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This Blog’s Everything. He’s Just Ken.

By Kallie Stahl 

To quote the band Aqua, “I’m a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie world.”

If you’ve read Shawn Proctor’s blog, or you’ve seen the numerous memes surrounding this summer’s biggest rival, then you know it’s Oppenheimer vs. Barbie. Proctor covered Christopher Nolan’s film on Wednesday, and I felt Barbie deserved equal coverage. After all, she’s everything. He’s just Ken.

"Barbie" film poster. Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Short Review:

Both films hit theatres Friday, July 21. I didn’t score tickets to an early screening of Barbie (as Proctor did with Oppenheimer), so I’ll leave the review to Manohla Dargis of the New York Times:

“Like Air, Ben Affleck’s recent movie about how Nike signed Michael Jordan, as well as other entertainments tethered to their consumer subjects, Barbie can only push so hard. These movies can’t damage the goods, though I’m not sure most viewers would want that; our brands, ourselves, after all. That said, [director] Greta Gerwig does much within the material’s inherently commercial parameters, though it isn’t until the finale — capped by a sharply funny, philosophically expansive last line — that you see the Barbie that could have been. Gerwig’s talents are one of this movie’s pleasures, and I expect that they’ll be wholly on display in her next one — I just hope that this time it will be a house of her own wildest dreams.”

View Barbie showtimes here.

The Story Behind the Movie:

Fast facts courtesy of www.barbiemedia.com and USA Today:

  • Barbie was created by Mattel in 1959 (Ken joined her in 1961).
  • Barbie was invented by Ruth Handler (Mattel was co-founded by Handler and her husband Elliot).
  • The initial idea for Barbie came to Handler after watching her daughter play with paper dolls.
  • Barbie was modeled after the Bild Lilli doll (Mattel bought the rights to the doll and made their own).
  • Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts (named after Handler’s daughter, Barbara. Ken is named after her son, Kenneth).
  • Her birthday is March 9, 1959, the day she was unveiled to the toy industry during New York Toy Fair.
  • Barbie is from (fictional) Willows, Wisconsin.
  • Her first outfit? Black-and-white striped swimsuit.
  • Barbie’s signature color is Barbie Pink (PMS 219).
  • She’s had over 250 different occupations.
  • It takes more than 100 people to create a Barbie doll and her fashions.
  • Barbie is the most popular fashion doll ever produced and the No. 1 fashion doll property.
  • More than 100 Barbie dolls are sold every minute.
  • The best-selling Barbie doll? The 1992 Totally Hair™ Barbie.
  • Over 18 billion minutes of Barbie user-generated content is created every year.

Further Reading with Falvey Library Resources:

References:

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. Some of her favorite Barbie dolls of the 90’s: Bead Blast Barbie Doll, Olympic Gymnast Barbie Doll, Movin’ Groovin’ Barbie Doll, and Dorothy Barbie Doll (The Wizard of Oz). 

 

 


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Falvey Library Resources for Disability Pride Month

Image of The Disability Pride flag.

The Disability Pride flag by Ann Magill (public domain).

July is Disability Pride Month. Celebrated during the seventh month of the year, the Americans with Disability Act (ADA), passed on July 26, 1990, prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. As we celebrate Diversity Pride Month, we must continue to fight for disability justice and equitable access.

The Falvey Library resources listed below amplify voices and experiences of the disability community. No list of this nature could ever be comprehensive, but we hope the links below serve as a starting point. As Dr. Carlie Rhoads writes, “The disability community is hurting from a lack of representation…This representation extends from our day-to-day lives, to employment, to government, to positions of leadership, and even media of all sorts. This month affords us all a great opportunity to lift up the disability community and shine a spotlight on people who are often marginalized, forgotten, or explicitly discriminated against. All voices should be equally given a chance to speak!”

For more Disability Pride Month resources, read Annie Stockmal’s blog. Looking for a specific resource? Please feel free to get in touch with our librarians at ref@villanova.edu.

Resources available at Falvey Library:

References:

Rhodes, Carlie. (2021, July 15). Celebrating Disability Pride Month. American Foundation for the Blind. https://afb.org/blog/entry/celebrating-disability-pride-month

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Dig Deeper: 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winner, Hua Hsu

Hua Hsu. Photo: Devlin Claro.

Last week, Hua Hsu was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his memoir Stay True.

The narrative centers around Hsu and his friendship with University of California, Berkeley classmate, Ken. Two different identities, Ken, whose family had been in the United States for generations, represented everything that Hsu, a first-generation Taiwanese American, defined himself against—mainstream America. The two became friends, both agreeing that despite their differences, “American culture didn’t seem to have a place for either of them.”

Three years after their initial meeting, Ken is killed in carjacking in Vallejo, Calif., in July 1998, after a party in Berkeley. “Determined to hold on to all that was left of his best friend-his memories-Hsu turned to writing…A coming-of-age story that details both the ordinary and extraordinary, Stay True is a bracing memoir about growing up, and about moving through the world in search of meaning and belonging.”

Hua Hsu is the author of A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific. A staff writer at The New Yorker, Hsu’s work has been published in Artforum, The Atlantic, Slate, and The Wire. A former fellow at the New American Foundation and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center at the New York Public Library, Hsu is a professor of Literature at Bard College. He received a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD from Harvard University.

For more information on Hsu, dig deeper and explore the links below:

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

 

 

 


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Caturday: Taylor Swift’s Philly Era

Image of Taylor Swift Folklore record (vinyl).

Photo courtesy of Kallie Stahl.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour began last night at Lincoln Financial Field. Performing for sold out crowds Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Swift’s tour “marks the stadium’s second three-night residency; the first was Bruce Springsteen, naturally (and his dates weren’t even consecutive).” Born in West Reading, PA., and spending time in Wyomissing, PA., and Stone Harbor, NJ, Swift has many ties to the Philadelphia area. This weekend marks Swift’s first time performing in South Philly since 2018.

Whether you’re a Swiftie, or just interested in learning more about the cultural phenomenon surrounding the pop star, check out the Falvey Library resources below:

Local resources:

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. Her favorite Taylor Swift album is Folklore (pictured above). 

 

 


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Caturday: Churchill Downs

Image courtesy of Kallie Stahl.

It’s the first Saturday in May and the Kentucky Derby is set to begin at 6:57 p.m. ET on NBC. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the race, the fanfare surrounding some of the derby’s traditions have found their way into popular culture (big hats and mint juleps anyone)!

In honor of “The Run for the Roses” check out some fun facts and explore Falvey Library resources below. Visit the Kentucky Derby website for updates on the race and viewing information.

Fun Facts:

  • The Kentucky Derby is the longest running sporting event in the United States (the first race took place on May 17, 1875).
  • The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses.
  • 20 horses compete in the race.
  • The race distance is one and one-quarter miles long (which usually takes horses a little over two minutes to complete from start to finish).
  • The race is run on a dirt racetrack at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.
  • Crowds can top 155,000 people.
  • The Kentucky Derby is the first race within the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (it is followed by the Preakness Stakes race and the Belmont Stakes race).

Falvey Library Resources:

Works Cited: The Race. (2019). Kentuckyderby.com. Retrieved May 2, 2023, from https://www.kentuckyderby.com/history/the-race

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. She visited Churchill Downs in 2019 (unfortunately, not on derby day). 

 

 

 


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Dig Deeper: The Coronation of King Charles III

Image of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

King Charles and Queen Camilla. PHOTO: CHRIS JACKSON/GETTY

The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla will take place Saturday, May 6, at 11 a.m. London time (6 a.m. ET). Most major networks in the U.S. are expected to broadcast the coronation live. Viewers can also live stream the event for free on BBC.com and BBC News Channel. Coverage on BBC will begin at 7:30 a.m. London time (2:30 a.m. ET).

The first ceremonial crowning of a British monarch in 70 years, the Coronation of King Charles III will be the second-ever to be broadcast (the first being Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953). The ceremonial traditions dating back 1,000 years are mostly for theatre as King Charles III immediately ascended to the throne upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 8, 2022. “A coronation is both the symbolic religious ceremony during which a sovereign is crowned and the physical act of placing a crown on a monarch’s head. It formalizes the monarch’s role as the head of the Church of England and marks the transfer of their title and powers” (BBC).

King Charles III and Queen Camilla will process from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey (Britain’s coronation church since 1066) before the coronation. The coronation will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. “While there have been efforts to modernize, the core elements of the historic coronation rite — the recognition, oath, anointing, investiture and crowning, enthronement and homage — all still remain. It is during some of these key moments that the coronation regalia — powerful symbols of the monarchy amassed by Kings and Queens throughout history — will be presented to Charles” (CNN) [For a full breakdown of coronation rituals click here]. After the completion of the ceremony, King Charles III and Queen Camilla will process from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace. Later in the day they will wave to crowds from the palace balcony during a scheduled flyover.

Saturday’s crowds will be filled with cheers and protests, as the coronation provides both an opportunity to “celebrate being British,” and to “question the legitimacy of the Monarchy” (PBS). King Charles III, while more progressive and modern than prior monarchs, must navigate a new era…one in which British support for the monarchy is dwindling. “There are more questions hanging over the new monarch and indeed the Windsor family itself than at any point in living memory” (PBS). Time will tell what this reign will bring.

Dig deeper and explore the links curated by Merrill Stein, Political Science Librarian.

The previous coronation:

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. She studied abroad in London in 2012 (the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II). 

 

 

 


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Falvey Memorial Library Shares Resources for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Image courtesy of The Library of Congress.

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month—Celebrating the “histories of Americans hailing from across the Asian continent and from the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.” This month was selected to commemorate AAPI heritage as the first Japanese immigrants migrated to the United States on May 7, 1842. The transcontinental railroad was also completed on May 10, 1869—the majority of the construction completed by thousands of Chinese immigrants.

AAPI Heritage Month was originally a commemorative week, with President Jimmy Carter signing House Joint Resolution 1007 (becoming Public Law 95-419) on October 5, 1978, proclaiming the “7 day period beginning on May 4, 1979 as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.'” Congress passed Public Law 101-283 on May 9, 1990, extending the observance to a month, and on Oct. 23, 1992, passed Public Law 102-450 annually designating May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

As we celebrate the heritage of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, we must combat continued racism against the AAPI community. In 2021, Stop AAPI Hate “reported over 2,800 hate incidents across the United States since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Falvey Library condemns anti-Asian racial discrimination and violence. We stand with the AAPI members of our Villanova community and all AAPI members in solidarity.

The Federal Asian Pacific American Council selected “Advancing Leaders Through Opportunity” as the theme for May 2023. In this spirit, we are happy to share AAPI resources available at Falvey Library. The works listed below are only a snapshot of scholarship on AAPI heritage. No list of this nature could ever be comprehensive, but we hope that this list, will serve as a starting point.

Curated by Jutta Seibert, subject librarian for Global Interdisciplinary Studies, the Asian Studies research guide and the Chinese Culture research guide are excellent resources. Seibert is available for research consultations.

Asian Studies Research Guide

Academic Journals

Newspapers and Magazines

Primary Sources

Encyclopedias, Handbooks, and Companions

Books and Book Chapters

Chinese Culture Research Guide 

Encyclopedias, Handbooks, and Companions

Secondary Sources

Streaming Video

Primary Sources

Be sure to explore scholarship from faculty in Villanova University’s Asian Studies Program:

Hae-Kyong Bang, Associate Professor; Director, Asian Studies

A.J. Yumi Lee, Assistant Professor, Department of English

Andrew B. Liu, Assistant Professor of History

Nathan Badenoch, PhD, Associate Professor of Japanese and Asian Studies

Kayo Shintaku, PhD, Assistant Teaching Professor, Coordinator of Japanese Language & Cultural Studies

Davey K. Tomlinson, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy

Qi Wang, PhD, Associate Professor, Area Coordinator, Interpersonal Communication

Jie Xu, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Communication

Naomi Yamakawa, Japanese Instructor, Department of Global Interdisciplinary Studies

For more books and other resources by and about people of Asian-Pacific ancestry check out this blog by Erica Hayes, Digital Scholarship Librarian, and Deborah Bishov published on May 10, 2021.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library. This article was originally published May 18, 2022.

 

 

 

References:

Congress, T. L. of, Administration, N. A. and R., Humanities, N. E. for the, Art, N. G. of, Service, N. P., Institution, U. S., & Museum, U. H. M.  Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2022 (n.d.). Retrieved May 9, 2022, from https://asianpacificheritage.gov/

FAPAC – FAPAC Announces Theme for the 2023 Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2023, from https://fapac.org/pressreleases/13056819

The Rise In Anti-Asian Attacks During The COVID-19 Pandemic. NPR. Retrieved May 9, 2022, from  https://www.npr.org/2021/03/10/975722882/the-rise-of-anti-asian-attacks-during-the-covid-19-pandemic

The story behind Asian Pacific American Heritage, and why it’s celebrated in May. (n.d.). NPR.Org. Retrieved May 9, 2022, from https://www.npr.org/2022/05/02/1095812576/aapi-asian-pacific-heritage-month-origin-may-why

 


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Resource Highlight: Falvey offers Times Higher Education

By Laurie Ortiz Rivera

Falvey Library provides online access to the Times Higher Education, a website that presents a range of international higher education news, data, insights, and opportunities. It includes:

  • Times Higher Education logo.

    News – Award-winning journalists bring together the latest news in higher education focusing on Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, and North America.

  • Data – Data editors and scientists offer fresh insights on global trends.
  • Digital editions and Archive of the Times Higher Education magazine and previous issues.
  • Opinion – Contributors provide insightful and provocative comments and opinions on higher education topics.

Times Higher Education is home to the World University Rankings database on global university performance. It also features an interview series titled “Talking Leadership” that includes Anton Muscatelli on social justice and Brexit, Nancy Rothwell on superstar academics, Stephen Toope on culture wars and collaboration, Suzanne Fortier on supporting refugees and addressing racism, and Mamokgethi Phakeng on culture change, among others.

It has dedicated sections for job listings, study abroad, events, and other resources. Signing up for newsletters is a great way to keep up with all the latest news and research across higher education. To ensure your access via the institutional subscription, you must register using your Villanova email address. Feel free to contact Laurie Ortiz-Rivera, Education & Counseling Subject Librarian, if you need more information.

Photo of Laurie Ortiz-Rivera, Social Science Librarian.Laurie Ortiz Rivera, PhD, is Subject Librarian for History, Art History, Education & Counseling at Falvey Library. 

 

 

 


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Dig Deeper: 2,409—A Historic Milestone and an Unbreakable Bond

Maddy Siegrist. Photo courtesy of Villanova Athletics.

Maddy Siegrist. Photo courtesy of Villanova Athletics.

2,409…That’s the number of points needed to break Villanova’s basketball all-time leading scoring record. Shelly Pennefather, now Sister Rose Marie of the Queen of Angels, since becoming a cloistered nun in 1994, has held the record since 1987. She was the school’s all-time leading scorer for both women and men with a career total of 2,408 points. Villanova senior forward Maddy Siegrist scored 23 points on Friday, Jan. 20, at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., surpassing Sister Rose Marie, for a career total of 2,571 points (as of Feb. 14, 2023).

2,409…A unique number, but a quick search using VUFind [a library resource portal designed and developed by Falvey Library’s Technology team] yielded an interesting note on that exact numeral. Harley 2409 is a manuscript written in the first half of the fifteenth century. It contains the longest version of “The Cleanness of Sowle,” which has been attributed to the spiritual teachings of St. Catherine of Siena. Cleanness, as Jennifer N. Brown states, is “St. Catherine’s spiritual beliefs in a nutshell.” In Harley 2409, “The Cleanness of Sowle begins with God’s voice directing the listener, clearly a woman (‘my daughter’) that he will lead her to the cleanness that she desires if she follows his teaching.”

Serendipitously stumbling upon the spiritual connection of this historic moment seems fitting. As Mike Jensen writes in the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Siegrist’s own faith is important to her…[She] feels a bond [with Sister Rose Marie] beyond their points. She’ll get a letter in Villanova’s basketball office, return address, the convent. Sister Rose Marie often will include a prayer card.” In St. Catherine’s definitive work, her “Dialogue” (which includes over 400 letters and prayers), she speaks of her “conversations between God and the soul.” St. Catherine shares her revelations from God with her readers—with all of God’s daughters. “We can read God’s communications to [Catherine] with detached awe or we can receive His messages to us through her writings” (Tan Books, 2010).

2,409…A seemingly random number at first glance, is now a historic milestone and an unbreakable bond.

Dig deeper and explore the links below:

More milestones achieved:

Maddy Siegrist scored 50 points on Saturday, Feb. 11, at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ., breaking the program’s single game record. Sister Rose Marie held the record for 38 years, scoring 44 points in a single game. With her 50 point performance, Siegrist became the new all-time leading scorer in Big East Women’s Basketball history for regular season conference games. 

Save the date: 

Join us on Monday, April 24, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Room 205 of Falvey Library for the St. Catherine of Siena Research Award Symposium. The St. Catherine of Siena Undergraduate Peace and Justice Research Award is awarded annually to an undergraduate student for a research project relevant to peace and justice issues. Submitted papers are evaluated by CPJE affiliated faculty. The top three students, including the winner, present their work on a panel with a faculty respondent to a University-wide audience. This event, co-sponsored by the Center for Peace and Justice Education and Falvey Library, is free and open to the public.

Works Cited:

Brown, Jennifer N. “The Many Misattributions of Catherine of Siena: Beyond The Orchard in England.” Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures, vol. 41, no. 1, 2015, pp. 67–84. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.5325/jmedirelicult.41.1.0067.

Catherine, o. S. (2010). Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena: A conversation with God on living your spiritual life to the fullest (New and abridged edition.). Tan Books.

Jensen (Staff Writer), M. (2023, January 22). Siegrist has formed bond with ex-’Nova great. Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA), p. C9. Available from NewsBank: Access World News: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=news/18F34FB6B7B2D1D0.

Schultze, D. (2018). Spiritual Teachings by Catherine of Siena in BL Harley 2409: An Edition. Anglia: Zeitschrift für Englische Philologie/Journal of English Philology, 136(2), 296-325. https://doi.org/10.1515/ang-2018-0033.

Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist explodes for 50 points, shatters multiple records | NCAA.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2023, from https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2023-02-11/villanovas-maddy-siegrist-explodes-50-points-shatters-multiple-records.

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

 

 

 


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Policy Commons and Mindscape Resources

By Merrill Stein

Policy Commons and Mindscape Commons, two databases from Coherent Digital, are available for a trial until November 20. Policy Commons brings together the full-text of publicly available and licensed policy related documents in one search interface.

Search options include topics, tables, publications, Boolean operators, controlled vocabularies, and usual all field, keyword, title and author searches along with choices for additional searches by organization type, forty different document types, country of origin and language. The North American Cities module in this trial is optionally available and includes the full text of surveys, budgets, statistical records, case studies, planning documents, training manuals, policy guidelines, reports, and news from the five hundred largest cities in North America.

A brief introduction can be found at https://coherentdigital.net/policycommons.

Mindscape Commons is an online resource for immersive and interactive content in mental health. It provides access to nearly 300 VR experiences, many in 360-degree views, as well as some games and apps, for teaching and research in counseling, social work, psychology, health sciences, and related programs. VR tools are optional in the use of this database.

Content is also meant to be collaborative in nature, so faculty and researchers can create member profiles, upload their projects, and connect with others. Videos are searchable by subjects, publisher, device (Ocolus, desktop, Ipad and mobile), immersive virtual microcases and interactive simulation. Teacher materials and video transcripts are included. National and international (BBC, Guardian) content is open access, created by Coherent Digital or arranged through major producers and developed to represent a diverse community.

A brief introduction can be found at https://coherentdigital.net/mindscape. These resources are available from the Falvey Library homepage, Databases A-Z list.

""Merrill Stein is Political Science Librarian at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 

 


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Last Modified: November 7, 2022

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