Jeans Publishing: Did you know I wrote a book when I was a teenager?

I was a young entrepreneur. When I was 13, in grade 8, before I had internet, I started a publishing campany called Jeans Publishing with my friend Holly and the help of our Mums. We got funding to start our business and began taking on the DIY (do it yourself) circuit around Ontario attending conferences and seimnars on evenings and weekends.  We often set up a booth to talk about what we were doing and where we wanted to go. We though it was important for young people to have their work published, we were tired of people not taking us seriously just because we were youth. So, we did it ourselves. We started a quarterly newsletter called Jeans Material where we published young peoples work and sent it out to out to over 100 subscribers across Canada. Each subscriber paid $5 for a one year subscription and we printed them all ourselves. We were official with our ISSN which allowed the identification of our serial publication. We wrote an anthology of poetry and prose called JEANS and in 1996 I became a Published Canadian Author. Our book launch was at the Preston Library Branch on November 7, 1996 and we sold 81 books that night. One dollar from the sale of each book went to the local womens crisis shelter. This is me presenting the cheque. Don’t laugh at my bangs, there were horrible back then. Jeans was an acronym that stood for Junior Education & Achivement Network System (tongue twister?). I’ve hunted around the internet to find stuff about it but it was so long ago, there’s nothing. (I’m sure newspaper archives exist.) Here’s what I have kicking around the house, most our stuff back at Mum’s tucked away. We were in heaps of papers and it makes…

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Hi Mum, I just called to say thanks.

Today I rung mum at work and I think she must have been busy because she seemed a little surprised when I said ‘hi mum’. I told her I was calling to say thank you for having me and being so supportive. She didn’t have a lot of time to talk but I wanted to thank her for everything. To tell her I love calling her all the time when something exciting happens and I can’t tell anyone else or they just wouldn’t feel as excited as her. For all the times she stayed up late sewing ballet skirts to sell at the studio so she could afford our dance classes. For driving to all those dance competitions, skiing, skating, birthday parties, recitals, modelling, tae kwon do, and to all my friends houses for sleepovers. For showing me how to bake and encouraging me to make things in the kitchen, thank you. For embracing my weirdness and letting me wear what I want as a child no matter how bizarre the neighbours thought she was for doing to it. For putting us in summer reading club at the library. For all the work that went in to creating JEANS Publishing company and helping me write that book as a young teenager because I know it was shit ton of work and late nights (for her). For teaching me to work hard and not listen to anyone who says ‘you can’t do that’. Your strong attitude is with me everyday and I carry it close to my heart and I hear your voice in my head. For teaching me to be tough and know how to throw a damn good punch (whoops!) and studying Tae Kwon Do together. For getting me braces because you knew that my smile would bring joy to other people and I…

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Vintage

i can’t write todaysomethings wrongi can’t smile today life is a sad songmy heart hurts…so does my footin my shoetoday is a sad daywithout youCasie Stewart, Jeans Publishing, Circa 1995

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This is My Life | You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.

Helloooo! It’s Friday and the long weekend is almost here. I’m sitting in my fav office, the cottage side deck. Keri is here and we’re working away. The skies are blue, the air is warm, and it’s not tooo hot yet. Will jump in the lake when that time arrives!  Saw this quote today. I love Dr. Seuss quotes + poems. Another fav is Shel Silverstein and this week I picked up A Light In the Attic and and was pleasantly reminded of his work. Back when I was a teenager I wrote & published a book of poetry. I’ve written about it a few times over the years.  ? “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.” — Dr. Seuss   Yesterday I checked out a TIFF press screening and went on a massive bike ride. It was so hot but I loved it. My new Schwinn bike is incredibly conformable. It’s still avail at Canadian Tire if you’re in the market for a cruiser. I put a basket and flowers on the back and I smile every single time I look at it. Sending you sunshine from cottage country, CASIE ☀️☀️☀️

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Tech | Download Your Classic MySpace Blog

I’m finally getting around to seriously book writing like I’ve been talking about for 10 years. Found a blog post from 2005 where I said I was writing a book [insert crying emoji]. April marks 10 years of blogging on my own blog platform. I rediscovered my old MySpace blogs today now that you can finally download them. MySpace had originally deleted ALL blogs without warning. Downloaded a heap of posts and went through all the HTML files renaming them. It felt good. Unfortunately I’ve lost my first, first ever blog from MicrosoftSpaces back in 2004 (they stopped helping users recover them in 2012). How To Download Your Classic MySpace Blog: Dig up that old login you haven’t used in ages and login to MySpace Go to to settings Click Account On the left you’ll see an option to migrate old photos to a new album and download old blogs Download. Took about 60 seconds to download my 100 posts in a .zip file Fall in love with your elf again OR have heaps of laughs at your MySpace selfies   One of the things I learned today was I haven’t changed that much. Well, I have but some things are still the same. I’m really inspired my going back over my old stuff and incredibly thankful that I didn’t give up and stop writing even though sometimes I really didn’t feel like blogging anymore.  See 10 posts titled ‘Sometimes I don’t feel like it‘ here. Recovered these old quizzes I shared back in 2006 from MySpace. Hahahaha Buzzfeed, you’re just stealing old ideas! Still love the Olsen Twins, still style twinning Nicole Richie, and still love summer. I remember reading this quote in high school and thought, I will write things worth reading and do things worth writing about, watch me! And that was after I’d already written…

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May 1, 2012 – Looking Back Over The Years #archives

May is my fav month of the year. April showers bring May flowers, it’s time to get summer ready and celebrate my born day. I feel a bit silly making a big deal about my birthday so my sister is planning a little dinner next Tuesday night. You’re welcome to stop by. I’ll post details. I joined Twitter in May 2008 so, May 5th is a cool day too. I’m gonna give daily videos another go this month along with the Instagram May Photo a Day Challenge. I’m trying to develop a more consistent routine. Anything you’d LIKE to see? Wanna know? For the fist 7 days of the Month, I’m going to look back at a couple people, places, things & thoughts from each year I’ve been blogging. Then, on the 8th day we celebrate 30 years of my life. Woo hoo! WE ARE YOUNG. Here We Go, 2005 Throwback: Moved to Toronto. Lived in the Annex at Bathurst & college. Bracelet on my wrist says “CAS” my nickname in Australia. Had a mullet and the first pair of skinny jeans seen in Toronto since the 80’s. That ring was glass & Armani. It was a gift from HighRise Magazine. Remember that mag? Worked at YM Inc. as Assistant to Director of Product Purchasing. First ever job out of Uni. Was lucky to meet someone on the plane home from LA who worked in fashion. Introduced me to the right people. ABC – Always Be Closing, baby. I was pretty obsessed with moving back to Australia. And Myspace. And VICE Magazine. Was publishing lots of poetry on MySpace I wrote at Uni and in college.  Here’s a couple old guys: Brand New Day Writers Block My Game Now Watch for Starlet Spring Love Acutely Ironic A bird writes a sonnet Sings the…

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