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John Elizabeth Stintzi (JES)

@jestintzi

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Award-winning writer and artist (@picture.jes). Books: BAD HOUSES, MY VOLCANO, JUNEBAT, and VANISHING MONUMENTS. New novel out in 2028.

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**edit: this book has been pushed to Spring 2028 for my own mental health reasons! And to make the book better. See you then!**

COVER REVEAL:

Excited to share the cover for my new novel GUEST SERVICES AT THE MUSEUM OF SEXUAL DEVIANCE, which is coming out this fall from @arsenalpulp. Can't wait to share this big book with you! (But also slightly scared, l o l ). One of my many Magnum Opus (magnum opi?). Preorder link should be coming up around early March (just in time for my birthday on March 7 👼).

More info:
An expansive, universe-bending portrait of an authoritarian society reaching its breaking point, told through the lives of those who pass through the Museum of Sexual Deviance.

It’s the summer of 2093, and the autocratic governor of the Democratic Annex of Iowa is passing a new law—the Good Citizens Act—that targets terrestrial and parallel-universe migrants known as “paralleligrants” under the guise of fighting crime and ending the unemployment crisis. All the while, in a northern suburb of the state’s young capital, New Des Moines, the Museum of Sexual Deviance has dedicated itself solely to erotic art and the history of sexual deviance, despite the steadily increasing conservatism the governor’s Democratic regime has brought to the state since he came to power in 2052.

An audacious and salaciously furious new novel from the award-winning author of My Volcano and Bad Houses, Guest Services at the Museum of Sexual Deviance follows security guards, custodians, artists, and visitors of the museum as they try to find love, meaning, and solidarity despite it all. Showing us how our lives are interwoven and how we must hold one another in times of crisis, Guest Services at the Museum of Sexual Deviance centers the importance of resistance and the power of erotic art—and queerness—to inspire us to keep fighting for what is animal in humanity. by @jestintzi

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8 months ago

I'm teaching two classes in October at @cherry_pit_collective!

WRITING POEMS ABOUT SPECIAL PLACES
Tuesday, October 6, 6pm

WRITING FLASH FICTION
Tuesday, October 27, 6pm

Links to register are in all the usual places. Tell your friends! I'm hoping to get a lot more writing stuff happening at the Cherry Pit Collective, but I can't do that if nobody wants it, so let anyone who may want to have more non-institutional writing classes to come on out of the woodwork! by @jestintzi

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14 hours ago

Week 39 was somewhat full, yet found its ways to feel very empty as well. I am in a weird state of inbetween, where I am feeling a little more fortitude to fight the grimness of my life/grief, while also finding the quiet parts of my life jagged. But I did some stuff: I wore some dresses, did some clay tomfoolery at the Cherry Pit, did some writing with my new friend Xiao, decluttered some books and found this little dagger in my collection, flowers, good coffee, recycling with friends, new business cards (finally), visited a friend at the library (unpictured), a documentary in a skatepark, hot chicken and farming with Anna, very overdue coffee with my friend Emily, and then…collapse. Perhaps I have overextended myself. But probably not.

I am really frustrated with how long and difficult this “healing” process has been. I sometimes fear it will never end, though I know as well that it will. And that is also sad, and possibly sadder.

I have been really finding my own doing more documentary style photography, and I have some (crazy) plans for the fall. We will see what we can make of this stupid little life while I have the chance. by @jestintzi

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2 days ago

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4 days ago

I kind of last minute learned that they were showing a documentary about the Harrison Street DIY skatepark (@harrisonstreetdiy) today (and that they are finally probably demolishing the place). I met Anna and her friends there, and it was a really cool and big crowd! I even saw a former student of mine, Elisabeth. I've been awed by her skating talents lately, especially as I very slowly get comfortable (roller) skating.

I actually, surprisingly, have a tiny piece of history with Harrison DIY Skatepark. Back in February, I very briefly tried to learn to skateboard (all on my own), and one night I decided to come out and see the skatepark and see if I could get some practice there. It was, like, 9pm or something, and still winter to KC folks, so the place was deserted. I didn't stay long, because I was so bad at skating, and because I couldn't find a place that was level enough ground where I wouldn't get way too much speed. I ended up messing up my back somehow skateboarding for the like 2 weeks I did it, and gave it up. My skateboard still sits in the trunk of my car, though.

So even a terrible skater like me has a connection to this place!

It was a really good little documentary (@bringashovel_doc), inspiring even for the ways in which the community made this skatepark happen. It was so fun to see it in the park itself, and to see the skaters skating before they were set up to play the documentary. It was also fun to watch the inflatable screen fall over exactly 30 seconds into the documentary from one of those rogue Kansas city gusts.

I didn't get too many photos, partly because of the dark (which doesn't cooperate as well with my camera's 2014 technology) and partly because I didn't really plan to photo at all. But I really love some of these! I got weirdly obsessed with this man on the light pole. He was a great subject. And of course Anna was drawing the skatepark, which she had much more personal connections to, since she is a legitimately good skater (and is the only reason I own roller skates).

Long live DIY shit like this! It's so cool! I hate that we keep gentrifying the character out of this freaking planet. taken in Harrison Street DIY by @jestintzi

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4 days ago

Posted a new newsletter yesterday, which is sort of an essay/reflection on a feeling that's been standing on the other side of the room as of late. Not for the faint of heart/tread carefully if you are vulnerable to discussions around sui**de/ideation/etc, but also not for the worrier!

Spoiler alert: I am okay, I have been here before, I have made it this far, and I will be here again.

You know where to go to read it if you haven't (and to subscribe if you haven't). by @jestintzi

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7 days ago

Mark your calendars! Our very own award-winning author @jestintzi is hosting a FREE hangout for writerly sorts at the Cherry Pit Collective this coming Sunday Sept 27) from 1-3pm! Come on by to chat about what you're working on and meet other writerly folks! We may even do some writing prompts/games, depending on how people are feeling.

Don't self-reject! If you write, you're a writer, full stop. We want to touch base with the writerly people in our community, and see what we can do to help build some more writerly connections in our space, and see if we can learn better what kinds of classes you might be interested in taking at the Cherry Pit.

Nanowrimo (national novel writing month, November!) is right around the corner, and it's dangerous to go alone. So come with us!

Come on by next week! We look forward to seeing you. by @jestintzi

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8 days ago

Week 38, adios. This week was definitely a valley in my latest depressive spiral (one of my worst this year, an accomplishment!), but it also had me climbing up out of that more than I expected.

I relented to the dark and began working on a dark novel I started back in the fall of 2024 (PIGEON WIRE), randomly called a few friends, hung out with friend & photography queen @deannadikeman (& Joey! Whom Grendel loves), my friend Rose (a cryptid, unpictured), poked myself with some girly juice for the first time (I listened to this song by @creekbedcarter while I did it), and got to see a few of my photographs in a gallery.

Ended with a magical farm adventure at Urbavore Farm (see previous post for more photos) with Anna, which was fun! Anna and I met and talked with some cool people, and I took hundreds of photos of her picking flowers. Everyone in their element.

Week 39...here I am. by @jestintzi

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9 days ago

An afternoon (blistering) at @urbavorefarm. Flowers, friends, cyanotypes, a beer. A good time had. by @jestintzi

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9 days ago

Was cool to see my three pictures ("Flamingos in the Greenhouse," "Nevernew," and "OwO") up at @80santafe. Thankful to the few friends that made it out to see it, despite it being an oven, and despite the price of gas. taken in 80 Santa Fe Art Gallery by @jestintzi

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10 days ago

Check out my newsletter for a bit more info, but the gist of it is that I've got 3 photographs in @80santafe's show THROUGH THE LENS, which opens in Overland Park this Friday from 5-7pm (and will be on view through October 12). I'll be there! Probably from like 6-7. Would love to see you and share this fun little achievement with you (I've never showed more than one photograph at a time, and even that I've only done twice before).

Are you gonna swing by? Let me know! by @jestintzi

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14 days ago

Week 37...what can I say about her? This week is a week of blurry photos (some intentional, some not, all appropriate). Week 37 started off f***ing sweltering at @paperplainszinefest (but was nice seeing all the faces), and then a lot of the rest was just...a sad time. I finally finished the only Sally Rooney I had left (Normal People), and I also made a couple belts with @redhareleather at the Cherry Pit. I accidentally saw some weird KCAI shenanigans when I went there to pick up some prints (that you can see in an exhibition next week? Info coming soon) before reconnecting with a friend. A lot of this week has been alone and at home, quietly living with myself, thinking about my crooked future, feeling feelings. But I feel a little less...I feel different in this latest sadness/loneliness. You can tell I'm feeling a particular way when I almost post a photo of my nipple on Instagram. The week basically ended (nothing photogenic on my Saturday, just me updating my resume) on Queer Dyke Night, where I was harangued into meeting some nice trans folks (two of whom were on leashes), and who were quite excited to hear that I'm a known trans writer. I spent an hour trying to help one of them outline a way to get back into their own writing, and hearing why I need to read the Earthsea books (Le Guin) from another. It was a nice time, tho still as small and lonely as my life has felt this week. I don't use lonely as a pejorative exactly. I am very familiar with her. In some ways, while I have been low this week, I have also felt somewhat content in that loneliness. Like it feels as though it's maybe a plateau I've arrived at. Not sure if I'm ascending or descending, but I've got some respite. by @jestintzi

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16 days ago