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October, Raptor Awareness Month, is a time to celebrate, learn about, and promote the protection of birds of prey. Raptors—such as hawks, eagles, falcons, owls, and vultures—are known for their keen eyesight, sharp talons, powerful beaks, and soaring flight. 

Raptors are vital to maintaining healthy ecosystems. As birds of prey they help with controlling populations of smaller animals like rodents, birds, and even insects, preventing overpopulation and resource depletion. They also can serve as indicators of ecosystem health, with declines in their numbers signaling environmental issues like pollution or habitat loss. Scavenging raptors, such as vultures, help clean up the environment by feeding on carrion, preventing the spread of disease and promoting faster decomposition. Other raptors can help farmers by naturally controlling rodent pest populations, reducing the need for harmful pesticides. Additionally, they hold cultural and spiritual significance for many.

Despite their importance, many raptor species are in danger due to various human-induced threats. Habitat loss from deforestation, urbanization, and agricultural expansion reduces their hunting and nesting areas. Pesticides, particularly those that accumulate in the food chain, can poison raptors, leading to health and reproductive issues and even death. Collisions with human-made structures like power lines, wind turbines, and vehicles also pose risks. Illegal hunting and the capture of raptors for the pet trade further endanger these birds. Climate change is another growing threat, altering habitats and affecting prey availability.

Raptor Awareness Month is an opportunity to take action and protect these vital birds. Conservation efforts, including habitat restoration, banning harmful pesticides, and supporting raptor rehabilitation centers, are essential to their survival. Educating the public about raptors’ ecological importance can foster greater appreciation and encourage responsible actions to safeguard their future. For more information on raptors, please visit the book display on the fourth floor of the Library. 

Begun in 2009 by Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, John Hope Bryant, and Pekka Himanen, Global Dignity Day seeks to move beyond what divides the world in order to recognize every person’s inherent value and humanity. It began with a small workshop in Switzerland and has since grown into a global initiative with participants from over 80 countries, reaching more than 3 million people through events, workshops, and learning experiences​.

Global Dignity Day promotes the idea that dignity is both an inherent quality but also a shared responsibility. Dignity is a universal human right that transcends borders, cultures, and religions. We each deserve to be treated respectfully, and we also have the duty to uphold the dignity of others. On Global Dignity Day, events across the world encourage people to explore and express what dignity means to them. They create opportunities for individuals to share their personal stories of dignity, reflect on how their actions affect others, and commit to making positive changes in their own lives and communities. Global Dignity Day is not only a celebration of human worth but also a call to action for people to contribute to a more inclusive and respectful world.

To learn more about human dignity, please visit the book display on the third floor of the Library. 

For this week’s blog on Brain Health Awareness Week, we welcome guest writer, Italee Castellon, Loras College Counselor. In addition to the great events discussed below, be sure to visit the book display on the Library’s main floor.

In 1990, after urging by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Congress passed a joint resolution to make the first full week in October Mental Illness Awareness Week. This week also encompasses  World Mental Health Day, on October 10. At Loras we celebrate this week as “Brain Health Awareness Week” since mental health is inherently brain health. Our brain is an incredibly powerful organ that is in control of so many important features of the body and self, including how we think, move, behave, experience sensations, and overall well-being. Everything that the brain is responsible for – mental and physical – is a part of brain health.

Being able to maintain good brain health is essential to overall wellness. Brain health conditions and mental health diagnoses are common, manageable, and treatable. According to Mental Health America’s 2024 Outreach Toolkit, 1 in 5 people will experience a mental health condition in any given year and about half of Americans will meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition sometime in their lives. Many times, the symptoms begin to appear after the age of fourteen and especially pop up in late adolescence or early adulthood. 

The focus of Brain Health Awareness Week at Loras is education on brain health, encouraging and enabling people with healthy coping strategies, and contributing to destigmatization in the community. The public’s knowledge and understanding of brain health has moved in a more positive direction over the last 20 years; it is our duty to continue the spread the kindness, hope, and understanding for all Duhawks. Here are just some of the events that you are invited to participate in during this week:

• Vision Board Night (October 8, 6-8 pm, MARC 3^rd Floor Commons): Join the Art Club and Counseling Center for a night of creativity as you get the opportunity to bring your personal vision board to life! 
• Brain Health Screening (October 9, 1-3pm, ACC Health Center Lobby): Drop in and meet individually with a Loras counselor for a free and confidential 10-minute brain health screening. Similar to a physical wellness check, this brief mental wellness check will help you assess and gain insight into your mental well-being.
• Party on the MARC Lawn: (October 11, 1:30-3:30pm): Join Counseling Services and organizations across campus for an afternoon of fun, food, and fall festivities to help us stay positive and mentally healthy!

Latin American Heritage Month, celebrated annually from September 15 to October 15, is a time to celebrate the vibrant cultures, histories, and contributions of Latin American communities. The Pura Belpré Award for children’s and young adult literature aligns well with these goals. The award, established in 1996, honors authors and illustrators who portray and celebrate the richness the Latin American culture. 

The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Puerto Rican librarian in the New York City public library system. She was known for her dedication to storytelling, cultural preservation, and advocating for bilingual literature in libraries. She was also an author as well as a collector and translator of folk tales, including her first story, Pérez and Martina, a tragic love story between a cockroach and a mouse. Both her library and literary work laid the foundation for a growing appreciation of the importance of cultural representation in books for young readers. 

At its heart, Latin American Heritage Month is a celebration of unity in diversity. This is true also of the Belpré award. By uplifting works that reflect the multifaceted experiences of members of Latin American communities, the award ensures that children see themselves, their culture, and their heritage represented in the books they read, while also building empathy and understanding among readers of all backgrounds. For a sampling of Belpré award winners and honors, please check out the book display on the Library’s first floor.

Banned Books Week began in 1982 in response to a surge in the number of book challenges – that is, attempts by a person or group to remove or restrict certain titles from a curriculum or library collection. For over forty years, this week has served as an annual celebration of the freedom to read. The week also helps raise awareness about banned and challenged books and supports those who have faced adversity for writing, sharing, or reading these works. 

Perhaps the simplest way to commemorate Banned Books Week is to read a challenged or banned book. The American Library Association (ALA) has lists of the top 100 most challenged books per decade and a sampling of these are on display on the Library’s fourth floor. This year also offers the unique opportunity of attending the dedication of Dubuque’s new banned books mural, The Forbidden Bookshelf. This event has been planned by one of Loras’ Honors Program groups. 

What began as a general interest in the impact of public art and then more specifically in the murals in Dubuque, eventually led the honors group to reach out Sam Mulgrew, president of Humanities Iowa and one of the five directors of Voices Productions. Since 2016, Voices Productions has helped create almost 50 murals in and around Dubuque. Mulgrew expressed interest in working with the honors group on a banned book mural and they jumped at the chance. The group agreed on the importance of highlighting this issue, especially given the great increase in book challenges around the country in the last few years. 

The honors group has worked to help secure other community partners, specifically the Multicultural Family Center, River Lights Bookstore, Carnegie-Stout Public Library, and Dubuque Jaycees – the Jaycees building at 890 Iowa St. will be the location of the mural. The group has also helped plan the dedication of the mural on Wednesday, September 25 from 6-8pm which will include a presentation at 7pm by Steven Drahozal, an Iowa State Public Defender and first amendment advocate, called Banned Books: Lessons from Law and Literature. Following the mural dedication the honors group will turn its attention to hosting banned book book clubs throughout Dubuque. Look for information on the first one to be held at the end of October at River Lights Bookstore. 

The importance of this mural project has been recognized by the National Academy of Design which has awarded Voices Studios, The Abby Mural Prize, for its role to serve as a catalyst for cultural conversations that propel society forward. This seems particularly fitting given that this project supports literary artists doing the same thing. As Judith Krug, inaugural director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, stated, “People don’t challenge materials that don’t say something to the reader. If you look over the materials that have been challenged and banned over the years, they are the materials that speak to the condition of the human being, that try to illuminate the issues and concerns that affect human beings. They’re books that say something, and they’re books that have meaning to the reader. Innocuous materials are never challenged.”

The National Constitution Center’s annual Constitution Day celebration is the biggest Constitution Day celebration in the country—and a great way to kick off the academic year! On September 17, 1787, the framers signed the most influential document in American history, the U.S. Constitution. Every year, the National Constitution Center commemorates that historic occasion.

The Loras College Library is celebrating by giving away free pocket constitutions. Stop by the library service desk to pick up your copy!

Beginning with the words “We the People,” the U.S. Constitution is composed of the Preamble, seven articles, and 27 amendments. The first 10 amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.

Want to learn more?

In the National Constitution Center's Interactive Constitution, learn about the text, history, and meaning of the U.S. Constitution from leading scholars of diverse legal and philosophical perspectives.

Each year, around the world, the International Day of Peace is observed on September 21 in order to strengthen the ideals of peace. In conjunction with this day, Loras’ Peace and Justice Week highlights the work of campus groups working for peace and justice. This year the week focuses on environmental justice, particularly ethical consumerism. We welcome guest blogger, Kate Cain, Peace and Justice Student Intern, to share more about this theme. 

The International Day of Peace is dedicated to building relationships across divides, ceasefires, and finding solutions to the problems that impact individuals as well as global institutions. Loras College’s Fr. Ray Herman Peace and Justice Center commemorates the International Day of Peace by hosting a full week of events called Peace and Justice Week. During this yearly tradition the Loras community comes together to engage in dialogue and activities centered around the issues we face as a society today.

This year’s theme is environmental justice, which is the active effort to end climate change, pollution, poverty as a result of environmental damage, and more through activism and making “green” lifestyle choices. This issue is immensely important as our daily lives are increasingly changed as a result of harm to the environment, such as hotter heat waves and colder cold stretches, more frequent severe weather events, higher utility bills, and so much more. The environment in which we find ourselves today is very different from that of the generations preceding us. Therefore, it is important that we, as college students, learn and participate in environmental justice to heal our shared home, the Earth.

We all have a part to play in furthering the efforts of environmental justice, and events of Peace and Justice Week provide many opportunities! Learn how fair-trade coffee helps preserve water and reduce waste as you enjoy a cup in Spiritual Life. Listen to Grace Adams from the Catholic Purchasing Alliance discuss ethical purchasing and talk with leaders from Jerusalem Farm about urban farming and the importance of sustainability in community service. Attend the International Day of Peace keynote panel to engage in dialogue about environmental activism, ethical purchasing, and more. Advocate for refugees, whose lives are particularly impacted by environmental issues, by participating in the solidarity walk for refugees. Finally go to Wild Church, an inclusive spiritual outdoor gathering led by Eric Anglada of St. Isidore Catholic Worker Farm, to experience nature and spirituality in a new way. Checkout the details for these events here. Your voice, ideas, and presence can enact real change in the world, so begin your peacemaker journey with Peace and Justice Week!

To learn more about ethical consumerism, please visit the book display on the main floor of the Library. 

September is National Suicide Prevention Month and September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. To raise awareness on this important topic, we welcome guest blogger, Italee Castellon from the Loras College Counseling Services. 

As we enter September, it’s important to recognize issues facing our community – our Loras community but also our global community. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide is a major public health crisis, with more than 700,000 deaths each year across the world. In the United States, more than 49,000 people died by suicide in 2022 which is equivalent to one death every 11 minutes. Suicide is a leading cause of death for all ages, but for people between the ages of 18-25, it is the second leading cause. Yet the people who have died by suicide represent only a fraction of those who consider or attempt suicide. In the United States in 2022, 13.2 million adults had serious thoughts of suicide, 3.8 million planned a suicide attempt, and 1.6 million attempted suicide (CDC). Looking at specifically college students, the 2023 Healthy Minds Study found that 14% of students admitted to having suicidal ideation in the past year. 

What can be done? Understanding the issues around suicide and mental health, helping others in crisis, and changing the conversation are important steps in preventing suicide. This is why the WHO has declared the theme for World Suicide Prevention Day to be “Changing the Narrative on Suicide” and asking the public to “start the conversation.” This is a call to action that encourages everyone to challenge the stigma and culture of silence around suicide and instead foster a culture that pushes for openness, understanding, and support for those affected. WHO states, “Every conversation, no matter how small, contributes to a supportive and understanding society.” This is also a call to action at the macro-level, emphasizing the need for policies that prioritize suicide prevention and mental health.

As part of the Loras community, it’s important to keep an eye on each other, check in with each other, and make time for each other. Be aware of your support on campus and off campus. Hold space for love and openness when someone discloses hard feelings and stay with them until appropriate support arrives. Take advantage of the resources available to you in the Loras Counseling Center, as well as your trusted RAs, faculty, and staff. You might also contact the Dubuque chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) or call 988, the national Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. No one should have to slip through the cracks and feel alone and if you yourself are feeling alone, please contact someone.

If you’d like to show support for suicide prevention, NAMI will hold a Sunset Community Walk on Sunday, September 8 at 6pm at the University of Dubuque Track & Field. For more information on suicide prevention, please check out the book display on the Library’s third floor. 

As the school year begins, it is normal to experience a mix of excitement and nervous anticipation. This is a time of new opportunities and challenges. Whether you are a first-year student beginning your college career or returning to Loras with several pervious semesters already behind you, a new academic year offers a chance for a fresh start. 

One of the best ways to prepare for the new school year is by getting organized. Develop a system that works well for you. Start by reviewing your course syllabi, noting important deadlines, and setting up a planner or digital calendar to keep track of assignments and exams. Also add your work schedule, practices or rehearsals, and other regular commitments. Don’t forget to include time for studying in your planner. Think too about a study place that is best for you. The Library offers a wide variety – whether you like a view, a study room, study carrels, comfy furniture, or group study space with screens and whiteboards, there is a place for everyone.

As you make your schedule, prioritize your well-being along with your responsibilities. Leave room in your schedule so you can make sure you’re getting enough sleep, eating healthy meals, and finding time for physical activity. An essential part of well-being is also connecting with others. Take advantage of orientation events, club fairs, and social gatherings to meet new people and get involved in campus life. Remember, though, the key is balance. Set boundaries and establish a routine that includes time for both work and fun. 

Finally, remember that there is lots of support available. Just in MARC you can meet with a librarian for research assistance, get help with your papers at the Writing Center, get help from the math faculty at the Math Lab, get connected with tutors or SI sessions through our new Academic Success Coordinator, Molly Menster, find assistance with internships, study abroad, and career planning in the Center for Experiential Learning, and find support at the Lynch Disability Resource and Cultural Center. By taking care of yourself and reaching out for support when needed, you’ll be better prepared to handle the challenges and enjoy the rewards of the new school year.