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.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Waitress daze

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I always judge my friends on how they treat waiters and how they tip. If someone is rude or doesn't tip well then I have a hard time re...

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Saturday, August 16, 2014

This Old JEM

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My husband and I went to the Greek Theater last night to see a band called Grouplove. I don't listen much to new music. I'm your t...

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Saturday, August 9, 2014

Restless Soul

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I feel restless today. Something is in the air. This has been a hard couple months but as usual things are bad until they're not. The...

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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Showing up

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There is something to be said about just showing up. About being there. Right now, I am not the nicest person to be around. I feel like I ...

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Finding My Musical Religion

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If I could write perfect memoir it would have music embedded into it. One would read a bit of my childhood and young adult memories with a ...

Friday, July 4, 2014

Fourth of July

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"On the stairs, I smoke a cigarette alone/Mexican kids are shooting fireworks below/Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July/Hey baby/Baby...

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Wonder Woman

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Today is a good day. I feel that I have come through the wringer and am dry. There are no more tears to be shed. Or lost dreams to mourn....

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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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