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.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

That joke isn't funny anymore

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As I listen to my mother in law snoring, I think about where I am. Where I've been. And, where I'm meant to go. I sit legs outstretc...

Friday, September 23, 2016

Confessions of a Goth Girl Turned Lawyer On All Hallow's Eve

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I love Halloween. Let me repeat that. I love Halloween. I love the pumpkins on doorsteps, the skeletons hanging from doorways, the witches w...

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Friday, September 9, 2016

Dreamland

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They tell me I have anemia and they prescribe iron which causes constipation which causes in turn, a urinary track infection. They give me p...

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

The little engine that could

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I think I can. I think I can. Those are the words running through my brain, full steam ahead, as I lay on the table, the probe of the ultras...

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Saturday, July 16, 2016

Inked

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All I could think this morning was, I've inked my skin. I am no longer the good twin. Yesterday, I stopped at a tattoo parlor in Uplan...

Monday, June 13, 2016

The rock

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I have a rock in my chest. I haven't felt this much grief since my Dad died. The world is falling apart. One tragedy after another. The ...

Sunday, April 3, 2016

The writer's life: a portrait of a not so young writer at her first AWP conference

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I woke up yesterday exhausted. Not merely tired. Beat. Run down. Haggard. My feet hurt. My back hurt. This is what forty-something looks lik...

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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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