Welcome
- John Coyne and Marian Haley Beil are happy to present Peace Corps Worldwide, an online community and resource for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs), Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs), their friends and families, and all who share a desire for international understanding. Peace Corps Worldwide is a project of the non-profit Peace Corps Fund, and is in no way associated with the Peace Corps.
What to do about Somalia? - Posted 2 hours ago to Horn of Africa Report
There's a famous definition of insanity: repeating the same behavior over and over and expecting a different outcome. That's Somalia policy these days. The African Union's (AU) heads of state met last week last week in Kampala, where 76 people died in Somalia-linked bombings on July 11. They endorsed the policy that has failed for years, increasing the scale by adding 2000 or maybe 4000 troops. If you believe that only Americans think that more is.. (Read More)
The Man Who Knows Publishing: Jason Boog (Guatemala 2000-02) - Posted 1 day ago to Peace Corps Writers
Forget about Paul Theroux, Peter Hessler, Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, Tony D'Souza and all the other noted Peace Corps writers! If you want to know where publishing is headed, read what Jason Boog has to say. Jason is an RPCV who is ahead of the "publishing game" in New York City. I have been aware of Boog for a few years and watched him from a distance as he has successfully circumnavigated the deep, shark-infested waters of traditional Manhattan literary life. But who.. (Read More)
‘Cash-in’ Mortgage Refinancing Becoming Popular - Posted 1 day ago to Your Money: Popular Freakonomics
The Mortgage Corner The so-called ‘cash-in’ mortgage has become more popular of late for a number of reasons. It means paying down the mortgage, which is the opposite of cash-out refinancing where borrowers are taking cash out of the equity in their homes. The main reasons homeowners are doing cash-in refinancing are first, bringing the loan amount more in line with lower home values. But also homeowners find that paying down, say, a.. (Read More)
Where is Harry Truman—Part III? - Posted 1 day ago to Your Money: Popular Freakonomics
Financial FQs Most historians consider Harry Truman as one of our great Presidents, even though he didn’t consider himself as such. It wasn’t until later years showed the greatness of “give ‘em hell, Harry”, as he was called once at a whistle-stop during his 1948 presidential campaign that defeated the heavily favored New York Governor Thomas Dewey. He faced tough economics times, as we do now, with an even larger debt load due.. (Read More)
More About The New Peace Corps Report - Posted 1 day ago to John Coyne Babbles
It should be noted that when Shriver and the others were developing the "Peace Corps" in the Mayflower Hotel it was Sarge who held the position that Peace--not Development--that was the overriding purpose, and the process of promoting it was necessarily complex. So the Peace Corps should learn to live with complexity that could not be summed up in a single proposition. Finally, the Task Force agreed on three. Goal One: It can contribute to the development of critical countries.. (Read More)
Review of Torn in the South Pacific by Jeff Bronow (Fiji 1988-90) - Posted 1 day ago to Peace Corps Writers
Reilly Ridgell is the author of the textbook Pacific Nations and Territories that has been in print continuously since 1983, and its elementary level version, Pacific Neighbors. He has also written Bending to the Trade Winds: Stories of the Peace Corps Experience in Micronesia, and has just released his first novel, Green Pearl Odyssey. He is currently a dean at Guam Community College. Here Reilly reviews Jeff Bronow's Torn in the South Pacific. (Read More)
July Books by Peace Corps Writers - Posted 1 day ago to Peace Corps Writers
Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter by Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan 1996–97) Random House/Pantheon $22.95 201 pages June 2010 Iracema's Footprint (Peace Corps novel) by Bernard F. Blanche (Brazil 1965–67) Eloquest Books $21.95 460 pages April 2010 Mosquito Operas: New and Selected Short Poems by Philip Dacey (Nigeria 1964–66) Rain Mountain Press $10.00 (from PublishersGraphicsBookstore.com) 73 pages July 2010 .. (Read More)
2010 Award for Best Poetry Book won by Tony Zurlo - Posted 2 days ago to Peace Corps Writers
PEACE CORPS WRITERS is pleased to announce that The Mind Dancing by Tony Zurlo (Nigeria 1964–66) has won the 2010 Award for the Outstanding Poetry Book published by a Peace Corps writer during 2009. Zurlo will receive a framed certificate and a prize of $200. After many years of teaching history and writing in public schools.. (Read More)
Colombia I RPCVs Return To 1961 Training Site - Posted 2 days ago to John Coyne Babbles
On November 4-5, 2010, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Colombia I Volunteers, the first Peace Corps group to assemble, and Rutgers University, the first Peace Corps training site, will celebrate the moment when the idea of a Peace Corps became a reality. Keeping the Peace Corps spirit alive, these Colombia I RPCVs, and the University, will hold a Peace Corps forum on November 4. The next morning, Rutgers University's President, Richard L. McCormick, will preside at a commemorative ceremony, culminating in.. (Read More)
Using Heat to Cool - Posted 2 days ago to Environment - Light, Not Heat
Now that the massive oil spill from a deep water oil well in the Gulf of Mexico seems to be contained we can return to the discussion of an intelligent energy policy for the USA. I would once more urge the administration to drop the "energy independence" cliche and return to a policy aimed at developing cleaner energy resources. The problem is to meet accelerating demand for energy in a way that will.. (Read More)
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Recent Comments
- Dave Gurr: Please indulge me with an additional comment: The Peace Corps Report, as far as I can tell, is failing to recognize what has gone before and worked. Shriver was also about community service, with "Peace" as the hook. In 1989, Shriver testified o [more...]
- GF: I don't think 'The Sarge' said Peace not development. He may have said no development, but didn't say Peace instead of development. It was not and has never been the overriding purpose of PC. It is used a lot as an excuse. This is where the belie [more...]
- Lorenzo: I have bounced from local govenment to the private sector and back for the past 36 years during which time I had the opportunity to consult historical records in 3 states, several dozen communities, and even records in 2 foreign countries. The rules [more...]
- David Searles: I do remember having a few 'spats' with my 'superiors' from PC/W but I probably didn't toss out the letters from above. I do remember once being upset by something from PC/W and in haste sent back a message asking if the writer remembered the apocr [more...]
- Joey: Lorenzo, I just received a rejection of my FOIA appeal in which I asked what happened to all the public records which were in the Peace Corps/ACTION library when it was dismantled. I was told that information doesn't exist. I didn't ask for the [more...]
- Joey: Chris Hendrick. I read your website and the innovative ways that your volunteers are introducing the use of mosquito netting. You should all be congratulated. There had been an article recently in the Denver Post suggesting that the nets were not [more...]
- Lorenzo: As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of the Peace Corps’ inception, government documents are most probably stored away somewhere in boxes, or on magnetic tape, or Microfiche, or even on transparent rolls of microfilm, quietly disintegrating. The m [more...]
- Chris Hedrick: Hi, John. As always, the real work of the Peace Corps is being done every day by Volunteers in the field. For example, my Volunteers have led the way in Senegal with innovative approaches to preventing malaria and distributing bed nets. They have [more...]
- CDS: Colombia isn't invited? Why not do something there now that RPCVs had it opened?. Maybe we should invite them? [more...]
- Dave Gurr: The five year rule took care of the "history" of the agency, by dropping it (George Bernard Shaw said that "what we learn from history is that we don"t!). Also,as it became more bureaucratic, bureauracy took over with each new hirering believing tha [more...]
- Reinaldo: In September 1961, President Kennedy and Sargent Shriver met with Colombia One Volunteers in the White House. The President shook our hands and said "I look forward to your return and want to hear what it's really like down there." My interpretati [more...]
- John Coyne: David--you are so right! By the way, were you thowing away those official letters from Washington, D.C. UNOPEN, too...when you were a CD? coyne [more...]
- David Searles: Some years ago I made the point in my book (The Peace Corps Experience) that all too often those who write about or talk about, even think about, the Peace Corps do so, unfortunately, from a PC/W perspective. It sounds as if this report has done t [more...]
- John Coyne: Joey--thanks. The Transition Team's report done after Obama was elected said there were too many Schedule Cs (political appointment) at the agency. This Report lists hundred of 'consultants' that's the other problem. This is a small agency and fun [more...]
- Joey: Dear John, Thank you so much! I read the whole report and was so disappointed and discouraged. But, my service was so long ago, and the recommendations I made were not considered, and so I really did not feel that I was knowledgeable enough to s [more...]
- Leo Cecchini: As I said in my piece, "While the Peace Corps Slept," by the 1970's the Peace Corps had dispensed with Kennedy's idea of placing thousands of Americans among the many peoples of the world so as to get to know them and let them get to know us and repl [more...]