[Here is a glowing review of Jack Niedenthal's (Marshall Island 1981-84 ) new film Yokwe Bartowe. The review appears in Film Threat.com.]

 ”Are you having problems locating a genuinely original, intriguing and entertaining independent film?  Then set your sights on the Marshall Islands.  Yes, that far-flung corner of the Pacific Rim is home to one of the most remarkable little films to fly in under the proverbial radar Yokwe Bartowe, a no-budget/high-imagination fantasy that can sincerely lay claim to being among the most original cinematic endeavors to emerge in quite some time.

“Yokwe Bartowe involves the interconnected fates of two siblings: the 20-year-old college student Bartowe and his kid sister Lijiamao.  One fine afternoon, Lijiamao disappears while swimming in a lagoon.  It is assumed that she drowned, even though her body is never recovered, and Bartowe - who was supposed to be watching her - is blamed for her death by their parents.  Poor Bartowe’s life falls apart and he become a pathetic alcoholic.

“However, Lijiamao did not die. Instead, she is kidnapped by a demonic bird-spirit that keeps her as a companion.  This is part of the Marshall Islands’ legend of the kwolej bird, which goes through its feathered life creating tragedy for the unsuspecting bipeds who walk beneath its flight.

“Fortunately for Bartowe, he has an unusual ally in Lijimu, an elderly lady who is kept in pariah status because of her alleged witchcraft powers.  Bartowe discovers to his astonishment that Lijimu’s reputation is not entirely based in gossip, and the old gal uses her magic against the kwolej spirit that keeps Lijiamao as a prisoner.

“By U.S. standards, Yokwe Bartowe is not the most sophisticated endeavors.  Directors Jack Niedenthal and Suzanne Chutaro make no effort to hide the bare bones production values, particularly in the mystical elements where young Lijiamao and her kwolej captor wear feathered headdresses and flimsy costumes to suggest an unholy union of avian and human spirits.  And the sequence where Lijimu communicates with her deceased family is more than a bit cheesy, with the recently deceased depicted as hovering together in the dark while weak lights illuminate them from floor level.

“Yet if Yokwe Bartowe fails to score points for polish, it slam dunks with spirit and personality.  Niedenthal and Chutaro guide their nonprofessional cast through a screenplay that is fairly complex with issues relating to spiritualism, guilt, miscreancy, angst and emotional isolation.  If the film is missing the razzmatazz of the CGI-heavy productions from Hollywood, it more than compensates with the raw, visceral power one associates from folk art - it throbs with a genuine sense of emotion and honesty, demanding that its voice be heard and respected.

“Furthermore, the film’s screenplay (written by Niedenthal) is anything but predictable.  The characters are have richly textured personalities, and even secondary roles - including a classmate of Lijiamao who refuses to believe her friend died and a quartet of miscreants who indulge in café-base inebriation by ordering two cans of beers with four cups for sharing the brew - are genuinely memorable in a cult-worthy manner.  And the film’s astonishing denouement - no spoilers here, sorry - happily refuses to accept the standard of a neatly-tied happy ending.

“Hopefully, Yokwe Bartowe will find its way around the world.  This is an extraordinary work that deserves to be seen, and it presents a strong calling card to alert all interested cinematic parties that the Marshall Islands has arrived as a center of memorable film production.”

You can read more about the film at: http://www.microwavefilms.org/

WHAT IS FILM THREAT?

Film Threat began as a college fanzine founded by Chris Gore in Detroit in 1985. As the magazine evolved into a respected national publication, Gore relocated to Los Angeles in 1989. The magazine received national attention for its coverage of cult films, midnight movies, underground shorts before the market even emerged. Film Threat was the first mag to cover people like Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs). After over a decade of covering cult films, underground shorts, alternative films and independent features, Film Threat the magazine was retired in 1997. But the legend has lived on as an internet journalism mainstay, FilmThreat.com.

Continuing in the tradition set forth by the original print magazine, FilmThreat.com delivers the best in film reviews, film festival coverage, exclusive filmmaker interviews and original video content. From blogs to online forums, FilmThreat.com is on the cutting edge of online journalism, while staying as renegade as ever.

FilmThreat.com was purchased during the Sundance Film Festival from Chris Gore by former Editor-in-Chief Mark Bell in January 2010, on the eve of Film Threat’s 25th Anniversary.

On Monday, I sent around Rowland Scherman’s recollections of his first days with the Peace Corps as the agency’s first photographer. Missing was the famous photo he took at a Congressional Hearing of Shriver and young Bill Moyers. At the time, I believe, Moyers was 26 or 27. Here’s the photo and part of Rowland’s comments:

So I showed up the next day [at the Peace Corps] and hung around. The press and the photographers had all disappeared, of course, as there was nothing to photograph or write about as the Peace Corps didn’t really yet exist: there was Shriver and some tables and chairs, and that was it.

As luck would have it, the next day her Royal Highness, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands showed up unexpectedly and requested to have her photograph made with Sarge. The Office of Public Information was frantic.  There were no photographers anywhere!  ”Where’s that kid with the camera?” demanded Matthews. I was right there. “I’m right here,” I said and was summarily rushed into Sarge’s office where he was shaking hands with HRH.  Anyone could have made a fine picture of this best-looking pair.  Beatrix wanted to be a hippy but she was every inch a princess as well, and Sarge as everyone knows is one great looking man.  I took a few snaps and that was it. I vaguely remember getting the film processed at a local lab, and bringing them back to the office.  They turned out swell.

I wasn’t hired yet, but over the next week or so I did several more photographic ‘favors’ for whoever wanted a snap.

When it seemed after all that I was going to hang around purposefully, they signed me up.  I was a GS-7, which was the standard rate for a staff photographer of an agency. A couple of weeks later I was a GS-5.  The Corps needed to hire more writers and they wouldn’t work for the kind of money that was left, so I agreed to take less of a salary so the agency could stay within budget. I didn’t care. I wasn’t in it for the money — I was a starry-eyed idealist, and so it seemed was everybody else around there.

As well as portraits of the staff for PR purposes (we called it Public Information), there were dozens of pamphlets to illustrate. On training, on Shriver, on our history.

This picture I submit here is Sarge at a Congressional Hearing on the Peace Corps budget. The young aide to Sarge’s right is Bill Moyers.

You got to love this. The International Mondays seminar series–sponsored by The University of Iowa International Programs and the Iowa City Public Library–is having this coming Monday, March 1, i.e, Peace Corps Day! A  forum on the Peace Corps that will feature RPCVs. It’s called : Life is Calling: Examining the Peace Corps after 49 Years
And at noon, for an hour. They are meeting in Room A, but the  best is that the contact desk is the “Fiction Desk!”
The forum is open to the public.Call  Carly Andrews for details. Her email is:  carly-andrews@uiowa.edu

 The panelists, all Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, will discuss their specific experiences in the Peace Corps as well as examine the history and politics of the institution and its work around the globe. Panelists: Carly Andrews, facilitator, International Programs Outreach Coordinator Fran Boyken, moderator, RPCV Philippines and UI Peace Corps Campus Representative Rebecca Arnold, RPCV Madagascar and Tanzania and UI Master of Public Health student Ken Atkinson, RPCV Ethiopia and Professor Emeritus, Mathematics Scott McNabb, RPCV Thailand and Associate Professor of Education

Gary L. Garrison (Tunisia 1966-69) the Assistant Director, Asia, of the Institute of International Education dropped me a note to let me know of “opportunities for international teaching and research available in the Fulbright Scholar Program during the 2011-12 academic year.  Open to writers, college and university faculty and independent professionals, the program seeks qualified candidates to teach in higher education institutions in countries worldwide. We value the experience and expertise of former Peace Corps Volunteers who wish to participate in another great international program, the Fulbright Program.  Writers have held teaching or research awards in recent years in places such as India, Korea, Philippines, Lesotho, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Romania, Russia, Hungary, Brazil, Colombia and many others.  I hope your Peace Corps writers (and teachers) will consider joining them as Fulbright Scholars.” You can check by countries at http://catalog.cies.org/index.aspx.

The Fulbright Scholar Program and Fulbright Humphrey Fellowship Program are administered by the Institute of International Education’s Department of Scholar and Professional Programs, which includes the Council for International Exchange of Scholars and Humphrey divisions. You can also go to: scholars@iie.org or 202-686-4000 or visit www.iie.org/cies.

According to a front page article in The New York Times this morning there is a new mini-series about John F. Kennedy’s presidency being written for the History channel, and while there is no cast or footage yet, those who know anything about JFK want the script stopped. 

The reason being, they say, the “Kennedys” screenplays contain many factual errors, some benign, some outrageous.” For example, one mistake that hits close to home to all of us is that the script has President Kennedy introducing the Peace Corps during the Bay of Pigs crisis in April 1961, when in fact JFK signed an executive order creating the agency one month earlier.

The mini-series, called “The Kennedys,” is being produced by  Joel Surnow, a political conservative. Kennedy scholars say the script offers a portrait of the president and his  family that is, at best, inaccurate, and at worst, a hatchet job.

Mr. Kronish, the script writer, says that some factual details, like the date that the Peace Corps was established, were changed for concision or dramatic license, but not with malicious intent.

“This is not a documentary. It is a dramatization.” As the author, Mr. Kronish said, it was his job to “take these people off the dusty pages of history and make them come alive.”

Fine, I’m all for creativity, but if you want to move ”dates” for dramatic purposes, move the Cuban invasion. After all, it wasn’t a success, but the Peace Corps is!

Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams should write a letter to the New York Times expressing the concerns the agency and RPCVs have about anyone jerking around with Peace Corps facts. I suggest that you all email Allison Price, the Peace Corps Director of Communications, with the suggestion that she draft a letter for Aaron  to sign and send asap to the New York Times. Her email is aprice@peacecorps.gov. And while you’re at it, send your own letter to the Times.

Within the RPCV crowd from those early days there is a lot of joshing about who was first in Training, first in-country, first on the job. Mostly the discussion (argument?) goes on with RPCV from Ghana, Tanganyika, Colombia, and the Philippines. (The rest of us couldn’t care less.)

But for the record:
Colombia I started Training on 6/25/61 (48 Trainees)
Tanganyika on 6/25/61 (35 Trainees)
Ghana on 7/2/61 (51 Trainees)
Nigeria I on 7/24/61 (39 Trainees)
Nigeria II on 9/18/61 (24 Trainees)
Nigeria III on 9/20/61 (45 Trainees)
Sierra Leone on 11/7/61 (32 Trainees)
Philippines I on 7/13/61 (272 Trainees in 4 Training Projects)
Philippines II on 8/25/61
Philippines III on 12/7/61
Philippines IV on 3/29/62
Thailand on 10/9/61 (45 Trainees)
Chile on 7/20/61 (45 Trainees)
St. Lucia on 8/1/61 (15 Trainees)
India on 10/1/61 (26 Trainees)
Pakistan-West 9/15/61 (28 Trainees)
Pakisten-East 8/30/61 (29 Trainees)
Malaya I 10/16/61 (67 Trainees)

We also know that Ghana arrived first overseas, landing in Accra on September 1, 1961, so they can claim that record.

But who was the very first PCV? Who was #000001?

That’s a harder question to answer, but one person, a Volunteer who went to the Philippines, has a pretty good claim to the honor, and thanks to Maureen Carroll (Philippines 1961-63; PC/Staff  DC 1963-68; CD/Botswana 1991-93; PC/Staff DC 1993-99) who alerted me, I found through emails RPCV Pera Daniels (Philippines 1961-63) who lives in Nevada and he wrote to say, “There are many definitions of the “first” volunteer so I am careful in talking about it.”

Nevertheless, this is the story that Pera tells, all these years later, and it is an interesting tale to tell when someone asks: “How did you get into the Peace Corps?”

“In January, 1961,” Pera wrote me, “I had completed all my course work for a BA degree at San Francisco State College.  I took a little longer to graduate than most because I worked full time while going to school.   The brokerage firm that I worked for offered me a full time professional job at that time but I asked them to wait a couple of months so I could see our country.

“I hopped on a Greyhound bus and puddle-jumped across the country arriving in the D.C. area around the end of February or early March.  After a week of sightseeing, I saw an article in the Washington Post that the Peace Corps was opening an office on Lafayette Square.  Curious to discover what this organization was all about, I went to find out.

“I arrived early in the morning, and typical of the Peace Corps organization during those years, there was no office but a building and a moving truck.  As I recall there were two women who seemed to be in charge and they were moving these large boxes from the moving van to the third floor of this building.  Like a true volunteer, I offered to help.  Again, as I recall, there were three others like me, plus a Washington Post reporter.

“After we were interviewed and all the boxes were moved to the third floor, the other three ‘volunteers’ and I talked about what it would be like to join the Peace Corps.  They had all filled out applications before so they talked me into filling one out also.  It seems that the boxes we took upstairs contained all the applications.  So, I went back upstairs, filled out an application and placed it on top of the stack.  I can only assume that the next morning they started to process the applications and mine was entered as the first Peace Corps Volunteer.”

Now, of course, we are left with a new mystery: Who were those other three guys?

Shriver, it turns out, (at least according to Warren Wiggins) was not an easy man to work for. “I’m not the first to say that and I found that in the early days it was close to impossible working for Sarge,” Warren told me in our 1997 interview. “I failed to build a good relationship with him in that first period. It was so bad that I went to Jack Bell, who worked for C. Douglas Dillon (the number two man in the State Department), and asked Bell to get me out of the Peace Corps. I couldn’t take it. Bell won’t let me quit. He told me the Peace Corps was too important. Then I went to lunch with Franklin Williams. I didn’t know him very well, but I liked him. I told him the story, how Shriver won’t see me. He won’t pay any attention to me. And Franklin said, ‘Warren, you’ve got to learn how to handle Sarge. You march into Sarge’s office and you just shoot off your mouth about what ought to be done and Sarge is sitting there and he doesn’t know what to do with you.  What you need to is relax with Sarge. Give him time, give him options.’ Franklin told me to write notes to Sarge and stop trying to see him. ‘Send him little missives,’ Franklin said. ‘And then Sarge can talk to Eunice, call Haddad, call anyone. Don’t force him to react when you’re in front of him and charged up and you know all this shit and you’re telling him what to do. Don’t ask for an appointment again. Just send him notes.’

It sounded like good advice to Wiggins and he began to send Sarge notes written out in longhand. They would come back by the next day with an answer. “It looked beautiful,” Wiggins summed up.

Wiggins, as the point person in the agency, had other problems with other people. I asked him about Harris Wofford, who had been with Shriver before the Peace Corps, and was in the Mayflower Hotel when Wiggins and Josephson arrived with their Towering Task idea.

“He was an enormous help to me personally,” Wiggins recalled. “He sat me down once and said, ‘Warren, you’ve got to learn how to say Father Ted.’”

Theodore Hesburgh, the president of Notre Dame, was called ‘Father Ted’ by everyone and he was important to Shriver, important to the Peace Corps, and the Peace Corps was training its first Volunteers for Chile at Notre Dame. Wiggins was to go to South Bend and sign the agreement.

“Harris said to me, ’We’re going to practice now.’ This is an absolutely true story. Wofford said, “Father Ted” and I said, “Father Ted.” ‘Say it again,’ said Wofford, ’say it again.’ And this was repeated and repeated until it became natural.

“I was a person of limited experience with Catholic priests and I was going out to Notre Dame and negotiate with Hesburgh (excuse me, Father Ted). Wofford walked me through an education process, and I’m indebted to the men.”

When Wiggins looked back at the agency from the advantage point of  1997, and recalls those first days, he said, “We caught the tenor of the times. Or maybe the tenor of the times caught us. The Peace Corps epitomized the New Frontier, Kennedy, and the mood of the country following the Eisenhower years. The Peace Corps caught the wind that was blowing in the land.

“If you want to be effective now you have to damn well know what winds are blowing. You can’t just come up with good ideas or good organizations or a group of good people. You’ve got to understand the country and the winds that are blowing in the country. If you want to run a little revolution, you can’t do it just because you are bright or able or dedicated or grouped together, or did things in the past.”

I asked him then if we didn’t have a Peace Corps, could we start one today?

“I think the answer is that society would not. We only have a Peace Corps now because it is there.”

The People In The Pews

Shriver in those first days was fond of talking about how his staff got to the Peace Corps. “Tom Mathews was on a skiing trip in Alta, Utah, when I called him. He arrived in Washington still wearing his ski boots. Gordon Boyce got a telegram and arrived the very next afternoon. At the time our payroll arrangement were slow and inadequate and most of these people worked for as long as three months without pay.”

The Peace Corps was a disorganized mess. When Lee St. Lawrence, Director of the Far East Regional Office, arrived he took one long look at the confusion and commented to no one in particular, “this place is all fouled up.” Then he wanted to know which desk was his.

Others came on ‘day one’ and stayed where Charlie Nelson, Willie Warner, Sally Bowles, Charlie Peters, John Corcoran, Nan McEvoy, John Alexander.

There were not many women in that first group of staff at 806 Connecticut Avenue, the Maiatico Building. Mary Ann Orlando was the only person Sarge brought with him from Chicago. Mary Ann worked with Sarge at the Merchandise Mart, and had been his secretary for 14 years. She carried the title of Confidential Assistant to the Director. Nancy Gore, daughter of Tennessee Senator Albert Gore, older brother of Al, was the assistant to the Associate Director for Planning and Evaluation. Nan Tucker McEvoy was the Deputy Director of Africa Programs. Her family owned the San Francisco Chronicle. Another young, recently graduate (from Smith) was Sally Bowles, the daughter of Chester Bowles. She started at the Peace Corps (unpaid) on March 1, 1961. Her title was Volunteer liaison officer in the Division of Volunteer Field Services (DVS). Dorothy Mead Jacobsen was an old government hand and the Chief of the Division of Personnel. A really terrific woman was Ruth Olson, Special Assistant to the Chief of the Division of Volunteer Field Support. Alice Gilbert was the Director of the Division of United Nations and International Agency Programs. Gordon Boyce brought her to the agency when she was working for a law firm in New York City. Then there was Betty Harris. You could write a whole book about Betty Harris at the Peace Corps.  I’m not sure what her title was, but when I was briefly (1964-65) in HQ, she seem to be involved with everything.

The talent that came to Washington was impressive. Besides skiers, mountain climbers, big-game hunters, prizefighters, football players, polo players and enough Ph. D’s (30) to staff a liberal arts college, there were 18 lawyers, of whom only four continued to work strictly at attorneys in the General Counsel’s office. (You would think with that many lawyers, the Peace Corps won’t have a chance of making good!)

At the beginning of the agency (certainly no longer) the Peace Corps was organized with the goal of one staff person for every ten Volunteers. During World War II 30 people were required to support every soldier on the front lines.

According to the U.S. Budget Office, as outlined in the 1st Annual Report to Congress for the Fiscal Year that ended on June 30, 1962, the cost per Volunteer for 1961 was $9,000 or $18,000 for two years. The cost was higher for the first year because of training and transportation.

On June 14, 1961, the first 12 Peace Corps trainees were selected.

By June 30, 1962, 1.077 Volunteers were already at work in 15 countries, and another 2,939 were in training or scheduled for training during the summer.

By June 30, 1962, agreements for Volunteers had been reached with 37 countries.

So, in the first full fiscal year, the Peace Corps recruited, selected, and trained Volunteers at the rate of approximately 240 per month and reached agreements at the rate of approximately three per month.

Not bad for a new agency. As Warren Wiggins would tell me, it couldn’t be done today.

[There is a plaque on the steps of the University of Michigan Student Union at Ann Arbor that reads: Here at 2:00 A.M. on October 14, 1960, John Fitzgerald Kennedy first defined the Peace corps. He stood at the place marked by the medallion and was cheered by a large and enthusiastic student audience for the hope and promise his idea gave the world.

In her book, Come As You Are: The Peace Corps Story, Coates Redmon tells what happened next: Kennedy was making an unannounced stop at the University of Michigan in the last month of his campaign for the presidency to rest up after his third debate with Richard Nixon. The Ann Arbor crowd had been gathering, by means of word of mouth, since the middle of the evening. Deborah Bacon, the dean of women at Michigan, knew of the visit and was ‘inspired’ to lift the ban that said women had to be in their dorms by midnight.

According to Mildred Jeffrey, Kennedy’s Michigan coordinator, “It was a serious crowd, minus the usual jumpers and screamers, and there were even some people with Nixon placard there. The Michigan faculty was at that time rather skeptical of Kennedy, by and large, and the insistence upon seeing him was something that throbbed.”

It was just a few minutes before 2:00 A.M. when Kennedy got out of his car and was led up the steps of the Student Union, and according to Mildred Jeffrey and others present at that moment, Kennedy immediately sense that the atmosphere was challenging and dicey. He thus opened with some light, teasing remarks but the late hour and the need to get to bed. This was greeted by muted giggles and hoots, suggestive whistles, a few disappointed moans, and the faintest sound of booing. Kennedy suddenly tightened his tone, raised his voice, and swung into this: “How many of  you are willing to spend ten years in Africa or Latin America or Asia working for the U.S. and working for freedom?…..”

Though began the Peace Corps. The University of Michigan will start the 50th Anniversary next fall with this fall event on the campus at Ann Arbor. Here is an early listing of events scheduled by John Greisberger (Afghanistan 1973-75) Director of the International Center, and others at the University:

Events
Looking forward to this year’s 50th anniversary, the university is planning many events, including a national symposium on the future of international service and a commemoration of Senator John F. Kennedy’s speech on the steps of the Michigan Union. 
The events that have been planned to date include:

• October 13
  National Symposium: The Future of International Service
  8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Blau Auditorium Ross School of Business
  This symposium kicks off a year-long series of events across the nation that will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. Sponsored by the U-M, the Brookings Institution, and the National Peace Corps Association. Registration required; Web streaming available.
• October 13
  Paul Theroux Speech
  7 p.m. Hatcher Library
  The American travel writer and novelist will discuss the impact of the Peace Corps on his life. Sponsored by LSA Theme Semester (”What Makes Life Worth Living”), Hatcher Graduate Library, and the International Center.
  October 13/14
  Challenges and Opportunities of International Service: A Student Symposium
  10 p.m. Oct 13 - 2 a.m. Oct 14 Michigan Union
  This student organized and led symposium will culminate at 2 a.m. with a ceremony on the steps of the Union (the same time and place JFK spoke 50 years earlier).
• October 14
  First Ceremony on Michigan Union steps
  2 - 2:30 a.m. Michigan Union steps
  Audio of JFK’s speech followed by remembrances of those who were there that night 50 years ago.
• October 14
  Second Ceremony on Michigan Union steps
  11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Michigan Union steps
  Participate in the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps with special guests.
• October 1 - 31
  U-M/Peace Corps Archival Exhibit
  Normal library hours - Hatcher Library
  Enjoy an archival exhibit of U-M student and faculty involvement in the creation of the Peace Corps.
• October 14
  Spending Your Days in Ghana: Responding to JFK’s Challenge
  1:30 - 5 p.m. Symposium: Michigan Union, Reception: UMMA
  JFK asked, “How many of you who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana?” Learn about the U-M’s long history-and exciting future-in Ghana during this Medical School sponsored symposium. Registration required; Web streaming available; reception to follow symposium.
• October 15
  Reception for U-M Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs)
  4:00 - 6:00 p.m. Hatcher Library
  U-M alumni are invited to a reception honoring their service as Peace Corps Volunteers.
• October 16
  Tailgate Party
  (prior to football game) President’s Venue
  U-M alumni who are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers are invited to join President Mary Sue Coleman at her tailgate party prior to U-M’s Homecoming game.
• October 16
  Football Game/Program
  Michigan Stadium
  U-M-affiliated Returned Peace Corps Volunteers will be recognized during the Homecoming football game.
• October 1 - 31
  Peace Corps Photo Exhibit
  Normal Union hours, Michigan Union
  Enjoy a photo exhibit featuring five decades of U-M alumni experiences in the Peace Corps.
• October-November
  International Film Series
  Residential College
  Course registration required.
• November 10
  Provost’s Seminar on Educating Globally Competent Students
  1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Michigan League
  Sponsored by the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching for U-M faculty members.

“We want to acknowledge U-M’s long history and commitment to volunteerism and service-learning, both in this country and abroad,” says John Greisberger, director of the International Center. “We also want to celebrate our student and faculty activism that helped create the Peace Corps, and encourage our currently enrolled students to consider various opportunities to engage with service learning.”

peace.corps@umich.edu
internationalcenter.umich.edu/peace

The only RPCV book that focuses exclusively on Peace Corps Training–that I know about– is Alan Weiss’ (Nigeria 1963-64) High Risk/High Gain published in 1968 by St. Martin’s Press. It is Alan’s account of  training at Columbia University in the summer of 1963. It is a funny, outrageous, and a sad book. 

In his book, Alan focuses on the elaborate system  ’someone’ at the Peace Corps had created, a series of rating from High Risk/Low Gain to Low Risk/High Gain. All of the PCVs in those early years was so graded in our Peace Corps Training report card. A year after my tour in Ethiopia I returned to Addis Ababa as an APCD. In the office files, in the old Point Four building, I discovered in a bottom file cabinet drawer a copy of how the psychologists back in Georgetown Training had evaluated all of us, the first PCVs to Ethiopia. I went down the long list of some 275 PCVs and found my name and my rating. It surprised me. I hadn’t thought the shrinks were watching me that closely.

Alan Weiss was classified as High Risk/High Gain. He didn’t have a happy time in Training, or really much of a happy time in Africa. On the last page, he writes,  ”The sick circus of training behind us, we would go to Africa.”

Weiss was a troubled soul who had as many enemies as he had friends and he lasted about a year in Nigeria, then ETed so that he could marry the girl he left behind in Chicago. He never published another book besides his tale of Peace Corps Training, though he tried to be a writer and published a few short piece. He also started work on a book about Nigeria. 

Years after the Peace Corps, years after he was married,  he was a writer-in-residence at the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference in Middlebury, Vermont. While there he read a piece he had written about attending a lecture by Malcolm X while he was in Nigeria. He wrote later, ”about 100 people listened to my reading  and it got an electrified response. Rocking response.”

Late one night while at Breadloaf  he drove into town and had an accident. He smashed his van into a bridge abutment. The van was totaled and he went into a coma. He recovered, seemed normal, but after a few months he became manic. He then became depressed. Nine months later on March 10, 1971 he shot a bullet through his heart. He was 33.