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Jodi Jill

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Jodi Jill
Born (1971-01-29) January 29, 1971 (age 53)
Albert Lea, Minnesota, United States
OccupationWriter

Jodi Jill (born January 29, 1971) is an American author best known for having been raised in a public storage facility.[1]

Early life

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Jill was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota. In 1980, when she was nine years old, she, her parents, and her younger sister relocated to Loveland, Colorado, where the family moved into a 10-by-20-foot storage unit at Loveland Self Storage. Because the facility forbade living in the units, Jill's parents set strict rules for the children: they were not allowed out of the unit during the day, attend school, or interact with people outside the family. Neither Jill nor her siblings were ever enrolled in school.[2][3]

The storage unit would remain Jill and her family’s residence for the next 13 years, during which time her parents had three more children.[4]

A feature article about Jill in Marie Claire described the family’s “bizarre” living arrangement:

With wood pilfered from construction sites, (Jill’s father) built a sleeping loft. For a toilet, everyone used the same bucket, emptied only once a day in a nearby ditch; to bathe, they filled another bucket from a spigot in the parking lot. A propane heater kept the temperature just above freezing.[2]

Writing career

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Jill is the author of Tours for Free California[5] and Tours for Free: Colorado.[6] In 2004, Los Angeles Magazine called Tours for Free California the year’s “Best Offbeat Guide to L.A.”[7]

References

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  1. ^ "Raised in a Storage Unit". The Jeff Probst Show. CBS Television Distribution. December 27, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-11-10. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
  2. ^ a b Dutton, Judy (2012-10-08). "Out of the Box". Marie Claire Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  3. ^ "Quit Whining and Read: raised in a storage unit, Jodi Jill used the power of words to become an author and literacy advocate". HighBeam Business. Archived from the original on 2013-07-13. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  4. ^ Fletcher, Harrison (October 4, 2001). "Out of the Box". Denver Westword. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
  5. ^ Handel, Nelson (October 5, 2003). "Life Is Really Just a Big Free Tour". Los Angeles Times.
  6. ^ Quillen, Ed (March 2002). "Tours for Free: Colorado, by Jodi Jill". Colorado Central Magazine. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
  7. ^ "The Best of L.A." Los Angeles Magazine. August 2004. Retrieved February 15, 2013.