Stu Jenks' Fezziwig Press

Christmas Haiku #38B

Christmas Haiku #38B

A long time ago,

On a cold December night, 

Candles burned for you. 

 

Merry Christmas, everyone. 

Love, and light,

Stu. 

 

(Photograph: "El Tiradito, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 1998, 2022 Stu Jenks. 

Circles and Spirals: Stu Jenks' Newsletter #9: July 29th, 2022

"Stronghold Dream, Arizona" (c) 2022 Stu Jenks. 

1) Well, not a great month for Alexa and I. Alexa, two weeks ago, had emergency abdominal surgery that was pretty scary. She's on the mend but she lost two weeks of work, in which she didn't get paid. But the pain is getting less, the swelling is down, and she just went back to work a few days ago. (She works from home.)  I'm very happy that it all went well, and her colon is now not obstructed and she is smiling again. 

2) I'm at the end of week six of eight weeks of my radiation. I feel pain down there pretty much all the time. Peeing hurts. No fun. But in two weeks I'm done and hopefully the little bits of leftover prostate cancer will be gone too. 

3) Can't tell you how pissed off I am that the Republicans Senators voted down the veterans burn pit legislation, that they voted FOR a few weeks ago. It appears they voted it down out of spite. Spite. That Joe Manchin came around and will vote for the inflation reduction bill, that will help on climate change, on lowering health care costs and a bunch of other things. They voted it down out of petty spite. Republicans elected officials are just horrible.

I've said this for a long time. We have now two political parties in America: 1) The Democratic Party, who are made up of Democrats, ex-Republicans and Independents, and 2) The Republican Party, made up of fascists, authoritarians, and greedy fucking bastards, who don't care about Democracy or other people. They just about themselves and their wallets. Anyway, same assholes, different day. Vote "D" in November. 

4) Back to Alexa and I. We took a big financial hit because she was sick and I had to be there for her (which I enjoyed) and took time off from my work. (Hadn't worked since the 12th. Back to work now.) We are not completely broke but it's a little tough. If you have some extra couch quarters and want to throw us a fiver, you can donate at my PayPal and/or my Venmo. The login is my email address. [email protected]. Hate to put out the Buddhist begging bowl, but we could use a little help. I know it's tough for everyone. No expectations. Just asking.  

5) Haven't got out much to harvest trees for sculptures and walking sticks, or go hiking around the woods or take any photos, given Alexa and my health issues. I have made a few wall pieces (photos to come), played a little bouzouki, and screwed around on my phone, but that's about it. Wish I had more recent stuff to share artistically, but I just don't right now.

Here are some older photos that may be in an upcoming show in Arizona. Happy people still like my old work. I'll let you know if the curator picks any of my work for the show. 

6) So that's about it. If you have spare denaro, feel free and donate to my PayPal or my Venmo, but mostly just keep us in your thoughts and prayers. The outpouring of love and kindness toward Alexa and her surgical issues on Facebook has been very healing for her and for us, and we thank you, more than we can say. 

7) Lastly, a old friend Rhonda J. died way too young at 52 from a very rare cancer a couple days ago. She was a wonderful woman, always honest, always kind in her entertainingly outspoken way. I'll miss her frank sharing and her devotion to her family, to others and to her own healing. Fly with the angels, Rhonda. 

Love, light and luck, 

Stu

"Wupatki Flame Spiral (Revisited), Arizona" (c) 2022 Stu Jenks. 

"Solstice Rock Flame Spiral (Revisited), Arizona" (c) 2022 Stu Jenks. 

"Growler Mountain Milky Way, Arizona" (c) 2022 Stu Jenks. 

"Valley Of The Gods, Utah" (c) 2022 Stu Jenks. 

Circles and Spirals: Stu Jenks' Newsletter #6: 6/3/2022

"Rain Approaching, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia" (c) 2022 Stu Jenks. 

1) Good news, bad news. The CyberKnife radiation treatment for the tiny bit of prostate cancer I still have is unavailable and ineffective, so say the good folk at UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill. So I'll be getting old-school-hopefully-it-doesn't-tear-me-up-too-bad radiation here in Greensboro. Shit. I was really hoping to get the less invasive radiation but alas. I did hear though that Dr. Matt Manning here at Cone Hospital is one of the best radiation oncologist in the country, so I have that going for me. Fingers double crossed. 

2) Went to the races in Charlotte over the Memorial Day weekend. The ARCA cars and the trucks on Friday night were something, literally shaking the ground as they passed the start-finish line on restarts. And there are some up and coming black NASCAR drivers now too, and there are some black folk in the stands in Charlotte Motor Speedway. Made me very happy to see a more diverse crowd than what you might see at the little tracks in rural Virginia. Things have changed, a little bit.

3) Reluctant capitalist plug: The ebook of the 10th anniversary edition of Step Zero is now up on Amazon. Just click this link and it'll take you there. It's free if you already have the Kindle Unlimited or $2.99 is you buy it. Baby needs a new pair of shoes, so hit those buttons. The paperback edition will be coming out soon. If you want to pre-order the book book or be put on the list for a copy, just email me. [email protected]

4) Finished up the remainder of the Arizona images from my recent trip. The Painted Desert Project in particular is one of the best public art projects I've seen in years. Real, gritty, beautiful, meaningful. You can see it if you are driving from Flagstaff to the eastern entrance of The Grand Canyon, in Gray Mountain. It is stunning. 

"The Painted Desert Project, Gray Mountain, Arizona" (c) 2022 #vyalone and many more. Image capture by me. 

"Saguaro near Topowa, T.O. Reservation, Arizona" (c) 2022 Stu Jenks. 

"The Virgin Mary near Kitt Peak, T.O. Reservation, Arizona" (c) 2022 Stu Jenks. 

5) I visited dead relatives over the Memorial Day weekend. Mom, Dad, & Pamela. Dad's parents and my murdered great aunt Bertie too. (To read the sad story of Aunt Bertie and her children, clink on this link). At Bertie's grave in Richmond, the candle I placed there months ago was still there. I had an extra U.S. flag with me and I placed it at her grave. She wasn't a veteran of the armed services, but she certainly was a veteran of sorts, of the violence against women. I know it's a stretch but it seemed right to decorate her grave with something. It was nice to visit Stuart, Mary and my sister in Lancaster County. Sit on the OK-God-Let's-Do-It bench. Play a couple of songs for them on the bouzouki. Walk through the woods. Reminding myself that I have forgiven them (mostly) for what they did or didn't do. It's different everything I see them. They haven't changed. They're dead, but I'm different each time. This time, I really embraced what my mother Mary Jenks did for me. Of all my family members, Mom and her mother Nannie were the only two who really got the odd little boy who was me. I really appreciate them for that. Yes, it was $125 in gas just to hang there for a hour or so, but it was worth it. Life is short.

"Great Aunt Bertie's Grave, Richmond, Virginia" (c) 2022 Stu Jenks. 

6) So that's it for now. I'm slowing healing up from COVID. Still have some congestion but the sinus headache has mostly gone away. If you want to help me out financially, buy the new Step Zero e-book, or some music or prints or sticks or whatever. Alexa is doing well. It's hot and sticky here in Greensboro, but we have a bunch of bunnies in our backyard, and birds, birds, birds. Alexa figured out if she put vegetable oil on the bird feeder pole, it makes it so the chipmunks can't raid the birdseed. Smart woman, my wife. Love you all, Stu. 

"Me at Stagsville Plantation, North Carolina" (c) 2022 photo taken by another visitor to this historical site. 

"North Topsail Beach at Desk, North Carolina" (c) 2022 Stu Jenks. 

A day at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

All photos (c) Stu Jenks 2021

"Burke's Garden, Virginia"

"The Burke's Garden Signs, Virginia" (c) 2021 Stu Jenks. 

The PBRC: Farnham Creek Moss, Virginia (c) 2021 Stu Jenks.

"The PBRC, Farnham Creek Moss, Virginia" (c) 2021 Stu Jenks.

 

Visited Brad and Glenn in the Northern Neck a couple of days ago. Really great to see them.

On the way home, I drove by the old home place which we had to sell in 2003 for help my mother survive after Dad's death. Sad we don't have that piece of the river to look at anymore. Sigh.

However, someone rich gave the federal government a big piece of land, just down the road along Farnham Creek. It's now a National Wildlife Refuge, with a couple of lovely trails, a salt water pond and beautiful views of Farnham Creek, a navigable piece of water feeding into the Rappahannock River that my Dad and I used to motor up in his cousin's boat.

I brought Pamela's Chair with me. Found a good spot. Took this pic. Besides the stunning view from a high bluff of the water, it's that green moss off to the left that took my breath away. For this desert rat like me, I don't think anywhere in Arizona there is that color of green. And it's too bad I can't photograph the smell of this forest.

A really lovely forest of new and old growth wood overlooking a wonderful piece of water. Hope you enjoy the pic.

Love, Stu.

 

(All images on this website can be printed by me on my archival printer, using archival paper, then signed, boarded, glassine-bagged, then mailed to you

8 1/2 by 11s are $45, plus S & H. 13 x 19s are $95, plus S & H. (Image rights are also for sale. Cost of those are specific to the client and the job.) Shipping runs between $10 and $20.

Contact me via email at [email protected], or through Facebook Messenger, if you want to buy something.

Stay safe. Love y’all.)

Step Zero: The Special Illustrated Edition for free, right here.

Right here, a free pdf download of my novel Step Zero: The Special Illustrated Edition.

Yep, I'm giving shit away.

Sometimes I have to do that for people to buy my other work, but in this case, I just want people to have this. I worked hard on this, and I think this is a pretty good book. Plus the hardbound book is way too expensive for most people to buy, and the paperback Step Zero edition doesn't have the groovy graphic pen images in it.

So here you are. All 688 pages of images and words. Hope you dig the book.

P.S. This is a hard R-rated book, with drug use, graphic sex and brutal murder. Just so you know. It also has sweet songs, funny lines and touching relationships. It's not all rough, but parts of it are.

Love y'all.

Stu.

Again, here's the free pdf download of the illustrated Step Zero novel.

 

“Ronn Spencer, Rhododendron, North Carolina” © 2021 Stu Jenks [Extended Family Series]

“Ronn Spencer, Rhododendron, North Carolina” © 2021 58 inches tall.

 

Price: $175, shipping included in the price. Simply contact me via my email address at [email protected] or Facebook message me, if you would like to purchase one of my pieces. Payments can be made with Paypal, Venmo or credit card with Square. All pieces are signed with its title, and can be hung from the wall. Love y'all, Stu.

 

Ronn and I have know each other for over 20 years. He is a exceptional photographer, radio personality and graphic designer. I'm not talking out of school when I say he's been fighting Parkinson's for a very long time, and frankly, has lived longer than any of us expected, including himself. But he doesn't get a wall piece because he's the real deal when it comes to being an artist. He gets a stick because Ronn (and Blake too, his girlfriend) are kind, smart and generous people, in more ways than most people know. Or maybe people in Sante Fe do know. I hope so. I love him dearly and I hope he outlives us all.

I truly adore this man.

Fun fact: The top of this stick looks like Ronn's head or at least it does to me. And this stick has breasts. I know. Most, if not all of my wall pieces don't. Since Ronn is an amazing photographer of nudes and natural beauty, I thought he would like that.

Second fun fact: Ronn, 20 years ago, coined a name for the type of artists both of us are.

"The New Beauticians"

It means that artists like us are looking for beauty in many things; music, images, people, words. The phrase never took off, but I wish it had.

#ronnspencer, #stujenks, #extendedfamilyseries

 

The PBRC: Nolichucky Gorge, North Carolina (c) 2021 Stu Jenks.

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Near Zeeba's Rock, Nolichucky Gorge, North Carolina" (c) 2021 Stu Jenks.

All images on this website can be printed by me, using my archival printer, printed on archival paper, then signed, boarded, glassine-bagged, and mailed to you.

8 1/2 by 11s are $45, plus S & H. 13 x 19s are $95, plus S & H. (Image rights are also for sale. Cost of those are specific to the client and the job.) Shipping cost of prints runs between $10 and $20. 

Contact me via email at [email protected], through Facebook Messenger, or by text at 520-343-5596 if you want to buy something. Stay safe. Love y’all  

"The PBRC, Nolichucky Gorge, North Carolina" (c) 2021 Stu Jenks.

"Zebba's Rock, Nolichucky Gorge, North Carolina" (c) 2021 Stu Jenks.

Images from the final months of the Trump Administration.

"Alexa At The Bunny House, the foothills of the Tucson Mountains, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

Yes, it's 4 months before the November election but it's a lock that Trump will no be reelected. I can hear some say "Don't jinx it. We said that about Hillary." Well, many independents disliked Hillary and didn't come out to vote. Now a ton of Democratic-leaning Independents hate Trump even worse than Clinton, and they will show up to end this horrible shit show that is the Trump Administration. And tens of 1000's of young people will be voting too, just like they did in 2018.

Most people look at my Facebook page for photos and info about me, maybe a few look at my Twitter feed, but hardly anyone I know comes here to my blog. That's OK, but I'm going to leave a large Easter egg here and I'm going to see if anyone notices.

In mid-August, I'm moving back to Greensboro, North Carolina, to hopefully find work there and to live the rest of my life with my lovely wife Alexa. All I need to do is find part-time work. I'll be OK.

And I miss Alexa like the Dickens.

My recovery from my radical prostatectomy surgery has been slow but moving forward. Still pain in my groin and sexual functioning is every so slowly returning but it is coming back a bit. The cancer is all gone and I can pretty much hold my piss and shit. That last sentence is a big fucking deal. Many men do not have that result after surgery. I do. I'm grateful.

So before I leave Arizona, here are some photos from the last few months: some good, some mundane, but all heartfelt.

And I'll see who text me, emails me or Facebook messages me and says, "Dude, you're moving? Man, we will miss you, but do what you gotta do."

I am. I need to go home and be with my wife.

Hugs, kisses and deep gratitude, y'all.

Stu

 

"The Bighorn Fire, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

It's mid July and the Bighorn Fire is finally out. We think. It burned all over the Catalina Mountains for what? Six weeks? While the Covid-19 spread so did the fire. It was a bit much after a while. Everything right now is a bit much for many of us.

 

 

"Kestral Hawk In Flight, The Bunny House, foothills of the Tucson Mountains, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

 

 

"The Ghost at Coalmine Canyon, Navajo Rez, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

I may never see this place again. Been coming here for 33 years. And even though I'm sad, this canyon has given me so many things, physical, emotional, and spiritual. Big kiss, Coalmine.

 

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair (The PBRC), Coalmine Canyon, Navajo Rez, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

 

"The Road Past Nipple Butte, Navajo Rez, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

Going to have the sell the Buick for scrap before I leave Arizona. It has a value lifter problem and the car is only worth $1000 at best, with 415,000 miles on it, and the repair would cost over $2000. Luckily, I have the old Pathfinder with a new clutch and a new-ish front end. Strong engine too. 'Spirals' on its license plate. I will be styling when I get to NC. Even the good-old-boys will respect an old truck like mine but the Arizona tags may make them a little suspicious.

 

 

"The PBRC, Coconino Forest, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

This particular juniper tree I have been visiting for over 30 years. Have harvested its boughs for incense more than once. It's an old but very fragrant tree. I'll miss you buckaroo, but I'm taking some of you with me.

 

 

"The PBRC, Washington Monument, D.C." (c) 2016, 2020 Stu Jenks.

Obelisk!!! (Inside family joke.)

 

"The PBRC, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

 

 

"The PBRC (Black and Red Lives Matter), Gray Mountain, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

 

 

"The PBRC, Foothills Apartments, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 2016, 2020 Stu Jenks.

 

 

"Spiral In The Ironwood Forest, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

 

 

"Virga Near Sonoita, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

 

 

"Three Months Before Dad Died, St. Mary's Whitechapel Episcopal Church, Lively, Virginia" (c) 2001, 2020 Stu Jenks.

 

 

"Merlin's Cave, Southwest England" (c) 2013, 2020 Stu Jenks.

 

 

"Cast of Richard III, Meredith College, Raleigh, North Carolina, Summer of 1973" (c) Photographer unknown.

The first play I acted in, a couple months before I went off to UNC-Chapel Hill. In the Raleigh News and Observer, in their review of the play, I was mentioned positively in my role as Lord Dorset. That one sentence in the paper propelled me to a career in the Arts. I'm not kidding. All the photographs, music, books, projects, installations, etc., point back to that one role in Raleigh in 1973 and that one tiny bit of encouragement.

Yep. Fucked me up pretty bad. (That's a joke. Sorta.)

 

 

"Dawn Fog at Monument Valley, Navajo Reservation, Arizona/Utah" (c) 2011, 2020 Stu Jenks.

 

 

"Hoop Dance At The Green House, Uwharrie Forest, Randolph County, North Carolina" (c) 2019, 2020 Stu Jenks.

Baby, I'm coming home to you.