A Peace of My Mind

on the road…and why

August 2, 2018 by johnnoltner

This morning was an early start. I like to get out of the city before rush hour ramps up. Three sleepy people in a truck. Trailer hitched behind us. All headed west. In 1,529 miles we will be at Holden Village in the Washington Cascades for my fourth year running as part of the teaching staff. My social media stream will be quiet for a couple weeks. There is a lot of community at Holden Village, but not much technology. […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: connect, exhibit, holden village, peace, stories, travel

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Leah Prussia

July 13, 2018 by johnnoltner

Leah Prussia grew up in a primarily German-Norwegian family, but as an adult, she embraced her Anishinaabe heritage, as well. Leah holds a master’s degree in social work and works as a college instructor and clinical social worker. She has struggled with depression for much of her life. When she finally found the right combination of therapy, medication, and spiritual practice, she says, “it was like seeing color for the first time.” “When I’m not healthy, how can I be […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: depression, heal, healing, identity, lonlieness, mental illness, Minnesota, spirituality, sturggle, therapy

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Kerem

July 4, 2018 by johnnoltner

Last week I met Kerem. A friend of a friend, he was a Turkish photojournalist until it became unsafe to be a Turkish photojournalist. Kerem got a green card when that was easier to do. He sold all his belongings and moved to the United States with his wife and twin boys. They went first to Rochester, MN to be close to other family who had settled there and just last month moved to the Twin Cities in search of […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: book, greencard, immigrant, Istanbul, photography, refugee, Syria, Turkey

Andrea Cano

June 29, 2018 by johnnoltner

Andrea Cano trained to be a hospital chaplain in Portland, Oregon after working in journalism and nonprofit administration. She followed her passion to be with people when they are at their most vulnerable, to help them deal with their own suffering and healing. “We become so much about human doings, we forget to be human beings.” We’ve got to stop drawing lines in the sand and find moments of being together. Peacemaking, for a lot of people, is a very […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: brokenness, community, oregon, portland, together, tragedy, vulnerability

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Howard Zehr

June 22, 2018 by johnnoltner

Howard Zehr has been called the grandfather of the restorative justice movement: the notion that justice can be about repair, responsibility and healing rather than just punishment. A retired professor from Eastern Mennonite University, Howard is an accomplished photographer and author who has published several books including Doing Life, a collection of stories and portraits of life term prisoners. “I often talk about three core values of restorative justice: respect, responsibility, and relationship.” “I think there’s a human need for […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: crime, forgiveness, Harrisonburg, healing, justice, law, prisoner, punishment, restorative, Virginia

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Father’s Day

June 17, 2018 by johnnoltner

It’s my third father’s day without my dad, and just yesterday I finally dropped off a stone to be carved for his marker. It took a while, but like he told me once, some things take time. I’m not always a patient person. I get frustrated as I learn a new skill and progress is never as fast as I’d like it to be. It was in high school that he gave me that little gem. I was practicing a […]

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Fiona Orr

June 15, 2018 by johnnoltner

Fiona Orr, fifteen-years-old, is home schooled in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she volunteers regularly at the Omni Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology where she has found positive adult mentors. Fiona draws and paints. From a very young age, she liked to put beautiful things on paper so that other people could see the same beauty she did. “Yes, you’re one very small person, but you can always make a difference.” Teenagers sometimes aren’t paying attention, but it’s because we often don’t get paid […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: arkansas, beauty, dialogue, fayetteville, intergenerational, justice, youth

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Eugene Joe

June 8, 2018 by johnnoltner

Eugene Joe is a Navajo sand artist who lives near Shiprock, New Mexico. At an early age, Eugene’s grandfather helped him discover his gift of art. His grandfather would send the boy to meditate on a nearby hill and say, “You have a gift that’s inside of you. Go there and find it.” “Your creator gave you a special tool in your life. To find that is to learn how to face the reality of life.” In the time of wagons and horses and […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: art, creativity, creator, discipline, focus, gift, meditation, nature, New Mexico, shiprock

Penina Bowman

June 2, 2018 by johnnoltner

Penina Bowman was 17 years old when soldiers showed up at her home in Hungary and told her family they had 20 minutes to pack their bags. They were told they were being sent away to work, but the train brought them to Auschwitz. Penina lost her parents and 42 other relatives to the Holocaust, but she and her three siblings survived. She credits her sisters and her faith for her survival. “Having something to believe in helped us survive. […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: atlanta, Auschwitz, belief, family, forgiveness, georgia, hate, Holocaust, relationship, strength, survival

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Walton’s Warriors

May 25, 2018 by johnnoltner

As we move into the Memorial Day weekend, I am aware that I don’t personally know anyone who died in military service. Nobody. I certainly know women and men who have served, even though less than one percent of our population has done so. I know people who have been injured both physically and emotionally through the experience of combat, but I haven’t known anyone who has died in military service. Last week I was in Grand Lake, Colorado for […]

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A Peace of My Mind

Exploring the meaning of peace, one story at a time.

what does peace mean to you?

on the road…and why

Leah Prussia

Kerem

Andrea Cano

Howard Zehr

Father’s Day

Fiona Orr

Eugene Joe

Penina Bowman

Walton’s Warriors