oregon | A Peace of My Mind

Zachary Pierce

October 9, 2021 by johnnoltner

Zachary Pierce is a member of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe. At three weeks old, he was adopted by an English and German mother and an Irish father. Zachary spent more than a decade on the streets of Corvallis but viewed COVID as an opportunity to reset. He used it as a filter that allowed him to keep what he wanted and discard the things that no longer helped him. He is now housed and ready to accomplish things that he […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: a peace of my mind, adoption, corvallis, covid, homelessness, housing, indigenous, oregon, peace, reset, society, storytelling

listen

July 24, 2021 by johnnoltner

We spent a few days with the Corvallis Daytime Drop-in Center, a resource hub to help connect people with services and resources around housing security. We set up our studio and asked, “What do you want people to know?” The goal is to craft an answer that is 25 words or less, so that the text fits on the person’s portrait. But of course there is so much more to say than that. So in between portraits, we hung out […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: a peace of my mind, corvallis, homelessness, housing, housing crisis, listen, oregon, peace, portrait, social issues, story, storytelling

How’s the weather?

July 16, 2021 by johnnoltner

We camped along a wild and rugged stretch of the Oregon coast last week. Cape Blanco is the westernmost tip of the state and if you head directly west from there, the next land you hit will be somewhere near the northern islands of Japan. The wind comes in hard and fast with nothing to slow it down for 5,000 miles. There’s a meteorological phenomenon called the marine layer that happens at the coast. When the cool ocean air meets […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: fog, oregon, social issues, stories, weather

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

Benita Alioth

January 11, 2018 by johnnoltner

Benita Alioth moved back to her childhood home just before Christmas 2007 to care for her aging mother. On October 22, 2008, she woke to her mother’s call for help. The house was on fire. When Benita tried to pick up her mom, they both fell to the floor and were engulfed in flames. She wasn’t able to save her mother. Benita was in a coma for 12 weeks with second and third degree burns over 48 percent of her […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: beauty, injury, oregon, Poetry, portland, struggle, tragedy, vulnerable

RaShad Arnold

December 28, 2016 by johnnoltner

RaShad Arnold is a social worker for a nonprofit agency in Portland, Oregon. In his free time, he writes and records rap music he describes it as “music you can play in front of the entire family.” RaShad remembers having “the talk” with his parents about what to do if he were ever pulled over by a police officer. Although he has never been cited for more than a parking ticket, Rashad has been pulled over multiple times for what he calls “driving while black.”

Categories: Podcast • Tags: ethnicity, freedom, oregon, portland, race, respect, stereotype

	Barney Lerten on Ken Craft
	Derek O Thompson on Bits and Peaces
	johnnoltner on Bits and Peaces
	lisa1951 on Bits and Peaces
	Wise Hearted on It’s hard work

A Peace of My Mind

Building community and bridging divides through portraits and personal stories.

Tag: oregon

Zachary Pierce

Andrea Cano

Benita Alioth

RaShad Arnold