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‘Cat in the Stacks: Neither Stellar Nor Easter

CAT-STAX4

I’m William Repetto, a first-year graduate student at Villanova University. This is the “‘Cat in the Stacks” column. I’m your ‘cat. I’ll be posting about college life, about learning and growing here at Villanova, and, of course, about the Falvey Library’s role.


You might notice that ‘Cat in the Stacks is coming to you slightly later than usual on this frigid and frozen Wednesday. While this ‘Cat sat inside watching the Nor’easter Stella drop inches and inches of precipitation, I also took the time to contemplate the landscape and scenes of community offered behind the façade of wet, heavy snow.

I first noticed that the whitewashed landscape offered me the chance to write new images onto the usually familiar sights. Parking spots became miniature mountains as snowplows worked away. It reminded me of writing this blog each week, turning the white screen of Microsoft Word into the story of my imagination.

View from a Falvey window

View from a Falvey window

I turned my attention next to the scenes of community that the storm allowed under turbulent circumstances. One woman dug her car out to rush to work, only to have a snow plow block her car back in. Two gentlemen working on freeing their car took a break to help her dig out once again.

Another guy, trying to free his small sedan, found that the ice was too much for the car to handle. Two other gentlemen and one’s girlfriend pushed the small car from behind to free it from its frozen prison.

These scenes and thoughts from Stella offer comfort in the face of a political world becoming increasingly chaotic and a semester rapidly picking up speed as it descends toward finals and term paper deadlines.

In the political realm, we young adults have been thrown into the descending chaos with little to choose from but two opposing sides. Stella offered a nice reminder, in its powdery covering, that we have the ability to inscribe the world with the meaning we envision. Standing up to the descending chaos seems to be the theme of the year; take note of the “Fearless Girl” statue below, and think about how others stood up to the chaos of the storm.

Photo by Mark Lennihan, courtesy of The Boston Globe.

Photo by Mark Lennihan, courtesy of The Boston Globe.

These last weeks of the semester might seem to wreak a similar havoc to a nor’easter. It’s important to remember that even though half of the semester’s grades might already be posted, the second half remains a blank sheet of paper on which you can write whatever accomplishments you envision.

The team here at the Falvey remains those friends who will help you if you feel snowed in by the pressures of the semester. Whether you need a team of subject librarians to get your project moving, or you need a subject guide to dig you out of that pile of books, we’ve got your back.


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Article by William Repetto, a graduate assistant on the Communications and Marketing Team at the Falvey Memorial Library. He is currently pursuing an MA in English at Villanova University.

 


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Last Modified: March 15, 2017

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