By Jenna Renaud

Word of the Week: Assiduous  

(adj) showing great care and perseverance  

Mid-terms are upon us, and I implore everyone to be assiduous with your studies this week. A much-needed Spring break is right around the corner, we all just need to persevere and put in those extra hours studying and drafting papers to get there. I’ll be pulling quite a few late nights and early mornings this week to get everything done, so just know you are not alone. 

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. 21st  

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

Wednesday, Feb. 23rd

Mid-Term Event | 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. | Falvey First Floor | Stop by for some dough to get you through midterms! Cookie dough and Play-Doh are the essentials you never knew you needed to get through this mid-term season.

This Week in History 

February 22nd, 1980 – U.S. hockey team beats the Soviets in the “Miracle on Ice” 

Stay in theme with the 2022 Beijing Olympics wrapping up this past weekend, this week’s week in history flashes back to the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games. In one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history, the United States hockey team, made up of college students, defeated the Soviet Union team that had one the last four Olympic gold medals. 

The U.S. team, with an average player age of 22, entered the Games as the 7th-seed as opposed to the Soviet Union’s experienced team entering as 1st-seed. In front of 100,000 spectators, the U.S. pulled out a 4-3 win and then went on to defeat Finland two days later, securing the gold. This unbelievable upset and victory was later memorialized in a 2004 film, Miracle, starring Kurt Russell. Miracle is available for streaming on Disney+. To read more about this upset and how it played out, 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: Hiemal  

(adj) of or related to winter; wintry  

With the heimel temperatures we have been experiencing, it does not surprise me that February is here. If your friends or family are tired of hearing you complain about how cold the weather is, up your cold-weather vocabulary and change it up on them. Here you can find a whole list of synonyms for “extremely cold.” 

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. 31

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

Friday, Feb. 4

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

This Week in History 

Feb. 1, 1884– Oxford Dictionary debuts 

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is considered the most comprehensive and accurate dictionary of the English language, including not only present-day, common meanings, but also the histories of words included.  

In 1857 members of London’s Philological Society set out to produce an English dictionary covering all words starting during the Anglo-Saxon period (1150 A.D.). Although planned to be 6,400 pages in four volumes, the Dictionary was published under the imposing name A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles – contained over 400,000 words and phrases in ten volumes. 

In 1984, Oxford University Press began the five-year journey to electronically publish the OED. The project required the power of 170 people – 120 people to type up the pages from the print edition and another 50 people to proofread. The online dictionary has been active since 2000.  

To learn more about the development and history of the OED, read the full History.com article here. 

History.com Editors. (2009, November 24). Oxford dictionary debuts. History.com. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/oxford-dictionary-debuts 

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.

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.

Word of the Week: Hygge  

One of Oxford Dictionaries’ 2016 word of the year finalists was the Danish word Hygge. The word is defined as a “quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.” There is no direct English translation, although the word cozy seems to come the closest to describing hygge. It derives from a sixteenth-century Norwegian term, hugga, meaning “to comfort” or “to console,” which is related to the English word “hug.” The word can be used as a noun, adjective, verb, or compound noun, giving it essentially endless applications.  

As the temperature drops, we are entering into the most hygge time of the year. In between classes, essays, labs, and never-ending readings, take some time to embrace your inner hygge by lighting a candle and curling up under a comfy blanket with a good book.  

Altman, A., Anthes, E., & Heller, N. (2016, December 18). The year of Hygge, the Danish obsession with getting Cozy. The New Yorker. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-year-of-hygge-the-danish-obsession-with-getting-cozy. 

 This Week at Falvey  

Monday, Nov. 8

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

Wednesday, Nov. 10

Fall 2021 Falvey Forum Workshop Series: Mapping Demographic Data with Social Explorer / 12:30–1:30 p.m. / ZOOM / Register Here 

Friday, Nov. 12

The 2021 Grade Studies CLAS Research Symposium / 1–4 p.m. / Connelly Center Cinema / Free & Open to the Public 

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

Scholarship@Villanova Talk Featuring Bess Rowen, PhD, on “Impossible Things Happening Every Day: The Possibilities of Impossible Stage Directions” / 3–4:30 p.m. / Room 205 

This Week in History 

Nov. 10, 1969–Sesame Street Debuts 

On Nov. 10, 1969, Sesame Street made its broadcast debut before going on to teach many generations of kids about the alphabet and how to count (with Count von Count, of course!) Sesame Street ultimately became the most viewed children’s television program in the world, airing in more than 120 countries.  

Miss your childhood days of watching Sesame Street? Watch this fun clip to reminisce and find out what the letter of the day is: Sesame Street | Letter of the Day: S | PBS KIDS 

Want to learn more about the psychology behind Sesame Street? Read the chapter on Sesame Street in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point.  

“Sesame Street” Debuts. (2009, November 24). Retrieved from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sesame-street-debuts

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

Did You Know?

In lieu of a word of the week this week, I’ll be sharing some fun bird facts in honor of our bird-focused events this Thursday! 

Did you know? In the 1800s the snowy egret’s wispy plumes were literally worth their weight in gold. 

Did you know? Spotted sandpipers constantly bob their tails; people call them teeter-peeps and tip-tails. 

Did you know? The red-bellied woodpecker’s tongue reaches out 2 inches for insects, but seeds are half of their diet. 

All of these bird facts came from the game Wingspan, which is a MUST HAVE for any table-top game lovers out there. 

This Week at Falvey  

Monday, Nov. 1

Mindfulness Mondays / 1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. / ZOOM / https://villanova.zoom.us/j/98337578849 

Wednesday, Nov. 3  

Fall 2021 Falvey Forum Workshop Series – Policy Map: Selecting, Mapping and Downloading 21st Century Policy Data / 12:30–1:30 p.m. / ZOOM / Register Here 

The Interfaith Human Library: Where Books Talk and We All Learn About Life in a Multi-Faith World / 4-5:30 p.m. / Speakers’ Corner / Register Here  

Thursday, Nov. 4

“A Bird, Came Down the Walk”: A Creative Writing Workshop Celebrating Birds as Familiar and Unfamiliar Presences Through Poetry / 4-5 p.m. / DeLeon Room (SAC 300) 

Birds of North America: A Reading and Artist’s Talk / 6-7:30 p.m. / Room 205 

Friday, Nov. 5

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

This Week in History 

November 4, 1922 – Entrance to King Tut’s tomb is discovered 

British archaeologist Howard Carter and his workmen discover a step leading to the tomb of King Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. 

When Carter first arrived in Egypt in 1891, most of the ancient Egyptian tombs had been discovered, though King Tutankhamen, who had died when he was 18, was still unaccounted for. The most splendid architectural find inside the newly discovered tomb was a stone sarcophagus containing three coffins nested within each other. Inside the final coffin, which was made of solid gold, was the mummy of the boy-king Tutankhamen, preserved for more than 3,000 years. Most of these treasures are now housed in the Cairo Museum. 

History.com Editors. (2010, March 04). Entrance to King Tut’s tomb discovered. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/entrance-to-king-tuts-tomb-discovered

Want to read more about Carter’s journey? Read this book from Falvey’s collection! 

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

Word of the Week: Friluftsliv (pronounced free-loofts-liv) 

The expression literally translates as “open-air living” and was popularized in the 1850s by the Norwegian playwright and poet, Henrik Ibsen, who used the term to describe the value of spending time in remote locations for spiritual and physical well being. 

Today, the phrase is used more broadly by Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes to explain anything from lunchtime runs, to commuting by bike, to getting away for a weekend in the woods. 

This Week at Falvey  

Monday, Oct. 4

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

Tuesday, Oct. 5

Midterms Stress Buster Pop-Up / 12-2 p.m. / Old Falvey Patio

Wednesday, Oct. 6

Fall 2021 Falvey Forum Workshop Series: Citation Management Using Zotero / 12:30-1:30 p.m. / ZOOM / Register Here 

Friday, Oct. 8

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

This Week in History 

Oct. 4, 1957 – Sputnik launched 

The Soviet Union inaugurates the “Space Age” with its launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. The spacecraft, named Sputnik after the Russian word for “satellite,” was launched at 10:29 p.m. Moscow time from the Tyuratam launch base in the Kazakh Republic. 

The first U.S. satellite, Explorer, was launched on January 31, 1958. By then, the Soviets had already achieved another ideological victory when they launched a dog into orbit aboard Sputnik 2. The Soviet space program went on to achieve a series of other space firsts in the late 1950s and early 1960s: first man in space, first woman, first three men, first space walk, first spacecraft to impact the moon, first to orbit the moon, first to impact Venus, and first craft to soft-land on the moon. 

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

Word of the Week: Bibliosmia 

“The smell and aroma of a good book.” 

Bibliosmia, or book-smell, is caused by the chemical breakdown of compounds within the paper. When you smell a book, you are essentially smelling the book’s slow death, which explains why the older the book is, the better it smells! 

This Week at Falvey  

Monday, Sept. 20

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

Tuesday, Sept 21

1842 Day is Villanova’s annual day of giving, a 24-hour event for the entire Villanova community to come TOGETHER to make a gift of any size to the designation of their choice. Tuesday, September 21 marks the University’s fifth annual 1842 Day. This is our opportunity to show pride and gratitude for the impact Villanova has on each of us, in our communities and around the world.

Wednesday, Sept. 22

Fall 2021 Falvey Forum Workshop Series: ArcGIS Online Field Apps / 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. / ZOOM / Register Here 

Friday, September 24th 

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

This Week in History 

September 24, 1789 – The first Supreme Court is established  

The Judiciary Act of 1789 is passed by Congress and signed by President George Washington, establishing the Supreme Court of the United States as a tribunal made up of six justices who were to serve on the court until death or retirement. That day, President Washington nominated John Jay to preside as chief justice, and John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, Robert Harrison and James Wilson to be associate justices. On September 26, all six appointments were confirmed by the U.S. Senate. 

The current members of the Supreme Court in 2021 are Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Neil Gorsuch, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett.  

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

By Jenna Renaud

Word of the Week: Frankenstein  

Did you know today, August 30, is National Frankenstein Day? In honor of the holiday, this week’s word is the monster himself, Frankenstein.  

According to Merriam-Webster, Frankenstein is, first, the title character in Mary W. Shelley’s novel Frankenstein and, second, “a monstrous creation especially a work or agency that ruins its originator.” However, in German the word translates to “stronghold of freemen,” most likely referring to various castles and battlements around the country that also carry the name. 

This Week at Falvey  

Monday, Aug. 30

Mindfulness Mondays / 1–1:30 PM / ZOOM / https://villanova.zoom.us/j/98337578849  

This Week in History 

September 02, 2013 – Swimming from Cuba to Florida 

Eight years ago this week, 64-year-old Diana Nyad becomes the first person to swim from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida without the use of a shark cage for protection. This was Nyad’s fifth attempt at the swim with her first attempt being in 1978. The marathon swimmer completed the 110-mile swim after nearly 53 hours in open water.

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

This fall, we invite the Villanova community to join us for a taste of mindfulness meditation on Mondays from 1:00- 1:30 p.m. This virtual series will begin with the first meditation on Monday, Aug. 23 and run on Monday afternoons throughout the semester.

Mindfulness Mondays will offer a comfortable space where you are guided and encouraged to stop and focus on the “here and now.” Mindfulness is proven to reduce stress and enhance well being, which can be beneficial to all faculty, staff, and students.

Sessions will take place each week via Zoom. Please follow this link to join each week:

https://villanova.zoom.us/j/98337578849

Mindfulness Mondays are presented by Campus Ministry and co-sponsored by Falvey Memorial Library. Registration is not required. All are welcome to attend these ACS-approved events!

Please join us!

Dig Deeper

To learn more about the practice and benefits of mindfulness meditation, we invite you to read some of the following e-books which are part of Falvey Library’s collection:

• Mindfulness for Students: Embracing Now, Looking to the Future
• Mindfulness and Meditation: Handling Life with a Calm and Focused Mind
• Psychology of Mindfulness
• Mindfulness at Work: The Practice and Science of Mindfulness for Leaders, Coaches and Facilitators

These e-books are available to any student, faculty, or staff with a valid Villanova email address.

Please also check out these helpful resources being offered by Campus Ministry:

• Campus Ministry’s E-Blast
• Campus Resources for Spirituality– Linda Jaczynski, MA, MS ’88, Director, Center for Worship & Spirituality
• VU Campus Ministry on Facebook and Instagram
• Campus Ministry Staff Contact Information

Regina Duffy is a Communication and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Memorial Library.