A Peace of My Mind

Nathan Sheppard is a Lieutenant in the Portland police bureau. He is a father. Both he and his wife of 21 years are Army veterans who were psychological operation specialists.  Nathan was happy to share his story, but he made a clear distinction that although he worked as a police officer in Portland, he was not talking to me as a representative of the police department, but rather as Nathan.  He...

Natalie Brewster Nguyen is an artist, a mother, a social justice advocate, a business owner, a writer and a sex worker. I met her in Tucson, Arizona. Because of COVID, I interviewed Nat outside on a windy day, in a busy neighborhood, so the sound quality is challenging, but the conversation is powerful and interesting. Thanks for listening to A Peace of My Mind's podcast. For photos, videos,...

Kate Adair lives in a women's shelter in Corvalis, Oregon, as she works toward more stable housing. We spoke of her journey that led to homelessness, her love of singing, and her desire to once again have a kitchen for cooking, a bathtub and a door that locks. I met Kate at the Corvalis Daytime Drop-in Center. Thanks for listening to A Peace of My Mind's podcast. For photos, videos, and...

Sean Davis is a writer, a veteran and a wildland firefighter. He lives in McKenzie Bridge, Oregon. In the summer of 2020, the McKenzie River Valley was devastated by a forest fire that quickly burned 174,000 acres and destroyed more than 500 homes. Sean says he has been to the apocalypse four times. He has seen difficult things and you will find that he shares those stories candidly. You will also...

Charlene Wicks is a snowbird. Originally from Eugene, Oregon, she has spent the past 23 years at the Gila Mountain RV Resort in Yuma, Arizona, and now she works there part time. She was working the front desk when I checked in. She said, "Come on...hop in the golf cart and I'll show you where your spot is. But don't tell your wife you're on a hot date!"  Between that and t...

Francisco Olachea "Pancho" Martin is a street nurse in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico and works with Voices from the Border to support migrants waiting for their asylum hearings. We talked about his desire to change people's moments in the midst of difficult circumstances, his determination to pursue a nursing degree in his 50s, and the difficult realities he must accept while working in p...

Paul Kaye is the President of Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens and the President of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness in Los Angeles, California. We talked about the labyrinth as a meditative tool, the richness he found in the altered rhythms of the pandemic and the need to find joy even as we care deeply for the needs of the world. Thanks for listening to A Peace of My Mind's...

Noemi Aidee Tungui Aguilar comes from the Purépecha people of Michoacán , Mexico .  She is an activist and an educator, on a journey to celebrate her culture that was nearly wiped out through colonialism. I met Noemi at a Water Protectors camp near Palisade, Minnesota where she went by the camp name Luna. She traveled there from her home in California to protest the construction of the Line 3 pipe...

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...

Kristen Sandstrom is a self-professed word geek. She is an avid reader, writer and seller of books. I interviewed her in Bayfield, Wisconsin. We talked about her love for Lake Superior, her understanding of community and the ways she has moved toward healing after surviving trauma in her teens. Thanks for listening to A Peace of My Mind's podcast. For photos, videos, and additional content, v...

Jeff Rennicke is a writer, a photographer and a storyteller in Bayfield, Wisconsin. He is the Executive Director at Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore . We talked about his history as a freelance travel writer, his desire to sink deeply into the landscape and history of the Apostle Islands and his practice of seeing the world in new ways through photography. Thanks for listening to...

Lori Schneider has climbed the tallest mountain on all seven continents, a feat she accomplished while being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. We talked about finding strength in the face of skeptics, the meditation of climbing, and her choice to be happy. You can learn more at her websites, http://lorischneider.net/ or http://www.empowermentthroughadventure.com/ . Thanks for listening to A Peace...

Bazile Panek is majoring in Native American Studies at Northern Michigan University. He is an enrolled tribal member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Red Cliff, Wisconsin. We talked about his pride in his heritage and traditions, his research exploring opportunities for traditional values to help decolonize entrepreneurship and the ways his academic pursuit of Native American Stu...

Tania Aubid is an Anishinaabe woman involved in the Water Protector movement resisting the Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota. We talked about her work as a water protector, the need for allies in the movement and the ways she hopes to speak for other voices that are not heard.  Thanks for listening to A Peace of My Mind's podcast. For photos, videos, and additional content, visit our webs...

Ken Craft is the founder and CEO at Hope of the Valley rescue mission. I interviewed him at the Alexandria Park Tiny Home site, the largest tiny home community in the state of California. At that site, there are 103 tiny homes, 200 beds, toilets, sinks, laundry facilities and services. As Ken says, "Anything and everything that somebody would need to overcome the barriers that are preventing...

Rev. Andy Bales is the president and CEO at Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row in Los Angeles, California.  We talked about his father's experience with the devastation of homelessness, the current housing crisis in Los Angeles and his own change of heart that led him to this work. Thanks for listening to A Peace of My Mind's podcast. For photos, videos, and additional content, visit our w...

Vincent Turner once lived on the streets of Los Angeles, in a liquor store parking lot. He tried to build barriers to keep others out because he was disappointed with himself. He knew he was hurting himself and he didn’t like hurting others. When he was ready for change, he used the one bus token in his pocket to go to the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row. They took him in, he worked through their...

Neal Moore is a journalist, an adventurer and an expatriate. He is in the midst of a two-year journey, paddling 7,500 miles across the United States. I met him in a coffee shop—by chance—in Columbus, Mississippi and we found time the next day to do an interview. We talked about the logistics of his journey, difficult childhood memories, and his determination to spin challenging moments into a posi...

In honor of Pride Month, we are sharing this conversation with Erica Hernandez from Yuma, Arizona. We talked about her work as a youth minister in the church, her journey as an ally for her trans child and her volunteer leadership for PFLAG , an advocacy group offering support to LGBTQ+ people and their parents, family and allies. If you or a loved one are struggling with orientation or identity,...

Graham Bodie is a Chief Listening Officer of Listen First Project and also a professor of integrated media communications at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. I’ve gotten to know Graham over the past year as I’ve gotten involved as a coalition partner for The Listen First Project , a group of organizations focused on using dialogue to heal the social fabric of America. This con...

Joe Hill is from the Seneca Nation. He traveled to northern Minnesota to a Water Protectors camp north of Palisade, to protest an oil pipeline that will cross the Mississippi River and many others. He spent the winter there living in a yurt and said he had come to support an Indigenous women-led movement, to live simply, and to exercise his obligations under the Great Law of Peace. We talked about...

Lydia Koltai is a mother, an herbalist and a social justice activist in Oxford, Mississippi. We talked about her efforts with others to move a Confederate statue from the courthouse lawn, to commemorate lynching victims from the area, and how the notion of reparations could lead to healing for our nation. Thanks for listening to A Peace of My Mind's podcast. For photos, videos, and additional...

Peyton Scott Russell is a Minneapolis graffiti artist and street artist who painted a 12' x 12' black and white spray paint portrait of George Floyd during the curfew and installed it at the bus stop at the intersection of 38th and Chicago, where Floyd was killed by police on May 25, 2020. We talked about his experience growing up as a biracial child, finding his voice as an artist and t...

Will Snowden received his law degree from Seton Hall Law School in New Jersey and worked as a public defender in New Orleans. Through his work in the justice system, he became concerned with weaknesses in our jury system that lead to a lack of diversity in jury members and ultimately, unjust outcomes. In response, Will established The Juror Project , whose mission is “to change the makeup of jurie...

Gary Paul Nabhan is an ecumenical Franciscan brother who does cross cultural collaborations for environmental and social justice and caring for creation. He is known as a pioneer in the local food movement and has lead the effort to save heirloom seeds. An Arab American, he has a great love for desert environments and lives in the desert overlooking the Santa Cruz River Valley near Patagonia, Ariz...