To commemorate St. Patrick’s Day, we’re highlighting new additions to the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s online archives in the Digital Library. The Philadelphia Ceili Group is dedicated to the promotion of Irish music, dance, and culture, and hosts festivals, concerts, and lectures in the greater Philadelphia area to support this mission.

The efforts to digitize the archival recordings of the Philadelphia Ceili Group are ongoing and new recordings are added on a continual basis. New recordings can be heard from the 1983 Fall Festival, which features over a dozen musicians performing reels, jigs, airs, and songs. Performers include Johnny Cunningham, Liz Carroll, Joe and Antoinette McKenna, Mick Moloney, the Egan family, and a tap dancing performance from Howard “Sandman” Sims.

There is also a separate concert with fiddler Kevin Burke and guitarist Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (parts 1 and 2), as well as two installments from the Oíche Cois Tine (Night Beside the Fire) lecture series on the Irish sense of place, given by Dr. Henry Glassie and Brian Donnelly. The Donnelly lecture in particular features readings of poems by W.B. Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh, Seamus Heaney, and Derek Mahon.

Falvey patrons, overnight system maintenance may affect library services, such as Pick Up & Go, on Friday, March 17. We apologize for the inconvenience. Questions? Please email circ@villanova.edu.

By Anna Jankowski, Ethan Shea, and Annie Stockmal

Happy Thursday, Wildcats! In this Week’s Curious Cat, we’re putting our microphone to use. That’s right, the question this time around is: “What’s your go-to karaoke song?” Whether you like to “crank that” with Soulja Boy or jam to Shania Twain, we want to know!

Check out the blog and corresponding Reel to hear what a few Falvey patrons had to say, and don’t be afraid to leave a comment with your favorite karaoke tunes.

“Mine is ‘You Belong With Me’ by Taylor Swift.”

— Catarina Calvo ’26

“Mine’s ‘A Night to Remember’ from High School Musical.”

— Lily Daubenspeck ’26

“’Dancing Queen’ Mamma Mia! version.”

— Maia Nagorna ’26

“My go-to karaoke song is ‘Made You Look’ by Meghan Trainor.”

— Chloe Mcgreger ’26

“’Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.’ Especially if I’m with one of my friends.”

— Seamus Daniello ’23

“’Starships’ by Nicki Minaj.”

— Amélie Devine ’26

Anna Jankowski ’23 CLAS is a Senior Communication Major from just outside Baltimore who ​​works as a Communication & Marketing Assistant in Falvey.

Ethan Shea is a second-year graduate student in the English Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

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

By Ethan Shea

Happy hump day, Wildcats! The semester is back in full swing, and there are already plenty of holidays to celebrate. Check out Graduate Assistant Annie’s Peek at the Week for a full list, but you can look forward to St. Patrick’s Day and my personal favorite, Pi Day, just to name a couple. My bias for Pi day is personal, as it is also my half birthday (and Albert Einstein’s actual birthday), but Pi day aside, there is an important reason why today, March 15, is infamous.

Statue of Caesar in front of Forum Romanum

Today is the ides of March, a date made famous by Shakespeare in the play Julius Caesar. “A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March” is the prophetic warning Caesar receives in the first act of the play, an iconic foreshadowing of his impending assassination. You can read Julius Caesar online through Falvey’s website here.

The ides only occurs when a full moon falls on the 15th of a month. This phenomenon does not happen very often. In fact, the only months with ides are March, May, July, and October.

Shakespeare did not choose the ides of March without reason, as Caesar was really killed on March 15, 44 B.C.E. Caesar’s death led to a civil war, and the following power vacuum placed Augustus, Caesar’s heir, on the throne.

Before Julius Caesar ruled, the Romans celebrated the New Year on March 1. To honor the two-faced God Janus, Caesar implemented the aptly named Julian calendar and changed New Year’s Day from March 1 to Jan. 1 in the year 46 B.C.E. The 365-day Julian calendar is the same one we continue use here in the United States to this day.

Ethan Shea is a second-year graduate student in the English Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

Photo courtesy of Isabel Choi.

To celebrate the kick-off of the 25th annual Literary Festival at Villanova, I attended the Charles A. Heimbold Jr. Chair of Irish Studies Mary O’Donoghue’s poetry reading. The event began with a couple speeches of appreciation from Jennifer A. Joyce, PhD, Associate Director, Center for Irish Studies; Villanova University President the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD; and Geraldine Byrne Naso, Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, who personally congratulated O’Donoghue on her new post. 

O’Donoghue’s reading invited people to sit and listen. The slightly warm yet cozy atmosphere of the President’s Lounge truly made the poetry reading seem like a personal performance. As an English major myself, I had high hopes for this event, and I was not disappointed. O’Donoghue’s poetry is deeply artistic and emotion-packed. She read a total of three poems, but one struck me most. Her villanelle, “My Daughter in Winter Costume,” inspired by the sculpture, Daughter in Winter Costume (1922) by John Storrs, uses biting language to give the stoic sculpture a personal dimension. In the formulaic villanelle style, the poem continually repeats the same lines, yet O’Donoghue delivered a different mood each time. 

The event concluded with a Q&A session with O’Donoghue who explained a bit of her writing process and struggles as a poet. Overall, the kick-off was enriching and a delightful way to spend my evening. Be sure to join us for the next Literary Festival event on Thursday, March 16, at 7 p.m. in Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner featuring a reading and talk by Tsering Yangzom Lama. 

Isabel Choi ’26 is a Communication & Marketing Assistant at Falvey Library.

This installment of ‘The Printed Image’ highlights a scrapbook compiled by Fay King, a cartoonist and journalist who contributed to a number of newspapers in the early 20^th century, including The Denver Post, The San Francisco Examiner, and The New York Evening Journal. The scrapbook, compiled between 1916 to 1919, includes numerous articles about King and her visits to various cities, clippings of her own newspaper columns, photographs, and a complete copy of The Cartoon Book, which was distributed for the Third Liberty Loan drive during World War I, and which included a contribution by King.

“A Woman’s Bit” by Fay King, from The Cartoon Book.

Photograph of Fay King, from page 48 of the scrapbook.

Newspaper clipping from page 24 of the scrapbook.

The scrapbook includes a key feature of King’s style, single-panel cartoons that would accompany her articles and columns for newspapers. King would include herself in these cartoons, portraying herself with long, lanky limbs and wide eyes. This cartoon persona earned her a certain celebrity, and can be seen as an early forerunner of autobiographical comics that would flourish later in the century by the likes of Lynda Barry, Art Spiegelman, and Aline Kominsky-Crumb.

A Fay King column and cartoon, from page 85 of the scrapbook.

But as cartoonist and historian Trina Robbins observes in her book Nell Brinkley and the New Woman in the Early 20th Century, the norms of the time limited the subjects that King was able to address, both in her cartoons and columns. Robbins writes, “Although they (Fay King and Nell Brinkley) avoided the mother and child ghetto that most other women cartoonists and illustrators seemed to have inhabited, both artists were still ghettoized simply by drawing for women” [1].

One aspect of King’s cartoon persona that is widely noted is its similarity to another famous comic character: Olive Oyl, from E.C. Segar’s Thimble Theatre and Popeye comic strips. However, this comparison is somewhat inexact. A similarity can be detected, but King’s cartoon avatar predates the creation of Olive Oyl, whose first appearance was in 1919. While there is no definitive record that Segar was inspired by King, if an influence does exist, King would be the influence on Olive Oyl, and not the other way around.

Fay King, 1916

Fay King, 1917

Olive Oyl in Thimble Theatre, 1919.

Olive Oyl in Thimble Theatre, 1926

Fay King’s scrapbook can be read in its entirety in the Digital Library, and is available to be viewed in the Rare Book Room during walk-in hours or by appointment. Nell Brinkley and the New Woman in the Early 20th Century can be borrowed from Falvey Library’s circulating collection.

[1] Robbins, Trina. Nell Brinkley and the New Woman in the Early 20th Century. McFarland & Company, Inc., 2001. p. 37.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

In The Lion King, Rafiki said, “Oh, yes, the past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it.”

Happy Monday, Wildcats! Did you make any mistakes or fall into any bad habits this semester? Whether it’s procrastination, a bad sleep schedule, social isolation, or poor study habits, it can be hard to keep up with everything (especially when winter break goes by so fast).

But, there’s always time to improve. We can learn from our mistakes and make positive changes in our lives. The past can hurt, but our futures are always being rewritten. So, take the rest of the semester to make an achievable goal for yourself. By the end of the semester, you’ll thank yourself.

THIS WEEK AT FALVEY

Monday, March 13

Mindfulness Monday | 1-1:30 p.m. | Virtual | Free & Open to Villanova Students, Faculty, and Staff

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Tuesday, March 14

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Wednesday, March 15

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Thursday, March 16

Spring 2023 Digital Seeds Lecture: Tyechia Thompson, PhD, and Carli Smith on “Baldwin’s Paris 2.0” | 4 p.m. | Virtual | Free & Open to the Public | Register Here

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

2023 Literary Festival Event: Tsering Yangzom Lama Talk & Reading | 7 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to the Public

Friday, March 17

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

Sunday, March 19

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 3-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

HOLIDAYS THIS WEEK

As many of you likely know, this Friday, Mar. 17, is St. Patrick’s Day, but here are some other fun holidays you can be celebrating:

Photo by Adrian Swancar on Unsplash

Today, Mar. 13, is National Napping Day. For those who love naps, today is the perfect excuse to get in a couple extra hours and give yourself an energy boost (and hopefully sleep off any post-spring break malaise).

Do you love math (or fruit-filled pastries)? Tomorrow, Mar. 14, is National Pi Day. Always celebrated on (3/14), Pi Day is a day that celebrates the mathematical constant pi (3.14…). If you like goofy challenges (or are in-need of a pointless task to procrastinate with), try to see how many digits of pi you can memorize. Or you can just celebrate with a slice of your favorite pie.

Prefer salty treats? National Potato Chip Day is also celebrated tomorrow. If you’re craving a salty snack, grab a bag of your favorite chips (I’m a Sour Cream and Onion person, myself) or try a new flavor (the options are practically endless).

Sunday, Mar. 19 is Let’s Laugh Day. As we move into the second-half of the semester, workloads and stress levels are bound to increase. Take a moment on Sunday to laugh a little (and, if you’re feeling charitable, make someone else laugh). Even the smallest of laughs could brighten someone’s day and make you feel better.

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

We’re gearing up for Lit Fest at Falvey Library! Check out the display on the first floor and be sure to stop by Speakers’ Corner for a reading and talk by Tsering Yangzom Lama on Thursday, March 16, at 7 p.m.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. Photo courtesy of Joanne Quinn, Director of Communication & Marketing at Falvey Library.

By Ethan Shea

It’s spring break! I don’t want to steal too much of your vacation time, so I’ll keep this week’s blog brief. That being said, I hope you’re enjoying some well-deserved relaxation.

You may be far from campus. Perhaps you’re napping on a beach or skiing slopes in Colorado. Or you could be enjoying a staycation, enjoying your time off while saving a few bucks.

If you’re staying local, to spice up your time at home, consider paying Falvey a visit! Even during break, there’s 24/7 Wildcard access. See our full service hours here.

Not only is the Library a quiet place to relax, but it’s also a way to travel the world without ever leaving your seat. Many of our texts are available online, so you can enjoy everything Falvey has to offer from home.

In the spirit of the staycation, here are a few spring break reading recommendations that will take you to faraway places:

A Room with a View – E.M Forster

On the Road – Jack Kerouac

Journeys – Jan Morris

The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway

The Expedition of Humphry Clinker – Tobias Smollett

Corregidora – Gayl Jones

The Odyssey – Homer

If you have any other spring break reading recommendations, feel free to leave a comment below. Enjoy the break, and happy reading!

Ethan Shea is a second-year graduate student in the English Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

Photo credit: Paige Critcher.

Villanova University’s 2023 Literary Festival will be featuring Tsering Yangzom Lama, who will read from selections of her works on Thursday, March 16, at 7 p.m. in Falvey’s Speakers’ Corner. Tsering Yangzom Lama was born in Kathmandu, Nepal, and earned an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and a BA in Creative Writing and International Relations from The University of British Columbia. She currently resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Her debut novel, We Measure The Earth With Our Bodies (Bloomsbury, 2022) is a New York Times Summer Reads Pick and a finalist for The Scotiabank Giller Prize. It is also longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and The Toronto Book Award. She is a co-founder of Lhakar Diaries, an English-language blog for Tibetan youth in exile. Her other works have made appearances in The Globe and Mail, The Malahat Review, Grain, Kenyon Review, Vela, LaLit, and Himal Southasian. She is also a 2018 Tin House Novel Scholar.

Dig deeper and explore the links below for more on her work:

• Tsering Yangzom Lama’s official website
• Tsering Yangzom Lama’s Twitter and Instagram
• We Measure The Earth With Our Bodies (2022)
• Lhakar Diaries 
• “Q&A with Tsering Yangzom Lama” (Victoria Festival of Authors)
• “Tibetan author Tsering Yangzom Lama opens up about immigrating to Canada” (The Globe and Mail)
• “Tsering Yangzom Lama on Cultural Appreciation Versus Cultural Engagement” (Literary Hub)
• “Tibet Talks: A Reading and Conversation with Author Tsering Yangzom Lama” (International Campaign for Tibet)
• “Tsering Yangzom Lama: We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies w/ Jay Neugeboren” (Books Are Magic)

Julia Wagner ‘26 CLAS is a Communication major from New Hampshire (Go Patriots!). She works as a Communication & Marketing Assistant in Falvey Library.