories: Blog • Tags: arizona, border, border wall, immigration, nogales, storytelling, wall
by johnnoltner
“There’s a good chance you’re going to think I’m nuts,” I said to the Border Patrol agent as I walked up to his SUV, parked at the top of a hill, facing south toward the border wall on the edge of Nogales, Arizona. I’d been photographing along the wall, the rusted steel bollards thrust 20 feet toward the sky, cascading coils of concertina wire hanging from the northern side like combat zone tinsel. Scraps of the razor wire were strewn […]
Categories: Blog • Tags: a peace of my mind, arizona, art, border, border wall, concertina wire, immigration, installation art, mexico, militarization, nogales, peace, sonora, storytelling
by johnnoltner
The day didn’t go quite the way we had planned. I was with India Aubry of Voices from the Border and we were crossing into Nogales, Sonora, Mexico to interview Pancho, a street nurse who cares for migrants waiting south of the border for asylum hearings. We had directions and our plan was to meet Pancho at one of the migrant shelters to see his work and meet with some of the travelers. We drove through the Mariposa crossing on […]
Categories: Blog • Tags: a peace of my mind, asylum, border, border patrol, border wall, immigration, justice, mexico, migrants, nogales, separation, sonora, storytelling, weaving community
by johnnoltner
So here we sit, wedged in between two historic Wednesdays. A week ago, an angry mob stormed the U.S. Capitol while congress was in session to certify the results of our presidential election. And a week from now, Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. A few miles south of us crews are working overtime to build as many miles of border wall as possible before the end of this administration. 2,300 miles to […]
Categories: Blog • Tags: community, compassion, current events, History, truth, values, weaving community
