In it for the long haul
by johnnoltner
This morning our friends Jen and Greg started hiking 8.8 miles uphill toward Amicalola Falls in Georgia. When they reach the falls, they’ll keep going. Another 2,181 miles. If things go according to plan, sometime in the middle of October they will stand on the summit of Mt. Katahdin in the middle of Maine’s Baxter State Park. If things go according to plan, they will hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. Yesterday, Karen and I hiked a section […]
Categories: Uncategorized
Jarell Wilson
by johnnoltner
Jarell Wilson describes himself as black, gay, and Christian. He lives in the South and, at times, he struggles to balance these three identities in a society that he says doesn’t embrace two thirds of them. He believes that people often try to put identities into boxes, and that results in stereotypes that lead to stress and conflict. Yet, at the end of the day, Jarell finds beauty and peace all around him. He finds joy in each of these identities. “Peace comes from […]
Categories: Podcast • Tags: beauty, faith, forgiveness, gender, identity, joy, race, religion, round rock, sacred, texas
Time to shed a layer
by johnnoltner
In the summer of 2008 our family backpacked on an island off the coast of Maine. A small boat dropped us off, motored away, and retrieved us three days later. Our kids, Brenna and Jordan, were 10 and 13. We spent our days picking wild blueberries and wandering the rocky shoreline, imagining we were castaways, with really nice gear from REI. We watched the waves roll in and searched tide pools for signs of life. We weren’t quite alone. There […]
Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: backpack, crab, family, growth, island, maine, marine biology, molting, peace, shed, wilderness
Chris Brixey
by johnnoltner
Chris Brixey works as a paramedic, a ski patrol, and a wilderness EMT. He says that’s how he puts bread on the table and beer in the fridge. Some of Chris’s earliest and fondest memories are of pulling into a campground with his family and spending time outdoors. He says that a lifetime of satisfying experiences in the mountains have driven him to want more. “Every action has a root cause in either fear or love.” The mountains have always […]
Categories: Podcast • Tags: eavaluate, leavenworth, nature, outdoors, problem, rest, simplicity, solution, washington
Claudia Horwitz
by johnnoltner
Claudia Horwitz is founding director of Stone Circles at the Stone House, a 70-acre retreat center outside Mebane, North Carolina, dedicated to the support of people and organizations working toward social change. Claudia’s efforts grew out of an awareness that social justice work could exact a tremendous toll on people, and her desire to make the work of building social movements more sustainable. “There are ancestral, cultural, and political legacies that survive and thrive because they’re not interrupted with some kind […]
Categories: Podcast • Tags: balance, mebane, North Carolina, peace, process, social change, social justice, story
50 Years
by johnnoltner
Today is my 50th birthday. Karen and I just returned from Monmouth, Illinois where I did some programming with our new American Stories exhibit and packed it up to install at the next venue. After my gallery talk in Monmouth, a man walked up with a small, brown paper bag in his hand. He said, “You’ve given us a gift…and I’d like to give you one in return,” and handed it to me. I’m never sure if you’re supposed to […]
Categories: Blog • Tags: beauty, geode, Illinois, inside, monmouth, peace
Joanne Bland
by johnnoltner
Joanne Bland was 11 years old when she marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Heading from Selma toward Montgomery, the activists were committed to securing voting rights for all Americans, but on March 7, 1965, they were violently attacked by law enforcement officers. It became known as Bloody Sunday. I interviewed Joanne at her home in Selma in August 2015, just 12 days after Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri, and the city was gripped […]
Categories: Podcast • Tags: activism, alabama, civil rights, MLK, peace, race, Selma, social justice
I wish…
by johnnoltner
At the end of our dinner presentation at the Center for Transforming Communities, we closed with one final exercise. After hearing many of the inspiring stories from A Peace of My Mind, people are ready to dream big. We ask everyone in the room to take a piece of paper and finish this phrase: I wish…. They can finish the phrase any way that they like…we encourage them to aim high, and they often do. Everyone in the room feels […]
Categories: Blog, Uncategorized • Tags: art, commitment, community, listen, memphis, peace, transformation, wish
Eric Menzel
by johnnoltner
Eric Menzel always had a fascination with food. In the pursuit of healthier food and healthier living, Eric began farming on a small scale with his wife, Eve, in rural Iowa. Although he recognizes his new career will never make him rich, he has found meaning in his daily routine of hard work and healthy living. Eric finds peace through simple living that reflects his personal values. “You’re going to stumble and make mistakes but keep working toward creating a better result.” […]
Categories: Podcast • Tags: agriculture, community, farming, food, health, Iowa, simplicity, solon
