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11th Anniversary + a Christmas Message from Jodi

With over 11 million page views & well over 7 million visitors since 2012 — December 21st 2023 marks the 11th anniversary of our Jodi Arias Is Innocent .com website launch.

So with Christmas just a few days away – I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support over the past 11 years – and thank you in advance for your continued support moving forward through 2024 and beyond.

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Here is Jodi’s Christmas Message:

“Yay! December!”

In December, I relax my gluten-free rule and get into baking mode. Last week, I made a beautiful Skittles cake with aqua-blue frosting. Today, I made cheesecake with a chocolate-sea-salt-caramel swirl.

A lot of us make holiday food this time of year because the microwave room, lacking air-conditioning, is not so insufferable in the winter. Next up: paella. (Well, something close to it.)

Lumley Unit is festooned with holiday decorations, making everywhere feel festive. December birthdays are celebrated, Secret-Santa presents are exchanged, and life feels lighter in the absence of oppressive desert heat.

So, yay! December! And yet — prison. The darkest month of the year is fraught with challenges for incarcerated women, and we haven’t exactly locked arms in an altruistic bond of sisterhood. But we make the best of it, however we can.

I hope that, wherever you are, you’re staying warm and tapping into the energy of this joyous time of year. Thank you for sticking with me! I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of people.

Much Love,

<3 — Jodi Arias

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ArtByJodiArias.com – UPDATE

Jodi’s personal efforts to raise money for her appeals continue through the production of her art, which is sold at ArtbyJodiArias.com. Her art admin supports her efforts by running this “side hustle” of sorts on her behalf and taking none of the funds. The time and effort he devotes to this process (filing the taxes, trips to the post office every week to ship art) are an invaluable contribution.

If you are interested in another way to contribute to the cause, any purchase at ArtbyJodiArias.com is a legitimate way to support Jodi. You can also check out Jodi’s art on Instagram @ArtbyJodiArias.

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To finish off this festive update, here’s Jodi’s evergreenly awesome rendition of O Holy Night.”]

Enjoy!

And Remember folks… as I always say – each day that passes takes us one day closer to Jodi’s release date.

we are team jodi - and we will be victorious

**********

I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a safe, peaceful, prosperous & awesome 2024.

SJ
Team Jodi #WINNING <<<

Click the banner below to read Jade’s post – “Justice Denied: Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State’s Case Against Jodi Arias.”:

Read - Justice Denied - Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State's Case Against Jodi Arias

Happy Thanksgiving 2023 & a Message from Jodi

By: Jodi Arias

“Thanksgiving at Perryville is a time when the weather is cooler and most people are in a better mood. In the spirit of tradition, many of us get together and share good food and warm drinks (hot chocolate, coffee, mocha, or cappuccino).

For me, Thanksgiving is always a reminder to reflect on my blessings. I feel profound gratitude for the warmth and kindness and support sent from people all over the world. I wish I had the bandwidth to thank everyone individually. I feel your love and I’m grateful!”

<3 — Jodi

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Remember, folks… each day that passes takes us one day closer to Jodi’s release date.

we are team jodi - and we will be victorious

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SJ
Team Jodi #WINNING <<<

Click the banner below to read Jade’s post – “Justice Denied: Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State’s Case Against Jodi Arias.”:

Read - Justice Denied - Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State's Case Against Jodi Arias

Jodi Update: “Dance with the Devil” 9/25/2023

By Jodi Arias:

During my second trial, I was sitting at the defense table next to my attorney Jennifer Willmott and there was a lull in the proceedings during which the jury was not present. Judge Sherri Stephens had just ruled against me again in favor of the State for what felt like the umpteenth time that week alone.

Again and again, my team’s motions were denied; Juan’s were granted. Our objections were overruled; Juan’s were sustained. The entire trial wasn’t like this but, for those few days, the court’s slant in favor of the state was more glaring than usual.

Right after one such ruling, I leaned over to Jennifer and whispered, “It’s almost like he sold his soul to the devil,” referring to Juan, of course.

“I know,” she whispered back.

“Except I don’t believe in that. How would a person sell their soul anyway?”

I asked this question rhetorically, not seriously, because the concept of selling one’s soul, in this context, is fiction. I was exhausted and not a little perplexed at how the judge’s bias was obvious to everyone but herself. Nevertheless, I asked the question aloud, albeit in a whisper.

About a week later, I scooped up the pile of postcards that had been shoved under my cell door at night while I slept. Several were from one person, written in blocky letters and black gel ink.

“Jodi, I can make the doors of that jail open and you will walk out of there a free woman. That is, if you are willing to deny your Creator and partake of the Satanic rights. . . .”

OK, whoa.

It only took me a moment to correlate the cards in my hands with the question I posed to Jennifer a week earlier. Was this some dark synchronicity, or just a wild coincidence? Whichever it was, the postcards gave me pause.

I don’t believe in the devil. There are devils, sure. The symbolic kind. But I’m talking about the Christian devil. Satan. Lucifer. He whom some do not name so as to avoid inadvertently summoning.

I used to be Christian so I know from the Christian perspective that denying the devil’s existence is a kind of heresy. In the Christian worldview, that’s exactly what the devil wants you to believe: that he’s not even real. A Christian will tell you that is one of Satan’s biggest lies.

I get it. I really do because I used to believe that, too. It took me a lifetime to realize my former belief in the devil was one I inherited as a preschooler and not one I came to by choice.

The devil, Christian or otherwise, is a symbol. But even when I believed in the existence of this fictional paragon of evil, I never believed it was possible to sell my soul to him. “How could I sell what’s not even mine? My soul belongs to God,” I once said as a teenager who thought herself to be so deep and philosophical.

Maybe that’s where the “Satanic rites” come in, serving to sever the spiritual ties I used to believe I had to heavenly realms. I would hazard a guess that this is achieved, hypothetically, via a complex ritual replete with pomp and formality, bolstered by a smattering of Latin and maybe some requisite bodily fluid that I would be too squeamish to collect and offer.

Sometimes, when I retell this story, I end it on a humorous note: “Obviously, I never took that deal because I’m still here!” (bah-dum-bump!) In prison, that is.

I don’t believe in this stuff anyway, but if I had believed it would work, my answer then would have been an emphatic “Hell no,” pun and all. Because if it worked that would mean I could regain my freedom, all for the price of . . . my soul? Which presumably equates to spending eternity in hell. Which is another thing I don’t believe. But a deal’s a deal, right? So no thanks.

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ArtByJodiArias.com – UPDATE

Jodi’s personal efforts to raise money for her appeals also continue through the production of her art, which is sold at ArtbyJodiArias.com. Her art admin supports her efforts by running this “side hustle” of sorts on her behalf and taking none of the funds. The time and effort he devotes to this process (filing the taxes, trips to the post office every week to ship art) are an invaluable contribution.

If you are interested in another way to contribute to the cause, any purchase at ArtbyJodiArias.com is a legitimate way to support Jodi. You can also check out Jodi’s art on Instagram @ArtbyJodiArias.

**********

And Remember folks… as I always say – each day that passes takes us one day closer to Jodi’s release date.

we are team jodi - and we will be victorious

**********

SJ
Team Jodi #WINNING <<<

Click the banner below to read Jade’s post – “Justice Denied: Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State’s Case Against Jodi Arias.”:

Read - Justice Denied - Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State's Case Against Jodi Arias

Jodi Update: “Boss Moves” 7/27/2023

By Jodi Arias:

Arizona’s Director of Prisons, Ryan Thornell, was onsite Friday afternoon to experience for himself the hot, stifling air inside what one woman here aptly termed our “concrete coffins.”

Following his visit, resources were mobilized to enact unprecedented changes.

Last Friday afternoon, I was working in the library when my coworker breezed in from wherever she had just been and said, “The director is on C yard!”

“The director?”

“The director.”

I grabbed my glasses and we went outside to stare across Lumley Unit’s broad dirt field to try to get a glimpse of him. Appointed by the governor to oversee all prisons across Arizona, no one in the department ranks above the director. His visits are a big deal. 

Perryville had just been the focus of a news story that broke earlier in the week on the local NBC affiliate, 12News. The topic was the unbearable conditions in which we are housed during the summer. As you may know, the Sonora Desert, which stretches across a large swath of the Southwestern United States, reaches lethal temperatures in the summer, and this year marks yet another of record-breaking heat.

Thornell’s visit appeared to be unannounced. He arrived on Lumley Unit with very few people while the unit-level big wigs, chilling in their cushy air-conditioned offices, scrambled to join him in the middle of what ultimately became a 113-degree day.

We watched as his now-burgeoning entourage left C yard and marched on towards D yard. He asked several of the women on the yards what short-term suggestions they had for relieving some of the misery and danger the intense heat presents (that is, in lieu of air-conditioning, a long-term plan riddled with logistical conundrums).

Here are some of the ideas they proposed to Thornell:

Suggestion: more cold water

It’s already offered in two kegs, or “igloos,” on each yard. However, these hold a mere five gallons for over one hundred women, and they often run dry in the evenings, right about the time we’re all headed for a long night in our hot “concrete coffins.”

Suggestion: free ice for all

How is this for extortion? Trap a bunch of humans in the desert, deprive them of air-conditioning, and eliminate cold water from the tap so that it only flows warm or hot, including the showers. Then charge them for ice.

Ice is big business for Keefe Group, supplier of our commissary and sole holder of the commissary contract for Arizona’s prisons. At $2.05 for a 7-pound bag that quickly melts in an un-air-conditioned cell, the company undoubtedly makes a fortune on ice-ticket sales.

Suggestion: more shade

Each yard is laid with thousands of square meters of heat-refracting concrete. This concrete bakes all day in the sun and radiates heat all night. Same for the concrete buildings in which we live. Shade is sparse. It’s also an inconvenience to the budget, which typically gets allocated for other projects, though what projects is anyone’s guess.

Shade also interferes with the yard’s security cameras. All two of them.

Suggestion: misters

Perryville isn’t a spa resort in Scottsdale. Even I was cynical about misters.

You can imagine my great surprise when these suggestions were exactly what the Director ordered.

Just after sunset Friday evening, only hours after Thornell left, a semi-truck rolled onto Lumley Unit, detached from its giant trailer, which had a running generator attached to it, and drove off. A smaller truck approached, topped off the generator’s gas, and also left. We all speculated.

The next day, we found out the trailer was filled with pallets of Keefe ice. Free ice for everyone! I choked back emotion when I saw people who have never been able to afford ice line up for their blessedly cold, 7-pound bag. Some were women made meek and manageable by heavily prescribed psych meds, for whom excessive heat is contraindicated but who can’t not be in excessive heat because there’s nowhere else they can be.

Saturday also brought a crew of workers to Lumley Unit who installed misters in various places across the yard. As soon as they began misting, we all felt an immediate difference.

Sunday opened with still more surprises. Another work crew marched onto the yard, erected a metal frame over one of the concrete tables, bolted it in place, then covered it with shade.

Director Thornell also returned on Sunday afternoon. Did you read that? On Sunday! He knew the weather wasn’t taking a weekend off so neither did he. He made sure his ranking staff didn’t either. All the bosses spent their weekend at Perryville rolling out the director’s directives. He was back onsite to check the progress and — almost unbelievably — ask the women for still more suggestions. “Within reason,” he added.

That the Director of Prisons would deign to speak to any of us in custody, in our environment, on our terms, and not in some scripted setting orchestrated by public relations staff is so rare that this alone is worth a newsletter. That he accepted our feedback and acted on our suggestions feels as though Perryville has somehow shifted into a parallel universe. We didn’t just feel heard, we were heard.

These changes have been heartening, to say the least. I am a bit in awe of this man. Not because of his impressive academic credentials — a master’s degree in criminal justice and a doctorate in political science — but because of his boss moves.

He was made aware of a problem and took immediate action requiring significant logistics. His leadership makes the last two guys who held his position look like cold, inept clowns.

Ryan Thornell for president!

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ArtByJodiArias.com – UPDATE

Jodi’s personal efforts to raise money for her appeals also continue through the production of her art, which is sold at ArtbyJodiArias.com. Her art admin supports her efforts by running this “side hustle” of sorts on her behalf and taking none of the funds. The time and effort he devotes to this process (filing the taxes, trips to the post office every week to ship art) are an invaluable contribution.

If you are interested in another way to contribute to the cause, any purchase at ArtbyJodiArias.com is a legitimate way to support Jodi. You can also check out Jodi’s art on Instagram @ArtbyJodiArias.

**********

And Remember folks… as I always say – each day that passes takes us one day closer to Jodi’s release date.

we are team jodi - and we will be victorious

**********

Leave your thoughts & comments below…
SJ
Team Jodi #WINNING <<<

Click the banner below to read Jade’s post – “Justice Denied: Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State’s Case Against Jodi Arias.”:

Read - Justice Denied - Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State's Case Against Jodi Arias

Donations to the Appellate Fund Are Not Wasted! Here’s Why

WE ARE TEAM JODI - #WINNING!

Recently, someone asked if it was not a waste to donate to the JAA Appellate Fund, since Jodi’s appeal to overturn her wrongful conviction was denied in 2021 by the Court of Appeals of Arizona. Given how complex the legal system is, this was a good question that others may have also wondered. The short answer is, no, it’s not a waste.

Here is an explanation:

Jodi was appointed public defenders in 2015 to file her direct appeal with the Court of Appeals of Arizona. That court upheld her wrongful conviction in 2021 despite acknowledging gross prosecutorial misconduct by now-disbarred Juan Martinez.

Jodi was then appointed lawyers who are now in the process of filing for post-conviction relief (PCR). They have yet to file this brief because the case file is enormous and they are still preparing. This brief will be filed with the Superior Court of Maricopa County. After this, her court-appointed representation will end, which means she will have to pay for a lawyer beyond this point.

So what is beyond this point? Well, if Jodi is granted relief from the PCR process (meaning the judge agrees that Jodi did not receive a fair trial), the clock restarts in her case, and the fund will be used to get a good pretrial lawyer. This is written into the instructions of the trust.

If she is not granted relief (meaning the court upholds her wrongful conviction), the fund will be used to retain a lawyer to petition the federal court circuits all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

Because Arizona is loath to admit just how badly Jodi’s case has been handled, it will likely take a higher court to hold Arizona’s lower courts accountable.

Yet now that the trial judge, Sherri Stephens, has retired, a different superior court judge may recognize the utter circus that was Jodi’s trial and throw out Jodi’s wrongful conviction. This is certainly a legal possibility.

In either of the above scenarios (relief or no relief), the JAA Appellate Fund will be greatly needed:

  1. To retain a lawyer to continue petitioning federal courts on Jodi’s behalf.
  2. To retain a lawyer to represent her in the pretrial process. Technically, she could be appointed another public defender under this scenario, but given how terribly that worked out the first time, retaining a private lawyer would be the better way to go. The JAA Appellate Fund allows for this scenario.

Lawyers are expensive, and you often get what you pay for, so let’s empower Jodi to afford the best legal representation possible. Donate at Justice4Jodi.com.

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ArtByJodiArias.com – UPDATE

Jodi’s personal efforts to raise money for her appeals also continue through the production of her art, which is sold at ArtbyJodiArias.com. Her art admin supports her efforts by running this “side hustle” of sorts on her behalf and taking none of the funds. The time and effort he devotes to this process (filing the taxes, trips to the post office every week to ship art) are an invaluable contribution.

If you are interested in another way to contribute to the cause, any purchase at ArtbyJodiArias.com is a legitimate way to support Jodi. You can also check out Jodi’s art on Instagram @ArtbyJodiArias.

**********

And Remember folks… as I always say – each day that passes takes us one day closer to Jodi’s release date.

we are team jodi - and we will be victorious

**********

Leave your thoughts & comments below…
SJ
Team Jodi #WINNING <<<

Click the banner below to read Jade’s post – “Justice Denied: Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State’s Case Against Jodi Arias.”:

Read - Justice Denied - Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State's Case Against Jodi Arias

Jodi Update: “Brand New Governor” 1/2023

Arizona elected a new governor!

Katie Hobbs is already sworn in and hard at work. Almost immediately upon taking office, she appointed a new Director of Prisons.

Dr. Ryan Thornell hails from the state of Maine. He has a Master’s in Criminal Justice and a Doctorate in Political Science. Those residents of Arizona who care are eager to see what changes his leadership will bring.

The previous director, David Shinn, knew he would soon be out of a job and resigned before Governor Hobbs was sworn in. When Shinn was appointed by former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, the culture within the Department changed, too, and many current and former staff members agree this change was not for the better.

Throughout the Department, a cold trickle-down effect from Director David Shinn was felt by staff members and inmates alike. This backward slide of Arizona’s prisons has made them more than just a shitty place to be incarcerated, they’re also a shitty place to work.

“More and more, I’ve felt like I’m just a number and not a person,” said one officer during the final two weeks of a department career he was walking away from several years before the standard retirement.

The irony of his comment was not lost on me: A number and not a person? Welcome to every inmate’s shared experience.

In the above instance, the officer was talking specifically about Lumley Unit at Perryville Prison, its current Deputy Warden and that man’s boss, Perryville’s now-former Warden. The latter has since departed the complex.

Low levels of staff have been an ongoing problem at The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry for years — long before rebranding with a fancy mouthful of a name, long before extra money in the form of economic stimulus checks began flowing into correction officers’ bank accounts, and long before “the great resignation” or “quiet quitting” or whatever one calls it began to trend.

With the election of Governor Katie Hobbs comes the hope that improvements are on Perryville’s desert horizon. Hobbs believes in prison reform, and while she did not campaign heavily upon this point, we the disenfranchised have high hopes that her incumbency will bring much-needed improvements to an ailing institution.

Inmates aren’t the only ones who have dared to hope for improvement. Recently, I listened as one officer reminisced about better days in her career with the department. She has watched the staff morale sink ever lower over the last several years. “Maybe she’ll appoint a female director,” she said the week before Mister Dr. Thornell’s appointment.

Inmates’ families also hope for change. Some of us, myself included, simply want back the pre-pandemic privilege of food visits.

Others have been petitioning for an intervention that makes wanting food visits look very shallow by comparison: Many a prayerful parent hopes that Katie Hobbs will commute his or her child’s death sentence to life. Those prayers were answered in part around January 20th when it was announced that Governor Hobbs, this heaven-sent angel of anti-death, paused all executions of Arizona inmates pending an in-depth review of the process by which the government murders its captives.

Last week, staff at Perryville were abuzz with news that Dr. Thornell is the new top dog. Women at Perryville, especially those who have done a lot of time, remain a bit more apathetic, having grown accustomed to things not working out.

I’ve always remained hopeful that society will lurch forward in fits and starts, even in states like Arizona where progress has traditionally been slow. Your typical gun-totin’, tobacco-chewin’, cowboy-hat-wearin’, long mustache-sportin’ extremists who believe secession from the US should be Arizona’s next move are, thankfully, in the minority.

As my friend SJ always says, “Onwards!”

Jodi Arias
January 2023

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ArtByJodiArias.com – UPDATE

Jodi’s personal efforts to raise money for her appeals continue through the production of her art, which is sold at ArtbyJodiArias.com. Her art admin supports her efforts by running this “side hustle” of sorts on her behalf and taking none of the funds. The time and effort he devotes to this process (filing the taxes, trips to the post office every week to ship art) are an invaluable contribution.

If you are interested in another way to contribute to the cause, any purchase at ArtbyJodiArias.com is a legitimate way to support Jodi. You can also check out Jodi’s art on Instagram @ArtbyJodiArias.

**********

And Remember folks… as I always say – each day that passes takes us one day closer to Jodi’s release date.

we are team jodi - and we will be victorious

**********

Leave your thoughts & comments below…
SJ
Team Jodi #WINNING <<<

Click the banner below to read Jade’s post – “Justice Denied: Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State’s Case Against Jodi Arias.”:

Read - Justice Denied - Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State's Case Against Jodi Arias

10th Anniversary + a Christmas Message from Jodi

With over 11 million page views & well over 7 million visitors since 2012 — December 21st 2022 marks the 10th anniversary of our Jodi Arias Is Innocent .com website launch.

So with Christmas just a few days away – I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support over the past 10 years – and thank you in advance for your continued support moving forward through 2023 and beyond.

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Here is Jodi’s Christmas 2022 Message:

“The Happiest Season of All

One thing SJ and I wholeheartedly agree on: This is the best time of the year.

The holiday experience varies for the women at Perryville, but most are in a better mood, enjoying the cooler Sonora Desert and loading up on Christmas commissary items.

To prevent anyone from harshing my own holiday cheer, I adopt a zero-tolerance policy for anyone exhibiting drama, rudeness, disrespect — pick a noun, any noun. They’re all banned. People are free to behave how they want, but those in my circle exhibiting such traits are banished until after the New Year. I simply decline to entertain their negativity. This time is too fleeting to let it slip by while being distracted by muttering malcontents.

My last roommate was a Christian fundamentalist of some kind who didn’t celebrate Christmas because of the holiday’s Pagan beginnings. I thought, Pagan beginnings? Yes, I’ve read Dan Brown’s novels. So what? Get me some sparkling ornaments and shimmery plastic tinsel then point me to the nearest fake evergreen and I will show you a decorated tree.

Really, though, I love everything secular about Christmas:

I appreciate fancy marketing and free enterprise. I enjoy walking into a mall draped in garland and twinkling with lights while faint yuletide carols waft through speakers unseen. I miss entering Michaels, with its holiday craft supplies and Christmas fluff strewn about, or seeing a barista decked in a Santa hat while he or she makes my favorite hot drink.

Post-Halloween, many obnoxious TV commercials are recast in warmth with their pleasant holiday jingles. Cheesy Hallmark movies inspire daydreams of a brighter future. Even the Golden State Warriors have tipped off every Christmas Day since I became an avid fan of the team several years ago.

The merriment is everywhere.

This morning while cleaning my room, I listened to Christmas music instead of my usual Coffee Break German podcast. (Ja, ich lerne Deutsch.) I love holiday tunes and I confess: Sometimes I jam to them in the middle of June. Off season, I also enjoy rewatching Jim Carrey’s brilliant and hilarious interpretation of The Grinch.

I’m aware that not everyone shares my rosy views about the season, and their reasons are valid. Hey, I’ve been through some crap, too. It’s not a contest, but if it were, I’d take home the bronze medal at least.

My cheer is not forced or false. It is intentional. These cooler desert days are a limited resource within my finite life. Each year, they are gone too soon. I do not waste them.

May you also find joy during this season. Your life is good. Go appreciate it!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Happy holidays — Happy Merry Everything!”

<3 — Jodi Arias

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ArtByJodiArias.com – UPDATE

Jodi’s personal efforts to raise money for her appeals continue through the production of her art, which is sold at ArtbyJodiArias.com. Her art admin supports her efforts by running this “side hustle” of sorts on her behalf and taking none of the funds. The time and effort he devotes to this process (filing the taxes, trips to the post office every week to ship art) are an invaluable contribution.

If you are interested in another way to contribute to the cause, any purchase at ArtbyJodiArias.com is a legitimate way to support Jodi. You can also check out Jodi’s art on Instagram @ArtbyJodiArias.

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To finish off this festive update, here’s Jodi’s evergreenly awesome rendition of O Holy Night.”]

Enjoy!

And Remember folks… as I always say – each day that passes takes us one day closer to Jodi’s release date.

we are team jodi - and we will be victorious

**********

I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a safe, peaceful, prosperous & awesome 2023.

SJ
Team Jodi #WINNING <<<

Click the banner below to read Jade’s post – “Justice Denied: Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State’s Case Against Jodi Arias.”:

Read - Justice Denied - Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State's Case Against Jodi Arias

Happy Thanksgiving 2022 – a Message from Jodi

By: Jodi Arias

“Thanksgiving at Perryville is a time when the weather is cooler and most people are in a better mood. In the spirit of tradition, many of us get together and share good food and warm drinks (hot chocolate, coffee, mocha, or cappuccino).

For me, Thanksgiving is always a reminder to reflect on my blessings. I feel profound gratitude for the warmth and kindness and support sent from people all over the world. I wish I had the bandwidth to thank everyone individually. I feel your love and I’m grateful!”

<3 — Jodi

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Remember, folks… each day that passes takes us one day closer to Jodi’s release date.

we are team jodi - and we will be victorious

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SJ
Team Jodi #WINNING <<<

Click the banner below to read Jade’s post – “Justice Denied: Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State’s Case Against Jodi Arias.”:

Read - Justice Denied - Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State's Case Against Jodi Arias

Jodi Update: “The Moment I’ve Been Waiting For” 9/2022

“The Moment I’ve Been Waiting For.”
By: Jodi Arias

The Vampire Chronicles, adapted from the novels by Anne Rice, is set to air on AMC next week on Sunday, October 2nd!

I’ve been working my way through Anne Rice’s books with an intentional slow burn since high school, not wanting them to end. I’ve even reread some of them. When I read an article last year announcing that AMC had optioned the rights, I literally shrieked and shouted, “Oh, my God! I’ve been waiting my whole life for this!”

I became a walking advertisement for the show. I went around the yard thrusting the article at every person who loved her books, too. I brought it to work at the library — along with all my enthusiasm — and shared it with every patron who showed even the slightest interest in Anne Rice’s novels or any other vampire fiction.

A few weeks ago, I finally saw a trailer for the show. It shows great promise of being faithful to the “savage garden” through which Anne Rice’s vampires stalk. These characters — “Children of the Night” — are not Stephanie Meyer’s sparkling Twilight beauties. Exquisitely noir and a little disturbing, the show is definitely for diehard fans like myself, but producers and the cast hope it will gain a vast new audience as well.

Vampires may not be your goblet of wine, and that’s fine. But I am beside myself with anticipation about The Vampire Chronicles finally coming to life on screen in a treatment worthy of the woman who dreamt up this intricate cosmology.

Late last year on a dark December morning, I awoke to a friend’s email that said, “I’m sorry about Anne Rice. I know she is important to you.”

Knowing what that meant, I turned on the news — because why wouldn’t the news be broadcasting the noteworthy passing of a remarkable author? All the TV media outlets were talking politics, as though politics were all that mattered in a world that no longer included one of my favorite authors.

I turned off the TV and opened the news app on my tablet. There, I found Anne Rice’s picture. She was smiling, beautiful, with salt-and-pepper hair cut to a clean bob. Thankfully, the Associated Press thought this phenomenal woman’s final night among the living was worthy of mentioning.

I couldn’t read the article, not because of the tears that began filling my eyes, but because I wasn’t a subscriber. I immediately bought a subscription and read that she died at the age of 80, a mere baby in the lifespan of her undying characters.

Later that month, I published a tribute to her and her work titled “The Immortal Maven of Vampires.” It was difficult to fathom that she would write no more novels giving life to the characters I had grown to adore. It felt as though they, too, had all died. Their exploits were ceased, their eternity frozen. But now her literary world is being resurrected and new life will reanimate her characters.

The stories Anne Rice gave us, while largely defined by vampires, were hardly confined to vampires. She also wrote about werewolves, witches, mummies, and Atlantians. She wrote about ghosts and angels and demons. She wrote a series of erotica and even a memoir. Above all, she wrote about humanity and the implications of immortality.

Her Vampire Chronicles alone are replete with immortal characters both ancient and young whose stories could not have been fully explored within the span of a single human lifetime. Had Anne Rice lived another 80 years, she could have continued churning out still more explorations into the characters who appear in her books.

I harbor the hope — and I’m certain I’m not alone in this with fans of her work — that she authored forthcoming books which have not yet been published. Many creative people of renown (writers, musicians, painters, poets), among whom Anne Rice must surely be counted, release posthumous work.

Production of the show began before she died and I’m heartened to know that, before she left us, she knew her vision would finally be translated to the screen on her terms. Her son Christopher Rice, an executive producer of the show, will undoubtedly do his mother’s legacy justice.

She once said in an interview, “I want to be immortal.” I hope it was enough for her to know that her words, her works, and her worlds are immortalized in the masterpieces she bequeathed to us.

<3 — Jodi Arias

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Remember, folks… each day that passes takes us one day closer to Jodi’s release date.

we are team jodi - and we will be victorious

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SJ
Team Jodi #WINNING <<<

Click the banner below to read Jade’s post – “Justice Denied: Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State’s Case Against Jodi Arias.”:

Read - Justice Denied - Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State's Case Against Jodi Arias

Jodi News Update #108 – May 2022

Here’s the latest Jodi News Update (#108) for May 2022:

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Lumley Unit, where Jodi resides at Perryville, has once again undergone changes imposed by higher-ups… those corporate heads who neither live nor work at Perryville, but sit in air-conditioned offices an hour away in Phoenix with grand ideas of fixing what isn’t broken and ignoring what is. Much of the population at Perryville was recently moved around to various units.

In Arizona, most prison inmates fall under one of four custody levels in the following descending order:

1. Maximum
2. Close
3. Medium
4. Minimum

Jodi is medium custody. Maximum custody was eliminated at Perryville. Close custody, from 2018 until last month, was split between two units. Now, all close custody inmates reside on Lumley Unit. One yard remains medium custody. Another houses a mixed bag comprising the mental health unit (close-custody adjacent), detention (those under investigation), and inmates awaiting classification.

Jodi moved off the yard with air conditioning last November and in with a smoker who, out of courtesy, stopped smoking inside the cell while Jodi housed there. Now, Jodi lives with a nonsmoker in a room with a swamp cooler.

She’s working full-time. She’s not taking college courses anymore. She hated them, despite her 4.0. She wants to learn German. She’s still making awesome art – check out ArtbyJodiArias.com and Instagram.com/ArtbyJodiArias for more info.

Earlier this month, she hugged her family for the first time since before the pandemic. Visitation had been cancelled since March 2020, then was re-implemented in June 2021 with lots of social-distancing protocols. This month, the Department began allowing visitors to hug again, so Jodi practically had the air squeezed out of her by family who missed her dearly.

One of the most nonsensical things that persists in Arizona’s prisons is the mask requirement for inmates and officers. Despite Arizona’s governor having long since declared an end to the state of emergency from the pandemic and the CDC lifting mask mandates, Perryville remains ever behind on the times.

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And remember, folks… each day that passes takes us one day closer to Jodi’s release date.

we are team jodi - and we will be victorious

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Leave your thoughts & comments below.

SJ
Team Jodi #WINNING <<<

Click the banner below to read Jade’s post – “Justice Denied: Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State’s Case Against Jodi Arias.”:

Read - Justice Denied - Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State's Case Against Jodi Arias

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