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, October 29, 2022

Tonight on the inside

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Tonight, I am seeing Danny Elfman live in the pit at the Hollywood Bowl. This is the epitome of Halloween. It is Danny Elfman for pete's...

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Breathe again

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I feel like I have to breathe. Just breathe. These last few years have been a whirlwind. Covid, a podcast, two books, so many events, appear...

Thursday, October 20, 2022

That's Life

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What is life? What's the point? What's the purpose? For me, I've recently realized, it's teaching. Teaching students, most ...

Monday, October 17, 2022

Full circle

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Last week, I was the writer in residence at Pasadena City College. To write how amazing it was is something I'm not sure I can do. I wa...

Sunday, October 9, 2022

Life goes on

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Life is so wonderful yet strange. I'm 51 years old and yet, I feel so much younger in my head. If you would have asked me where I would ...

Friday, October 7, 2022

The heroine within

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Growing up, I would always imagine myself into stories. First into my mom's Harlequin romance novels and Judy Blume's books then lat...

Thursday, October 6, 2022

It's about damn time

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Last year, I was recovering from surgery on my fiftieth birthday. I was in horrific pain and basically sleeping all day. We had to cancel my...

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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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