immigrant | A Peace of My Mind

Sebastian Quinac

February 24, 2021 by johnnoltner

Sebastian Quinac immigrated from Guatemala in his 20s to flee the civil war and threats to his life. After time in California and New York, he settled in Tucson, Arizona where he has lived for the past two decades. He is now a U.S. citizen and works with the Guatemalan consulate to help migrant families navigate the American immigration system. “One of my friends is a psychologist. And he said, if you go back to Guatemala, I’m sure you will […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: a peace of my mind, advocacy, border, consulate, Guatemala, immigrant, immigration, migrant, storytelling

Josseline

February 9, 2021 by johnnoltner

We left before the sun came up to meet Alvaro. It had snowed the night before and the roads were slow and icy. “Meet us in Amado,” he said. “By the big cow horns…you’ll see.” Alvaro Enciso is a 75-year old Colombian immigrant. He is an artist. He builds crosses and installs them in the Sonoran Desert where migrants have died trying to make the crossing into the United States. He has a list of more than 3,000 sites and […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: a peace of my mind, alvero enciso, amado, arivaca, arizona, bearing witness, border, death, immigrant, immigration, Josseline, migrant, no more deaths, samaritan, sonoran desert, storytelling, witness

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

Julissa Arce

September 6, 2017 by johnnoltner

Julissa Arce came to the United States when she was 11 years old and became undocumented at age 14 when her visa expired. She paid for a college education by operating a funnel cake stand and graduated with a degree in finance. Using false papers, Julissa landed an internship at Goldman Sachs, was offered a full-time job, and was eventually promoted to vice president. Today Julissa is an American citizen and advocates for immigration reform. “I believe that it’s in gratitude that you […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: American, California, citizenship, DACA, fear, freedom, hollywood, identity, immigrant, immigration, jobs, undocumented, wall street

If we don’t who will?

November 15, 2016 by johnnoltner

It’s a week after the election and I still don’t have the answer I’ve been looking for. My candidate lost. There were plenty of things I didn’t love about Hillary. She is too hawkish for my taste, too corporate. But I voted for her. She won in my state of Minnesota. She won the popular vote in the nation, but in the electoral college…where it matters as we’ve set up our institutions…she lost. So we can talk about strategy. We […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: bully, citizens, election, Hispanic, humanity, immigrant, internment camps, LGBT, marginalized, Muslim, protect, Trump, United States, vigilant, women

	lisa1951 on Statues
	Heidi on Peyton Scott Russell
	lisa1951 on Truth
	dvalerian on Peyton Scott Russell
	johnnoltner on Elaine Baker

A Peace of My Mind

Building community and bridging divides through portraits and personal stories.

Tag: immigrant

Sebastian Quinac

Josseline

Kerem

Julissa Arce

If we don’t who will?