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.

Friday, August 31, 2012

The Greater Fool

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I just finished watching season one of HBO's show "The Newsroom". The show is about believing in the pursuit of truth. Will,...

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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

If humilation is good for the soul....

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If humiliation is good for the soul I am set for life. A couple of Fridays ago, I had a hemorrhage at a conference in Irvine. From my butt...

Thursday, July 26, 2012

The absence makes the heart grow fonder conundrum

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I am in Irvine all week on a conference for work. And, I am homesick. Very homesick. I am homesick for the sweet smell of my dogs and my h...

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Monday, May 7, 2012

Heartburn Part II

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Marriage is hard. So hard. I struggle to be a good wife. Truth be told, I don't even know what the term "a good wife" means...

Monday, April 23, 2012

Leopold the Cat

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I first saw Leopold in a Houston high rise. I was on lunch from my corporate law firm gig at Texas’ largest law firm. He was small and bl...

Monday, April 2, 2012

It's just a microwave

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My microwave is keeping me up. It broke today. It seems like everything is breaking. Our washer broke recently and then the television do...

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Taming of the Shrew

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The other morning at seven a.m., I had a meltdown in the driveway. Afterwards, images of my mother screaming at my dad in the front yard wh...

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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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