July 2018 – Peace Corps Worldwide

NATURE’S POETRY by Eldon Katter (Ethiopia)

Jul 30 2018

Nature’s Poetry is an engaging, though none too rigorous, informal compilation of the author’s poetry and art. Black and white illustrations appear on almost every page. The nature drawings are snapshots from the author’s sketchbooks, some dating back to his Indiana youth and others recording his experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Harar, Ethiopia in the 1960s. Eldon was Chair of the Department of Art Education and Crafts and Professor of Art Education at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. He was also editor of SchoolArts magazine for 11 years and president of the National Art Education Association. In the 1950s he taught art in Park Ridge, Illinois and later in Needham, Massachusetts. As Peace Corps volunteers in the 1960s, Eldon and his wife, Adrienne, taught at a teacher training school in Harar, Ethiopia and then worked for the Teacher Education in East Africa Project in Kampala, Uganda. . . .

Are the “Times A’Changing” for the Peace Corps?

Jul 30 2018

The Peace Corps is a federal agency and subject to Executive Orders from the White House. There are three Executive Orders, in particular, which impact Peace Corps. They are: The Executive Order to all federal agencies to reduce staff by 20%. The Executive Order to reorganize the agency. The Executive Order to eliminate all contracts and partnerships with any organization which works with abortion providers or counsels about abortion. Of these three, we only have specific information on the first. FOIA 117-0166 provided the list of sunset positions and Marian Haley Beil has posted those positions. https://peacecorpsworldwide.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Peace-Corps-Sunset-Positions.pdf FOIA 18-0053, submitted on February 27, 2018, requested a copy of the Peace Corps Reorganization Plan. However, the release of the Reorganization plan has not yet been authorized. The FOIA Officer has sent this statement: “I am coordinating with the Office of Management and Budget to ensure they have no objection to its . . .

“The RPCV: An Example of a Successful Person” (Ethiopia)

Jul 29 2018

The only Peace Corps official to visit my classroom at the Commercial School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was Sargent Shriver. In November, 1962, he saw my tenth graders among other Volunteer classrooms he was visiting in his swing through East Africa. In his usual manner, he came rushing through the classroom door with his hand outstretched and bursted out, “Hi, I’m Sarge Shriver.” I flippantly replied, “No kidding?” It was uttered more in surprise than rudeness. I was thrilled by Shriver’s visit. It was the first time my students had been quiet since September. To rescue myself and the class, I asked Sarge to tell my students about the Peace Corps in Ethiopia and his trip, and he told us all about seeing the Emperor, and having told His Majesty that there would be another 200 PCVs coming to the Empire the next fall. Our first group of PCVs numbered . . .

Listen to Michael Joseloff (Tunisia), author of CHASING HEISENBERG . . . & read book review

Jul 27 2018

LISTEN TO MICHAEL JOSELOFF’S ORAL HISTORY ON VOICES OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT Michael Joseloff (Tunisia 1967-69) is a four-time Emmy Award-winning TV news and documentary producer. While working as a producer for the MacNeil Lehrer Newshour in 1993, he worked on a program related to alleged Soviet espionage during the Manhattan Project. This piqued his interest in the development of the atomic bomb. Joseloff ultimately learned that several Manhattan Project scientists had been friends with Werner Heisenberg, chief architect of Germans’s atom bomb program before the war. Their story of friends turned bitter rivals led him to write Chasing Heisenberg: The Race for the Atom Bomb. “Voices of the Manhattan Project” is a joint project by the Atomic Heritage Foundation and the Los Alamos Historical Society to create a public archive of our oral history collections of Manhattan Project veterans and their families. • Chasing Heisenberg: The Race for the Atom Bomb Michael Joseloff . . .

“Hyena Man of Harar”

Jul 27 2018

Keeper of carnivorous beasts In this walled city of Abyssiania Where once Rimbaud sought asylum From man’s industry. What do you nocturnally seek Among these deformities? Whom you call by name, And bend to touch a hideous face. Do you find more tranquillity Than by day in the market place Where Oromos and Somalis Mingle in silent hate? The African born in the bondage Of tribal aversions Builds his society On ancestral malice. A hereditary disease. Here, however, there is peace Among these rapacious dogs Who cower for carrion. While Rimbaudian companions Hide from such intercourse; Slide like jackals Into the glove of night, And make there of camel dung A tukel that is addis ababa In the brush Forgotten under a cradle moon. John Coyne November 1963

Memorial services for Tom Gallagher (Ethiopia)

Jul 25 2018

Memorial Services New Jersey Monmouth University – Woodrow Wilson Hall 400 Cedar Ave, West Long Branch, NJ 07764 Saturday, August 25th, 1:00 to 3:00 PM ET Washington D.C. DACOR (Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired) Bacon House 1801 F St NW, Washington, DC 20006 Saturday, September 8th 2:00 to 5:00 PM ET If you have any questions, email Amin Dulkumoni at ad293@njit.edu or call him at 443-949-4724. Obituaries New York Times: Tom Gallagher, Diplomat Who Became a Gay Activist, Dies at 77 Washington Post: Tom Gallagher, Foreign Service officer who quit to live as openly gay, dies at 77 Asbury Park Press: Thomas Gallagher 1940–2018 Advocate: Tom Gallagher, First Foreign Service Officer to Come Out, Dies at 77 Gay Times UK: Tom Gallagher, the First Openly Gay Foreign Service Officer Has Died, Aged 77 Washington Blade: Tom Gallagher, U.S. Foreign Service officer, dies at 77 Los Angeles Blade: . . .

Where are our RPCV Ambassadors?

Jul 25 2018

A-100 is the entry level class that only Foreign Service Officers go through when they first join the State Department.They are sworn in as Foreign Service Officers at the end of this 6 week program.During this event they also find out what country they are being sent to for their first assignment.It is a big deal.Very memorable for all involved.In the last four Foreign Service classes there have been a total of 5% RPCVs. Here is the enrollments numbers of A-100 on the last four classes. The 194th has 5 Peace Corps Volunteers out of 82 students (current class underway) The 193rd had 3 out of 41 The 192nd had 0 out of 34 The 191st had 2 out of 45 Neither the Peace Corps or the State Department has a list of RPCVs . . .

Emily Arsenault’s (South Africa) new mystery — THE LAST THING I TOLD YOU

Jul 22 2018

Emily Arsenault’s (South Africa 2004-06) new novel is a psychological thriller about the murder of a psychologist in a quiet New England town and his former patient whose unreliable thread will keep you guessing. until the shocking end. I hear myself whispering. Not again. Not again. Why did I ever come back here? Surely because of you. Because I thought of something I’d always meant to tell you. Because you were the only one I ever really wanted to tell it to… Therapist Dr. Mark Fabian is dead—bludgeoned in his office. But that doesn’t stop former patient Nadine Raines from talking to him—in her head. Why did she come back to her hometown after so many years away? Everyone here thinks she’s crazy. And she has to admit—they might have good reason to think so. She committed a shockingly violent act when she was sixteen, and has never really . . .

“Downsizing Books” by John Coyne (Ethiopia)

Jul 20 2018

When I was growing up on a farm in Illinois all six of us kids (I was the youngest) waited for the Saturday Evening Post to arrive in Wednesday’s mail so we’d have stories to read over the weekend. After dinner, whichever of my three sisters was washing the dishes that night would prop a book up against the kitchen window so she could read as she scrubbed. Since my job was to dry, I couldn’t pull off that trick. But I loved books too, and before I learned to read, my oldest sister would read to me whatever Jane Austen or Brontē novel she had gotten from the village library. We read so many books, in fact, that soon my older siblings had gone through everything deemed “age appropriate” by the librarian, Mrs. Butterfield. So one day she refused to let my sister Eileen check out the book she’d chosen. My mother, an . . .

Join Association of Writers & Writing Programs

Jul 19 2018

Preview Weekend Get Your All-Access Pass and See What Members Love About AWP You know that an AWP membership comes with a discounted conference registration and a subscription to The Writer’s Chronicle, but there is so much more. And it is yours to explore for three days, free of charge, from July 20–22, 2018. Here are some of the resources you will find upon logging in: Over 1,300 online articles on writing and teaching in our Features Archive Our Writer’s Calendar, with an up-to-date listing of events and publishing opportunities The AWP Job List, which provides the latest information on open jobs for writers Over 100 Career Advicearticles AWP’s Career Services Web Series, including our Writer to Agent Web Serieswith agents from Folio Literary Management We are offering three days of FREE access to see what an AWP membership is all about. Simply email awp@awpwriter.org with your first and last name or sign up below, and we will set . . .

Review — FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE by Paul Theroux (Malawi)

Jul 14 2018

Figures in a Landscape: People and Places Essays: 2001-2016 By Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963-65) Eamon Dolan/Houghton Miffin Harcourt 416 pages May 2018 $28.00 (hardcover), $15.64(paperback), $15.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Mark D. Walker (Guatemala 1971–73) • The “Godfather of contemporary travel writing” has probably chronicled more places in the world than almost any other author. This is his third volume of essays, following Sunrise with Seamonsters (1984) and Fresh Air Fiend (2001), for a total of 134 essays written over 53 years. This new collection of essays is a veritable cornucopia of sights, characters, and experiences covering the globe. The collection includes varied topics and showcases his sheer versatility as a writer. The title of the book is based on a 1945 painting by the Irish-born artist known for his grotesque, emotionally charged, raw imagery that, according to Theroux, sums up all travel writing and many essays. In the introduction of . . .

Jenny Phillips (Lesotho), writer and award-winning filmmaker, dies at 76

Jul 13 2018

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Susan Zawalich. • Jenny Phillips, writer and award-winning filmmaker, dies at 76 by Bryan Marquard Boston Globe staff JULY 13, 2018 Mrs. Phillips sought Fidel Castro’s help in securing documents of Ernest Hemingway. In an Alabama prison, one of her several far-flung outposts of compassion and creativity, Jenny Phillips recorded her conversations with lifers and death row inmates — those discarded in “the dustbin of humanity,” she would later say. Back home in Concord, she played the tapes as she drove, letting their voices fill her car and spark her imagination. “They wanted people to know their stories so they wouldn’t be forgotten,” Mrs. Phillips, who turned those initial encounters into an award-winning documentary, recalled a few years later, in 2008. “They also wanted their stories to somehow help other people. As well as a wish to be remembered, there’s a wish to be useful.” Drawn . . .

House passes Peace Corps Health Legislation

Jul 13 2018

The National Peace Corps Association posted this news about the House of Representatives action on the Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018. It is good news, but the fight is not over. The Senate still has to act. Here is NPCA’s article. https://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/articles/one-step-closer-house-passes-peace-corps-healthsafety-legislation “With praise for the mission of the Peace Corps and the work of its volunteers, and acknowledgement that more needs to be done to improve volunteer health care, safety and security, the House of Representatives unanimously passed Peace Corps health/safety legislation (H.R. 2259) late Tuesday afternoon. The revised House bill, renamed the “Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018”, now goes back to the United States Senate for further consideration. Earlier this year, Senators unanimously passed its version of the legislation (S. 2286) introduced by Bob Corker (R-TN) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). The Senate can either approve the House version . . .

Peace Corps Porn

Jul 10 2018

The paperback jacket is torn. The wrinkled pages bent and stained. Still, the cover photo of the naked Peace Corps Volunteer is crystal clear and one exposed breast is bright in the sunlight of the camera flash. Beneath the woman’s breast, as if a yellow sticker has been tapped over her belly button, is a bold declaration. A REPRINT FROM THE BEST OF OUR ADULT NOVELS WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED UNDER ONE OR MORE DIFFERENT TITLES The novel is entitled Passion Delight, written by Frances Sibley. It is, the back cover says, a Body Talk Library book, published in 1985 by American Art Enterprises of California. A quick google search found the publisher, but no mention of Passion Delight, or where one might buy a copy. Perhaps this is a new title. Nor could I find out anything about “Frances Sibley”…..was she an RPCV in Senegal who set . . .

Finding “Teranga” from Senegal to the streets of Paris by Carrie Knowlton (Senegal)

Jul 09 2018

Teranga by Carrie Knowlton (Senegal 1999-01) • You can fall in love with a person, but you can also fall in love with moments in time, the sounds of drums on the beach, and roosters crowing while women pound millet at dawn. You can fall in love with the way the Atlantic Ocean smells at sunset and the way all those things come together to become your memory of a place. After two and a half years living in Senegal while serving in the Peace Corps, I was smitten. Senegal is that bump that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean just below the Sahara desert on the western-most tip of Africa. There is a beach in the capital, Dakar, where you can sit and eat a plate of fish and rice, watch the sunset, and listen to drumming and the call to prayer. The country is 92% Muslim and French is . . .

Archive - July 2018