Archive - May 2015

1
URGENT LETTER FROM Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963-65)
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Review: Nigeria Revisited by Catherine Onyemelukwe (Nigeria 1962–64)
3
Gerald Karey writes: Breaking Bread with Lindsay Lohan and Obama
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Review: Bartram’s Garden by Eleanor Stanford (Cape Verde 1998-2000)
5
The Jack Nicklaus Room at the USGA Museum
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Special Deal for RPCV Writers: West Virginia Writers' Workshop This Summer at West Virginia University
7
Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-1993) Reading Saturday at Politics and Prose
8
Review of John Michael Flynn (Moldova 1993-95) Keepers Meet Questing Eyes
9
Christopher Conlon (Botswana 1988-90) On Top Ten List For Best Horror Fiction by American Library Association
10
D.C. NEPAL FUNDRAISER–WEDNESDAY, MAY 27
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Ethiopian Immigrant Plans To Join The Peace Corps, Awarded Gates Millennial Scholarship
12
Alana DeJoseph (Mali 1992-94) Drinking Tea The Mali Way
13
A Mother’s Kept Promise by Rudolph Keith Dunn (Dominican Republic 1990-92)
14
Panel Discussion at Thirsters on the Relevance of Peace Corps
15
Gerald Karey writes: Neighborhood Dogs

URGENT LETTER FROM Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963-65)

Friends: Shortly after the Nepal Earthquake of April 25 2015, Peace Corps/Nepal withdrew all 53 volunteers and 32 trainees and sent them home, out of concern for “Volunteers’ health, safety and security.” See peacecorps.gov/media/forpress/press/2548/, and peacecorps.gov/resources/faf/nepal/. I am seeking to find out who among the almost 4,000 volunteers who have served in Nepal, have either returned since April 25 (or were there at the time and stayed on) to help in earthquake relief and recovery, and any others who have been working from home on Nepal Earthquake relief, fund raising, etc. I am preparing to write an article which touches on PC and RPCV response to the crisis, and I need their stories and perspectives. If you are one of them, or know of one or more, please contact me by email at dmesserschmidt@gmail.com. I, too, am going to Nepal, arriving in Kathmandu on June 13 for about a month. . . .

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Review: Nigeria Revisited by Catherine Onyemelukwe (Nigeria 1962–64)

Nigeria Revisited: My Life and Loves Abroad Catherine Onyemelukwe (Nigeria 1962–64) Peace Corps Writers October 2014 314 pages $14.62 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Marianne Arieux (Ethiopia 1965–67) • It is 1969. Former Peace Corps Volunteer and American Midwesterner, now Nigerian wife and mother, Catharine Onyemeluke nests with her family in her in-laws remote Igbo village, fleeing the encroaching Biafran war. For the first time since coming to Africa, she must become part of a rural African village without electricity, running water, or a health facility nearby; an undertaking that is a hallmark of Peace Corps training. Onyemelukwe’s telling of this particular venture highlights her achievement in this well written memoir — a tale of a young woman whose adventurous spirit carries her into a life path introduced and limned by the Peace Corps and its lore. Her book has the tone of a life-cycle epic. We are invited on . . .

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Gerald Karey writes: Breaking Bread with Lindsay Lohan and Obama

A Writer Writes — Breaking Bread with Lindsay Lohan and Obama by Gerald Karey (Turkey 1965–67) • It was Lindsay Lohan’s attendance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner where former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw drew the line. Not at Ozzy Osbourne, Paula Jones, Larry Flint, Donald Trump or, Lord have mercy on us, Kim Kardashian. “The breaking point for me was Lindsay Lohan. She became a big star at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Give me a break,” Brokaw said after the 2013 dinner. “There was more dignity at my daughter’s junior prom than there is [at] what I’m seeing on C-SPAN there.” That may be an unfair comparison. Junior proms set a rather high bar. But cut Lindsay some slack. She may have been better behaved than the room full of liquored-up hacks. Her host, Greta van Susteren, who spins right-wing fables for Fox News, said: “The table . . .

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Review: Bartram’s Garden by Eleanor Stanford (Cape Verde 1998-2000)

Bartram’s Garden by Eleanor Stanford (Cape Verde 1998–2000) Carnegie Mellon University Press February 2015 82 pages $15.95 (paperback) Reviewed by Ann Neelon (Senegal 1978–79) • As luck and timing would have it, I come to Eleanor Stanford’s Bartram’s Garden just as a seemingly infinite number of Brood XXIII cicadas have emerged from their hidey holes in western Kentucky. I can’t imagine a better book to read to the accompaniment of the music of the spheres, as I keep calling the rattling surround sound produced in the resonant abdomens of the male cicadas clinging to the leaves of every tree, bush, and flower in our neighborhood. The last time I heard it — exactly thirteen years ago, in accordance with the periodicity of Brood XXIII — my children, who are now both almost out of the teenage years, were the same age as Stanford’s young children. If the home is a . . .

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The Jack Nicklaus Room at the USGA Museum

In my other role in life–a golf writer–I was invited to the USGA Museum in Far Hills, New Jersey on Wednesday to the dedication of the new ‘Jack Nicklaus Room’. Jack joins Bob Jones, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Mickey Wright. The room has something like 80 artifacts and interactive displays featuring Jack’s career. There was a dedication ceremony on the lawns and Jack’s whole family was with him. Here are a few photos from the afternoon event. If you are close to New Jersey, this is a wonderful museum, even if you don’t play the game. Jack and Barbara Nicklaus at USGA dedication ceremony for The Jack Nicklaus Room. (©USGA/Chris Keane)

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Special Deal for RPCV Writers: West Virginia Writers' Workshop This Summer at West Virginia University

Special Deal for RPCV Writers: West Virginia Writers’ Workshop This Summer at West Virginia University I received a note from Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-1993) saying that “Any Peace Corps-affiliated person who would like to attend the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop-a super deal at $350 for the four-day conference (July 16 to 19)-should email me about a Peace Corps discount!” Mark’s email address: Mark.Brazaitis@mail.wvu.edu and the Workshop’s Web site: http://english.wvu.edu/centers-projects/west-virginia-writers-workshop At the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop, you will: * Participate in an intimate workshop (in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, or screenwriting) in which your work will be critiqued gently and thoroughly by a nationally recognized writer as well as by your fellow workshop members. * Absorb valuable lessons on writing in craft talks given by nationally known authors. * Improve your writing through a series of exercises tailored to the craft talks. * Hear dynamic readings by nationally recognized authors. * Read your . . .

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Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-1993) Reading Saturday at Politics and Prose

TRUTH POKER BY MARK BRAZAITIS Saturday, June 6, 2015 at 1 p.m. Politics and Prose 5015 Connecticut Ave N W Washington D.C. A poet and an award-winning novelist (Julia and Rodrigo), Brazaitis was awarded the 2014 Autumn House Fiction Prize for his second collection of stories. Praised as “exquisite” and “innovative” by the judge, these pieces dramatize characters ranging from phantoms to faith healers to corrupt cops, and explore a rich emotional terrain of regret, guilt, and confusion.

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Review of John Michael Flynn (Moldova 1993-95) Keepers Meet Questing Eyes

Keepers Meet Questing Eyes: Poems by John Michael Flynn (Moldova 1993-1995) Leaf Garden Press $6.00 120 pages 2014 Reviewed by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-1993) • John Michael Flynn’s latest collection of poetry doesn’t come in a conventional package. Unlike a standard 6-by-9-inch poetry collection, with its requisite arty (or, on occasion, awful) cover, Flynn’s Keepers Meet Questing Eyes looks and feels more like a coloring book. But in a good-and fitting-way. Flynn’s poems don’t aspire to be arty or clever or coy. They’re honest evocations of life, and they invite the reader in the same way a coloring book invites children in: with generosity and without pretense. Of course Flynn’s poems are aimed at an adult readership, and their rewards lie in their directness and clarity. One of my favorites is “Heath,” about the actor Heath Ledger, who comes across in the poem as a good man despite his having . . .

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Christopher Conlon (Botswana 1988-90) On Top Ten List For Best Horror Fiction by American Library Association

Booklist is a book-review magazine that has been published by the American Library Association for more than 100 years, and is widely viewed as offering the most reliable reviews to help libraries decide what to buy and to help library patrons and students decide what to read, view, or listen to. It comprises two print magazines, an extensive website and database, e-newsletters, webinars, and other resources that support librarians in collection development and readers’ advisory. HORROR FICTION This list of the best horror fiction reviewed between May 15, 2014, and May 1, 2015, covers the gamut, from an old-fashioned horror novel, tasting of blood and dust, to a zombie plague (what would a top 10 list be without one?) to a grisly, darkly comedic road trip. Savaging the Dark. By Christopher Conlon. 2014. Evil Jester, $11.99 (9780615936772). (Starred Review.) “If there’s a single author working in the horror genre who . . .

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D.C. NEPAL FUNDRAISER–WEDNESDAY, MAY 27

I received this information from a dear friend, Busy Graham, who is a Takoma Park, Maryland resident and the daughter of  Dick Graham one of the early Peace Corps Country Directors (Tunisia 1963-65) working with Sarge at HQ from 1961-63. Busy’s mother later worked at the Peace Corps, recruiting CDs, and was responsible for hiring many of the first women directors for the agency. Busy is now involved with hosting a fundraiser for Nepal this coming Wednesday, May 27 in the DC area (Takoma Park/Silver Spring) — she is trying to reach as many RPCVs and Staff who live in the DC area to let them know about this event. Wednesday, May 27, 7:00-9:30pm NEPAL EARTHQUAKE RELIEF — FUNDRAISING CONCERT Seekers Church 276 Carroll St. NW DC (across from Takoma metro & BusBoys & Poets) Featuring the BlackJacks band, LEA, Mary Amato, and friends — plus Nepali singer, Ramesh Pariyar and . . .

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Ethiopian Immigrant Plans To Join The Peace Corps, Awarded Gates Millennial Scholarship

African Immigration Trend Has A Strong Base In D.C. Area WAMU 88.5 By: Armando Trull May 20, 2015 Over the past 40 years, the number of black immigrants coming to the United States has quadrupled. The majority of them have arrived from Jamaica and Haiti, but now the origin countries are changing. Africa is now represented more than ever before. The new trend has already taken hold in D.C., where African immigrants have accounted for much of the growth in the region’s black immigration, says Mark Hugo Lopez, research director at the Pew Research Center, which recently released a study on the data. “The growth in the number of African immigrants, black African immigrants has really been the driver in the growth of the black immigrant population overall, which now stands at 3.8 million,” Lopez says. In the D.C. region almost 15 percent of blacks are foreign born – that’s . . .

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A Mother’s Kept Promise by Rudolph Keith Dunn (Dominican Republic 1990-92)

Rudolph Keith Dunn (Dominican Republic 1990-92) is a Spanish teacher at Starling International Learning and Childcare Center in Richmond. He also tutors children in creative writing. A former freelance journalist for various newspapers over the years, as well as an ESL instructor with Catholic Charities and a Reading and Writing Tutor with the Richmond Public School system. This story, “A Mother’s Kept Promise” was published in the 2015 March edition of the Linden Avenue Literary Journal. It  won the Virginia Writers Club Literary Competition in 2013. A Mother’s Kept Promise by Rudolph Keith Dunn Roaring flames devoured his mother’s flesh, and the small boy smiled. Achebe noticed the soft brown skin was now black and charred, the delicate nose, full lips, and piercing eyes had disappeared. The beautiful, elegant, form of Ashanti, the envy and pride of her village, was no more than a roasting dark mass of skin, muscle, . . .

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Panel Discussion at Thirsters on the Relevance of Peace Corps

The Columbia River Peace Corps Association, based in Portland, Oregon is promoting a presentation at Thirsters on Thursday, May 28th, 2015. For those of you lucky enough to live in Portland, here is the information from the Columbia River Peace Corps Association’s newsletter: (Columbia is spelled correctly here, it refers to the River, not the country.) “Maria and James Beebe (RPCVs Philippines) are leading a panel discusion at a Thirsters meeting on May 28 on the relevance of Peace Corps. They need volunteers for the panel discussion and help with the short presentations. Please email beebe@gonzaga.edu ( It may be necessary to copy and paste this email address.) Brief introduction to the history of Peace Corps, including the three goals. Brief comments on the contribution to Peace Corps of Robert Textor, the founder of Thirsters, Brief comments on the current status of Peace Corps and the local Columbia River Peace Corps . . .

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Gerald Karey writes: Neighborhood Dogs

Neighborhood Dogs by Gerald Karey (Turkey 1965-67) • POODLES, I THINK, were bred to be work dogs, although I’m uncertain what work they did. They were not intended to be primped, pampered and coiffed to within an inch of their dog lives, trimmed of most hair except for little puffs at their paws, rumps, shoulders and tails, and minced around at dog-shows like some foppish dandy at the French royal court. That’s no way to treat a dog. Adding insult to injury, recently I saw a tricked-out poodle in the neighborhood whose owner (and surely it wasn’t the dog’s decision), dyed each of those puffs of hair orange shading into purple. I was tempted to round on him (the owner, not the dog), accuse him of animal cruelty (or at least deep humiliation), and call the animal control agency and have the dog taken away. I didn’t, of course. The . . .

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