I need to pick up my medication soon. I am gonna try to get it tomorrow. In my film class, we are going to play Hades the video game. I am horrible at video games. I feel like I am going to fail this. Oh well. Maybe this will not go as bad as I think. We will be playing it in class, so everyone will see how bad I am at it. I'll try not to care that much. I don't know anyone anyway.

BTW, my fucking iPod broke because I dropped it. Go figure. I guess I should not be surprised. That is kinda my luck. Awesome new working iPod, break it within a month. I think my boyfriend can fix it, but I don't see him until October.

I have some homework due tonight, so I will keep this brief.

I am doing okay. Today has been good. I will be calling my boyfriend tomorrow and I am excited for that. He will be coming to visit me in less than a month. Not sure what we are gonna do, but him being here always makes for a good weekend.

I have been doing research on my family history and I want to share what I have found ASAP! My great great grandparents were Italians living in Illinois. They were in the southern part of the state, Williamson County to be specific. This county is dubbed "Bloody Williamson" and for good reason.

My great grandma was born in 1921, and I am not sure when her parents are born, but I wanted to give you all an idea of their ages. I have known for a few years that my family had their wine and small, personal vineyard destroyed by the KKK. However, I recently learned that Williamson County had an huge Klan presence due to Prohibition. The estimated amount of total Klan members and supporters was a bit over 600 people. I just read this very long paper about it, and the conflict is way too hard to explain in full, but here are some details.

Williamson County is known for coal mining, and in 1922 there was what was essentially a public lynching of strikebreakers after the superintendant of the mining company went back on his word after agreeing not to hire non-union workers and to not sell coal during the strike. The union workers ended up shooting at them and a total of 23 people ended up dying as a result. My great great grandpa was a coal miner. I am not sure if he was involved in that, but it certainly would impact his life.

After this, word spread about the supposed "lawlessness" in Williamson County. It ended up attracting those who find that appealing, such as gangsters and other criminals. They ended up opening dozens of places to drink alcohol, despite it being prohibition,

Even though their cause was unrelated to unions, The Klan capitalized on this to gather support from the miners, those involved in politics on both sides, and the owners of bigger companies. Many within the Klan has conflicting views on things like unions, racism, and the type of life to live, but they were all united by being supporters of their county remaining dry. The Klan mobilized just a year after the Herrin Massacre, targetting anyone who was not Protestant and white that was selling or consuming alcohol at all. They broke into people's houses and businesses, beating them, stealing from them, and in general terrorizing the community there.

Italian immigrants happen to make up a large percentage of the immigrants in that area, and they were only really considered white about 20 or so years later. My great great grandfather, Nazaro, owned a relatively small, personal vineyard and made his own wine. He would grow his own grapes, but when he could not grow enough, he woud order them in from California. He was not selling this wine, it was for his personal use. However, it seems word got out eventually. The Klan paid a visit to my grandfather and destroyed his wine and grapes.

While the Klan destested the mob presence in Williamson County, they resented them right back. Part of the reason the Klan's reign ended was due to them being murdered. Now, this is where I present my theory for another story I was told. My grandmother has a book of Italian mobsters and gangsters in St. Louis. There were a couple men she had recognized from the book because they played cards with her father. I believe that there is a chance that they met in Williamson County and bonded over their shared experiences. I had wondered before this if my family had mob connections, but now I believe my family recognized that they did something important for their community to stop the torture and became friends.

If anyone has any thoughts on this or any more info, I would love to talk about it.

I just noticed that I have been typing right for once, but I think I'm gonna keep it up because it is good practice, I guess.

School has started. It is my final year and I cannot believe I am gonna be done so soon. I have been getting a lot of random bouts of anxiety, if I am being vulnerable and honest for a moment. I have always been a little anxious, but I can't ever remember feeling it sooo physically like this. Like in my stomach or whatever. It's more annoying than anything. I hate feeling on edge like that. I think I just have a lot on my plate right now, and I'm a little short on cash right now.

I have added a bunch of songs on my iPod. I think next I am going to try and figure out the camera function. It looks like it can only take videos and that confuses me, but I will make the best of it. I can't fucking figure out how to work it. I should probably mess around with it sometime. I feel like I am quite busy, but I honestly waste my time a lot. I don't mean to, but it's hard not to when it is all that seems interesting to do.

Social media, photojournalism, my film class, and women's rhetoric are the classes I am taking this semester. It should be okay, honestly. I think I can handle this workload. I do wish I had help sometimes though, but I guess I am not really supposed to need that for stuff like classes, so I will adapt. The hardest one will be WR, because I have to write a few papers.

I just noticed that I have been typing right for once, but I think I'm gonna keep it up because it is good practice, I guess.

i have had a great past couple of days for the most part and was not online much. my boyfriend came up to my town and visited me before school starts again. he rid my fridge of an uncomfortable amount of moldy food and forced me to go grocery shopping. thank god for that. i think it was great to get offline for a little bit. that ipod is everything I wanted it to be and more. i was actually pretty upset when i first got it because it had an engraved message on the back and a big ass dent, but everyone thinks the message is funny as fuck, so i got over it.

"Coco

Happy birthday all year!"

i personally think it is ridiculous to wish someone a happy birthday "all year." that means their birthday never ends. WTF are we even on about.

All that aside, im glad i ended up with this thing. it is very easy to load songs on because i have a macbook already. im actually really impressed with this thing. it sounds better on some songs than my newer stuff.

i think i am going to have to make a music tab soon, because i have been listening to this one song over and over and want to talk about it

today is my birthday

im so glad football has started. i have something to obsess over for a while now. please, if you are even just the slightest bit curious as to what is going on in the NFL, check out that tab on the homepage. its mostly focused on the teams and players, not stats and shit. i hate numbers.

my birthday is coming up very soon. i still havent decided exactly how to spend it but the weekend following it will be a better time to celebrate.

my landlord texted me that someone needs to be in my attic ASAP. i am so curious what that could possibly be about. i will update when i know.

update: i guess the apartment next to me shares an attic with me, because i heard the noises of a drill and some other stuff, but he did not go through my part of the place. oh well.

ipod update: it works but only on the charger. got a working purple one coming because its almost my birthday. im looking forward to messing with it.

regarding this website, i have done a lot today. i put something on each horror tab finally. i also got rid of the slenderman and now have a fun, dancing, draggable clown. i LOVE it. my home page looks so much better now, like a breath of fresh air. i highly recommend just chilling and playing your music and watching the clown dance.

i also noticed a distinct lack of sites on here related to the NFL, so i suppose i am here to fill in that gap. i have never been more ready for the season. i will do my best to be the best TOTALLY 100% biased source for your NFL news.

i got one of the ipods i was looking at, but it ended up being an untested one. i have a strategy that my boyfriend will help me with. i got a dark grey one with a black button, but i really wanted purple. however, im not a fan of the white button. so, now, if this thing doesnt work, i can purchase a purple one and make my DREAM ipod nano 5th gen. my birthday is coming up, and my mother asked me today if i wanted anything, so that might be my birthday present this year from her. if this one works, then the modding i want to do will take more effort. we will have to take the cover off of the purple one and replace the dark grey.

im not looking forward to this process, but the result will make it all worth it. plus, it is something new to do with my boyfriend, and he has always wanted to do stuff like this.

in an effort to rely less on streaming services and subscriptions, i have been eyeing up a few digital media players.

im about to get into my first ebay bidding war... wish me luck

theres a few others i have my eye on if things dont work out, but man am i hoping !!

i did not have a very good day today. it is in the AM, so i am talking about yesterday i guess.

let's repeat the line, my friends: tomorrow will be better and i will take my medication on time.

on the bright side, i got some homework done and had an interesting conversation with someone i know. im hoping to do some laundry tomorrow. like, a lot. i will report back then.

this is my first blog post, so i figure you can get to know me just a bit. my website isnt done yet, and it probably never fully will be, but that is okay because we will grow together.

the first word i learned how to spell was "cat" and since then, theyve been my everything. i currently have two of my own. you can find images of them in the cat tab.

oh, you thought i would show you here? its not that i dont plan on sharing any images here, but it is more that i have a dedicated page for it that i worked on. you can even learn his birthday if you wanted.