Happy Friday, Wildcats! Falvey Library is delivering you another semester of Weekend Recs, a blog dedicated to filling you in on what to read, listen to, and watch over the weekend. Annie, a graduate assistant from the Communication department, scours the internet, peruses the news, and digs through book stacks to find new, relevant, and thought-provoking content that will challenge you and prepare you for the upcoming week. 

Last week, President Biden announced his student debt forgiveness plan. This plan included forgiving up to $20,000 in student debt for working- and middle-class individuals. This is big news for many of us, as current or graduated college students. As someone with about $23,000 in student debt, it certainly caught my attention. This weekend’s recs will help answer your questions about Biden’s plan and how it might play out.

If you have 1 minute…and want a visual aid for the massive amount of student debt currently affecting people in the U.S., check out the U.S. National Debt Clock. It’s both an illuminating visual and a (somewhat) stressful experience.

If you have 5 minutes…and have some questions about your eligibility, read this NPR student debt forgiveness Q&A article.

If you have 10 minutes…and are from out-of-state, read this article in TIME. Residents of states such as Massachusetts and North Carolina (among others) may have their forgiven student debt taxed.

Photo by Alice Pasqual on Unsplash

If you have 15 minutes…and want to hear an economist’s perspective on the plan, read this article from the New York Times. The main takeaway is that although the plan is not perfect, it has great potential to help working- and middle-class individuals and families.

If you have another 15 minutes…and are concerned how this debt will affect taxpayers, read this ABC10 article. Spoiler: as of right now, taxpayers should be in the clear, but there is a possibility this could change if current tax codes get revised.

If you have 2 hours…and want to turn off your brain for a little, watch the first 3 episodes of She Hulk: Attorney at Law on Disney+. Tatiana Maslany is an absolute treasure, and her character Jennifer Walters is, like many of us, working to pay off her student loans.

Annie Stockmal is a graduate student in the Communication Department and graduate assistant in Falvey Library.

DR. TIM HORNER’S GLOBAL (HALF)SMACKDOWN FOR MONDAY, AUG. 24, IS AVAILABLE VIA ZOOM HERE.

In his first (Half)Smackdown of the fall semester, Dr. Tim Horner dives into the current unrest in Belarus due to President Alexander Lukashenko’s re-election in early August. Dr. Horner’s presentation touches on how a country can peacefully protest in the face of rampant corruption.

Where in the world are we?

Here’s a helpful map showing where Belarus is in relation to where we are here at Villanova.

By Allie Reczek and Daniella Snyder

Happy Friday, Wildcats! Falvey Memorial Library is happy to present a new edition of Weekend Recs, a blog dedicated to filling you in on what to read, listen to, and watch over the weekend. Daniella, graduate assistants from the English department, teams up with Allie Reczek, a Library’s undergraduate student worker, and, together, they scour the internet, peruse the news, and dig through book stacks to find new, relevant, and thought-provoking content that will challenge you and prepare you for the upcoming week.

Happy New Year, Wildcats! It’s the start of a new decade and with that comes waves of stories that shock the world. One of the top, early headlines of 2020 is Prince Harry’s and Meghan Markle’s decision to step back from their senior duties in the royal family, with their goals to become financially independent and split their time between the United Kingdom and North America. 

With this change within the royal family, many questions arise, such as how the couple plans to support themselves and what they will do with their time now. Stay up to date with our weekend recommendations:

• If you have 3 minutes: Listen to this NPR podcast about the split.
• If you have 5 minutes: Watch this video summarizing the news from People Magazine.
• If you have 9 minutes and you’re as obsessed with Meghan Markle as Daniella is: Watch this Youtube video of the speech she gave at the UN Women Conference in 2015.
• If you have 15 minutes: Read this CNN article discussing the logistics of separation from the Royal Family.
• Finally, if you’re bored this weekend and in the mood for a total television binge: Watch Suits on USA, a television show Markle starred on before her royal marriage.

What do you think of this change? Tell us on social! 

Allie Reczek is a sophomore Psychology Major and works as a Communication & Marketing Assistant in Falvey; Daniella Snyder is a Graduate Assistant in the Communication & Marketing department at Falvey.