The New Normal

July 2024

It is beyond belief how far we have moved forward, yet we are here. 

I look back daily and wonder how much I have accomplished since my last post here, 

it blows my mind! 

My life has never been better or happier, post everything and post COVID.

I am now creating art full time and I have built a brand new art portfolio that continues to grow. 

More soon!

Jilly Jesson Fine Art and Design

The Year of Living Dangerously

Saving My Own Life

It has been one hell of a time in my journey. This past year I have been journaling and preparing to write again. I am beginning here within my personal blog.

I have 3 blogs: Blogger (Tiny Notes from Athena), Wordpress (Women To Watch Arizona) and Medium (The Burning Times). My media business had to be put on hold as I rebuild my life.

How to get started writing again after the trauma of leaving a sociopathic, gaslighting narcisist with an arsenal of guns, ammo and knives and almost being killed, has been very hard beyond any words. I have an amazing therapist and survivor group that is now a big part of my weekly schedule of healing, this is how I know for sure what it is clearly like to survive a "Ted Bundy" type of person for decades.  

I have been diagnosed with PTSD and trauma from being beat up and deeply bruised head to toe. My head was smashed several times and I blacked out. While I fought back to save my life my body was terribly hurt. The struggle to get back on my feet and restore my work has taken it's toll. 

I started first by finally being able to create my art (ArtbyJilly) in freedom, and to express myself without fear. After moving several times to safe, secret places to live, I am still planning what is next. When I escaped I was in a t-shirt and shorts with no purse or shoes. 

Those clothes were ripped and torn badly and I have been living on less than 5 cents a day at this point in time. Much of my documentation has been on my facebook pages as I have been recovering. Rebuilding my trust within a wonderful new circle of friends has been a priority while I take care of myself first. 

After decades of having to dim my light to survive, I do not have to do that anymore. All of this will not be in vain. My learning curve is helping others find their own courage as the #MeToo Movement grows. Below is a photo from Judith Mariner's Studio with a very fine group of artists I am honored to collaborate with now as we create our work. This door opened as I closed the door on the past.

   

The purpose of this post is to get started again on my writing. My past story of being told to stop on a daily basis, before being brutally attacked, will be helping others as I create my future story of thriving. 

This has been a year of living dangerously after a lifetime of survival and sleeping with the enemy within a marriage. This was not my fault. Sociopath's are attracted to light, vulnerability and things thay want to own, these personality types have no empathy or compassion, they are never what they seem.  

Namaste' and Thank you,

Jilly Jesson

I am redesigning all my online platforms now as I create new sculptures and art, thank you for supporting me.

Click here to buy or view a sample of my prints: http://bit.ly/FineArtistJillyJesson_ArtPrints

Click for my current Facebook fundraiser link: http://bit.ly/Donate_JillyJesson

VOTE SMART

What Every Girl Should Know

"When motherhood becomes the fruit of a deep yearning, not the result of ignorance or accident, its children will become the foundation of a new race."

- Margaret Higgins Sanger 

VOTE (smart) - original version

Watch this film short starring filmmakers 

Ginia Desmond and Kirsten Long 

created for the VOTE SMART Initiative 2012

Culture of Sacrifice and Shame

Once upon a time I helped a friend get an abortion. I feel it was one of the most important gifts I have done for someone. When she told me the weight of her decision and the lack of support she had, the struggle of moving past a relationship that would destroy her future and no parents who cared. I was there to support my workmate who did not have anyone to be there with her as she made this huge life choice.

We traveled to the original Margaret Sanger Health Center, now Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona in Tucson. As I drove her, it was not easy and it is sad that the shame she felt upon making this choice meant we would lose touch. 

I was glad that the doctor was empathetic and thoughtful and guided me on how to support her best. I was also glad that I became a suffragette at a very young age, as soon as I could read the biographies of Margaret Sanger, Annie Oakley, Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn and more, it became clear that I would take control of my future and health care with discipline and smart choices beyond my age.

Later in my professional career I handled the advertising for Planned Parenthood and marched for freedom and choice in Arizona. When I went to the offices of PP to do business, the security was heavy with bullet proof glass and a serious concern for protecting families as they served our community.

Telling Our Stories 

Jeff Yanc (Far Left) Ginia Desmond (Center Right) Dr. Alan Hamilton (Far Right)
Photo by Jilly Jesson Smyth

When I met Ginia Desmond for the first time she was speaking on a screenwriter panel at Tucson Festival of Books March 2017. The man next to her on the left was grumpy and she looked me in the eyes with empathy as I shot photos for my work and took notes on the wisdom she shared. I knew she was special as she related the story of how she produced her films and gave guidance to all listening intently in the audience. 

The Green Light

My Powerpuff Girl Icon

Now is the time to press the "GO" button. 

If you have children, set an example for them the way Katherine Hepburn's Mom did and I highly suggest having them read "What Every Girl Should Know" by Margaret Sanger , it is an oldie but goodie to leave handy around the house. It is time to wake up from thinking we accomplished everything already, we have important stories to tell. 

THE PUSH BACK IS HERE

"The government continued its efforts to exert political control over the judiciary, NGOs and the media. Hundreds of protesters faced criminal sanctions for participating in peaceful assemblies. Women and girls continued to face systemic barriers in accessing safe and legal abortion."

- Amnesty.org Poland 2017/2018

Kirsten Long and Me at a recent Haboob Happening
Created by Ginia Desmond, David Sadker and Karen Zittleman

“If the cure for cancer was in the mind of a girl, we might never discover it.”

 - Myra Sadker

WHO IS RUNNING?         WHAT IS A CAUCUS?

CHECK OUT EMILYS LIST and IGNITE CHANGE NOW!

We ignite change by getting pro-choice 

Democratic women elected to office.

ENGAGE ~ NETWORK ~ COLLABORATE ~ VOTE

Happy Voting...

Much Moksha Jilly

Artist Activist

The Burning Times

Women To Watch AZ

JillyJessonSmyth.co

New Never Boring

Super Heroes

Power Punch Splash Show!

I was on the edge of my seat for the first time in a long while, inside one of my favorite theaters, with 2 of my smart and fun women friends Dotti and Linda Joy, watching history unfold. 

  

Kissing the head of a very important woman to me: Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Real superheroes wear dissent collars.

Director / Producer / Filmmaker's 

Julie Cohen @filmmakerjulie and 

Betsy West @BetsyWest 

co-created the RBG documentary @RBGMovie 

This is the most important film that all people need to watch now. The Supreme Court is in transition just as we have made moment by moment progress with 4 Smart Women Justices. 

"Hero. Icon. Dissenter. You know her accomplishments, but you haven’t heard her story. Witness #RBGMovie #FourthOfJuly2018

#IWD2018"

Trailblazer and Hero

This story is also a huge love story packed with gems of wisdom and wit. 

Her beloved husband Marty was her greatest cheerleader. Successful in his own right, a famous tax lawyer and chef, see Chef Supreme, he helped raise their family with a huge smile and tons of laughter. They loved each other dearly. She found a gem of a man as reported by Nina Totenberg on NPR, they were together for 56 years until his death. 

As I was obsorbed by this film I sat in awe as RBG set the pace for a new court of righting injustice with patience, perseverance, research and discipline. 

As her husband Marty networked behind the scenes to bring her front and center with President Bill Clinton who also fell in love with her. Thank God for us he did and we were off and running to a new interpretation of the constitution for a new millenium. 

"I think that the most important thing I have done is to enable Ruth to do what she has done." 

- Marty Ginsberg

The film is well paced and keeps you hooked as this 84 year old powerhouse reveals layers of integrity woven through her artful opinions and decisions within the poetry of our United States Constutution.

The film is based on the magnificent book: 

Notorious RBG

The Life and Times of 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Written by 

 Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER MUST READ!

LAUGH, CRY, FEEL ~ SEE THIS MOVIE!

Much Moksha, XOXO Jilly

Smyth and Jesson Media

@JillyWisdom

@JillJessonSmyth

The Notorious RBG

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“I ask no favors for my sex, all I ask of my brethren, is that they take their feet off our necks!”

~Notorious RBG

A Woman Of Substance 

Does Lunch

Who will join her?

Quietly moving and flowing underneath all the darkness that is top of mind right now are patient, tenacious smart women who have been preparing, writing, working and creating for 20 - 40 years and more to take up the reins of gender equality and womens rights. Since Ruth Bader Ginsburg knew first hand about discrimination, she set the tone the Supreme Court needed to begin a shift in the law which is the only thing that counts in the real world of commerce and business that touches everyone's lives. 

"In 2018, Ginsburg expressed her support for the #MeToo movement, which encourages women to speak up about their experiences with sexual harassment.^[91] She told an audience, "It's about time. For so long women were silent, thinking there was nothing you could do about it, but now the law is on the side of women, or men, who encounter harassment and that's a good thing."^[91] She also reflected on her own experiences with gender discrimination and sexual harassment, including a time when a chemistry professor at Cornell unsuccessfully attempted to trade her exam answers for sex.^[91]"   Wikipedia

Visionaries knew this time was coming and have been preparing the foundation of solid consciousness, work ethic and education along with their daughters and granddaughters. Forward thinking men are aligning with the knowledge that women are leading the way to the next evolution that Marianne Williamson called a "Renaissance" in 1997. 

We Are Joining Her! 

Nosh and Chat Beverage Hour
 "Wit and Wine" Tote Bags  by ArtbyJilly.com

Women of all ages are ready to do lunch in spirit with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and take action, who are they? 
Who do you suggest? 

I think of the 12 Apostles of the Women's Renaissance beginning with SCOTUS. 

There are threads of courage, strength, family difficulty, understanding of purpose, and talented discipline inside each of the biography's linked to these women of all ages. The archetypes show up as each woman advises our women leaders now and our women friends sitting at the table next to us. 

My new book list includes these amazing women I need to learn more about: 

1) Sonia Sotomayor

2) Elena Kagan

3) Sandra Day O'Conner

4) Gloria Steinem

5) Emma Watson

6) Oprah Winfrey

7) Malala

8) Billie Jean King

9) Michelle Obama

10) Madeleine Albright

11) Marianne Williamson

12) Jean Houston

Women of Wisdom do Lunch

We get together almost weekly for intimate friendship and nourishment!
Women To Watch Arizona

This summer the amazing women in my neighborhood sphere will continue our salon's lunches, wine Wednesdays and fun get togethers now inspired by the fabulous Ruth Bader Gindsburg film now in theaters and these stories. 

In Tucson, Arizona the film is showing at The Loft  Cinema and I will have a review soon...Join us!

To go along with this theme I have created my new 

"Women Who Lunch" by Jilly Jesson Smyth fine art series I hope you enjoy as much as I do!

Much Moksha XOXO Jilly

JillyJessonSmyth.co

New Never Boring

Rebels

My Inspiration for 2018

"Journalism is an act of faith in the future."

 - Ann Curry

Wednesday Wisdom: Dream It and Do It

While Having Fun!

WOMEN TO WATCH ARIZONA

Women's Day 2018

International Women's Day 

is Thursday, March 8, 2018

Today I know for sure our paths are aligned for a very special time. A wave of several generations are interwoven in a vision that has never been seen before, a collaboration of trust and integrity is making things happen with young women and mentoring wisdom that is not the norm of the past. A new quilt of many colors, many ages and many experiences is being wrapped around humanity.

Moksha Life Magazine on Facebook

We are Rebels with a Cause

My purpose in today's essay is to share how one can be aware of the disfunction and pain in todays reality yet stay balanced and focused on our dreams and desires at the same time. Anger can fuel good and great things for you. 

Do not get distracted from your creative talents for too long because it is these talents that will raise us all higher. 

Collaboration is key to balancing radical empathy and helping while staying on point with our work, we have to do this together. 

It has been ironic to feel so excited by all the fantastic progress we are making in so many arenas yet knowing the daily barrage of cruelty and horror is happening at the same time. 

What To Do?

One of the exciting vehicles I have created is my feature stories and coverage of some of the coolest women in my sphere that I cover in Women To Watch AZ. My next feature is about an incredible woman who has published a searing and brilliant memoir on rising from the ashes of trauma in the midwest. The fact that there are no more secrets means we can dare greatly together. #NeverAgain #MeToo #Enough

Be Crazy Makers of Change

Women To Watch AZ by Jilly Jesson Smyth

George Clooney Karma

"George and Amal, I couldn’t agree with you more. I am joining forces with you and will match your $500,000 donation to ‘March For Our Lives.’ These inspiring young people remind me of the Freedom Riders of the 60s who also said we’ve had ENOUGH and our voices will be heard."

- Oprah 

George and Amal Clooney Give Back  

Anyone Can Make A Difference

Women Are Kicking Ass and 
Our Children Are Starting A Revolution

This year is a turning point in every neighborhood, industry and home and women are leading the charge.

Original Art by Jilly Jesson Smyth

"The only time that counts is NOW!"

- Jilly Jesson Smyth 

Much Moksha 

XOXO Jilly

ArtbyJilly

@JillJessonSmyth

@JillyWisdom

Let it snow love! #JillyandFriends #ArtbyJilly #HotHappenings #TucsonBizChat #Tucson #SmartGirls #WomentoWatchAZ http://bit.ly/JillyMoksha  http://bit.ly/WomenToWatchAZ  WELCOME!

State of The Dream

All Creativity is Inspired by Freedom 

My Dream is for All Women in my sphere of influence be inspired by powerful collaboration and connection beyond knowing.

~ Women To Watch AZ ~

Today a new movement has begun fueled by a fire to burn off all that is old thinking that has returned again because we did not do it right the first time, second time and many more times. Practice makes it happen, we need to keep going and respect all the women who have come before us and had been told to be silent. No more. 

Thank you to @Alyssa_Milano for posting the links and directions:_

#StateOfTheDream Initiative

OVERVIEW: 

On Tuesday night (6pm PST/9pm EST), Donald Trump will deliver his SOTU address. #StateOfTheDream will highlight what truly makes America great: that we come from many places, races and creeds, and together work for a more perfect union.  

Our digital #StateOfTheDream address will support our dreamers and immigrants, call for a DREAM Act, lean into the Senate, fundraise for United We Dream, and express our vision for a more inclusive, progressive America.

We will provide a social media toolkit closer to the 30th, but we also invite you create a brief (60 seconds or less) video describing your dream for America: What you hope for. What inspires YOU. (We especially encourage those running for office and those already serving to do so!). All videos should be posted simultaneously at 6pm PST/9pm EST with the hashtag #StateOfTheDream on all of your social channels. After the video blast, you can proceed to post tweets from the toolkit or your own messaging. We just ask that you continue the unifying tweetstorm with the #StateOfTheDream hashtag.

WHEN: Tuesday, January 30th at 6pm PST/9pm EST

WHAT: #StateOfTheDream initiative

WHO: Members of The Resistance, elected officials, those running for office, any and all Americans who want to use their voices for positive change! Love IS louder.

We are ready!

XOXO Jilly

http://bit.ly/ArtbyJilly #JillyandFriends #ArtbyJilly #HotHappenings #TucsonBizChat #Tucson 🎬 http://bit.ly/JillyMoksha 💋#StateOfTheDream #PowerpunchSplashShow #WomenToWatchAZ #TuesdayTalent #FridayFanClub