A Peace of My Mind

Grief

April 18, 2021 by johnnoltner

My heart is heavy. It’s the news. It’s the trial in our home town for the death of George Floyd. It’s Daunte Wright. It’s Atlanta. Kenosha. Indianapolis. It’s gathering stories under the shadow of a Confederate statue. It’s visiting lynching sites. But it’s more than that. It’s how quickly each event is spun and re-spun, then spun again. It’s how animosity instantly takes root in the space compassion should claim. It’s how tragedies are weaponized and turned on the victims. […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: civil rights, EJI, grief, justice, Montgomery, peace, Selma

Oxford, Mississippi

April 14, 2021 by johnnoltner

A Peace of My Mind visited Oxford, Mississippi’s country courthouse, where a contested Confederate statue stands at the center of the town square. We asked people, “What does this statue mean to you?” Over two afternoons, 36 people chose to participate and these are the stories they shared.

Categories: Blog • Tags: Confederate, History, mississippi, oxford, public art, race, storytelling

Statues

April 12, 2021 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

How can we help?

April 10, 2021 by johnnoltner

How can we help? It’s a question people have asked for years about A Peace of My Mind and I never had a good answer. Until now.

Categories: Project Updates • Tags: donate, help, hope, listening, nonprofit, storytelling

Truth

April 4, 2021 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

Peyton Scott Russell

April 3, 2021 by johnnoltner

Peyton Scott Russell is a Minneapolis graffiti artist and street artist who painted a 12′ x 12′ black and white spray paint portrait of George Floyd during the curfew and installed it at the bus stop at the intersection of 38th and Chicago, where Floyd was killed by police on May 25, 2020. “Graffiti is the voice of people. I don’t want to go into it too politically because it really resides with the individual and what they’re trying to […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: George Floyd, graffiti, Minneapolis, peyton, protest, storytelling, street art

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

Where the water meets the land

March 14, 2021 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

Will Snowden

March 6, 2021 by johnnoltner

Will Snowden received his law degree from Seton Hall Law School in New Jersey and worked as a public defender in New Orleans. Through his work in the justice system, he became concerned with weaknesses in our jury system that led to a lack of diversity in jury members and ultimately, unjust outcomes. In response, Will established The Juror Project, whose mission is “to change the makeup of juries to better represent the American population and the communities most commonly […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: a peace of my mind, juror, jury, justice, justice system, New Orleans, prison, prisoner, social issues, social justice, storytelling, Vera

20,000 miles

March 4, 2021 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

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