By Jenna Renaud

Word of the Week: Type II Fun 

Maybe you’re thinking, “I know what fun is,” but did you know that there are different types of fun?  

Type II fun usually feels terrible while you’re doing it, like climbing up a mountain in the freezing cold, running an ultra-marathon, or standing in line at Disney World in the blazing sun, but when it’s over, your memory erases the miserable parts, and you would do it again for fun.  

This is all based on the “fun scale,” typically used by outdoor enthusiasts. You can read more about it in this article from REI. But in summary the other types of fun are: 

Type I Fun – Enjoyable when it’s happening. Simply fun. Eating good food with good friends. Celebrating birthdays or holidays with family. Movie nights.  

Type III Fun – Not actually fun at all. While you’re doing it or in retrospect. Maybe you’re waiting for the Type II fun effect to hit, but it never does. 

For many people, Type II fun is the sweet spot. It’s challenging but isn’t actually putting your life at risk. With finals right around the corner, consider planning some Type II adventures for this summer. 

This Week at Falvey  

NOW–Wednesday, Jun. 15th  

“That Fairyland of Ice”: Polar Exploration in Mind and Memory Exhibit | Falvey First Floor & Virtual | Free & Open to the Public 

Tuesday, April 19th  

Polar Voyaging and the Humanities | 4–5 p.m. | Virtual | https://villanova.zoom.us/j/98337578849 

Wednesday, April 20th   

2022 Falvey Forum Workshop Series: Capturing the Web – Introduction to Web Archiving | 12–1 p.m. | Virtual | Register Here 

“The Politics of the Irish Harp Symbol from Henry VIII to Brexit” Lecture & Harp Performance with Mary Louise O’Donnell | 4 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Learn More Here 

Thursday, April 21st 

2022 Literary Festival: Tiphanie Yanique | 7–8:30 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to the Public | Find more info here 

Friday, April 22nd  

Villanova Gaming Society Meeting | 2:30–4:30 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to the Public 

2022 Falvey Scholars Virtual Research Presentation and Awards Ceremony | 10 a.m. | Virtual | Register Here 

2022 Concept Virtual Recognition Ceremony | 1–2 p.m. | Virtual | Register Here 

This Week in History 

April 22nd, 1970 – First Earth Day was celebrated 

Earth Day is an annual event used to demonstrate support for environmental protection and bring awareness to a wide range of environmental issues. 2022 marks the 52nd celebration of the holiday.  

Earth Day was started by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, an environmentalist who wanted to increase awareness and provide unity to the environmental movement. “The objective was to get a nationwide demonstration of concern for the environment so large that it would shake the political establishment out of its lethargy,” Senator Nelson said, “and, finally, force this issue permanently onto the national political agenda.” 

Earth Day has contributed to the passage of the Clean Water and Endangered Species Act. Each year the holiday is recognized by 192 different countries. 

Read more from History.com. 

Jenna Renaud is a graduate assistant in Falvey Memorial Library and a graduate student in the Communication Department.

Happy April, Wildcats! The end of the semester is quickly approaching. Be sure to check out one (or a few) of the remaining events at Falvey Memorial Library. All events are ACS-approved and open to the Villanova University community. The lineup of events are listed below.

2022 Villanova University Literary Festival: Tiphanie Yanique

• Thursday, April 21, at 7 p.m. in Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner.
• Livestream link.
• Tiphanie Yanique is a novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer. She is the author of the poetry collection, Wife, which won the 2016 Bocas Prize in Caribbean poetry and the United Kingdom’s 2016 Forward/Felix Dennis Prize for a First Collection. Tiphanie is also the author of the novel, Land of Love and Drowning, which won the 2014   Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Award from the Center for Fiction, the Phillis Wheatley Award for Pan-African Literature, and the American Academy of Arts   and Letters Rosenthal Family Foundation Award, and was listed by NPR as one of the Best Books of 2014. Land of Love and Drowning was also a finalist for the Orion Award in Environmental Literature and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. She is a tenured associate professor at Emory University.
• For more information on Yanique, please visit her website.
• This event is co-sponsored by the English Department, the Creative Writing Program, Global Interdisciplinary Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, the Center for Irish Studies, and Falvey Library.

Polar Voyaging and the Humanities

• Tuesday, April 19, at 4 p.m.
• Virtual lecture on Zoom. Register here.
• Lecture by Hester Blum, PhD, Professor of English at Penn State.
• In the summer of 2019 Blum was the lone humanities scholar on a scientific expedition tracking climate change in the Northwest Passage. Drawn from her experience on the Arctic icebreaker (and on an Antarctic expedition), as well as her research on nineteenth-century polar expeditions, Blum’s talk offers a meditation on ice as a measure for visualizing, writing about, mourning, and mediating the state of the climate in an age of ecological and institutional crisis.
• This event is offered in support of Falvey Memorial Library’s current exhibit “That Fairyland of Ice”: Polar Exploration in Mind and Memoryand is included alongside Earth Week events.
• This event is co-sponsored by Falvey Memorial Library, the Office of Sustainability, the Department of Geography and the Environment, the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest, and the Department of English.

Russia’s War on Ukraine: Historical Turning Points

• Monday, April 25, from 6-7 p.m.
• Virtual lecture on Zoom. Register here.
• A conversation about the ongoing war in Ukraine.
• Dr. Adele Lindenmeyr, Historian of Russia and the USSR, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Villanova University, and Dr. Mike Westrate, Historian of Ukraine and the USSR, Assistant Vice Provost, Graduate Education and Research, Villanova University, will discuss the turning points that led to Russia’s invasion.
• What were the historical turning points that led to Russia’s current war on Ukraine and its people? Join us for a discussion of the Ukrainian-Russian relationship, including: the Holodomor, WWII and its aftermath, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Budapest Memorandum, the Russian war on Georgia, and the illegal annexation of Crimea.
• This event is co-sponsored by Falvey Library and the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest.

Falvey Library’s Semi-Annual Stress Busting Open House: Make Finals a Grand Slam

• Friday, April 29 (Reading Day) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. or until supplies last on the Old Falvey patio.
• Stop by for some major (league) fun and treats to make these finals a grand slam!
• Pals for Life therapy animals will be there to help you during the 7th inning stretch of the semester.
• This event is co-sponsored by Falvey Library, the Office of Health Promotion, and POWER.

CONCEPT Virtual Recognition Ceremony

• Friday, April 22, at 1 p.m.
• Virtual lecture on Zoom. Register here.
• Join us as we celebrate the official launch of the 2022 issue of CONCEPT, the interdisciplinary journal of graduate students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
• The ceremony will recognize this year’s Graduate Research Prize for top paper, along with all of the student authors and editors, faculty editors, and peer reviewers.
• CONCEPT accepts submissions from Villanova graduate students in all fields of the arts and sciences and is an opportunity for them to share their scholarship and research.
• This event is co-sponsored by Falvey Library and the Office of Graduate Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
• Visit the CONCEPT website to learn more about the journal and to browse past volumes.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

Word of the Week: Vernal Equinox (also known as: Spring Equinox, March Equinox) 

Yesterday marked the official first day of Spring! Each year spring is marked by the vernal equinox, which falls around March 20 or 21 and is when the Sun crosses the celestial equator going north. 

Equinoxes occur when the axis of rotation of the earth is exactly parallel to the direction of motion of the earth around the sun. Day and night are about the same length on this day, hence the name “equinox.” The name is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). 

Now that we’ve passed the vernal equinox, be prepared for earlier sunrises, later sunsets, softer winds, and sprouting plants—all signs that Spring is here.  

This Week at Falvey  

NOW–Wednesday, June 15

“That Fairyland of Ice”: Polar Exploration in Mind and Memory Exhibit | Falvey First Floor & Virtual | Free & Open to the Public 

Monday, March 21 

Mindfulness Mondays | 1–1:30 p.m. | Virtual | https://villanova.zoom.us/j/98337578849 

Monday, March 21 

The Interfaith Human Library: Where Books Talk and We All Learn About Life in a Multi-Faith World | 4:30–6 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Register Here 

Tuesday, March 22 

Scholarship@Villanova–Billie Murray, PhD, on Combating Hate: A Framework for Direct Action | 4–5:15 p.m. | Room 205 | Find more info here 

Wednesday, March 23

2022 Falvey Forum Workshop Series: Introduction to Digital Archives and Research | 12–1 p.m. | Virtual | Register Here 

Thursday, March 24  

Spring 2022 Digital Seeds Lecture: Matthew Bui, PhD, on “Toward Urban Data Justice: Auditing the Racial Politics of Data” | 4 p.m. | Virtual | Register Here 

Friday, March 25

Villanova Gaming Society Meeting | 2:30–4:30 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to the Public 

This Week in History 

March 23, 1839 – “OK” enters national vernacular  

On March 23, 1839, the initials “O.K.” are first published in The Boston Morning Post, partially as a joke. It was meant as an abbreviation for “oll korrect,” a popular slang misspelling of “all correct.” However, “OK” then steadily made its way into the everyday speech of Americans. 

In the late 1830s, many younger people would misspell words intentionally, then abbreviate them and use them as slang. Some examples include “KY” for “no use” (“know yuse”) and “OW” for all right (“oll wright”).  

OK rose above the rest and made its way into common vernacular even to this day in part thanks to the Boston Morning Post. From there, its popularity continued when it was picked up by politicians at the time. 

Read more from History.com. 

Jenna Renaud is a Graduate Assistant in Falvey Memorial Library and a Graduate Student in the Communication Department.

By Jenna Renaud

Word of the Week: March Madness 

This week instead of strictly defining a word, we’re talking about the origin of the phrase March Madness in honor of the tournament kicking off!  

March Madness originated from the phrase “mad as March here”; however, it did not come from the NCAA tournament, but rather Henry Porter, an Illinois high school athletics administrator in 1939. In the 1940s, March Madness was used for Illinois state basketball tournaments, before spreading elsewhere in the Midwest region. 

40 years later in the 1980s, March Madness came to be associated with the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, an association many credit to commentator Brent Musburger. 

This Week at Falvey  

NOW–Wednesday, Jun. 15th  

“That Fairyland of Ice”: Polar Exploration in Mind and Memory Exhibit | Falvey First Floor & Virtual | Free & Open to the Public 

Monday, March 14th 

Mindfulness Mondays | 1–1:30 p.m. | Virtual | https://villanova.zoom.us/j/98337578849 

Wednesday, March 16th 

2022 Falvey Forum Workshop Series: Mastering the Labyrinth: Newspaper–Magazine Archives | 12–1 p.m. | Virtual | https://villanova.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMsfuqsrTsvG9BvwhHkwcD9LIxFsFF0yACe  

Friday, March 18th  

Villanova Gaming Society Meeting | 2:30–4:30 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to the Public 

This Week in History 

February 15th, 44 B.C. – Assassination of Julius Caesar  

“Beware of the ides of March” 

2,066 years ago on March 15th, Julius Caesar, dictator of Rome, is stabbed to death in the Roman Senate house by 60 conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. This day then infamously came to be known as the “Ides of March.”  

Despite now being associated with a more ominous connotation, the ides of March has a tamer origin. Ides simply referred to the first new moon of a given month, with each month having its own ides, typically falling between the 13th and the 15th. The ides of March was the 74th day in the Roman calendar and traditionally associated with religious celebrations and at one point, the new year. 

Jenna Renaud is a Graduate Assistant in Falvey Memorial Library and a Graduate Student in the Communication Department.

By Jenna Renaud

Word of the Week: Wordle 

(n) a name for an electronic image that shows words used in a particular piece of electronic text or series of texts. The words are different sizes according to how often they are used in the text. 

Before Wordle was the game that causes us to forget the English language every morning, it was the name for the word clouds that you’ve probably made at some point in your life. In addition, a wide variety of games with the same moniker have been released over the years although the trademark situation is a bit up in the air at the moment.  

Below is a wordle of the words in a blog post Ethan did about the game Wordle! Wordle-ception!  

This Week at Falvey  

NOW–Wednesday, Jun. 15th  

“That Fairyland of Ice”: Polar Exploration in Mind and Memory Exhibit / Falvey First Floor & Online / Free & Open to the Public 

Monday, Feb. 14th  

Mindfulness Mondays | 1–1:30 p.m. | Virtual | https://villanova.zoom.us/j/98337578849  

Tuesday, Feb. 15th  

The Bible in Black, Part 2 on the New Testament | 12–1 p.m. | Room 205 | More info here 

Tuesday, Feb. 15th  

Robbie Richardson, PhD, on “Death, Bones, and the Rise of the Museum in the Eighteenth Century” | 5:30 p.m. | Room 205 or Virtual| More info here 

Friday, Feb. 18th  

Villanova Gaming Society Meeting | 2:30–4:30 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to the Public  

This Week in History 

February 14th, 270 A.D. – St. Valentine beheaded 

At the time, Rome was under the rule of Claudius II, also known as Claudius the Cruel, and was involved in many bloody campaigns. Because of the many campaigns, it was imperative that the emperor maintained a strong army; however, he struggled to recruit men. He attributed this difficulty to marriage and the strong attachment men had to their wives and families. In response to this, Claudius banned all marriages in Rome. 

Valentine, a holy priest, saw this decree as unjust and continued to perform marriages in secret. When he was found out, he was put in prison until his execution on February 14. Legend has it that right before his beheading, he wrote a letter to the jailor’s daughter signing it “Love your Valentine.” Following his death, he was made a saint. 

This is just one of the stories that potentially account for the life of St. Valentine and the origins of the holiday. To read more about the theories surrounding Valentine’s Day and St. Valentine, visit History.com.  

Jenna Renaud is a Graduate Assistant in Falvey Memorial Library and a Graduate Student in the Communication Department.

By Jenna Renaud

Word of the Week

Every year since 2013 the New York Times has conducted a Vocabulary Video challenge for middle- and high-school students. For the contest, students take a word of the day from the past year and create a video under 15-seconds long that defines or teaches that word. Then, at the end of the year, they select some of the best. Last August, the New York Times posted compilation videos of their best verb, noun, and adjective submissions over the years. Check it out here! Maybe you’ll learn a new word or two.  

Verbs Featured: abscond, amalgamate, defame, distill, exorcise, feign, levitate, scotch, vex

Adjectives Featured: agape, anachronistic, aquiline, cacophonous, callow, dexterous, ghastly, gusty, indolent, macabre, mellifluous, nocturnal, obsequious, piscatorial, puerile, pugnacious, sartorial, Sisyphean, superfluous 

Nouns Featured: acrophobia, alchemy, arrogance, autopsy, bevy, bluff, carafe, cartographer, catalyst, censor, comeuppance, degradation, entrée, equinox, fecundity, finesse, fluke, hallucination, illusion, killjoy, malingerer, mishap, naïveté, nonchalance, onomatopoeia, peregrination, plagiarism, pyromaniac, regicide, serendipity, telekinesis, upstage 

This Week at Falvey  

NOW–Wednesday, Jan. 15 

“That Fairyland of Ice”: Polar Exploration in Mind and Memory Exhibit / Falvey First Floor & Online / Free & Open to the Public 

Monday, Jan. 24

Mindfulness Mondays / 1–1:30 p.m. / Virtual / https://villanova.zoom.us/j/98337578849  

Thursday, Jan. 27

2022 Literary Festival – Jericho Brown / 7 p.m. / Speakers’ Corner / Free & Open to the Public

Friday, Jan. 28

Villanova Gaming Society Meeting / 2:30–4:30 p.m. / Speakers’ Corner / Free & Open to the Public  

This Week in History 

Jan. 28, 1986 – The space shuttle Challenger explodes after liftoff 

2021 was a big year for space travel with the first all-civilian space flight taking place in September. Thirty-five years prior, Christa McAuliffe was on her way to becoming the first ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into space on the Challenger. McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher, had won a competition that earned her a spot on the Challenger’s crew.  

Seventy-three seconds after take-off, the Challenger exploded leaving no survivors. This disaster was the first major shuttle accident, and NASA refrained from sending astronauts into space for two years as they worked to ensure a similar tragedy would not happen again.  

To learn more about what went wrong with the Challenger and the future of space shuttle travel, read this article from History.com.  

A&E Television Networks. (2009, November 24). Space shuttle challenger disaster. History.com. Retrieved January 20, 2022, from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/challenger-explodes

Jenna Renaud is a Graduate Assistant in Falvey Memorial Library and a Graduate Student in the Communication Department.

By Jenna Renaud

Word of the Week: Ninguid 

Although no longer used popularly, ninguid is derived from Latin and means “snow covered.” We have yet to have more than a sprinkling of snow this season, but I have a feeling snow’s right around the corner (or maybe I’m just hoping it is). I don’t think they’ll be changing the lyrics of the song to “I’m dreaming of a ninguid Christmas” anytime soon, but maybe you’ll be able to work this word into your holiday vocabulary this year! 

This Week at Falvey  

Monday, Nov. 15–Friday, Jan. 7

Cabinets of Curiosity Exhibit / Falvey First Floor / Free & Open to the Public 

Monday, Dec. 6 

Mindfulness Mondays / 1–1:30 p.m. / Virtual / https://villanova.zoom.us/j/98337578849 

Friday, Dec. 10

Stress-less Healthy Happy Hour Event Featuring Pals for Life Therapy Animals / 4–5 p.m. / Room 205 / Free & Open to all Villanova Students 

This Week in History 

December 8, 1980 – John Lennon shot 

On December 8, 1980, former Beatles member was shot and killed by an obsessed fan in New York City. Lennon was entering his Manhattan apartment when Mark David Chapman shot him at close range. Although rushed to the hospital, Lennon, bleeding profusely, died in route.  

Chapman stayed on scene until the police showed up and arrested him. When approached by police, Chapman was reading The Catcher in the Rye, which he referred to as his manifesto. Chapman has spent the last 41 years in prison, and even though he has been up for parole 11 times, he has been denied every time.  

If you want to reminisce more about the Beatles, watch the new Disney+ documentary series “The Beatles Get Back.” The series takes fans back in time to the band’s intimate recording sessions during a pivotal part in music history. 

A&E Television Networks. (2009, November 24). John Lennon is shot. History.com. Retrieved December 6, 2021, from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-lennon-shot. 

Jenna Renaud is a graduate assistant in Falvey Memorial Library and a graduate student in the Communication Department.

Word of the Week: Air Fryer 

Each year Merriam-Webster dictionary adds new words and definitions to its dictionary, from slang to new science and tech jargon. This year, they have added 455 new words! We don’t have enough “Peeks” to cover the new words, but I decided to share one of the newly added words that also may make the perfect Cyber Monday shopping purchase. 

An air fryer is now defined by Merriam-Webster as, “an airtight, usually small electrical appliance for quick cooking of foods by means of convection currents circulated rapidly by a fan.” Although invented in 2010, in recent years air fryers have become more popular, leading to their addition. Other newly added food-related words include “fluffernutter” and “chicharron.”  

This Week at Falvey  

Monday, Nov. 15–Friday, Jan. 7

Cabinets of Curiosity Exhibit / Falvey First Floor / Free & Open to the Public 

Wednesday, Dec. 1

Fall 2021 Falvey Forum Workshop Series: Introduction to QGIS / 12:30–1:30 p.m. / Virtual / Register Here 

Friday, Dec. 3 

Villanova Gaming Society / 2:30–4:30 p.m. / Speakers’ Corner / Free & Open to the Public 

This Week in History 

Dec. 5, 1945 – Aircraft squadron disappears in the Bermuda Triangle 

On Dec. 5, 1945 at 2:10 p.m., five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers took off from the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida on a routine three-hour training mission. Two hours later, the squadron leader reported that his compass and back-up compass have both failed. The final communication heard over the radio was the squadron leader telling his team to prepare to leave the aircraft due to a lack of fuel.  

A mariner aircraft with a 13-men crew soon took off to find the five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers, only to never be heard from again. Although naval officials maintained that the remains of the  men were not found because stormy weather destroyed the evidence, the story of the “Lost Squadron” helped cement the legend of the Bermuda Triangle.

Read more about the Bermuda Triangle here. 

A&E Television Networks. (2009, November 24). Aircraft squadron disappears in the Bermuda Triangle. History.com. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/aircraft-squadron-lost-in-the-bermuda-triangle. 

Jenna Renaud is a graduate assistant in Falvey Memorial Library and a graduate student in the Communication Department.

By Jenna Renaud 

Villanova University is celebrating the 46th Annual Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week (HHAW) from Sunday, November 14 through Saturday, November 20. To kick off the week, we dug deeper into the history of HHAW and provided resources to help you learn more about homelessness, hunger, and poverty.  

Did you know? 

• 37.2 million Americans live below the poverty level
• 580,000 Americans are homeless on a typical night
• 44 million Americans are at risk of suffering from hunger
• 1 in 6 children in the U.S. live in poverty 

Hunger & homelessness. Hunger Homelessness Awareness Week. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://hhweek.org/hunger-and-homelessness/. 

History of HHAW 

HHAW was started in 1975 by Augustinian priest the Rev. Ray Jackson, OSA, and a group of Villanova students operating on their three pillars of education, advocacy, and service. The ultimate goal? Zero people affected by hunger and homelessness. Although starting at Villanova University, HHAW has since expanded to over 700 campuses and communities nationwide! Each year, HHAW has hundreds of thousands of participants that raise millions of dollars for local service providers.  

To learn more about HHAW at Villanova visit: https://vuhungerweek.wixsite.com/mysite  

To learn more about HHAW nationwide visit: https://hhweek.org/  

HHAW Villanova Events 

Monday, Nov. 15
Postgraduate Service Fair; Villanova Room-Connelly Center, 5–7 p.m.
Postgraduate Service Chat; The Refectory, 8-9:30 p.m. 

Wednesday, Nov. 17
Fair Trade Craft Fair; Connelly Center Ground Floor Atrium, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Keynote Event: The Heart of Camden, the Story of Father Michael Doyle; Connelly Cinema, 7 p.m. 

Thursday, Nov. 18
Donate A Meal; Campus Dining Halls, Lunch
The HHAW is hosting its annual Fast Day. For every meal donation collected, Dining Services will donate an amount for each meal to partner organizations helping those experiencing hunger and homelessness. 

Solidarity Vigil, The Grotto; 7 p.m. 

Saturday, Nov. 20
Back On My Feet Turkey Trot 5K; The Oreo, 9:30 a.m. 

For more information on HHAW and its schedule of events for 2021, visit the HHAW site. 

Book Recommendations 

All books are currently displayed outside of Holy Grounds on the first floor of Falvey. Books will be available for check-out starting next week.

Poverty and the underclass: changing perceptions of the poor in America by William Alton Kelso 

Confronting homelessness: poverty, politics, and the failure of social policy by David Wagner 

Homeless not hopeless: the survival networks of Latino and African American men by Edna Maritza Molina-Jackson 

Tell them who I am: The Lives of Homeless Women by Elliot Liebow 

All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America? by Joel Berg 

Local HHAW Events & Initiatives

Below is a list of ways to get involved in HHAW in Philly. Click on the following link to view more information and a full description of events: https://www.phila.gov/2021-11-08-hunger-and-homelessness-awareness-week-2021-philly-events-and-information/

• Thanksgiving Food Drive 
• Bethesda Project HH Week Events 
• Pie in the Sky 2021 
• OHS Winter Clothing Donations 

Jenna Renaud is a graduate student in the Communication Department and graduate assistant in Falvey Memorial Library.

Word of the Week: Fika (v/n) 

Staying in Scandinavia for this week’s word of the week (if you haven’t read last week’s Peek at the Week, give it a look) we’re learning about the relaxing Swedish coffee break, “fika.” Although fika is a daily part of people’s lives in Sweden, we could use a little more of it in America.  

Fika is more than just a coffee break. It’s an opportunity to slow down, grab coffee, pick up a sweet treat, and engage in meaningful conversation with friends. I know I’m not very good at the “slowing down” part of a coffee break, but by focusing on engaging in fika throughout my day, I can work to be more mindful and accomplish more the rest of the day.  

Want to learn more about the art of fika? Check out The Little Book of Fika: The Uplifting Daily Ritual of the Swedish Coffee Break by Linda Balslev in Falvey’s collection.  

This Week at Falvey  

Monday, Nov. 15th–Friday, Jan. 7th  

Cabinets of Curiosity Exhibit / Falvey First Floor / Free & Open to the Public 

Monday, Nov. 15th–Friday, Nov. 19th  

Undergraduate Research Symposium Poster Display / 8 a.m.–5 p.m. / Falvey’s Digital Scholarship Lab & Room 205 / Free & Open to the Public 

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week Display / First Floor Display Case

Monday, Nov. 15th–Wednesday, Nov. 17th  

Virtual VuFind® Summit 2021 / 9 a.m.–12 p.m. each day / Virtual / Register Here 

Monday, Nov. 15th  

Mindfulness Mondays / 1–1:30 p.m. / Virtual / https://villanova.zoom.us/j/98337578849 

Wednesday, Nov. 17th  

Fall 2021 Falvey Forum Workshop Series: Creating Interactive GIS Maps with Leaflet and R / 12–1:30 p.m. / Virtual / Register Here 

GIS Day Lecture: Signe Peterson Fourmy, JD, PhD, Villanova University, on “Digital Mapping & Last Seen Ads” / 5:30–6:30 p.m. / Virtual / Register Here 

Thursday, Nov. 18th  

GTU Honor Society Talk & GEV Colloquium Lecture: Gordon Coonfield, PhD, on “How Neighborhoods Remember: Mapping Memory and Making Place in Philadelphia” / 5:30–6:30 p.m. / Mendel 154 & Virtual / Register Here 

Friday, Nov. 19th 

Villanova Gaming Society Meeting / 2:30–4:30 p.m. / Speakers’ Corner / Free & Open to the Public 

This Week in History 

November 19, 1863 – President Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address 

On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln delivered arguably one of the best speeches in the country’s history at the dedication of the Soliders’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The 2-3 minute speech consisting of less than 275 words ended up being exceptionally more powerful than the 2-hour speech delivered by orator Edward Everett.  

Here are the concluding remarks from his little speech: “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” 

A&E Television Networks. (2010, March 10). President Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address. History.com. Retrieved November 10, 2021, from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-delivers-gettysburg-address. 

Jenna Renaud is a graduate student in the Communication Department and graduate assistant in Falvey Memorial Library.