Life of JEM

Life of JEM Life of JEM is an audio podcast on writing & a blog about JEM's life in the Inland Empire. Life of JEM is about Juanita E.

JEM is a writer, a lawyer & a performer with 2 books, "Tales of an Inland Empire Girl" & "Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender or how I became a punk rock lawyer". Mantz (JEM), a writer, USC Law educated lawyer, performer, deputy public defender, MFA student and punk rock girl. It contains stories about her life growing up in the Inland Empire and about what happened when she left and finally came

home. Part memoir, part music blog and part YA stories, JEM has transitioned to a video podcast as well. She is one tough and smart cookie so be part of the Life of JEM!

A new substack, about JEM's greatest adventure yet... sobriety!
11/17/2025

A new substack, about JEM's greatest adventure yet... sobriety!

"I'm so all alone. Whoa whoa whoa yeah"

A new substack post just dropped. Subscribe please. And listen to the song after. It's a great one.
11/17/2025

A new substack post just dropped. Subscribe please. And listen to the song after. It's a great one.

"I'm so all alone. Whoa whoa whoa yeah"

11/15/2025

61 that's 60 plus one day at a time

A must read!!!
11/15/2025

A must read!!!

A wildly original, soul-stirring ride through the Summer of Love… It’s Easter, 1967, when Anna LeMar, a lonely half-Mexican teen, stabs her father and runs away, but she’s not alone. Grandma Phoebe, her dead white grandmother, has colonized her brain and hitched along in a mental sidecar for t...

There’s a famous line that Molly Bloom says in “Ulysses” by James Joyce. It’s the last line where she says, “yes I said ...
11/14/2025

There’s a famous line that Molly Bloom says in “Ulysses” by James Joyce. It’s the last line where she says, “yes I said yes I will Yes.” That’s how I feel this morning at 4:56 am as I write this.

I said yes to sobriety sixty days ago. And by sobriety, I mean working a program and myself. It’s not easy.

Some days, I feel like I am going to jump out of my skin without something to numb me. But feeling it all, well that is liberating in itself. At least I know it’s real and not a product of being drunk or hungover. And anything I do, or say, is just me. And I am dealing with my shortcomings...

yes I said yes!

A new blog! Here's a taste!"Sometimes, I feel as if I am writing into a void. I'm working on a novel and it feels weird,...
11/13/2025

A new blog! Here's a taste!

"Sometimes, I feel as if I am writing into a void. I'm working on a novel and it feels weird, lonely, and sad at times. My protagonist is unhappy. Her world is a mess.

She's an alcoholic and spends most nights at her favorite bar by herself, barflying it. Mornings are spent at the outpost cafe where she works as a truck stop waitress.

My deadline is coming up. Not yet, but soon. It's a self imposed deadline for a collective I'm part of next year. I will be workshopping my book with two other writers. They are both writing fiction and I know and love their work, so I'm excited. But I've never written fiction, and it's going way slower than I anticipated . . ."

Sometimes, I feel as if I am writing into a void. I'm working on a novel and it feels weird, lonely, and sad at times. My protagonist is unh...

11/13/2025

59 days

Address

San Bernardino, CA
92407

Website

https://juanitaemantz.com/, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-of

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