Life of JEM

08/16/2024

A lil photo collage of my recent writing events in 2024: Pic 1: reading in Vegas punk rock bowling weekend (and yes that is the epic Billy Bragg); Pic 2: with WWS writers anthology reading where I read a performance piece from the theater section of the anthology; Pic 3: at CSUSB at the multicultural book festival; Pic 4: performing my story "The Big O" in the cast of Manecdotes at the Colony Theater in Burbank; Pic 5: AWP panel Kansas City (what a panel that was!); Pic 6: Songs & Stories with me & the band Refrigerator; Pic 7: LitFest in the Dena panel with writers

08/16/2024

I judged this book contest for a Latinx writer (who will win a cash prize and a book contract through the Inlandia Institute) and the winning entry is so epic! They are announcing it soon. I cannot say anything else until then! But I will say this, the readings took me all summer and the competition was fierce and all of the manuscripts were so beautiful and inspiring!!

Note: my mom always wanted me to be a judge and although I'm a lawyer and a deputy public defender, I was never interested in being a legal judge, but a book judge? Hell yeah!

2023-24 Judge: Juanita E. Mantz • DEADLINE EXTENDED: February 29, 2024 Juanita E. Mantz (“JEM”) is a USC Law educated lawyer, writer, performer, and podcaster who believes writing has the power to change the world. Juanita is a creative nonfiction writer who has 2 books, a YA memoir titled “...

08/15/2024

I have to record a demo of the story about a song that saved my life for a really cool podcast I'll be on and I mashed up two different versions of a story that is in both of my books. Not giving the title of the song away until it airs. But of course, as you all probably guessed, it's a song by The Smiths . . .

08/15/2024

Sometimes you hear something exactly when you need to. A friend shared this and I was blown away. I'm a huge Nick Cave fan, both of his transcendent music and his luminous writing including the "red hand files" that he writes to fans on. So happy to know he's found some joy in life after all the loss and sadness. This conversation made me weep, it touched me so and it made sense who he had this convo with (Stephen Colbert is a deeply religious man who has experienced much loss as well). I am excited to get Cave's recent book and his new album Wild God. Listen in. This is some deep, soulful discussion. The talk about hope at the end reminded me why I continue to work as a deputy public defender. I may be a pragmatist and a realist but I'm also an optimist at my core and to give my clients hope and a belief in humanity and the world which has often treated them shabbily, well it's everything, it's the universe, the god or goddess. It's the way.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1CKK-skdLT_nLMiHi4IK1uCFQoZEgy35PDylqZJ-xeukqsO_8Q8mhuyAs_aem_-feWfbDxI8LCFyRjY05CFA&si=-IxaTYoKJ2ufrBPs&v=G8qmV6MYCF4&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

The lead singer and songwriter of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds joins Stephen for a discussion of his latest album and some of his most powerful artistic exper...

08/12/2024

http://wwwlifeofjemcom-jemmantz.blogspot.com/2024/08/writing-life.html

Many don't know how hard a writer's life is. The majority of writing is in seclusion. All alone. You and your computer. Yes, there are work...

08/11/2024

The guitar on this trailer is so intense. Dennis Callaci nailed the trailer in its asthetic and content. I just read a few lines & gave him a couple pictures. Dennis did the rest. This book started the magical artistic adventure I've been on writing wise for the last few years. So check it out...

Juanita Mantz trailer for her Bamboo Dart Press book “Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender (or, how I became a punk rock lawyer)” debuts Posted byDennis Callaci July 26, 2021July 26, 2021 Leave a comment on Juanita Mantz trailer for her Bamboo Dart Press book “Portrait of a Deputy Public Defen...

08/08/2024

"It made me remember why I love community. It's healing. It's fortifying and inspiring and it's why I write. Everything is so confusing and contentious right now. From politics to the economy and inflation to the carceral system I work within. It's all so stressful. But community helps. It really does.

It's 4 am. I'm thinking about my mother who just fell but is doing okay. My dog who is struggling health wise and of course, about all my clients who are suffering. My empathy is a good thing but it makes it hard to let it all go..."

Yesterday at work, we took a short break and had some tea. It was a nice little social. Everyone chatted about cases. It was just a bunch of...

08/07/2024

On the writing front for the rest of this year, a bunch of cool stuff is in the oven!

I will be doing a workshop at MT SAC's Culturama with the epic Allen Callaci & Victoria Waddle.

I will be on the Volume K**b Podcast with a story about a song that saved my life & I may be giving a key note at a university conference.

Finally, the Life of JEM podcast (writers on writing) is starting back up once a month with my first guest in September, the fabulous writer Désirée Zamorano whose book is coming out next month (pre order here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/dispossessed-desiree-zamorano/21164868).

Manuel Galvan is separated from his parents and sister during the mass expulsion of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the 1930s. He grows from a small, lost and confused boy into a wandering and angry teenager pushed out of high school and into the dockyards. Later as a loyal, passionate husband he....

08/06/2024

"I have a story about my job called breaking glass. Now I have another. This one about my mom.

It's been a helluva week. We went to the San Diego Zoo with my sister Roberta who was down from Kansas City. Then we hung out in Palm Springs at my twin sisters' house. Then my mom fell.

Her face hit her glass oven door. My mom says she tripped. Funny thing is, I had just dropped her off and walked her upstairs. Then, I went to the store with Adrian. When we got home, Adrian said, "I have a missed call from your mom." I looked at my phone and saw at least ten missed calls and a text from my mom, "Fell. Ambulance here. Going to Kaiser.""

I have a story about my job called breaking the glass. Now I have another. This one about my mom. It's been a helluva week. We went to the S...

08/06/2024

HOT NEWS! 🔥 🔥The 2024 Women Who Submit Submission Conference is almost SOLD OUT!
Only 25 tickets left under "pay what you can admission." (As of 5pm Monday!)
Just scroll down to that section on the Eventbrite registration form. But hurry! These won't last long.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-the-writing-building-community-advocacy-and-a-literary-career-tickets-925621206947

07/24/2024

It's 4 am. I'm thinking about my life. I've done some amazing things. Maybe because I'm on a health kick, I've been reevaluating where I am in life. I'm 52, childless, and a government worker. And I'm also 52, an author with two books, a lawyer who enjoys helping people as a deputy public defender and a creative who has a loving husband and a dog, both of whom she loves to distraction.

It's 4 am. I'm thinking about my life. I've done some amazing things. Maybe because I'm on a health kick, I've been reevaluating where I am ...

07/21/2024

This made me tear up:

"So, yes, let us go there: of all the Shakespearean figures whom Biden’s fall recalls, it is Lear. Lear in his sense of self-loss; Lear in his inability to understand, at least at first, the nature of his precipitous descent; and yes, Lear in the wild rage, as people sometimes forget, that he directs at his circumstances. “Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain / Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters. . . . Then let fall / Your horrible pleasure: here I stand, your slave, / A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man.”
. .

The great lesson of “King Lear” is not that it is wise, or unwise, to give up power, but that power is always insufficient balm to the human condition. Shakespeare’s point is that we should seek comfort neither in empty flattery nor in the exercise of office but in the presence of those who genuinely care for us. Biden has all that which, as poor Macbeth, who has none of it, says, “should accompany old age, / As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends.”

Biden has known terrible loss. But he also has the love of his family and the gratitude of so many citizens who thank him not only for his achievements but also for having found wisdom enough at the end."

The Shakespearean end to a distinguished reign.

07/12/2024

An oldie but goodie story by moi! Minute 40!

Articles,  Radio Hour Fast Food Memories by Juanita Mantz “Fast Food Memories” appears in Season 2, Episode 12 of The Dirty Spoon Radio Hour, which originally aired on July 5, 2019. When I think of the food from my childhood, the most prevalent memory is of McDonald’s. My childhood hometown ...

07/11/2024

‎Show The Volume K**b, Ep Carla: Rocket Man - Jun 20, 2021

07/10/2024

Is it this rat race? The hamster wheel? Spinning. Going nowhere fast. Or is it about creating something that will last the ages? About making something that will resonate? About loving and living and listening to some fu***ng music that makes you tap your feet and smile? Maybe it's all about writing my ass off. Until the pen drops from sheer fatigue. Maybe that's it.

I am listening to the Beatles while I drink my coffee before leaving for work. We saw a tribute band called The Fab 4 the other day and I da...

07/06/2024

Coming July 12, 2024

"Fine in a Minute" by King Daddy follows the author as he attempts to make sense of his life after the loss of his wife and muse of 30 years, Wendrika Thorpe, chronicling his grief and laying bare his fears, regrets and idiosyncrasies. Heartbreaking and hilarious, "Fine in a Minute" highlights King Daddy’s twisted, erotically-charged yet erudite wit and wisdom, which evokes fever dream poignancy and working-class empathy. From Buddha to bluesmen, Covina to catharsis, Fine in a Minute is an emotionally gripping poetic journey.

https://www.bamboodartpress.com/store/chapbooks/king_daddy-fine_in_a_minute.html

07/06/2024

Juanita E. Mantz shares her story The Big O in MANECDOTES at The Colony Theatre on June 23, 2024 with JAM CREATIVE.

07/01/2024

I was looking for a specific story on my blog and stumbled upon this one and started laughing aloud at that image of my mom putting fried chicken in her purse for my dad at Shakey's. Maybe it's because I'm on a restricted diet due to some health issues, but man this made me hungry...

"Dad always wanted to take chicken home. It wasn't allowed. But that didn't stop him. Dad would hand my mom a few pieces of chicken under the table wrapped in an oil stained napkin and whisper to my mom, "C'mon Judy, put it in your purse." Mom soon learned to bring a big purse with her and dad would fill it up. At home, Dad would wait an hour or two, then open the fridge to eat his pilfered chicken. I would sometimes ask him for a piece of crispy skin and he would always oblige."

I've written a story or two or three about food and restaurants. I've also written quite a lot about pizza and chicken. In my full length me...