RAMble, the University Libraries' blog

Hey everyone! My name is Rynique Barker and I’m a senior here at West Chester University. My major is Psychology and I work at the library as a student worker in the work study program on campus. I have been a student worker at the library since my junior year and it’s been AMAZING. I love that I have been able to join the team here at FHG and fall right into place. Since I was a little girl, my mom always took me to the library to get books to read at home no matter whether it was bedtime or just free time. Then I started getting older and she would take me with her to the colleges where she worked and I’d end up in the library. As soon as I turned 13, I was accepted to be in the Teen Advisory Board at my local library. So as you can see this is much bigger to me than just a job. Libraries are a big part of my life and I’m super grateful that now as a 21 year old, they still are.

So from the heart, if you are looking into work study...DO IT! Everyone here is so kind and willing to help you in every way physically possible. It’s based off of your schedule so you can fit time to work between classes or even on the weekends. I also like it because you are in a quieter space, so it’s really my time to relax my mind and just focus on the books instead of focusing on my classes for a little bit. You get to interact with other students every time you work the desk and your friends can always stop by to say hi. I love being a student worker and you definitely will if you want a stress free, enjoyable, and rewarding campus job. If you are in the library or on campus and see me, please say hello! I hope you all have a super great year and thank you so much for reading!

Blog post written by Rynique Barker

As we begin fall, my favorite thing to do is watch horror films. And thus, even though it is still September, I decided to start the season off right with a couple of scary movies. This past week I watched An American Werewolf in London [IMC DVD 398.2454 A512 1997], Nosferatu the Vampyre [IMC DVD 791.4361 N897 2002], and Rosemary’s Baby [IMC DVD 133.426 R812 2006].

I really enjoyed An American Werewolf in London. This is probably one of the more accessible horror movies because, while it has a decent amount of violence, there is also humorous moments throughout the movie that help to mitigate the violence. The most famous scene from this movie is where David, the main character, has his first transformation into a werewolf. This scene was huge because it was done completely without any computer effects added. I would recommend it if you haven’t yet had the chance to watch this movie.

My second horror film, Nosferatu the Vampyre, is one where I have seen several versions already, but had not yet had the chance to watch Werner Herzog’s 1979 version. This version was interesting because Herzog ended up switching the two female character’s roles: typically Lucy, the friend of Mina Harker (Jonathon Harker’s wife), is the one who gets attacked by Dracula (Nosferatu), and then must be saved by Van Helsing. In this version however, Lucy is Jonathon Harker’s wife and Mina is a friend that she stays with when Jonathon goes to visit Count Dracula. Many of the other details stayed the same, but it was interesting to me that Herzog decided to change such a major part of the story. As far as the acting, I felt it was a bit disappointing—the Harkers in the beginning seem very stiff and only Lucy Harker manages to grow as a character throughout the film. However, Dracula is always an interesting story to watch, so I’m glad I got the opportunity to see it.

Lastly, I finally got to watch Rosemary’s Baby, which had been on my horror radar for a while. This movie was extremely interesting because I feel like the first moment where the film shifts into a “horror film”, there isn’t much change in the setting and music of the film. This is in part because Rosemary is experiencing what she believes to be a dream, so for her there is no reason for panic or confusion. However, once she realizes that it is not a dream, that is when the music finally changes. This whole scene was wonderful because of that shift and how the movie itself seems to be following Rosemary’s thoughts and emotions instead of changing for the viewer.

The IMC will be changing over to Halloween movies soon! If you want to track your own film travelogue adventure, you can do that here: https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/ .

Welcome to WCU and the start of a new Fall semester! For the next few months, our new nonfiction displays are going to focus on the different colleges around the university. We hope this will give you the opportunity to find what majors interest you most, or explore your major more!

This month we're starting out by looking at the College of Arts and Humanities. Some of the majors that we've highlighted are Theatre and Dance, English, Philosophy, Communication and Media, and Gender Studies. Come take a look at some new books in these subject areas!

These books will be displayed on the stack of shelves on the right side of our new nonfiction display. They will remain on display through the month of September.

I happened to stumble over this topic accidentally, but this week’s post is dedicated to James Cagney. I had written about his film  White Heat back in July, and then happened to check out the film Footlight Parade [IMC DVD 791.43657 F689 2006] where I discovered that he was in it as well! I hadn’t realized how versatile he was as an actor, so I researched a couple of his movies and brought home Yankee Doodle Dandy [IMC DVD 782.14 Y23 2003] and The Public Enemy [IMC DVD 364.106 P976 2005].

Footlight Parade is an early musical film where James Cagney plays a struggling producer who isn’t able to compete with the “talkies” that are coming out and have better replay value in various venues around town. He comes up with an idea to create shorter musicals and have those scenes travel around to various venues instead. He is supported by some great characters, but later finds out that his partners have been swindling him and his last chance to make money is to come up with the best 3 shorts in a couple days. This was a fun film and the best part is Cagney’s enthusiasm and performance throughout. If you’ve only seen Cagney in mobster films, this film really helps to give his acting a new dimension.

My second film was Yankee Doodle Dandy because how can you resist Cagney in a full-blown musical? This film is actually a biopic as well, based on the life of George M. Cohan, a Broadway legend. The whole film is Cohan recounting his life to the President, starting with his early life in vaudeville acting, and culminating with him finally writing the play Yankee Doodle Dandy and getting it produced. Cagney is wonderful and the role landed him the Academy Award for best actor that year.

Cagney’s last film that I watched was The Public Enemy, the film that first gave Cagney his reputation for mobster films. This was also Cagney’s first big film, and originally the casting was switched with his costar Eddie Woods scripted to play the main character Tom Powers instead of Cagney. However, when director William Wellman saw Cagney act, he decided to switch the two roles and gave Cagney the lead instead. If you look close at the early scene when the two characters are still children, they didn’t refilm those sequences, so the boy playing Tom looks more like Eddie Woods and the boy playing Matt Doyle looks more like Cagney. The movie is a great one, and Cagney again shines.

The IMC has a new DVD display featuring your favorite back-to-school films. If you want to track your own film travelogue adventure, you can do that here: https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/ .