American Stories | A Peace of My Mind

A Guided Tour

June 8, 2017 by johnnoltner

We continue to add new stories to our website, and new resources to help foster meaningful discussion and dialogue. In case you are new to our website, or haven’t visited in a while, I want to walk you through some of what you’ll find. When you go to our home page, you’ll find the latest additions of stories and blog postings, and it will look like the image above. The navigation tools will remain the same (at the top of […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: American Stories, Blog, dialogue, discussion, peace, resources, tour, website

This will be short

December 16, 2016 by johnnoltner

Pardon the broad, sweeping generalizations…but here’s the thing… If all the non-white people are saying, “um…there are some issues we need to discuss regarding race.” And all the white people are saying, “Everything is fine…just get over it and let’s move on.” Then…we might have some work to do regarding race. If you don’t see it, consider who you are talking to about the issue. Last week I was artist-in-residence at the Everyday Democracy convening in Baltimore. I set up […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: American Stories, art, black and white, democracy, dialogue, healing, listening, peace, photography, portraits, race, social justice, stories

Rutgers University – Camden

December 7, 2016 by johnnoltner

Last week we set up a temporary studio and asked students at Rutgers University – Camden to respond to the following prompt: “Tell me a time when someone reached across a divide to build or heal a relationship with you.” Some of the responses are below. You can find the full collection on our Facebook page.

Categories: Blog • Tags: American Stories, Camden, college, healing, New Jersey, reconcilliation, Rutgers, stories

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Reconnect

December 7, 2016 by johnnoltner

One of the great joys of this project is encountering amazing people across the country and spending time together. We share an intense few hours talking about the big stuff, and then we make a portrait. One of the great challenges is that often I don’t ever see them again. Maybe I feel a bigger connection, because I spend so much time editing their story, but I’m never quite sure if the impact leaves such a big an impression on […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: a peace of my mind, American Stories, forgiveness, gang, Hashim Garrett, New Jersey, orange, peace, stories

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Listening

November 6, 2016 by johnnoltner

More than anything, I find that A Peace of My Mind is a project about listening. It’s a skill that’s in short supply these days. We listen with the goal of responding, correcting, debating, convincing or coercing, but what if we simply listened for the sake of understanding? And another thing… 😉 We are quick to point out things that are wrong…ways we have been disrespected, disappointed, offended, or made mad. Just look at your social media stream today and […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: American Stories, Augustana, black and white, community, Illinois, listen, photography, reconciliation, share, story, students

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Then there was none…

September 19, 2016 by johnnoltner

Asheville is out of gas. It’s gone. Sold out. Nada. Nothing. I rolled into town today and installed my exhibit at UNC. I hadn’t been paying attention to the news. I hadn’t heard that the Colonial Pipeline had ruptured in Helena, Alabama, effecting delivery from Houston to New York. I arrived with 1/8 tank of gas. My truck computer told me I could reach my destination and then some. I figured I would fill up once I installed the exhibit. […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: a peace of my mind, American Stories, APoMM, Asheville, gas, North Carolina, peace, road trip, shortage, stories

15 years

September 12, 2016 by johnnoltner

Like all of us, I have a clear memory of that day 15 years ago. I remember the replayed television footage, the quiet skies. I was scheduled to leave for Africa on September 17. So little made sense and even less felt certain. Since that day I have been to Ground Zero three times. The first time, it was still a construction zone. Most recently, we toured the moving museum at the site. We found the name of Thomas Burnett, who […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: 9-11, a peace of my mind, American Stories, APoMM, Ground Zero, healing, listen, Muslim, New York, NYC, peace, stories

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A Work in Progress

July 28, 2016 by johnnoltner

The Indiegogo campaign is complete. I am grateful for the patience, encouragement, and support that you all offered during the process. We closed the campaign two weeks ago and are now thick in the production process. The September 21 deadline is probably ambitious, but we are going to make it. Here’s a crash course in the editing process: Each of these interviews was roughly an hour long, recorded and later transcribed. An interview of this length generally transcribes to a […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: a peace of my mind, American Stories, APoMM, art, book, crowdfund, hope, Indiegogo, listening, peace, photography, stories

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Stories of Peace

July 10, 2016 by johnnoltner

We have one week left in our Indiegogo campaign to fund our book, A Peace of My Mind: American Stories. There’s work to do. We’d welcome your help to stand with us and do all we can to move toward peace and reconciliation in a difficult time. Help if you can. Share this message far and wide. Together we can turn ripples of hope into waves of compassion. Visit this link to help: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-peace-of-my-mind-american-stories/x/2664576#/

Categories: Blog, Video • Tags: a peace of my mind, American Stories, APoMM, art, book, crowdfund, dialog, healing, hope, Indiegogo, listening, peace, photography, race, restorative justice, social justice, stories, travel

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Don’t run

July 8, 2016 by johnnoltner

**Note** I remember on 9/11 I had a job photographing corporate headshots for a construction company. It was a full schedule, and the most surreal day I can recall as little snippets of the news filtered in. There was a weight in the air at the loss of life, yet they wanted to continue with the project, so I spent my day asking people to smile, when all I wanted to do was cry. Yesterday I had a deadline project […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: American Stories, APoMM, healing, listening, peace, photography, race, reconcilliation, social justice, sojourners, stories

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	johnnoltner on Tyrone Werts
	Tammy Wall on Tyrone Werts
	MaryAnne Gale on Peg Carlson-Hoffman
	johnstevenhergert on Peg Carlson-Hoffman
	Julianne on A Guided Tour

A Peace of My Mind

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

Tag: American Stories

A Guided Tour

Rutgers University – Camden

Reconnect

Then there was none…

15 years

A Work in Progress