Stu Jenks' Fezziwig Press: The Four Directions

July 16, 2020

Images from the final months of the Trump Administration.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Obelisk!!! (Inside family joke.)

"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.)

Baby, I'm coming home to you.

Posted at 10:02 PM in Alexa McColl Smith Jenks, Angel/Ghosts, Arizona, Art, Cactus, Cancer, Chagford, Death, Deserts, Ethics, Faith, Good Folk, Grand Canyon, Home, Love, National Parks, Night Photography, Nocturnal Photography, North Carolina, Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Photography, Pictorialist Photography, Relationships, Rocks, Sky, Stars, The Border, The Four Directions, The Road, The Sky, The West, Trees, Tucson | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 02, 2018

Welcome to North Carolina.

Well, Alexa and I are here in North Carolina now. My studio is all set up upstairs. My art work hangs in the same house as a Rembrandt, an Utrillo and a Whistler. I'm looking for fuller employment. Alexa has a job she likes. I'm getting my bearings around town. Beautiful town, beautiful wife. I'm loving this small city of Greensboro.

My new P.O. Box is 10583, Greensboro, NC 27404. Email, phone, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, my store, my bandcamp, my patreon, all the same. Fezziwig Press is back open for business.

And look for my 14th book for sale later this month.

Cherry Picking Leviticus (Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Vol. 2). Here's the cover for the premium paperback. It'll also be available as an affordable ebook.

I'll keep you post on it's release. You'll have it in your hot little hands by Christmas. Promise.

And vote on Tuesday, November 6th, my birthday. Give me the gift I really want. A Democratic U.S. House of Representatives, no Republican super majority in the North Carolina General Assembly, and good Progressives down ballot in many states.

Below are some recent images.

Have a great Autumn.

And keep hope alive.

Posted at 05:34 PM in Arizona, Art, Beachs, Birds, Black & White Photography, Books, Callanish, Canyons, Christmas and Winter Solstice, Churches, Clouds, Current Affairs, Deserts, eBooks, Family, Fezziwig Press, Flora & Fauna, Forgiveness, Good Folk, Highways, Installations, Los Angeles, Love, Mountains, My Grandmother Nannie's Mirror, Nannie's Mirror, Nature, North Carolina, Other Artists, People, Photography, Pictorialist Photography, Prayer, Relationships, Religion, San Francisco, Sand, Sculpture, Sex, Sky, The Border, The Four Directions, The Moon, The Road, The Sky, The South, Travel, Trees, Tucson, Valleys | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 09, 2018

Elvis is leaving the building... (and cherry picking Leviticus)

Come late September, I will have relocated myself, my wife and my business to North Carolina. My P.O. box here in Tucson will still be the snail mail way to get in touch with me. (P.O. Box 161, Tucson, Arizona 85702). My email, phone, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, my store, my bandcamp, my patreon, will all be the same. Ordering prints and books will be iffy for a while but I'll do my best during the time of transition.

And look for my 14th book for sale in November.

Cherry Picking Leviticus (Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Vol. 2).

It'll be available as a premium trade paperback and as a affordable e-book. Below is the preface to the book.

Anywho, see you on the flip side from the Piedmont of North Carolina. Wish me luck as I drive a Penske truck across the country. And don't forget to register to vote and cast your ballot in November. It's the most important election of our lifetimes.

Resist. Impeach. Pray. Renew.

Stu Jenks, Sonoita, Arizona (c) Alexa Jenks 2018

“Let’s All Be Sweet.”
- Alexa McColl Smith Jenks

Preface by Stu Jenks

Cherry Picking Leviticus is my fifteenth book. Like my previous tomes, there are some semi-iconic photographs and such, but unlike my other books, this one is purposefully funny. And political. And spiritual. And a little sad. But funny is what we are mostly going for here, like a raspy chuckle in the night from a wounded man while the civilized world burns down around him.

Dark stuff. Fun stuff. Good times.

The dedication for Cherry Picking Leviticus is a quote from my good friend Karen Hardy who lives in the Northern Neck of Virginia. We were talking on the phone a while back, mostly about how her mother Victoria was doing, when I mentioned how I perhaps care too much regarding what other people think, and that I'm more than a little sensitive to snarky art criticism from strangers on the internet.

Then Karen spoke this chestnut:

"They talked about Jesus Christ, Stu,” she said. “They are going to talk about you and me, too."

Posted at 02:01 AM in Arizona, Art, Black & White Photography, Cactus, California, Coalmine Canyon, Current Affairs, Earth Spirals, Emotions, Faith, Fezziwig Press, Good Folk, Highways, Love, North Carolina, On The Rez, Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, People, Portraits, Spirals, Spirituality, Stu Jenks, The Border, The Four Directions, The Road, The West, Travel, Trees, Women | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: #stujenks. #leviticus. #photography. #books #moving.

July 14, 2017

Recent images...and a snippet from the upcoming Christmas album

All image rights are for sale along with fine art prints, personally printed by me. I don't do internet third-party printing, because they pretty much suck. Hard contrast, poor quality control, blacks are too black. All prints signed. All image rights reasonably priced.

Hope you enjoy these images and look for new releases from Fezziwig Press: a new photography book, Nannie's Mirror (My Family Owed Slaves) and a new music CD, Snow: A Christmas Album, both in the Fall of 2017. A free download from Snow is at the bottom of this post.

Images from Robert E. Lee's tomb at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia (c) 2017 Stu Jenks (And I hate racism, sexism, violence and slavery, but I'm a Virginian and a part of me will always love Robert E. Lee. He denounced slavery soon after the Civil War, but yes, he did fight on the wrong side of things, but later in life, he knew it and regretted it.)

New images for the book, Nannie's Mirror (My Family Owed Slaves), to be released October 1st, 2017.

From top to bottom:

"Newspaper Rock, Utah", "Four Corners Area, Utah", "The Needles, Canyonlands National Park, Utah", "Hovenweep National Monument, Utah", "Arches National Park, Utah", "Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah", "Confluence Trail, The Needles, Canyonlands National Park, Utah." and "Four Corners Monument, Navajo Reservation, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

And a ton of Nannie's Mirror images can be found on this website. Just hit the button on the left marked "Nannie's MIrror".

And below is a track from my soon-to-be-released Christmas album, Snow. The piece is called Nogales Christmas Eve Snow Waltz.

Hopefully this pensive music will provide some Summer comfort to you. As the old Southern expression goes: "Sad music makes you happy, and happy music makes you sad". Enjoy, y'all.

Nogales Christmas Eve Snow Waltz (Jenks); a free download from Stu

Posted at 06:39 PM in Angel/Ghosts, Arizona, Art, Atmospheric Music, Black & White Photography, Books, Canyons, Cds, Current Affairs, Fezziwig Press, Flora & Fauna, Love, My Grandmother Nannie's Mirror, Nannie's Mirror, Nocturnal Photography, North Carolina, People, Politics, Sculpture, Sky, Spirals, Stu Jenks, The Four Directions, The Poor, The Road, The West, Travel, Trees, Tucson, Valleys, Virginia, Washington, DC, Women | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 08, 2011

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.

Posted at 12:10 AM in Ancestors, Astronomy, Birds, Black & White Photography, Buddhism, Buildings, Cactus, Cattle, Civil Rights, Death, Deserts, Eastern Religions, Family, Film, Flame Spirals, Flora & Fauna, Forgiveness, Georgia, Grand Canyon, Immigrants, Infrared Photography, Louisiana, Megaliths, Metaphysics, Mississippi, Money, National Parks, Nevada, Nocturnal Photography, North Carolina, Other Writers, Paintings, Photography, Poetry, Rainbows, Science, Scotland, Sex, Sickness & Health, Stones, Surfing, Tennessee, The American Civil War, The Four Directions, The Indian Wars, The West, Trees, United Kingdom, Utah, Women | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

March 29, 2011

Cherokee Girl by Charles de Lint: The Music Video

[First things first: click on the little square-four-arrow-cluster at the lower right hand corner of the video to make it full screen]

Cherokee Girl by Charles de Lint
Produced & directed by Brock Zeman

Original song by author Charles de Lint about the mix of cultures, myth and how all of us are connected to each other and this world in which we find ourselves. Features a brief cameo by Terri Windling, the Cherokee Girl for whom the song was written. Scenes from Tucson filmed by de Lint and his wife, MaryAnn Harris. Horseshoe Canyon footage by Stu Jenks. For more info: www.charlesdelint.com

[From Stu: I have great friends. Glad the video I shot at Horseshoe Canyon came to such good use. Wonderful place, Horseshoe Canyon; wonderful people, Charles, Terri and MaryAnn; wonderful song, Cherokee Girl.]

Posted at 03:11 AM in Arizona, Cactus, Canyons, National Parks, Native People, Nature, Other Artists, Other Writers, Sepia, Spirals, Spirituality, The Four Directions, The West, Tucson, Utah, Videos, Women | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

January 20, 2011

Dr. Carlos Gonzales' Blessing (The Transcript)

The Blessing by Dr. Carlos Gonzales at the Memorial for the Victims of the Tucson Shooting
January 12th, 2011
McHale Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Welcome. Let me start in the traditional way by introducing myself.

I am Carlos Gonzalez. On my mother's side, I am Mexican. A child of descendants of this valley, pioneer family from Mexico that came in the 1800s. On my father's side, I'm Yaqui. Refugees from Mexico that escaped the genocide in the Rio Yaqui in the 1800s.

We have been here -- for myself, I am fifth generation in the valley of Tucson.

Now, please understand I am not a medicine man. I'm really just a family doc. Fortunate enough to teach here at this university and fortunate enough to learn the sacred ways and the sacred words so that I can share them with you.

I have been given permission by my elders to say blessings of this type although, to tell the truth, I've never done one with so many people.

So I've also been fortunate to grow up in this great country where a poor kid, from the south side of Tucson could get an education at a fine institution like the University of Arizona, and then even better, to come back and teach here. And teach students at this institution. So with that, I would like to start the blessing after my brief introduction.

I'm sorry I have to do it the traditional way. It's the way we do it. Now, for those of you that know the traditional blessing way, please feel free to do it. For those of the rest of you, just please stand. So let me begin.

Oh Creator, I come to give a blessing, a blessing at this time of disharmony, at this time of disunity. Please after hearing my blessing and my prayers, let us work towards harmony, towards wholeness and balance.

Let us begin by honoring the eastern door from where we get visions and guidance. May each of us get the vision and guidance to proceed in a good way.

From the southern door, where we get the energies of the family, please let us honor the families of those that have passed on. Let us honor the families of those that are healing. And also let us honor our own families. Let us remain humble. And also use humor when appropriate. For humor is healing and can help people.

From the western door, please let us honor the sacred ways and our sacred ancestors. For without them we would not be here. Oh, Creator, that is a door to which those that have passed on have walked to the next world. Let us honor them as they passed on. Let us also look within ourselves to see how we can improve and be better human beings.

From the northern door, where we receive challenges and the strength to meet those challenges, let us all receive strength to meet the challenges that face our great country. Please, give us that strength as we proceed.

From Father Sky, where we get the masculine energy, the energy to be responsible, to be respectful and to protect those that need protection. Give us that good energy.

From Mother Earth where we get the feminine energy, give us that energy to nurture and care for those that need it, and also to help those that ask for our help.

Oh, Creator, may the two energies, the masculine energy and the feminine energy, come together in our center where the creator exists, where each of us has a piece of the creator.

Please, you have given us each a gift. May we use these gifts to help our fellow human beings.

Oh, Creator, let us bless the families of those that have lost their loved ones. Let us bless the family of those that are healing. Let us bless those people that are here today. Let us bless those that are outside in greater Tucson, in Arizona and in our country. Let us bless them so that they too can heal from this tragedy that has occurred.

Oh, Creator -- if I may, my son is in Afghanistan. A little blessing to him, too.

Oh, Creator, let us not forget our fellow creatures. Those that stand. Those that blow in the wind. Those that are tall and stately. Those that crawl on the earth. Those that slither on the earth. Those that live under the earth.

Let us remember and bless the winged ones. Those that swim in the waters. The four legged. And also our brothers, the two legged that walk throughout this world. When we all come together at this time. And may the words people hear here sink in to their hearts so that they too can heal. So that they too can feel better.

Oh, Creator, I ask this humbly. I ask this so that we all can once again achieve harmony and balance in our lives.

Oh, Creator, welcome -- we welcome those people who come to our beloved city here, our beloved city of Chukson or Tucson as it's known. Welcome here and please bless each and every one here.

And with that, I would like to end my blessing to all my relations.