NAKEDJEN

Category: Everyday Magic

  • Come As You Are

    THE NAKEDJEN FILM FESTIVAL IS OPEN

    This weekend, I spent my days with the unhoused community.
    Cooking real food.
    Passing out warm socks and the right shoes.
    Hauling heavy tarps.
    Listening. Really listening.
    Helping with pets.
    Sorting stories into something that might become actual help.

    It was grounding in the way only service can be.
    Feet on pavement. Hands busy. Heart wide open.

    August was found.
    He is warm. He is safe. He is with his mother.
    I will leave it there.

    What I will say is this: the community that formed around that search is one I treasure deeply. LOVE. All caps. Some of our finest humans. The kind who show up when it’s inconvenient, uncomfortable, and unclear. The kind who do not quit. The Purple Alert is moving forward, and Utah needs it. That matters. That focus matters. That energy matters.

    I also celebrated the Solstice.
    With my professor.
    With my Coffee Garden family.
    Food. Laughter. Candlelight. That quiet, delicious knowing that the light is coming back. Flickering on again. In the sky. In us.

    How blessed am I?
    To be loved this fully.
    To be seen.
    To be held by so many steady, tender hearts.

    Which brings me back here.

    Back to the Nakedjen Film Festival.

    This is not a festival the way you’re thinking.
    There are no velvet ropes. No badges. No gatekeepers.
    There will be a list of suggested films, yes. Because sometimes it’s nice to be handed a menu.

    But let me be very clear:

    You are the festival.
    We are the festival.
    Everyone participates.

    Come as you are.

    Start right now.
    Or wait until Christmas.
    Or stretch it out through the holidaze, because honestly, why rush joy?

    Watch what makes you happy.
    Watch what cracks you open.
    Watch what helps you laugh, breathe, remember yourself.

    Stream something.
    Go to a theater.
    Sit on the floor.
    Invite people over.
    Watch alone and text someone after.
    Let the joy be in the watching, yes — but also in the sharing.
    The conversations.
    The “have you seen this?”
    The quiet miracle of feeling something together.

    This is how we rest without going numb.
    This is how we stay human.
    This is how we keep our hearts from hardening.

    So come as you are.
    Bring your weariness.
    Bring your love.
    Bring your grief and your laughter and your popcorn.

    The Nakedjen Film Festival is open.
    No end date.
    No dress code.
    Just a warm light in the dark, and room for everyone.

    We can begin.


    🍿 THE NAKEDJEN FILM FESTIVAL
    Come As You Are • Where to Watch • How to Watch

    No gatekeeping. No pressure.
    Press play when you’re ready. Pause when you need to.
    Share what moves you.

    🖤 IN HONOR OF STORY, LOVE, AND ENDURANCE

    The Princess Bride
    How: Streaming rental
    Where: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV
    Theatrical: Occasional revival screenings
    Why: Because tenderness, humor, bravery, and devotion still matter. Always.

    🎄 CLASSIC CHRISTMAS (CORRECT, NOT COZY)

    Die Hard
    How: Streaming rental
    Where: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV
    Theatrical: Seasonal repertory screenings
    Why: Resilience, teamwork, and surviving the impossible. Shoes optional.

    🔥 NOW / NEXT (2024–2025 ENERGY)

    Marty Supreme
    How: Theatrical release
    Where: Independent and arthouse cinemas
    Streaming: Expected later in 2025
    Why: Ambition, masculinity, myth-making, and the cost of wanting more than the room allows.

    Train Dreams
    How: Streaming now
    Where: Netflix (press play, no rental required)
    Theatrical: Festival and limited special screenings
    Why: Solitude, labor, wilderness, and the quiet lives that built this country. A meditation, not a spectacle.

    Goodbye Jane
    How: Streaming now
    Where: Netflix (easy, immediate access)
    Theatrical: Festival and limited release
    Why: Grief, rupture, love after loss. Gentle and devastating in equal measure.

    Past Lives
    How: Streaming
    Where: Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video (rental)
    Theatrical: Occasional revival screenings
    Why: A film that doesn’t fade. It deepens.

    The Holdovers
    How: Streaming
    Where: Peacock, Amazon Prime Video (rental)
    Theatrical: Holiday repertory screenings
    Why: Lonely winters, found family, and the grace of staying.

    🎥 DOCUMENTARIES

    (Because paying attention is an act of love.)

    It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley
    How: Streaming
    Where: Max (HBO)
    Theatrical: Select documentary screenings
    Why: Genius, ache, devotion to art, and a voice that still echoes.

    20 Days in Mariupol
    How: Streaming
    Where: PBS / Frontline platforms
    Theatrical: Educational and special screenings
    Why: Bearing witness. Not easy. Necessary.

    🌱 GROUNDING / BREATH / HUMANITY

    Perfect Days
    How: Streaming rental
    Where: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV
    Theatrical: Occasional indie revivals
    Why: Ritual, simplicity, and the quiet holiness of showing up anyway.

    🎞️ NJFF THEMES

    Choose your night by feeling, not by calendar.

    💔 Grief Night
    Goodbye Jane • It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley • Past Lives

    🔥 Resistance Night
    Die Hard • Marty Supreme • 20 Days in Mariupol

    🌲 Stillness & Solitude
    Train Dreams • Perfect Days

    🫶 Found Family
    The Holdovers • The Princess Bride

    ✨ Art Saves Us
    It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley • Past Lives

    🫶 FINAL INVITATION

    The Nakedjen Film Festival is not a fixed lineup.
    It is a living, breathing thing.

    Please add your films.
    Share what cracked you open.
    Tell us what made you laugh, rage, soften, or remember yourself.

    Watch alone.
    Watch together.
    Start now. Or Christmas. Or stretch it through the holidaze.

    You are the festival.
    We are the festival.
    Come as you are.

  • Orange and Pink Skies

    Orange and Pink Skies

    Yesterday I walked Clyde down to the Coffee Garden. Late afternoon, sweatshirt weather, solid EDM beats in my ears. Not exercise—just a wander for my heart and my dog.

    What we weren’t expecting was to find Lil Salty behind the counter. I skipped the line, leaned in close, and whispered,
“Hey—will you make me a chai? Clyde’s waiting outside.”

    He grinned like a Cheshire cat, asked about the new chai, confirmed hot with oat milk (always), and slid the cup across like it was a secret handshake.
Then he ducked out from behind the counter to where his girlfriend sat, and the afternoon turned into a small, golden love-fest on the sidewalk. Clyde lapped up every bit of attention while I traded easy chatter before heading back up the hill.

    It wasn’t a workout. It wasn’t even really a walk.
Just a stroll under an orange-pink sky that looked like the world was blushing for us.

    Lately the skies have been wild—solar flares, auroras, Mercury being her usual Retrobabe self.
I can feel the static of it all in my bones.
And if I’m honest, that same energy sometimes slips into a low hum of sadness.
The kind that whispers, stay home, close the curtains, disappear for a bit.

    But I know better.
What I need isn’t isolation—it’s communion.
People. Eye contact. Shared laughter over chai foam. A reminder that connection is the medicine.

    So here’s my tiny revolution for this retrograde season:
one human connection every day.


    A walk, a hello, a message, a small act that breaks the seal between me and the world.


    To hand someone a sandwich instead of just filling a fridge.


    To look someone in the eyes and remember that only love can fill the empty cups.

    The skies are flaring, the planets are misbehaving, and I’m still here—heart open, dog at my side, hands ready to give something warm away.

    Only love can fill.
And I intend to keep pouring.

    ❦