theworldofjenotopia.com

An Introduction by Your Empress and Hostess

The only real requirement for having a website (or blog ) is having something to say, and so I join the chorus of virtual voices shouting out to the ether without any other real qualification or justification than that. However, when I was in school I always appreciated it when my professors stood before the class on the first day and spoke briefly about their backgrounds so that I knew just how to hone my biases for the semester.

Sharpening stones ready? Here we go.

I am female, late thirty-something, college educated. How dry is that? Let’s see: my family hails from New York State, but my wandering has taken me to many places across the country. I am temporarily settled in Middle Tennessee, USA—if seven years may be considered temporary. I have worked in many industries, most notably food & beverage and (now) in higher education. I hold down a day job to pay the bills, and by night I indulge my interests and hobbies with all sorts of fun stuff that will fill these pages in the days to come.

Credentials? Reread the first sentence of this introduction. I don’t need no stinkin’ credentials. However, to make sense of what you read later, I have a B.S. (!!) in Psychology with double minors in History and English Literature. I have slogged part of the way through an M.Ed. in Educational Administration. *yawn* I have some certifications in wine and spirits (oh yes, you can get certified to drink) and in gardening, and I have a smattering of Deutsch verstanden. I can ask where the restroom is in Italian (“Dov’e la toilette?” –see, you’ve already learned something here!), and I can pronounce pots de crème in a way that is most embarrassing.

Once a rather rebellious, nomadic sort, age and experience have worked their wiles—funny how that happens. I find I now live in the type of suburban house I once swore I would never live in, and drive the sort of sedan I swore I would never drive to an honest, stable job of the type I swore I would never occupy during my feistier younger days.

Sound common, bland and depressing? Hardly. I did not lure you in here to bore you with sad stories of “Oh, if I had only . . .”. Life is a funny, complicated thing. NEVER be fooled by appearances: as I look around my neighborhood I find all sorts of clues that all is not the boring suburbia I imagined. Over there is a neighbor playing drums in the garage. Across the street a man tinkers with a large red farm tractor on his 1/4-acre lot. Another neighbor walks a pig down the street on a leash. Yes, a pig. And in this backyard a woman wearing a Metallica T-shirt, purple flannel pants, Australian hat and barn boots stands, wine glass in hand, amid a flock of chickens. Beneath the beige suburban exterior of this place are kookiness and personal creativity that wind around like a rabbit hole to come out . . . who knows where? I may no longer be the free-wandering soul I once was, but I’m far from being done yet—and within the common structure of my suburbia there is a tapestry fantastic and bewildering! I find ways to indulge in activities I love while keeping it all together, and I’ll lay some of them out here just in case there is something redeeming in all the chaos.

Jenotopia started as a family joke about Jen’s own funny little world where she is the Empress and all things are her way. I figured getting it online was one way to up the ante with my brothers (–one step closer, boys! The flying monkeys are only a matter of time.) Check out Jenotopia if you like, come back if you still like—even if you only read with the horrid fascination of a person watching a large, disgusting bug because you just can’t take your eyes off it.

Let’s misbehave a little and see what happens. Even if you’re not entertained by Jenotopia, rest assured that I am!