ojai news at The Ojai Post :: blog, newspaper, events in Ojai, California

scantily clad
can't be bad
earth friend jen
do it again!

Didj,
thanks for filming jen and posting this lovely video! last summer we watched the cops harassing jen in meiners oaks and afterwards had an interesting chat with her. i've always wanted to interview jen for the post. she brings so much good energy to ojai. to me, she is ojai. just like tyler is ojai, the ojai post is ojai, the river flowing is ojai, the pink moment is ojai, the chime of the clock tower is ojai, the horses in front of coffee roastery this morning are ojai, the city council members are ojai, you, dear reader, are ojai, and I am ojai.

there's a song that michael franti sings and it goes something like: "all the freaky people make the beauty in the world." there used to be a lot more "freaky people" living in ojai (and by that I truly mean beautiful, creative, expressive, unique souls) who have probably moved on because of the high cost of living here. when I was a kid I used to see krishnamurti walking in town and I thought he was "freaky."

whenever I see jen roller blading or biking through town wearing her bushy thong and her pasties, I just smile and give thanks. thanks didj. thanks jen.

Mike,
Just wondering if youre planning to devote equal time in the filming and promoting of, say, Devorah (w/pasties?)?

I can't believe I'm blogging again but this is ridicoulous,this woman is not a crusader she is a very disturbed person screaming for attention.I have had the chance to see this crackpot for her true colors.My sleazy neighbor had her at his property for "motivation" to build on his neighborhood eyesore.I came home one night to her screaming at the top of her lungs and throwing bottles at peoples cars.Another instance she disturbed a show I was playing by starting a fight with a young lady in the bar.There are also other people who have tried to give her space on their land who could probably tell you more if they weren't embarassed to have been involved with the"earth friend".You would care more if you had children witnessing her desparate pleas for help by exposing herself.At most this person should get some help but as a community the most we should do is ignore and marginalize this crackpot.Mike it doesnot surprise me that you have given her a forum here if this is what I can expect from this post I will definetely spend my web time elsewhere.

.."if this is what I can expect from this post I will definetely spend my web time elsewhere."

No offense, Mario, but that just might be the fastest wearing out of a welcome that I have ever witnessed.

None of us agrees 100% with every post written here. But, simply put, there are ways of expressing a dissenting view that are MUCH better than others, if you catch my drift...

But interesting contrarian opinion about someone who is getting a lot of great local press these days...

Your right my bad

Jeez Mario, tell us what you really think. Yeah she's a crackpot and she might just be seeking attention, but it's her right to do so.

Why is it that those labelling others as disturbed are the ones who seem most disturbed about it?

Hey! Many of my favorite people are "Crackpots".

If EFG freaks you out then you better stay out of Holland. check this story

I just find that her message gets lost in her unnecessary aggression towards innocent bystanders (witnessed her throw a beautiful, delicious pizza at a counter person of local deli for its inadequacy, yell at passersby not even driving the ever-offensive car, just trying to walk by, etc.)-- isnt peace and compassion what she's preaching here?

i dont care what she wears, (liberation's more than ok by me), just some sense of consistency would make her message get there. she should (and we all should, myself included) work on that.

Hey Mario,

Maybe we're neighbors! I've got EFJ currently living in my hood bringing like attention to a like neighborhood eyesoar.

Really, to even post this video...it's as bad as the corporate television news. Is this really important or will you all go into how it's a reflection of the abuse of "Civil Liberties" and freedom of speech?

some of you have it right this girl is bad news

I'd like to know what a social artist is and does it pay well?

The one impression I am left with after watching the vid is that Jen seems awfully mad for a self-professed peace-loving person.

Yep, this community would be better off without her.

I wish she'd just go.

I can't stand having to avert my eyes to avoid seeing her.

Who does she think she is saying things to people just walking or driving by?

She should be in an institution.

Get her off the street.

Can't the police arrest her? Put her in jail?

NOT!

Listen to yourselves, people. Where's the Ojai love for the Earth Friend?

"Awfully mad"?

Is there nothing for a "peace loving person" to be mad about?

LS, Kate, Mario, "anyone", I am reminded of the old bit by Robert Klein from the '80s, who was surprised after a visit to Germany that he could not find anyone who would admit to having supported the Nazis during WWII. He summed it up:

"Hey, Schultzy, where were you between 1933 and 1945?"

Schultzy, flustered and shaking:

"I was at sie movies!"

uh, totally not getting the Nazi comparison...

Is showing love for the "earth friend" the same as sitting and listening to a Jesus Freak yap on and on about how you're going to hell and they're not?
Jen is a friggin' righteous crusader - in your face, asking for attention "look at me! I'm love, I'm helping you see the truth! I'm standidng up for the little guy!" I say put on your clothes, go make some money and give all you got to "feed the children" or "green Peace". Go to AFrica, go to New Orleans, give so you're really helping. Go dig a ditch, a well, or work at the salvation army. But Please get out of my face screaming at people how you love the world.
If showing "love for my earth friend" is watching her ruin a perfectly delicious meal cause she's sitting next to me with her tits hanging out, then I say Yep, I guess I'm not loving - I'm just a big bad person who was "at sie movies" while the maniac was slurping her food and rode off on her bike screaming at innocient, happy, loving people about their "hellavision".

anonymous commenter from #16-

i'm all for protesting angrily, etc. but she's hurt many people who haven't even gone so far as driven a car or bought inorganic food. just as i said before, they've tried to serve her excellent organic food or get out of her way as she bikes down the street and they get yelled at or thrown at (food that is).

yea, but she wears pasties doing it...

Anon from Comment #16.

Sorry but I have to call a Godwin on you. You've killed this thread:

Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies)[1] is an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states:[2][3] "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." Godwin's Law is often cited in online discussions as a caution against the use of inflammatory rhetoric or exaggerated comparisons, and is often conflated with fallacious arguments of the reductio ad Hitlerum form. The rule does not make any statement whether any particular reference or comparison to Hitler or the Nazis might be appropriate, but only asserts that one arising is increasingly probable. It is precisely because such a comparison or reference may sometimes be appropriate, Godwin has argued[4] that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact. Although in one of its early forms Godwin's Law referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions,[5] the law is now applied to any threaded online discussion: electronic mailing lists, message boards, chat rooms, and more recently blog comment threads and wiki talk pages.

Here is my main concern: If EJF throws brown rice at a person, perhaps as she rides in her santa/satan attire down the main drag, and an unsuspecting flock of pigeons consumes the somewhat dried organic brown rice some 7 hours or so later during a lull in traffic, and one of the pigeons explodes due to overconsumption of dried rice, has EJF, in fact, committed a crime against sentient beings and thus, should she be flogged sans or with pasties?

I hereby dedicate this moment which is every moment to ending the carnage of this industrial society against the Earth mother ... this war of men against women and children and the native peoples ...

Thank you Ojai Post (& of course Maja TerE....)
I mean anywhere else you'd have to pay to witness such asinine speak!!!

Public opinion, because of the tremendous urge to conformity in gregarious animals, is less tolerant than any system of law.

is eco-jane a gregarious animal?

It is not easy to explain to the lay mind the extremely intricate ramifications of a Hollywood picture organization… The chief executive throws out some statement of opinion and looks about him expectantly. This is the cue for the senior Yes-Man—or Vice-Yesser, as he is sometimes called--- and the junior Yes-Man. Only when all the Yes-Men have yessed, do the Nodders begin to function. They nod.

your insight cuts like a knife p.g.. keep it coming!!

With all due respect, spk, even if #16 was an off-limits "Godwin", its still gets a chuckle, doesn't it? (Maybe that old routine was before your time?)

Seriously, that old joke is not about hardcore Nazi supporters who now try not to admit what they once were, but about all the good Germans who weren't particularly ideologically transfixed by the cause, but went along with their business, did what they were called on to do, and at the time, wished that those few people who protested it all would just shut up and go away, tone it down, be more reasonable, you know.

Hannah Arendt called it the "banality of evil."

Ward Churchill called them "little Eichmans." (Look what happened to him.)

Maybe it is not apt for our good-hearted people who have it in for the Earth Friend. Ultimately, each person will have to answer for him or herself what they think they'll be able to tell their grandkids about what they were doing in George W. Bush's America.

(Also, since when does "Godwin's Law" mean a thread is dead? That sounds like "spk's law".)

Usually a thread is dead if someone throws a Godwin, but it doesn't have to die. Just kidding around anyway.

Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.

Tyler,
What about making Earth-Jen a Post author? She would provide a needed shot in the arm...

From Post #29: "Maybe [being likened to "little Eichmans"] is not apt for our good-hearted people who have it in for the Earth Friend. Ultimately, each person will have to answer for him or herself what they think they'll be able to tell their grandkids about what they were doing in George W. Bush's America."

Hey, no time like the present to plan for the future. (Remember that fable about the ant in winter?) I need some help, people. Best I can see, I spent the Bush years voting against Bush, telling everyone he's the worst President ever, supporting impeachment, protesting, writing letters, and trying to earn as little money as possible so that I wouldn't have to pay [much] tax to enable the war crimes.

All that accomplished diddly-squat. Worse, near the end, I was reduced to anonymous posts for fear that all my efforts failed, and I would be targeted for roundup in the new detention camps:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2006/010206detentioncamps.htm

At this point, I'm resigned to the worst President ever finishing out his term, and President McCain expanding the bombing.

I suppose I could try to mimic Earth Friend, but I would look terrible in pasties. And I'm not much for throwing rice at people (might get punched).

Help me out, someone. I need a better story for the little ones!

Where are you in this complex adaptive system called life?
1-conformity enforcer
2-diversity generator
3-inner-judge
4-resource shifter
5-inner group tournament player

6-life-r?

You say "little Eichman," I say: One person's "little Eichman" COULD be another person's someone who doesn't like pasties or pizza thrown in their face.

Now, if a person happens to like youngish women parading in pasties, that's another thing...

This is good stuff for Ojai anyway. I mean, if some tourists see Earth Friend Jen parading in her pasties, that's a fun Ojai tale to tell back home. And if a tourist gets a pizza thrown in her or his face by a mad earth friend in pasties, that's an even better story. Kind of like how people flock to the gorilla exhibit at the LA Zoo to see if they or their friends get a turd thrown at them.

Kind of like how people flock to the gorilla exhibit at the LA Zoo to see if they or their friends get a turd thrown at them.

Not people who might care to think about the mind-numbingly sad reasons that such a magnificent life form has been reduced to hurling feces from within the confines of its prison. The same would go for Jen, I imagine. I think Jen's in pain, and I can't enjoy her performance because I don't think it brings her any respite.

LA Zoo?

Isn't another name for that "Hollywood"?

#33, just say you were "at zie movies"!

Or embellish a little, I mean "misspeak", like Hillary. How's this?

"Kids, let me tell you, you think times were bad. But Bush and Cheney were about to nuke Iran. They had targeted Tehran and three other cities. And get this - they were so ignorant on their geography that one of the cities they targeted was Balashikha, which is ... come on kids, where is it? Right next to Moscow, that's right! And instead of getting the coordinates right for Tehran, which they couldn't pronounce or spell, they had them set on Tianjin, in? That's right, China! It would have been the end of the world if those morons had gotten away with it. But I singlehandedly stopped them, by bringing by a bottle of Old No. 7. GW, old alkie that he was, jumped on that bottle like he was a baby and it had a nipple. I just kept the bottles coming, and GW never came out of the Situation Room until Obama had been sworn in. Cheney was fuming, he got so mad he up and had a heart attack and died. They replaced him with a sneering wax statue, and nobody ever noticed. Good thing too, because the obituaries would not have been kind to that man."

I have seen this lady riding her bike and rollerblades around town. It is her right to do what she does. From what I have seen there has been no violence on her part and she is not breaking the law by any means. I don't think it is the best for young children to see a half-naked lady around town but the law does not forbid it. End of story. If someone doesn't believe in her outlook on life then thats there problem. She, just like everyone else, can think and say whatever she wants. Directly coming from the first Amendment of the United States Constitution- Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, and Freedom to Peacefully Assemble. Tell you the truth--I wouldn't mind seeing more ladies riding around with pasties!

i'm not a resident of ojai, but i just read an article on her in today's la times (2008/04/26). has anyone considered the possibility that she might be acting out the early stages of mental illness, specifically schizophrenia? i could be wrong, but it sounds like that to me.

whitney

This all seems to come down to fear of the near nude body -- only very slightly less covered than you will find on any beach (up top but not on the bottom) -- and ENVY that someone else has a body as incredibly great as Jen's and can get attention you are not getting and maybe never could get no matter how hard you worked for it. Nonetheless, she definitely is seeking the attention for her cause of mother earth.

Her's is definitely use of the theatrical -- her costume, her antics -- to bring attention to a cause. And if you've ever hung around with a bunch of theatrical types, you will know they are loaded up with idiosyncrasies and eccentricities. In her case, though, it is a street performance. But the street is necessary for it as without the street, her performance would flop. It is use of the street that draw the attention because that makes her performance quite unique, making it stand out.

But people are not recognizing their own psychological issues with nudity. Jen isn't the one who is wacky about nudity. Geez, what is so terrible about the human body? It is the work of God! It is not to be feared or to be found repugnant or sick. Look at the nude body as a work of art -- just like you would if you were looking at it in an art museum. The fact that you have had it pounded into your head since childhood that nudity is bad does not mean that nudity is bad. That would only mean that there is widespread societal psychological issues with it -- and those should be addressed no differently that any psychological issue. Yes, society has a psychological issue. It seems people with this psychological issue would have Jen thrown in jail because she does not have that hangup. Now that's sick.

As for whether Jen gets any pleasure out of the attention she gets by dressing so skimpily -- hey, the majority of women out there are dressing for attention! And plenty of them are not wearing all that much. Jen has merely made herself the top attention-getter -- and that sure will generate jealousy.

If this were in nearly any European country, it would attract nearly no attention. But here in Sick America, it is a top national story. Not that's sick and I find it very disturbing that it is going on. I say treat of the sickos of Ojai -- keep Jen around.

I won't address Jen's motivation or mental make-up. She has a lovely body and that certainly doesn't offend me. She has a right to express her views, talk about what's important to her. No problem there, but...

...she lost me when she pulled the stunt Easter Sunday at St. Thomas. To make such a scene at a place where you know you'll have no fear of reprisal - that doesn't take any balls at all. Quite cowardly, in fact.

I hadn't heard about throwing things at people, but now it is obvious has no real cause, just a need for attention. My advice, Jen - act respectfully if you want respect in return. And you had better remember that if you continue to assault people, sooner or later someone will defend themselves and/or have you arrested. Calm down, be cool. Assault is not "Ojai".

Here I sit broken-hearted, came to see pasties parted

Harrassment is when someone who is meticulously following the law, however absurd, and is targeted anyway, not just by authorities, but by anyone at all. It seems to me that, far from being an outlaw of any kind, Jennifer Moss is nothing less than a beautiful, loving, caring person/citizen, celebrating the freedom it is claimed Americans have, but which we really don't. We should all be a lot more like her.

Jen Moss has done nothing that was even distasteful, much less illegal (not that I believe in the anti-nudity laws, but she has never violated them). The laws must not be used to uphold the anti-American prejudices that so many people hold! The only strange behavior I see is that of stupid straight-laced creeps who complain about nothing, unfairly harrass a person who is clearly much finer than themselves, and finally drive out of town one of the best people they ever had around, not to mention, BTW, our so-called, oft-cited but rarely seen, American Freedom and Justice. Shame on them!

Isn't it bizarre that those who express REAL American values (i.e. Freedom, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Speech, obedience to AND protection OF law, not to mention pure, youthful joy) the best, get suppressed the most?

Our Very Best Wishes to you Jen. Your wonderful smile (NTM the rest of you) will be sorely missed.

I hadn't heard about Jen Moss making scenes, throwing things, etc., before reading more posts here. And I don't know if she ever really did those things. But I can say that, if she was being harrassed like I understand she was, I can't blame her for getting pissed-off about it. It is true that American society, despite loud claims to the contrary, is actually, in many cases, very unkind, unfair, unjust and hypocritical. I get pretty angry about institutionalized American lies, prejudice and viciousness myself!

But that aside, if JM is guilty of any LEGITIMATE violations, of the law, she can be cited for those. It seems to me that the only real complaints seem to be over her semi-nudity, and little else. Those other complaints seem to exist purely to legitimize that central, illegitimate one. Personally, I detest all laws against so-called "victimless crimes." There IS a victim, of course! It is the person who is shamelessly and unfairly harrassed, persecuted and sometimes even prosecuted. In this case it is this beautiful young woman, Jennifer Moss, who has not, by her semi-nudity at least, ever harmed anyone...

Does everyone understand that Jen's semi-nudity is actually no greater than can be seen on SoCal beaches any day, and is completely legal and acceptable under the law?

Does everyone understand that even full nudity can never do any harm to anyone?

Reaction against nudity is nothing more than backward, religion-based, Puritanical sqeamishness about sex, mindlessly enforced as law. I for one do not wish to be subject to anyone's religious (or other) prejudice!

Certainly, there can be no doubt that women have as much right to expose their breasts (or anything else) as men do. Would men like to be required to cover theirs?

We should simply give up these silly, twisted, hypocritical ideas, abolish all public nudity laws, and be done with them!

LA Times, May 11th, 2008

Ojai's Pastie Lady leaves town

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-pasties11-2008may11,0,5846609.story

After a year of biking downtown in pasties and a G-string, Jennifer Moss moves to Oregon, saying that she is tired of police harassment and that the town isn't environmentally conscious enough.

After a year of near-naked environmental activism in Ojai, the Pastie Lady has decided to hit the road for greener pastures.

Jennifer Moss, 32, caused community strife and gained local celebrity for the bike rides she took daily through the center of town, clad only in a hemp G-string and pasties.

But last week, she said she'd grown tired of police harassment in the Ventura County city of 8,000, and moved to Ashland, Ore.

She said the Ojai area was not the environmental Shangri-La she envisioned when she arrived a year ago. People use pesticides on crops, she said, and herbicides to get rid of bamboo on the Ventura River.

"Police attention was part of the reason I left," she said. "But the No. 1 reason I left Ojai is they are not conscious enough about the air, the soil and the water. Either you get it or you don't."

Moss, who calls herself "Earth Friend Jen," had touted various environmental causes during her streaks through downtown. She's passionate about water and thinks everyone should wear clothes made of hemp.

But she'd been ticketed for traffic violations several times and had twice been cited for public indecency. The Ventura County district attorney's office declined to prosecute either case, said Bruce Norris, Ojai's police chief.

"They just don't believe they can get a conviction on the nudity issue," Norris said. "There are constitutional issues about why a man can run around with no shirt on but a woman can't."

Moss said she was always within the law because her skimpy outfit covered key areas. In Ashland, she said, she will no longer have to worry.

The city's laws do not prohibit public nudity, which she recently confirmed during a visit to the local police station. Moss said she celebrated by stripping off all of her clothes and doing a headstand right outside the station. Then she rode naked through the center of Ashland, even though it was chilly out.

"This town is known for performance art. And even though it's not the status quo to ride around naked, it's been done before," Moss said. "So it was no big deal."

As word leaked out in Ojai about Moss' departure, almost everyone had an opinion.

"Good riddance!" one anonymous poster wrote on a local news website.

"I think it's terrible she's been driven out of town," wrote another.

For the police chief, her move will have one concrete benefit: Police will no longer have to waste time responding to complaints.

"I hope she finds real happiness up there," Norris said.

By Catherine Saillant, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

People aren't one thing or another - as is so obvious in the previous posts. Jen is one of the "incredible pains in the arse of Ojai or wherever she happens to land, yet she's probably a loving caring person “doin’ her thing” and caring about people and life at the same time…It just depends on where she is and who she's with at the time...I was just talking to someone yesterday who really dug Jen for her ability to bring attention to her environmental causes and because "she's a performance artist" etc...

But hey, my dog's a performance artist every time that darling adorable little Bijon leaves her little "deposit of performance art" on the grass of Ojai and everywhere else she happens to want to display her talent! Now there is a real champion of natural causes and maintaining the environment - and she's naked to boot!

I’m surprised they haven’t hauled Lilly off to the nearest police station – but then Lilly is polite and doesn’t bark at people passing by – she just smiles, sends lots of love and reminds everyone how loving and beautiful the world can be when you’re just happy and doing “your own thing!”