Who's Behind This
About Me
Librarian by trade, nerd by birth. Dragons, spaceships, and a family history stranger than fiction.
Bio
I'm a 5th generation Italian kid[1] who grew up in an immigrant town in rural Oklahoma. When I was a wee one, my dad sat me down in front of Master of the Universe and that was all she wrote.[2] I'm a nerdy guy who grew up on a healthy diet of sword & sorcery and aliens & spaceships. I spent a lot of time alone as a kid, drawing, playing with action figures, and wandering around with a wooden sword on my hip & telling myself stories. I still do those things.
Draw, tell stories, and play with the occasional action figure, I mean. The swords stay at home now, unless I'm going to a sword-appropriate venue.
I've always been a curious kid who wasn't afraid to tinker and try things. I grew up to be a librarian where I am blessed to be able to serve my community and work in a vocation where my weirdness and curiosity are an asset.
Family Lore
- My great-great grandparents (Jim[3] and Rose[4] De Giacomo) immigrated from Campobasso, Italy in 1904 and helped build the town I grew up in.
- A lot of immigrants came to Southeast Oklahoma to work in coal mines, but the industry didn't persist like it has in Appalachia.
- According to my great-grandma Minnie (a.k.a. Big Momma[5]) the community called Jim the Governor. I don't know if this is true or why, but that's what I'm calling him for the rest of this document.
- When the Governor died, Rose supported her family by opening her kitchen and feeding the miners.
- Robbers Cave, a hideout for old-west outlaws that saw use by rapscallions and ne'erdowells well into the 20's, isn't too far from where I grew up. Big Momma liked to tell the story about the time Pretty Boy Floyd passed through Rose's kitchen on his way to hide a haul. She said he was very handsome and gave her candy.
- My mom swears she was almost abducted by Aliens in 1971. I'm still Muldering this one.
