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.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Did you know that July is Disability Pride Month? Disability Pride Month is dedicated to centering the voices and experiences of people with disabilities. While our society is far from being an accessible utopia, it’s important to remember the disability rights activism that gave us laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and spearheaded disability pride. This weekend’s recs will celebrate Disability Pride Month by sharing some recs that center disabled people.

If you have 1 minute…and need a good laugh, watch this TikTok rating whether some Star Wars characters would be disability allies or ableist.

If you have 10 minutes…and haven’t heard of Disability Pride Month, read this article.

If you have 15 minutes…and are a fan of superheroes, read this article about Sun-Spider, the first superhero with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a genetic connective tissue disorder. Sun-Spider was recently (briefly) featured in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which was an important first for fans with EDS, including myself.

If you have 1 hour and 33 minutes…and want to feel a roller coaster of emotions, watch Peanut Butter Falcon. Starring Zack Gottsagen, Shia LaBeouf, and Dakota Johnson, this movie follows Zak, a man with Down Syndrome who runs away from his residential care home to follow his dream of becoming a wrestler.

Photo by Marcus Aurelius

If you have 1 hour and 42 minutes…and haven’t already seen it, watch Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. This Netflix documentary details how a summer camp for disabled teens was able to inspire disability activism in the disability rights movement.

If you have 4 hours and 7 minutes…and want to watch a show with great autistic representation (that was created by people with autism), watch A Kind of Spark. The show follows 11-year-old Addie as she uncovers the mysteries of her town while navigating tween life. Although its a kid’s show, A Kind of Spark‘s grounded representation of autism is truly refreshing and wholesome. Rest assured, it’s not just another show where a neurotypical white man plays a savant.

Bonus: read this article for more on the importance of the representation in A Kind of Spark.

If you have 6 hours…and need a story to inspire you, read Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law, available through inter-library loan. This memoir is a story of curiosity, resilience, and identity, as Haben Girma, the first Deafblind graduate from Harvard Law, navigates the complex world of academia.

If you have 7 hours…and want to hear more disabled perspectives, read the essays in Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, available at Falvey. This is the ultimate book for getting a diverse glimpse into the everyday experiences of people with disabilities.

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

By Beaudry Allen, Laura Bang, Deborah Bishov, Sarah Wingo, and Kallie Stahl

June 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march in New York City held June 28, 1970 on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Pride Month is celebrated every June in tribute to those involved in the Stonewall Riots of 1969, an uprising that occurred in response to a long history of police brutality. On the night of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village, which resulted in bar patrons, staff, and neighborhood residents rioting onto Christopher Street outside. (Note: a post on the Stonewall riots is forthcoming on the blog June 29).

Pride 2020 was already going to be different this year, with COVID-19 making large public gatherings, such as parades and other celebrations typically held for Pride, impractical and leading organizers to pivot to virtual events. Furthermore, in keeping with the roots of the LGBTQ+ movement, the community has mobilized to shift more of the focus of this year’s Pride to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement as protests are currently taking place all over the world. These current events intensify the importance of recognizing how nuanced and interconnected all forms of identity and politics are, and we hope this LGBTQ+ resource list provides more information.

At Falvey Memorial Library we believe that learning is a lifelong process that is essential for education and personal growth. We support and encourage exploration through respectful discourse and hope that our collections can contribute to this conversation. If you are looking for a specific work or for literature on a specific topic, please feel free to get in touch with our librarians at ref@villanova.edu.

Explore LGBTQ+ resources on Falvey’s Diversity and Inclusion subject guide—below is just a snapshot of the many resources available. Share your own content to the page using the Resource Submission Form.

LGBTQ+ Databases:

• The National Archives: Gay and Lesbian History—”This guide will help you find records relating to sexuality and gender identity history.”
• LGBT Thought and Culture—”An online resource hosting books, periodicals, and archival materials documenting LGBT political, social, and cultural movements throughout the twentieth century and into the present day.”
• LGBT Magazine Archive—”A searchable archive of major periodicals devoted to LGBT+ interests, dating from the 1950s through to recent years.”

LGBTQ+ Books and eBooks:

• LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History by Beth Pruitt (e-book).
• LGBT Psychology and Mental Health: Emerging Research and Advances by Richard Ruth and Erik Santacruz (e-book).
• Nonbinary Gender Identities: History, Culture, Resources by Charlie McNabb (e-book).

LGBTQ+ Content Curated by the Villanova Community:

• Trans Student Educational Resources—”A youth-led organization dedicated to transforming the educational environment for trans and gender nonconforming students through advocacy and empowerment.”
• GLMA Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality—”A national organization committed to ensuring health equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and all sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals, and equality for LGBTQ/SGM health professionals in their work and learning environments.”
• The Attic—”The Attic Youth Center creates opportunities for LGBTQ youth to develop into healthy, independent, civic-minded adults within a safe and supportive community, and promotes the acceptance of LGBTQ youth in society.”

LGBTQ+ Resources Recommended by Falvey Subject Librarians and Staff:

• Pride with Arlan Hamilton, Alicia Garza, John deBary, Nico Tortorella, R. Eric Thomas, and Jesse Szewczyk (Zoom event: Tues., June 16, 8 p.m.).
• ‘I have to go off’: activist Sylvia Rivera on choosing to riot at Stonewall (1989 interview with journalist Eric Marcus).
• Marsha P. Johnson, a transgender pioneer and activist (obituary in The New York Times).
• The Free Library of Philadelphia (LGBTQ+ resources and programming).
• The William Way LGBT Community Center—”Encourages, supports and advocates for the well-being and acceptance of sexual and gender minorities in the Greater Philadelphia region through service, recreational, educational and cultural programming.”

Additional LGBTQ+ resources will be featured all month long. Check back weekly for news and updates. Be sure to follow VU Pride for more information on programs and campus initiatives to help create a welcoming community at Villanova University for all students, staff, and faculty.

Celebrating Pride Month, the Curious Cat asked Falvey Memorial Library staff,

“What is your favorite LGBTQ+ novel and/or who is your favorite author?”

Jesse Flavin, Acquisitions and Electronic Resources Coordinator: “James Baldwin.”

Caroline Sipio, Access and Collections Coordinator: “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel.”

Laura Hutelmyer, Acquisitions and Electronic Resources Coordinator: “Maurice Sendak.”

David Burke, Metadata Librarian: “Oscar Wilde.”

Chris Hallberg, Library Technology Developer: “Molly Ostertag, the artist and co-author (alongside Brennan Lee Mulligan) of the webcomic Strong Female Protagonist.”

Rob LeBlanc, First Year Experience Librarian: “It is a toss-up between Annie Proulx and David Sedaris.”

Kallie Stahl, MA ’17 CLAS, is communication and marketing specialist at Falvey Memorial Library. Share your favorite authors on Falvey Library’s Diversity and Inclusion Subject Guide! (This blog is was originally published June 20, 2018, in a slightly altered form.)