By Shawn Proctor, Annie Stockmal, Rebecca Amrick, and Jadyn Piotrowski

Happy Thursday, Wildcats! Curious Cat is back and ready to help you take on this semester! This week’s question is “What is your top way to beat stress?”

We asked a few of Falvey’s favorite patrons what they think, and here’s what they said. Maybe give one of their ideas a try when you’re feeling overwhelmed!

“Talking to my parents/friends.”
-Matthew Shannon CLAS ’27

“Gym or taking a nap.”
-David Sung VSB ’27

“Listen to music.”
-Nicholas Beyer CLAS ’26

Shawn Proctor, MFA, is a Communication and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Library.

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

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

Jadyn Piotrowski ’26 VSB is a Communication & Marketing Student Assistant at 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!

Is the semester starting to get a little intense for you? Do you feel like the work’s beginning to pile up? Feel a need to de-stress? Check out these classic comfort movies! They can be a great way to relax and take a well-deserved break. Give yourself the night off and watch a movie from the following list:

Legally Blonde

Reese Witherspoon stars in this fun comedy as a sorority girl who attends Harvard Law School to win back her ex-boyfriend. Along the way, she discovers she is more than just a ditzy fashionista and learns what she wants out of her life.

Did you know that Falvey Library has a streaming service? Well, it does! You can watch Legally Blonde here.

Ocean’s Eleven

In the mood for some action? This heist movie features great characters played by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts and more. Ocean’s Eleven follows parolee Danny Ocean and his crew of thieves as they attempt to rob three Las Vegas casinos. This movie is offered on Max (formerly HBO).

Pride and Prejudice

This suggestion is for all you romance lovers and Jane Austen fans. This 2005 film adaptation of Austen’s beloved book explores the relationship between Elizabeth Bennett, a member of English gentry, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich aristocrat, and how they overcome their initial dislike of one another and find love. Pride and Prejudice is currently available on Netflix, but the Library also has it on DVD if you don’t have a subscription.

Inside Out

Sometimes, a good way to relieve stress is to just cry it out. Pixar’s Inside Out is a heartfelt movie that will give you a good cry and an emotional reset. This movie follows a young girl named Riley and her five central emotions as Riley’s family moves to a new state. This film can be found on Disney+.

Clueless

Clueless is a coming-of-age comedy that tells the story of Cher Horowitz, a rich, popular high school student in Beverly Hills, Calif. While giving a new friend a makeover and playing matchmaker for two of her teachers, Cher begins to examine her own existence and values. You can either check this movie out on DVD from the Library or stream it.

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

Join us on Wednesday, September 27 at 6 p.m. at Falvey Speakers’ Corner for an event featuring professional cartoonist Brad Guigar titled “Mastering the Art and Business of Web Comics.” This inaugural event will celebrate comics, graphic novels, and sequential art. Webcomics have been up and coming since 2000, and a new generation of creator-entrepreneurs who taught themselves about art and business are currently finding stable careers in a world where “published” artists are struggling. Webcomics have opened the door for marginalized voices that had previously been ignored by corporate gatekeepers.

Brad Guigar is a pioneer in the comic industry and has been publishing his daily comic strips and other comics on the web for over 20 years. His comic, “EVIL INC.,” tells the story of supervillains who realized that most of their evil schemes could be enacted legally if they formed a corporation together. Guigar has published over two dozen collections of comics as well as three books titled, The Everything Cartooning Book, How to Make Webcomics, and The Webcomics Handbook. He has been nominated for the Eisner Award in Comics, the ‘Ringo Award, and the NCS Silver Rueben Award. He also co-hosts a podcast called ComicLab, where he discusses making a living with comics. He resides in Philadelphia with his wife and two sons.

This event, co-sponsored by Falvey Library, Department of English, Creative Writing Program, Department of Communication, the Idea Lab, and the Writing Center, is ACS-Approved and open to all!

Dig deeper and explore more about Brad Guigar and his comics:

• Evil Inc – Brad Guigar’s Website
• Brad Guigar – Instagram
• Ringo Awards 2023: Brad Guigar (Evil Inc) – YouTube
• Brad Guigar – YouTube
• ComicLab Podcast – Evil Inc

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

Photo courtesy of the Falvey collection.

The crisp is in the air and the crunch(!) is on the football field, which can only mean one thing: it’s Family Weekend! To get you in the Villanova spirit, we “Fotofriday” flashback to 1978 when Parents’ Weekend (as it was known then) caught this clash of gridders. Welcome to all of our Wildcat families! And go, Cats!

Sam Luquet, Resource Management & Description Coordinator.

Sam Luquet joined Resource Management & Description (RM&D) as Resource Management & Description Coordinator. RM&D “builds and cultivates collections through acquisitions, licensing, description, discovery, and access to resources for Villanova scholars and community.” Detailing their new role, Luquet shares some of their responsibilities, “I help purchase new materials for the library, maintain existing subscriptions, process textbooks for CASA, and help manage our periodicals among other things.”

Luquet joins the Falvey Library staff after completing their master’s degree in library and information science from Drexel University. “I was eager to find a position in my career field. I have worked at universities in the past and loved them, so this position was perfect for what I wanted” they said. Originally from Wilmington, DE, they got their bachelor’s degree in english from Cabrini University.

They love doing anything creative! In their free time, Luquet enjoys painting, drawing, crocheting, knitting, and calligraphy. “I also always love hanging out with my three cats, Kira, Elsa, and Blue. Working in a library I am, of course, a big reader! My to-be-read pile has lots of horror, thriller, and fantasy titles. I am also a big fan of horror movies, and anything Halloween related,” they shared. For the upcoming “spooky season” Luquet recommends the following books for Falvey Library patrons: The Last Word by Taylor Adams, How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix; and Home Before Dark by Riley Sager.

“I am thrilled to be part of the Villanova community and have felt so welcome here!” Luquet’s office is located on the second floor of Falvey Library. Email sam.luquet@villanova.edu; 610-519-6945.

Erin Palmer, Resource Management and Description Coordinator.

Erin Palmer joined Resource Management & Description (RM&D) as Resource Management and Description Coordinator. RM&D “builds and cultivates collections through acquisitions, licensing, description, discovery, and access to resources for Villanova scholars and community.” Describing her role, Palmer enjoys the variety of her work. “No two days are the same,” she reflects. “I’m part of a great team of three coordinators working in RM&D. My tasks range from ordering materials, processing invoices, cataloging new items, training student workers, and working with our incredible team on collaborative projects to better serve the patrons of Falvey.”

Palmer joins the Falvey Library staff after completing her master’s degree in library science from Clarion University. “With Villanova’s stellar reputation, applying here was a no-brainer! I saw the description for this position and thought it was an excellent opportunity to continue my learning in the field with hands-on experiences – something I have done and continue to do every day.” Originally from Central NJ, she has always considered PA a second home. She earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Kutztown University. “From many camping trips growing up to my time in undergrad at Kutztown University I’ve always felt at home in the Keystone state. I ended up in the library field by way of a secondary education bachelor’s degree. While a bit different, my love for reading and research is a common presence between the two fields.”

An avid reader, Palmer read 89 books last year. “I also enjoy cooking and food in general! I spend many days off trying new restaurants with my boyfriend, two sisters, and friends.” Her reading recommendations for Falvey patrons: “For general fiction I recommend anything by Jennifer Weiner (I just recently finished Mrs. Everything) because I love the way she creates such complex characters. For fantasy I suggest the duology For the Wolf and For the Throne by Hannah Whitten, a fresh take on Little Red Riding Hood. For rom-com, I adore everything by Emily Henry and Christina Lauren. And I’d say for a thriller: All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda.”

Palmer’s office is located on the second floor of Falvey Library. Email erin.palmer@villanova.edu; 610-519-7966. She encourages the Villanova community to reach out to the RM&D team. “We’re always happy to answer questions or to point anyone in the right direction!”

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!

Picture by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash.com

Break out your sweatshirts and pumpkin recipes because fall is finally here! The first day of fall is this Saturday, Sept. 23. This colorful season is marked by changing leaves, cooler temperatures, and the sun setting before 6pm. Yet it is the Autumnal Equinox that officially marks the arrival of fall. This year, the equinox will occur on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 2:50am EST in the Northern Hemisphere.

But what is the Autumnal Equinox? An equinox is an astronomical event when the Sun crosses the “celestial equator.” The celestial equator is not Earth’s equator but rather an imaginary extension of Earth’s equator into space. The equinox occurs when the Sun’s center crosses this line.

Fun Fact: Day and night are almost equal in length on the Autumnal Equinox! Equinox comes from the Latin words aequus and nox which mean “equal” and “night” respectively.

Below are poetry collections about Fall to get you ready for the season:

Autumn. A Poem. by James Thompson

Autumn Harvest: Selected Poems by Stanley B. Frost

Autumn: Twenty Poems by Guillaume Apollinaire

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

Tomorrow is 1842 Day, and Falvey invites alumni, students, faculty, staff, as well as friends, family, and supporters to join the fun by supporting the Library!

We will be celebrating on our social channels and in-person on the first floor of Falvey, so stop by! You might even win a prize!

Located at the heart of main campus, Falvey Library is the interdisciplinary academic center of the Villanova University community. Students, faculty, and staff visit Falvey over half a million times each year. Whether to discuss research with a librarian, attend a book talk with an accomplished author, or find a quiet place to write or study, a visit to the Library is an essential part of a student’s life at Villanova.

Gifts to the Library on 1842 Day over the past six years have helped enhance and impact many areas of the Library, and students and faculty benefit for generations to come. Past donations were used to purchase public health materials and preservation supplies for rare materials.

“Falvey Library connects so many aspects of Villanova’s past and present,” says Millicent Gaskell, University Librarian. “It is an intellectual hub on campus for students from every college. It is where treasures from the University’s history and collective memories are stored and preserved. And with the support from 1842 donors, we will continue to elevate our services and programs.”

Make your gift now!

Anne Morgan, Metadata Librarian.

Anne Morgan, Metadata Librarian, joined Resource Management & Description (RM&D). RM&D “builds and cultivates collections through acquisitions, licensing, description, discovery, and access to resources for Villanova scholars and community.”

“I will mostly be creating and editing metadata for library materials,” Morgan shares of her new role. “For example, I will be creating metadata for print books and eBooks—generally speaking, making sure that useful information about the books (title, author, etc.) is available for library users, and that the books can be physically located or accessed online.” Having done research with materials from the Digital Library’s Catholica collection, Morgan recalled her prior experience with Falvey Library when applying for the role.

Originally from St. Louis, MO, Morgan received a bachelor’s degree in history from Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, and a master’s degree in information studies from the University of Texas at Austin. In her free time she enjoys going to concerts. “I like listening to metal and industrial music.” She is also learning German. Her reading recommendations for Falvey patrons: I and Thou by Martin Buber. “I learned that Martin Luther King, Jr. referenced this book in his Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

Morgan’s office is located on the second floor of Falvey Library.

Email a.morgan@villanova.edu; 610-519-7821.