Uncategorized | 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Jillian Peterson

March 26, 2021 by johnnoltner

Jillian Peterson teaches Criminology and Criminal Justice at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She co-founded The Violence Project with James Densley and they have compiled the most comprehensive mass shooter database in order to better understand the phenomenon and prevent future tragedies. “One of my goals is to convince people that violence prevention is a way that we lead our lives every day. It doesn’t have to look like we think it looks. Preventing violence is really just about human connection […]

Categories: Podcast, Uncategorized • Tags: criminology, Hamline, mass shooter, prevention, storytelling, violence

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Alvaro Enciso

February 13, 2021 by johnnoltner

“So now the secret is out. The Sonoran Desert is beautiful, absolutely gorgeous. The fauna and the flora and the light and everything. People come from all over the world to photograph it, to spend time there, to hike, but this beautiful landscape has a secret. Inside this lovely land, this Garden of Eden, people are dying every day. People are being arrested. People are being treated badly. And no one seems to know that.” Alvaro Enciso has been placing […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: alvaro enciso, arizona, border wall, borderlands, colombia, crosses, death, Hispanic, immgration, migrants, sonoran desert, storytelling, tucson

Lee Bennett, Jr.

January 9, 2021 by johnnoltner

Lee Bennet, Jr. grew up a few blocks away from Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and is a long-time member of the congregation. A retired Army officer, Lee spent several years as Deputy Chief of Staff of the White House Drug Control Policy Office and currently serves as a volunteer historian for his church. Mother Emanuel has weathered a long legacy of challenges around issues of race, including a 2015 attack by white supremacist Dylann Roof that […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: a peace of my mind, Charleston, Mother Emanuel, tragedy, whit supremacy

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Taking our time

November 22, 2020 by johnnoltner

We are easing into this new lifestyle of being mobile and gathering new stories. Our month-long residency in Parkersburg, West Virginia was a model for what I hope we can do more of going forward. Of course, COVID is going to have to play out and it will impact the way we are able to engage with programming, but in this case, we were able to operate safely and remain distanced as we did our work. We spent four weeks […]

Categories: Uncategorized

	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.

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Erica Hernandez

What centers you?

Graham Bodie

Mississippi update

You are not alone

Joe Hill

Jillian Peterson

Alvaro Enciso

Lee Bennett, Jr.

Taking our time