Skewed North by Jolene Dames | Substack

Start the Skewed North Journey Here

Behind the scenes of film, across 38 countries, through love, loss, and starting over—this is how I learned to navigate with no map.

Sep 27, 2023 • Jolene Dames

How I Accidentally Built a 25-Year Career in Film

No training. No roadmap. Just one yes that turned into a 25-year career in movies.

Oct 4, 2024 • Jolene Dames

We Quit the Script and Started Living Our Own Life

One question changed everything. We quit the script and built a life that actually felt like ours.

Oct 11, 2024 • Jolene Dames

Five Months Later, He Was Gone

There is no roadmap for this. This is what it feels like when everything you built disappears.

Oct 18, 2024 • Jolene Dames

I Don’t Follow Maps. I Make Them.

The biggest moments of my life didn’t come from plans. They came from something else—and I followed it.

Oct 26, 2024 • Jolene Dames

RECENT POSTS

The Mileage Is Mine

An introspective essay about ownership, life direction, and the moments that force you to see clearly and decide how to move forward

Apr 17 • Jolene Dames

Recalculating, Please Hold

A return to Oregon nine years after loss reveals what grief hides in real time. A reflection on memory, perception, and how clarity changes what you…

Apr 10 • Jolene Dames

The Last Time I Was Here, I Couldn’t See Straight

Nine years ago, I was working on the movie, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, with Cate Blanchett. Nine years after a grief-driven trip to Oregon, I return to…

Apr 8 • Jolene Dames

When Nothing Feels Real Anymore

What happens after you learn how to see through everything

Apr 3 • Jolene Dames

I don’t follow maps—I make them. Subscribe if you want to see where this road goes.

THE SKEWED NORTH METHOD

The Skewed North Method

I’ve spent 25 years building environments designed to make people feel something—without them knowing why. This is where I show you how that actually…

Mar 25 • Jolene Dames

🌺 Mapping the Magic: What Hawaii Taught Me About Feng Shui, Flow, and Finding True North

When I first landed in Hawaii, I thought I was going for a break.

Apr 21, 2025 • Jolene Dames

From Movie Sets to Everyday Life

I build fake worlds for a living. This is what it taught me about the one we’re all living in.

Mar 31 • Jolene Dames

When Nothing Feels Real Anymore

What happens after you learn how to see through everything

Apr 3 • Jolene Dames

The Story Your Space Is Telling

If your space feels off, chaotic, or no longer like you… it’s probably trying to tell you something. What surrounds you isn’t just stuff—it’s a story. A…

Apr 3, 2025 • Jolene Dames

FIELD NOTES

Small Dispatches From the Road

Field Notes are the in-between moments—the ones that don’t wait to become a full story.

Jan 25, 2022 • Jolene Dames

A Small Course Correction

You thought I disappeared...

Mar 16 • Jolene Dames

Tom Hanks Sang to Me on My Birthday

This started as a once-in-a-lifetime moment on a film set. It ended with a letter I’ll never forget—and a reminder of what it means to be human.

Mar 2 • Jolene Dames

The Best Photographs I Never Took

I missed the whale. I didn’t turn around for the rams. Those became the most important images I’ve ever “taken.”

Feb 21 • Jolene Dames

The Night I Knew (And Didn’t Know Why)

A personal story about love, intuition, and the idea of signs and synchronicity. Exploring fate, energy, and how we find direction when logic isn’t…

Feb 14 • Jolene Dames

THE ATLAS

The deeper archive for paid subscribers only.

Mar 25 • Jolene Dames

Cosmic Interference: The Story I Told in Pieces

A seven-part audio series about love, loss, and the moment everything changed

Mar 25 • Jolene Dames

6:31

Africa: This Was Not the Story I Expected

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF INSPIRATION: A series of funny, strange, and unexpectedly meaningful moments from a life lived off course.

Jan 1, 2025 • Jolene Dames

29:30

Nomadic Novelties: Stories Told in Found Objects

For eight years, I’ve collected objects from 38 countries and all 50 states—turning them into art, photography, and stories in Nomadic Novelties. This…

Mar 23, 2025 • Jolene Dames

3:41

Recalculating Private Podcast

Recalculating is the audio layer of Skewed North. Stories from the messy, magical middle—where breakdown meets breakthrough, and life goes off course.

Mar 25 • Jolene Dames

MOVIES & BEHIND HTE SCENES WORK

When Nothing Feels Real Anymore

What happens after you learn how to see through everything

Apr 3 • Jolene Dames

From Movie Sets to Everyday Life

I build fake worlds for a living. This is what it taught me about the one we’re all living in.

Mar 31 • Jolene Dames

Tom Hanks Sang to Me on My Birthday

This started as a once-in-a-lifetime moment on a film set. It ended with a letter I’ll never forget—and a reminder of what it means to be human.

Mar 2 • Jolene Dames

What the Work Was Sitting Inside Of

On film schedules, grief, vertigo, and the unseen conditions that shape a painting

Jan 8 • Jolene Dames

🎬 Behind the Scenes: What I've Been Up To Lately

Skewed North has been quiet—but my paint-splattered life has been anything but.

Jun 16, 2025 • Jolene Dames

Skewed North by Jolene Dames

For when something feels off, and you can't explain why. 25 years painting for film, chasing escapades, detours, and epiphanies around the world—following what didn’t make sense until it did. Off course, on purpose. Hop in the sidecar. We ride at dawn.

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