The Fezziwig News by Stu Jenks

...from a 1978 Chapel Hill Newspaper article...

...written about a person they called The Spray Paint Prankster. That would be me. Photographer unknown. He worked for the paper. This photograph was taken inside the Chapel Hill Police Station after I turned myself in...

To know more, buy the book.

"Asheville Spiral"

"Asheville Spiral, North Carolina" (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

"Raleigh Spiral"

"Raleigh Spiral, Governor's Mansion, North Carolina" (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

"The Jenks in 1971"

"The Jenks in 1971" (c) ???, 1971 and Stu Jenks, 2012

Found this in my mother's wallet. Was taken at some photo studio in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1971. I was 16 or 17, Pamela was around 21, Dad was 49ish, and Mary was in her early 40's.

I put this up on the StuBlog primarily to show that my sister was once quite the pretty woman. Those horned-rimmed glasses though don't help my parents' looks, and sweet Jesus, did I have terrible teeth back then with the braces and such or what? Yikes. And my long hair just drove my Dad nuts. This was 1971 in the South, you know. And no, I don't know exactly why I decided to part my hair on the right, making a big blob of hairishness. My guess it was I knew if I parted it in the middle, my father and I would come to blows.

But wasn't Pamela a pretty girl?

And i did fiddle with this image a little, but I don't believe in photoshopping away the cracks and lost paper in old photos. They are the lovely scars of time in pictures. And yes, this once was a color photo. Guess it wasn't printed on archival paper (chuckles).

Now available, on the Apple IPad: The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010) and Bozo In Love

Been a long time coming for The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010).

Three editors, two proofreaders, two designers, four printers, and hours, days, weeks, months, years, lifetimes, (I know I'm overstating), of writing, traveling, shooting, editing, remembering, hiking, and more writing, shooting, and editing, but I'm not complaining. No, no, no.

And apologies for not having the dough right now, to print The Transpersonal Papers as a coffee-table book as I had originally planned. ($10,000, it would have cost. Maybe someday.) But you now can buy it, for $14.95, as an Ebook on the Apple IPad, and I expect it to be available within a couple days on the Nook and the Kindle as well.

I just looked at it on my new IPad. The photos, text and design look grand.

And as an extra surprise, Bozo In Love is now up on IBooks too, ($9.95), as well as the rest of my catalog: Flame Spirals, Hoop Dancing, and Dementia Blues, on IBooks, Nook and Kindle.

Just in time for Christmas.

And don't worry. All but The Transpersonal Papers can still be bought as a book book through Fezziwig Press. I have plenty. Just go to www.fezziwigpressonline.com, for the hardbounds and paperbacks, but go to ITunes, today, (and Kindle and Nook, soon) for the ebooks.

Heavy sigh from my third story apartment balcony. I look out onto the Tucson city lights in the valley below. Cold, dry air embraces me. I inhale deeply. Exhale.

A very good night in the desert.

Think I'll make a cup of coffee with egg nog and play some Angry Birds on my new IPad.

Time to celebrate.

 

"The Empty Kitchen Chair"

"The Empty Kitchen Chair: Raleigh, N.C. & Haw River, N.C." (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

It's been a month since the Amherst House sold. This is the last photo I took of the place before leaving town.

Word is the new owner has cut down every tree on the property, for no particularly good reason. I didn't like the man before I heard this. I like him even less now.

Before leaving the Triangle Area, I stopped the Penske truck at the Haw River Bridge on U.S. 64, east of Pittsboro. A few friends and I used to visit the Haw pretty often, near that bridge, during our college days at Carolina. I've walked along The Haw, a few times, in the past few months. When much around me has changed, The Haw is not one of them.

I carried a 50-pound river stone away from the Haw, back in 1977, to use in a sculpture. Toting a old kitchen chair into the forest, in 2011, was much easier.

Saw no eagles that day. Did, however, find a nice place to sit for a while.

[Contemporary Art Note: To view this little piece as I intended, drag and drop the two empty chair images onto your desktop, placing the house photo on the left and the Haw photo on the right, so the energies move outside of the frame.

Guess I need to print and frame it at some point, but not today. I need hit the desert soon, and smell the wet creasote from yesterday's rain.

A raven's outside my window, calling for me to come. I will obey.]

"Christ Church, Raleigh, N.C."

"Christ Church, Raleigh, N.C." (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

My sister Pamela used to go to Christ Church when she was momentarily pissed out at St. Mark's, but she always came back to St. Mark's. She was a mighty opinionated woman.

I watched the last Harry Potter movie last night. Cried a couple times, once when characters I loved died, once when I wished my sister hadn't.

"Brahman" by Susan Toplikar

"Brahman" by Susan Toplikar (c) 2004 Susan Toplikar & Photos by Stu Jenks

A painting by North Carolina artist Susan Toplikar. I love her. I love her work. I love her husband Mike Cindric too.

I had the privilege to sleep under this painting, when I standed with Susan and Mike earlier this month in the beautiful Oakwood section of Raleigh.

Fun fact: There are six paintings in this series (I think) and they are huge, around 6 feet by 4 feet.

Quote by the artist: "These paintings really aren't about horses."

You got that right, as Victoria Hardy would say.

I sleep well with these colors above my head. (Actually, I was a bit restless those nights, but not due to the beauty created by men and women, but rather because of the ugliness of some people.) I hope to sleep beneath this horse again someday.

To see more images of 'Brahman', go to Susan's website at this link.

"Burning Down The Amherst House"

"Burning Down The Amherst House" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

To read the stories of The Amherst Fire and The 1200 Pounds Of Firewood To The Dump, go to the StuTube to see a video of that fire and the little story too.

The stills of that last-minute adventure, before I closed on the house, are here.

Sadly, I just received an email from an old neighbor on Amherst. The new owners have cut down all the trees on the property, save three.

Bastards.

"Catawba Falls Hoop Dance"

"Catawba Falls Hoop Dance, North Carolina: for Bo & Cathy Petersen" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks