In honor of Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month 2023, please join us on Thursday, Oct. 26 from 4-5:30 p.m. in Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner for a talk by Leticia Robles-Moreno, PhD, titled “Peruvian Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani: Weaving Shared Memory Landscapes through Theatre & Performance.”

Theatre and performance, as corporeal artistic expressions, acquire a transformative potential in times of political turmoil when violence, torture, and disappearance target bodies marked as disposable. Yuyachkani, the legendary Peruvian theatre collective that has worked together for over 50 years, continues to ask a question relevant for artists, academics, and activists alike: how can an absent body be made visible? This talk will reflect upon this question, and the labor of collective memory and resistance in Latin America.

Leticia Robles-Moreno is Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance at Muhlenberg College. Her research is focused on how theatre groups of “creación colectiva,” as well as artivist collectives in the Americas, generate alternative political subjectivities, communities, and spaces of belonging in times of socio-political unrest. Her book project Living After Death: Performance, Decay, and Collective Survival in the Americas analyzes the political aesthetics of theatre, art, and activism, as modes of anti-neoliberal and intersectional bodily coexistence.

This ACS-approved event, sponsored by Falvey Library, the Department of Spanish, and the Latin American Studies Program, is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Photo from Tom Hilton on WikiMedia Commons

In her 93 years, Dolores Huerta, organizer and co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association (now United Farm Workers) with Cesar Chavez, made significant strides in fighting for the rights of farm workers, women, and Hispanic Americans.

Political activism and organizing were a part of Dolores Huerta’s life from an early age. It might seem that Huerta followed in her father’s footsteps, as he was a union organizer and briefly a New Mexico legislator. However, according to her biography page from the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Huerta credits her mother Alicia’s independent, hardworking character for sparking a similar determination in her.

Growing up in Stockton, Calif., a culturally and ethnically diverse agricultural city with a significant population of low-income farm workers, Huerta saw early-on the troubling conditions farm workers were subjected to, with which her mother empathized. Despite her position as a divorced mother of three in the ’30s and ’40s, Alicia was equal parts savvy businesswoman and caring community leader, making her hotel a safe haven for low-income farm workers.

According to the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Dolores was always an active student and community member, but her story as an organizer really begins with her work with the Stockton Community Service Organization (CSO), where she met her organizing partner Cesar Chavez. Bonding over their shared goal of unionizing farm workers, Huerta and Chavez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), the first U.S. labor union for farm workers, in 1962.

Photo from Susan Ruggles on WikiMedia Commons

Coming out of a time where gender roles and expectations were especially unyielding, during her work for the NFWA, Huerta strategically used her position as a Latina and as a divorced mother to her advantage. In her examination of the rhetoric of Dolores Huerta, Sowards reports instances of Huerta strategical bringing her children to (and breastfeeding at) negotiations and using tears and emotion to disrupt and subvert expectations in male-dominated spaces.

Perhaps her most significant contribution is her coining of “Sí, se puede,” which translates to “yes, we can,” according to Godoy’s NPR article about Huerta. What we now know as a famous Hispanic activist chant originated from Huerta’s rhetorical ingenuity and understanding of the importance of audience participation.

Huerta’s organizing branched out to the burgeoning feminist movement, even working with notable feminists like Gloria Steinem. She brought these issues to her work in the farm worker’s movement, challenging gender discrimination within the movement and in society as a whole.

Throughout her career, Dolores Huerta has continued to fight for the rights of marginalized people, including working-class women and Hispanic and Latine people. She has worked with countless organizations and causes, including the NFWA, National Boycott of California Table Grapes, Feminist Majority’s Feminization of Power: 50/50 by the Year 2000 Campaign, and 21st Century Party, to name a few. Even at the age of 93, with the Dolores Huerta Foundation, she continues to serve the community and work in activist spaces.

A decorated activist, Huerta’s accomplishments, which are perhaps too extensive to list in their entirety, include being award the Eleanor Roosevelt Humans Rights Award in 1988 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom under Obama, a noted admirer, in 2012.

Despite their work together, Cesar Chavez’s name tends to outshine Huerta’s in the public’s recollection. Yet, for her tireless dedication to organizing for marginalized people, Dolores Huerta deserves to be remembered, especially during Hispanic Heritage Month, as the compassionate, dedicated  “Dragon Lady” she is.

Dig deeper and explore the links below for more on Dolores Huerta and her contributions.

Resources on Dolores Huerta at Falvey:

• Sowards article on Dolores Huerta’s rhetoric
• Dolores documentary
• Dolores Huerta: “Yes we can!” video from Untold: Hidden Figures
• Dolores Huerta: Advocate for Women and Workers
• Dolores Huerta: Voice for the Working Poor
• Dolores Huerta Stands Strong : The Woman Who Demanded Justice
• “The Blueprint: The Radical Solidarity of Dolores Huerta and Harry Belafonte” in Rebel Speak: A Justice Movement Mixtape
• Latina Legacies: Identity, Biography, and Community

Other resources on Huerta:

• “Dolores Huerta” biography page from the Dolores Huerta Foundation
• NPR article about Dolores Huerta and “Sí Se Puede”
• Dolores Huerta biography from the National Women’s History Museum
• Dolores Huerta’s TED Talk
• Good Morning America animated segment on Dolores Huerta
• ABC News Dolores Huerta interview segment

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

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.

Today marks the first day of Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month. Running from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the diversity of Hispanic and Latine cultures globally and honors the honoring the contributions of Hispanic Americans throughout history. In celebration, this weekend’s recs will highlight some content to help get you into the spirit of the month.

Photo by sydney Rae on Unsplash

If you have 4 minutes and 35 seconds…and love Pedro Pascal, watch this SNL sketch from when he hosted this year.

If you have 10 minutes…and want to better understand the differences between the labels “Hispanic” and “Latine,” read this article.

If you have 14 minutes and 2 seconds…and love America Ferrera, watch her TED Talk on her identity and representation in Hollywood.

If you have 1 hour and 46 minutes…and want to watch a Mexican film that made a big splash in the 2000s, watch Y tu mamá también, available in Falvey’s DVD Collection. This film manages to perfect the formula for somewhat raunchy hijinks and emotional pull, everything you want in a road trip movie.

Bonus: if you’re interested in learning more about this film from the filmmakers and actors, read this article from the New York Times.

Photo by Adrian Dascal on Unsplash

If you have 2 hours and 3 minutes…and love historical biopics, watch Frida, available in Falvey’s DVD Collection. This 2001 film follows Mexican artist and icon Frida Kahlo, famously known for her self-portraits.

Bonus: if you’re a fan of based-on-a-true-story films, you can also watch Roma, which follows an indigenous women navigating the political climate of 1970s Mexico while working as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a wealthy Mexican family.

If you have 3 hours…and are a superhero fan, go see Blue Beetle in theaters. If you were a fan of DC’s Shazam, I think you’ll like this one. Featuring actors like George Lopez, Xolo Maridueña, Susan Sarandon, Bruna Marquezine, Raoul Trujillo, and Becky G (among many others), this movie follows recent college graduate Jaime Reyes as he becomes Blue Beetle, a superhero located in the fictional Palmera City (that definitely seems to take inspiration from Miami).

If you have 8 hours…and are looking for a new book, read Neruda on the Park, available through inter-library loan. This book uses storytelling to highlight the impacts of gentrification on a Dominican family living in New York City.

Bonus: for more book recs, check out past GA Jenna’s Hispanic Heritage Month book list.

For more ways to celebrate, you can find a list of Villanova’s campus-wide Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month events here, including Falvey’s co-sponsored History of Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia event and sponsored Speaker: Dr. Irma Leticia Robles Moreno: “Peruvian Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani: Weaving Shared Memory Landscapes Through Theatre and Performance.”

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

Hi, I’m Rebecca Amrick, Falvey’s newest Cat in the Stax! I’ll be writing articles covering a broad range of topics, from academics to hobbies to random events. All the while highlighting how Falvey Library can enhance your Villanova experience!

This Friday, Sept. 15, marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the cultures and people of Hispanic and Latino descent. More specifically, recognizing and honoring the influence and achievements of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

In honor of the approaching holiday, I would like to highlight three important figures and their contributions to the Hispanic/Latinx community.

Julia Alvarez (Photo by Brandon Cruz González

Julia Alvarez

Though born in New York City in 1950, Julia lived in the Dominican Republic until she was ten years old, which was when she and her family moved back to the United States. She attended Middlebury College and graduated in 1971 before moving on to Syracuse University to earn her Master’s in Creative Writing. A prolific writer, much of Alvarez’s work explores the immigrant experience and bicultural identity, as seen in her novel How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents.

Dolores Huerta (Photo by Jay Godwin)

Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta was born in April of 1930 in New Mexico. After graduating from Delta College, she taught elementary school in Stockton, CA before she was moved to help improve the working conditions of migrant laborers. She joined the Community Service Organization in 1955 where she met Cesar Chavez, and the two later founded the United Farm Workers Union. Huerta fought for to provide workers livable wages, safe working conditions, and protections through non-violent protests, boycotts, and strikes. Her negotiations with companies on workers’ behalves earned her the nickname “The Dragon Lady.”

Jorge Ramos (Photo by Bill Ingalls)

Jorge Ramos

Jorge Ramos is a bilingual journalist who was born in Mexico in 1958 and later moved to America. In 1986, he became the anchorman for the Spanish broadcast Noticiero Univision. As an anchor, in both English and Spanish programs, he interviewed many presidents and international leaders such as Barrack Obama, Fidel Castra, and Nicolas Madura. Ramos is known for asking tough questions and holding leaders accountable as well as for advocating for immigrants.

Rebecca Amrick is a first year graduate student in the English Department and a Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

In Emma, Jane Austen wrote, “You must be the best judge of your own happiness.”

Happiness looks different for everybody. For some, it’s in a room full of their closest friends, having fun without a care in the world. For others, it’s peacefully enjoying a good book or relaxing in the sunshine. Maybe it’s success in whatever you’re most passionate about. For me, it’s enjoying a cool Vermont morning in the summer, drinking an iced coffee, and enjoying the company of my loved ones.

Whatever it is for you, and you’re the best judge of your happiness, make time to do the things that make you happy. It’s important to enjoy the good moments in life, especially as stresses begin to pile up.

THIS WEEK AT FALVEY

Monday, September 11

Mindfulness Monday | 1-1:30 p.m. | Health Services Building 200 | Virtual Option | ACS-Approved | Free & Open to Villanova Students, Faculty, & Staff

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

Tuesday, September 12

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

Wednesday, September 13

Fall 2023 Falvey Forum Workshop: Introduction to Digital Humanities | 12-1 p.m. | Virtual | ACS-Approved | Free & Open to the Public | Register Here

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

Thursday, September 14

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

Sunday, September 17

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

HOLIDAYS THIS WEEK

If video games are one of your favorite pastimes, tomorrow, Sept. 12, is National Video Games Day. No matter what game you’re into, whether it’s The Sims, Minecraft, GTA, or World of Warcraft, this is your opportunity to let loose and enjoy some video games.

Photo by Eaters Collective on Unsplash

If you need an excuse to let your inner child relive some happy moments, Roald Dahl Day is this Wednesday, Sept. 13. Roald Dahl was a children’s author who wrote memorable classics like Matilda, The Witches, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. You can browse Falvey’s collection of Roald Dahl books, articles, and adaptations here. Personally, I will take any excuse I can to re-watch Matilda, available through Falvey’s DVD Collection. As a bonus, check out my blog on the library in Matilda, as a part of our Libraries Go to Hollywood series.

A great candidate for a PA state holiday, this Thursday, Sept. 14, is Eat a Hoagie Day. If you need a great on-the-go meal, you can celebrate by grabbing a hoagie (and, if you really want to roll with the regional vibe, grab one from Wawa).

Friday, Sept. 15, is the start of Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month, a month dedicated to honoring the contributions of Hispanic Americans in history and celebrating the diverse Hispanic and Latine cultures around the world. Be on the lookout for Falvey’s upcoming Hispanic Heritage Month events on our Events & Exhibits page here.

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

Please join us on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 4 p.m. in Falvey Memorial Library’s Speakers’ Corner for talk by Nicholas Jones, PhD, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Yale University. Dr. Jones will be giving a talk entitled “Cervantine Blackness.”

In this study of Black and African-descendant figures in the works of Miguel de Cervantes, Dr. Jones argues for a more nuanced critical reckoning with the historical, literary, and cultural legacies of anti-Blackness within the Iberian peninsula and the global reaches of the Spanish empire.

Dr. Jones is a leading scholar in the study of Black history, literature, and culture in the early modern Iberian world. He is the author of Staging Habla de Negros: Radical Performances of the African Diaspora in Early Modern Spain (Penn State UP, 2019), and co-editor, along with Cassander L. Smith and Miles P. Grier of Early Modern Black Diaspora Studies: A Critical Anthology (Palgrave Macmillan 2018), and, with Chad Leahy, of Pornographic Sensibilities: Imagining Sex and the Visceral in Premodern and Early Modern Spanish Cultural Production (Routledge 2020).

This ACS-approved event is co-sponsored by the Department of Spanish, Department of Global Interdisciplinary Studies, Department of History, Department of Humanities, Villanova Latin American Studies Program, Africana Studies Program, Falvey Memorial Library, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the Department of Political Science.

Falvey Memorial Library is celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15 with a display case on the first floor featuring various literary works from Hispanic authors.

National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated annually to recognize the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to history, culture, and achievements in the United States. Starting in 1968 under President Lyndon B. Johnson, the celebration was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to observe a 30-day period, officially being enacted into law on August 17, 1988.

Not only does Falvey have access to various literary works by Hispanic authors, but for a limited time, you can access policy, legal, and historical information through the Immigration Law & Policy in the U.S. database linked here. This database is included in the HeinOnline database, a subscription provided by the Charles Widger School of Law Library. Database trial ends Sept. 26, 2022.

Be sure to stop by the library and check out the display to gain inspiration for your next read in the spirit of National Hispanic Heritage Month. The display includes:

• Puerto Ricans in the United States: A Contemporary Portrait by Edna Acosta-Belén & Carlos E. Santiago
• How the García Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alverez
• Fruit of the Drunken Tree: A Novel by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
• Permissible Narratives: The Promise of a Latino/a Literature by Christopher Gonzalez
• An American Language: The History of Spanish in the United States by Rosina Lozano
• In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado
• Love in the Time of the Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
• Holding Fast: Resilience and Civic Engagement Among Latino Immigrants by James McCann & Michael Jones-Correa
• An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz

Also featured in the display is the 2022-23 One Book selection Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas. Save the date: Villanova University will welcome Vargas to campus to speak on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 5:30 p.m. in the Villanova Room, Connelly Center, as a part of our annual One Book Villanova Lecture during the St. Thomas of Villanova Celebration. A book signing and light refreshments will follow the talk.

Olivia Dunn ’23 CLAS is a current junior at Villanova, majoring in Communication with specializations in Journalism and Public Relations. She works in Falvey Library as a Marketing and Communications Assistant.

Photo courtesy of Yunuen Cho.

Thank you to Artist Yunuen Cho, who featured Falvey Memorial Library’s blog “Cat in the Stax: Appreciating Hispanic Visual Arts,” on her Instagram and website. The blog, published on Sept. 15, 2021, by Ethan Shea, graduate assistant at Falvey Memorial Library, highlighted two of Cho’s paintings, “Food City” and “Cow Community” (both pictured above). To learn more about Cho’s work and to explore more Hispanic visual artists, check out Shea’s blog here.

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

Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated each year from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 and serves as a way to intentionally celebrate the culture and contributions of Latinx and Hispanic communities worldwide. The observation began as Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968 and was expanded in 1988 to be a month long. 

Sept. 15 marks Independence Day for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days later that same week.

A perfect way to celebrate is by grabbing a book written by and about Hispanic and Latino American authors. Check out this year’s updated graphic to determine which book is perfect for you to read. 

Living Beyond Borders by Margarita Longoria (2021)

Twenty stand-alone short stories, essays, poems, and more from celebrated and award-winning authors make up this YA anthology that explores the Mexican American experience. The mixed-media collection talks about the borders the authors have crossed, the struggles they overcame, and how they continue to navigate living as Mexican American. 

Undocumented by Dan-el Padilla Paralta (2015)  

Dan-el Padilla Paralta recounts his journey from an undocumented immigrant living in a New York City homeless shelter to being at the top of his Princeton class. Throughout his youth, Paralta navigated two worlds: the rough streets of East Harlem, where he lived with his brother and his mother, and the ultra-elite halls of a Manhattan private school, where he soon rose to the top of his class. Following high school, Paralta went to Princeton, where he thrived and made the decision to come out as an undocumented student in a Wall Street Journal profile. 

App Kid by Michael Sayman (2021)  

An inspiring and deeply personal coming-of-age memoir from one of Silicon Valley’s youngest entrepreneurs—a second-generation Latino immigrant who taught himself how to code as a thirteen-year-old and went on to claim his share of the American dream. 

Tentacle by Rita Indiana (2015)  

Tentacle is an electric novel with a big appetite and a brave vision, plunging headfirst into questions of climate change, technology, Yoruba ritual, queer politics, poverty, sex, colonialism, and contemporary art. Bursting with punk energy and lyricism, it’s a restless, addictive trip: The Tempest meets the telenovela. 

Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros (2003)  

Lala Reyes’ grandmother is descended from a family of renowned rebozo, or shawl-makers. The striped (caramelo) is the most beautiful of all, and the one that makes its way, like the family history it has come to represent, into Lala’s possession. A multigenerational family narrative turns into a whirlwind exploration of storytelling, lies, and life. Like the cherished rebozo, Caramelo is alive with the vibrations of history, family, and love. 

If you still want more, check out the following fiction and non-fiction books as well: 

• Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1985)  

• A Nation of Women by Luisa Capetillo (1911)  
• Gordo by Jaime Cortez (2021)  
• When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez (2021) 
• Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capo Crucet (2015) 

Want even MORE recommendations? Read Jenna’s Hispanic Heritage Month blog post from last year.

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

Happy Friday, Wildcats! After a year off, Falvey Memorial Library is bringing back Weekend Recs, a blog dedicated to filling you in on what to read, listen to, and watch over the weekend. Jenna, 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. 

Wednesday, Sept. 15 kicked-off Hispanic Heritage Month. The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on Sept. 15 and ending on Oct. 15. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988, on the approval of Public Law 100-402.  

Why does Hispanic Heritage Month start in the middle of the month? It is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico, and Chile celebrate their independence days on Sept. 16 and Sept. 18, respectively. Take some time this weekend to learn more about Hispanic Heritage Month and how you can celebrate.

If you have 3 minutes… check out this article I wrote last year to find a new book by a Hispanic or Latino American author to read this month. 

If you have 7 minutes… read this article from the Skimm about co-founders of streetwear and empowerment brand Daughter of an Immigrant, Leslie Garcia and Karen Garcia. 

If you have 12 minutes… watch this YouTube video from Great Big Story celebrating Hispanic American stories. 

If you have 20 minutes… listen to VISIT PHILADELPHIA’s podcast, Love + Grit, and hear the stories of Francisco Garcia, founder of Philadelphia’s first Latino-owned whiskey distiller, and social justice professional Alba Martínez, who composed a song inspired by SEPTA’s Route 47 bus, which runs through the heart of the city’s Latino community. 

If you have an evening… visit one of these Latinx-owned restaurants right here in Philly. 

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