Judy Rosella Writes

Murder is a group activity

Humans are, by nature, social animals. Even the most reclusive have relationships to family, friends, doctors, coworkers, neighbors, the clerks at the grocery store or the DoorDash driver. No one can murder humans without impacting that person’s social circle. Let me tell you about how murder is a group activity. My sister was murdered in my parents’ living room at 1:15 pm on Friday afternoon,…

I added a post to the Jasper Douthit Project today about using searches. Interesting topic: WWI. There is a lot more data to come. On another front, I’m still working on the Illinois River, or “Beaches,” as I have come to call it. My research, most recently, took me a little astray into the CCC, or the Civilian Conservation Corps. But, not far from the River. There are a number of…

…over on the Jasper Douthit Project, I have been quite busy. I’ve been learning more than I ever expected about the Internet Archive and how to code pages so they are more likely to be included. We started out scanning historic newspapers but the group of us working on this are literally scattered from coast to coast. So are the newspapers. We came up with a structured plan for hopefully getting…

Believe it or not, this was not the worst thing that happened to me on Thursday. Someone rear-ended me as I was turning. Then someone else rear-ended them. I was on my way to an oral surgeon because I thought I had a sore in my mouth. It turns out I have osteonecrosis. My jawbone is dead, probably from chemotherapy. I apparently had bitten down on something hard enough to break a piece of my…

https://jasperdouthitproject.org/?p=345

I don’t believe in reincarnation, in any iteration, but, if I did, I would like to devote my next life to correcting history. It’s a challenge to represent history accurately, without the bias of assumptions based on the era in which one lives. I have read and watched a number of accounts of the inventor of the dishwasher. Josephine Cochrane has never, to my knowledge, been represented…

People ask how I do things. I’m willing to share, especially with a wiki. It is a community project. If you’re interested in adding or editing content, please sign up! I will be creating a page explaining how to go about doing that. But, I spent entirely too long documenting how I’m creating wiki pages in bulk and uploading them all at once and I need to get some other things done today. This…

Douthit wiki works again

I recently broke the wiki I created for the Jasper Douthit Project. It is now up and running and I will be adding more content in the near future. You can visit the wiki any time at the Douthit Wiki. The wiki seemed important. Jasper Douthit had personal interactions, in print and by written correspondence as well as in person, with an array of people. His literary references, in the newspaper…

The missing – or what is history?

Today I thought I would write about those who are missing from history. Novice researchers are often perplexed when their ancestors are omitted. There is a simple explanation. Nearly every county in the country proudly points to their published county history. Sometimes two or three smaller counties were combined to form a single history. There were several companies producing those county…

Writing about history is time-consuming, but so very interesting if you understand how to locate and access archives around the world. You can’t write history off the top of your head. Not unless you like embarrassing yourself. Today I got caught up on translating a dozen hand-written letters between Rev. Jasper L. Douthit, from Shelbyville, IL, and Prof. Henry Wilder Foote, an Associate…

Researching the Illinois River, I come across the most amazing things. In 1904, the river flooded so much that the local baseball training camp had to temporarily relocate. TRAINING plans for the Brewers have been changed. Peoria is nearly all under water, and Decatur will be the training camp.[1] [1] “Baseball chat.” The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) 04 Apr 1904, Mon Page 7

I started today with a Zoom session, taking questions about “Scream on 10th Street.” It was fun. Lots of questions. It was a very positive experience. I spent part of day adding a historic letter to the Jasper Douthit Project. Without context, it might seem confusing. If you read Douthit’s autobiography or his newspaper, “Our Best Words,” it might help. What I find especially interesting is…

In my next book, I will be writing about lost beaches. Beaches where you can no longer stroll along the river. It’s an interesting, 400-year story that no one seems to remember, if they have even heard it. I promise it will be interesting.

You need to read “Scream on 10th Street.” It has earned a 5-star review along with reviews like: Well worth buying and reading. A heartfelt book written about a tragic death of someone so young and such a senseless tragedy. It is written by the sister of the victim and I can tell this was a book that needed to be written.BaHall Was well researched. The city pf Mattoon as well as the tragic…

Virtual Q&A: Scream on 10th Street

Saturday, August 21, 2021 10:00 AM (CDT) Sign up now! Tickets are available through Evenbrite and there is no charge. This is a Zoom online event. You can also order a signed copy of “Scream on 10th Street,” with free shipping, through Evenbrite.

Beaches are not forever

I’m doing my best to get all of Jasper Douthit’s published works digitized and online. I finished December 1884. Long way to go…. but, how about this–> Let’s learn something today. “Marion Bernstein has a good claim to being the greatest Scottish feminist we’ve never heard of … Her voice – neglected for so long – is just the kind we need to hear…” https://jasperdouthitproject.org/?p=207 On…

I never asked for this

Some people choose jobs or activities that put them in the spotlight, that reveal publicly who they are, to the core; jobs that make people want to invade their personal life. Then there’s the rest of us. I keep thinking about shootings, in particular. Family and friends of someone who is shot to death, or otherwise killed, are thrust into the media. We become victims, ourselves. Think about…