Life of JEM: My Life In The Inland Empire

A BLOG ABOUT THE ZANY CHILDHOOD AND ADULT ADVENTURES OF A GIRL FROM THE INLAND EMPIRE WHO MOVED OUT OF THE INLAND EMPIRE ONLY TO END UP BACK IN THE INLAND EMPIRE.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Lost and Found

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When asked if I have kids, I typically respond that I have two fur children, my Shih Tzus Frodo and Chewbaca. Oh wait, I almost forgot abou...

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Friday, December 24, 2010

A Mantz Christmas Story

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It is Christmas Eve and I am thinking of Christmases long, long ago. Maybe it was because we watched "Disney On Ice" and it remin...

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Girl Fight

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I have only been in three fights in my life (not counting family fights). The first ended badly, the second one was by proxy and the last t...

Monday, December 13, 2010

The Fun House Mirror Effect

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My seat wouldn't buckle on Sunday at Knott's Berry Farm. Hence, I am now officially a part of the humiliated fat person club along ...

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Saturday, December 11, 2010

My Fair IE girl

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They say you can take a girl out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the girl. There are numerous cultural interpreta...

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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Something About My Mother

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My mother is not the same mother she used to be. That's a good thing. Growing up in Ontario, our life was chaotic and to say my my m...

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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The Wrath of a Mother-In-Law

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I returned home from the party at Casino Morongo on Saturday around noon covered in puke and Sprite to find that my mother-in-law was not sp...

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About Me

Juanita E. Mantz (JEM): JEM's life story is the stuff that memoirs are made of. JEM went from punk rock high school dropout to corporate lawyer to rock star deputy public defender and nonfiction writer. JEM's stories, blog and video podcast document her journey so take a look! Her YA memoir, "Tales of an Inland Empire Girl", is available via Los Nietos Press (and through all national retailers). Her book tells the poignant story of her chaotic YA life growing up in the IE. Her chapbook, "Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender, or how I became a punk rock lawyer", was also released in Aug 2021 by Bamboo Darts Press. JEM is married to her wonderful husband Adrian who is a dentist. They have two Shih Tzus, Frodo and Chewbaca (Chewie to his friends). Her work has been published in Aljazeera, The Acentos Review, The Dirty Spoon Radio Hour, Entropy, As/Us, Inlandia, & Mutha magazine, among others. Go to her author website for more info at https://juanitaemantz.com. JEM is in the creative writing MFA low residency program at UNO. She has presented at AWP, Beyond Baroque and the UCR Punk Conference.

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