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how it all started
Our Story.

In the Spring of 2005, our founder Johnny Stallings gave two performances of his solo version of Shakespeare’s King Lear at Two Rivers Correctional Institution, a state prison near Umatilla, Oregon. After each performance, he talked with the imprisoned community members in the audience. In the Fall of 2005, he gave two performances of Silence, and in the Spring of 2006, he gave two performances of Hamlet. The discussions after the shows were so extraordinary and at the request of the men in the circle, Johnny proposed to the prison administration that he facilitate weekly dialogues with the incarcerated population.

With financial support from Jerry Smith and the Jerry & Donna Smith Family Foundation, in July of 2006, Johnny began regularly facilitating weekly dialogues,

“The Stories We Tell Ourselves: How Our Thinking Shapes Our Lives.”

the creation of open hearts open minds

Mr. Stallings formalized this work by founding Open Hearts Open Minds. Open Hearts Open Minds had its first board meeting on July 26, 2007, at which bylaws were adopted and officers elected. On December 26, 2007, the IRS granted Open Hearts Open Minds 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt status as a public charitable organization.

Members of Johnny’s dialogue group asked if they could put on a play. And so they began rehearsals for a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In the Fall of 2008, they gave four performances for their fellow residents and two performances for the invited public, which included members of their families. This was the first time that incarcerated people in an Oregon prison performed a play by William Shakespeare. Since then, an annual play has become a tradition at Two Rivers Correctional Institution.

From this beginning, OHOM continues to evolve and grow.

men linking arms dressed up as soft, fuzzy lambs
Actor in Raven costume

a special note on love from our
founder Johnny Stallings

I'd like to talk about love
and so I shall
not the fascinating question of the relation between love and sex
but another kind of love:
unconditional love for everyone and every thing is such a love possible?
that's an open question
but surely it is possible to have this as an aspiration
for our love to grow and grow as we go along on our life journey
it is good to begin with this axiom:
we are one human family that means:
all children are our children
all children are our children
every child, everywhere in the world
if you accept this as true, then war becomes impossible
unthinkable
for whenever we drop a bomb on our so-called "enemies" we would at the same time murder some of our own children
surely we don't want to do that
it's much more pleasant to have no enemies
there's no one to fear
we can live in love
the preamble to the UNESCO constitution says:
"wars begin in the minds of men"
so, that's where they must end, too
we can end the wars within ourselves
by doing our own inner work
the other kind of war—between nations and groups of people—
ends with acts of imagination, informed by love
by the knowledge that each person's life is as limitless and precious as our own
if we don't imagine that we have enemies, we don't have enemies
this is true, because we are one human family
and all children are our children
we have no enemies
there is no "other"
there is no scapegoat upon whom to project all our sins
we are not born in sin
(every newborn baby proves Saint Augustine was wrong about that)
we are born in love
we grow in love
that's why we came here
to love and be loved
that's why we came to this earth
that's why we came to this room
love has no limit
it has no beginning or end
to quote the Bible:
who loves not, knows not God
for God is love
Jesus enjoined us to love our neighbors as ourselves
and to love our enemies
if you love your enemies, they are no longer enemies
they are friends
brothers and sisters