story | A Peace of My Mind

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

Millersville University

September 24, 2018 by johnnoltner

At Millersville University, we partnered with the Intercultural Center to ask students, “What is the unique opportunity or challenge of talking about race at this moment in history?” With a studio one day, quick overnight production, and a lecture on our second day, we were able to use our model of storytelling and photography to reflect their stories back to them. It’s a process that allows a community to reflect, refine and articulate their vision in a way that can […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: black and white, challenge, hope, millersville, opportunity, photography, quote, race, story

Ray Padre Johnson

February 26, 2018 by johnnoltner

Ray Padre Johnson served as a medic in the Vietnam War. He worked as a cowboy on ranches in Wyoming’s Wapiti Valley, and discovered his love of painting. He spent a dozen years traveling the world, living in 159 countries, where he ate with people, danced with them, and got to know them. Padre painted the portraits of more than 500 people from that experience and assembled them into a book called Journeys with the Global Family. “Our responsibility is to […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: cody, friendship, perspective, story, veteran, wyoming

Claudia Horwitz

February 14, 2017 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

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

We did it!

October 1, 2016 by johnnoltner

Tuesday night was a great celebration of a long effort to produce our new book, A Peace of My Mind: American Stories. Thanks to everyone who came out to Squirrel Haus Arts for the release party. There were people who’ve been in my books, people who helped support and fund the books, friends, family, and more. If I could judge it right from up front, there were smiles, tears, nods of understanding. Neal Hagberg provided great music to balance and […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: book, books, community, justice, love, peace, photography, relationship, social justice, spiritual, stories, story, travel

Retreat repeat

February 19, 2016 by johnnoltner

Last year I taught a 2-day retreat at Prairie Oaks Institute with musician Neal Hagberg and facilitator Chris Johnson. It was a pilot of sorts and we weren’t sure what to expect as 15 strangers gathered in the comfortable space together. As we found our rhythm, the result was rich conversation and positive reviews. In fact, the main comment we heard as people headed toward home was, “I wish this had been longer.” So we listened. We are hosting our […]

Categories: Blog, Events • Tags: Chris Johnson, dialog, John Noltner, listening, Neal Hagberg, peace, Prairie Oaks Institute, retreat, story, workshop

	Heidi Currier on Jeff Rennicke
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	johnnoltner on Logistics

A Peace of My Mind

Building community and bridging divides through portraits and personal stories.

Tag: story

Millersville University

Ray Padre Johnson

Retreat repeat