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Reservations for Peace Corps Writers Library of Congress Luncheon
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First Official Event of the 50th Peace Corps Anniversary and Celebration for Peace Corps Writers
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Review of Don Messerschmidt's (Nepal 1963-65) Big Dogs of Tibet and the Himalayas
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The Wilsons record Voices of Kentucky RPCVs in new book
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Congressman Ted Poe Takes On The Peace Corps
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AWP Peace Corps Poets
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Another Peace Corps Guide Book
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Meisler talks about his new Peace Corps book at Politics & Prose
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Larry Leamer's (Nepal 1965-67) Goes After the Coal Industry
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And the Oscar for the Best Peace Corps Film goes to…..
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“In, Up, and Out” – Then and Now
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Review of Robert Klein's Being First
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Father of the PCV
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Peace Corps Poets at AWP Conference
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Ludlam/Hirschoff Plan to Save the Peace Corps

Reservations for Peace Corps Writers Library of Congress Luncheon

A Peace Corps Writers Luncheon will be held on Thursday, September 22, in the Library of Congress to celebrate the establishment of the Peace Corps Collection at the Library. The luncheon guests will include Peace Corps writers who have published books about their Peace Corps experience, and invited friends of our newsletter and websites who have supported us over the years. Because seating is limited, reservations must be made. Writers whose books qualify to be included in the Library of Congress Peace Corps Collection (click here for details) should contact Marian Haley Beil to R.S.V.P. no later than July 1, 2011 (or until the dining room reaches its capacity, whatever comes first). She will prepare a listing of those attending that will be posted at Peace Corps Worldwide>Peace Corps Writers. To make a reservation, writers should email Marian at marian@haleybeil.com with the following information — I will be attending the Peace . . .

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First Official Event of the 50th Peace Corps Anniversary and Celebration for Peace Corps Writers

DURING THE WEEKEND CELEBRATION of Peace Corps’ 50th Anniversary, September 22-25, the Library of Congress will honor Peace Corps writers – both Volunteers and staff – who have published books about their Peace Corps experience with a display of their books of poetry, fiction, memoirs, and photography. Each book (whether academic, commercial or self-published but must have an ISBN number) will then become part of a new permanent Peace Corps Collection of the Library of Congress. In addition, the Library will establish a link from their web site to the Bibliography of Peace Corps Writers created by Marian Haley Beil (Ethiopia 1962-64), publisher of Peace Corps Worldwide. To celebrate this special occasion, a luncheon will be held on Thursday, September 22, in the Library hosted by Congressman John Garamendi (Ethiopia 1965-67) and his wife, Patricia (Ethiopia 1965-67). Co-hosts for the luncheon, with Patricia and John Garamendi, will be Marian Haley Beil, publisher of . . .

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Review of Don Messerschmidt's (Nepal 1963-65) Big Dogs of Tibet and the Himalayas

Big Dogs of Tibet and the Himalayas by Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963–65) Orchid Press October 2010 266 pages Reviewed by Tony D’Souza (Ivory Coast 2000-02, Madagascar 2002-03) Don Messerschmidt’s Big Dogs of Tibet and the Himalayas is a good example of a lifelong passion distilled into print. The title describes what the book contains: a lengthy and detailed analysis of large Tibetan dogs. An anthropologist and Himalayan specialist, Messerschmidt served in the Peace Corps in Nepal in the 1960s, was aware of the existence of an almost “mythical” breed of large dogs that were companions and protectors of Tibetan yak herdsman. He spent a considerable amount of his free time during service — and indeed the rest of his life — finding and pursuing a deeper understanding of these animals. The focused subject matter of Big Dogs is not for everyone, but canine and Himalaya fans will welcome the addition . . .

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The Wilsons record Voices of Kentucky RPCVs in new book

Voices from The Peace Corps: Fifty Years of Kentucky Volunteers by Angene Wilson and Jack Wilson (Liberia 1962–64) The University of Kentucky Press $35.00 400 pages March 2011 Reviewed by P. David Searles (CD Philippines 1971–74; Regional Director NANEAP and Deputy Director Peace Corps HQ 1974–76). HERE IS A BOOK THAT TELLS THE PEACE CORPS STORY in the most meaningful way one can imagine: using the voices of Volunteers who have served in many countries at different times to collectively present a picture of the Peace Corps experience that has the ring of truth to it. What one reads in the book are the heartfelt reminiscences of dozens of former Volunteers as they discuss their personal experiences relative to eleven topics selected by the authors, beginning with “Why We Went” (the title of Chapter 1), then on through “training,” “settling in,” “jobs,” and all of the other aspects of Peace . . .

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Congressman Ted Poe Takes On The Peace Corps

[Republican Congressman Ted Poe of Texas later this month, or early next month, will begin a series of Hearings on the Hill about PCVs being attacked and raped. Here is the speech he gave today, February 9, 2011, on the Hill.] ROLL CALL OF THE PEACE CORPS VICTIMS Washington, Feb 9 – Mr. Speaker, I want to address an important issue that has come to light recently. It has to do with the wonderful group of volunteers that serve in the United States Peace Corps. The Peace Corps was the idea of John F. Kennedy. He went to the University of Michigan way back in 1960, and he started encouraging those college students to get involved in other countries and helping those countries in their social development and their cultural development in the name of peace. A wonderful idea. When he became President in 1961, President Kennedy signed an Executive order establishing the . . .

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AWP Peace Corps Poets

I went to the Association of Writers & Writers Programs last week in Washington, D.C. I sat in on a panel featuring  Peace Corps poets. The panel was entitled, Broadening the Poet’s Vision Through the Peace Corps Experience. A small group of RPCV poets, gathered by Virginia Gilbert (Korea 1971-73), addressed a small crowd of mostly women graduate students and young academics, all would-be poets and professors. Nice people. The published Peace Corps poets on the panel were an impressive lot, all award winners themselves: Sandra Meek (Botswana 1989-91); John Isles (Estonia 1992-94); Ann Neelon (Senegal 1978-79); Derick Burleson (Rwanda 1991-93), plus Virginia.  I had never met any of them before, though Virginia and I have a passing connections after all these years, and I know, by emails, Ann and Sandra. The panel discussion took place in mid-afternoon in one of those endless mall meeting rooms of this huge downtown D.C. hotel. About 30 attended . . .

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Another Peace Corps Guide Book

Last month, in our January listings of new books by RPCVs, we listed the 2nd edition of  Dillon Banerjee (Cameroon 1994-96) book: The Insider’s Guide to the Peace Corps: What to Know Before You Go, published by Ten Speed Press. Then yesterday in the mail I got a copy of  The Complete Guide to Joining the Peace Corps: What you need to know explained simply. (Real simply!) It was complied by someone named Sharlee DiMenichi, who wasn’t a PCV, though she taught in China, and it has a short foreword by Shannon Heintz (Kenya 2005-07). On the back of the book, Jennifer Zweigbau (Mauritania 1989-90) writes, “Had this book been around in 1988 when I first joined the Peace Corps, it would have alleviated a lot of the guess-work.” (I don’t think so, Jen.) This ‘complete guide book’ was mailed to me with a scrap of paper that said it was published by . . .

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Meisler talks about his new Peace Corps book at Politics & Prose

For those of you living in the DC area, Stan Meisler will be talking about his new book, When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years, at Politics and Prose — 5015 Conn. Ave. NW, Washington — on Sunday, February 27, at 5 p.m.

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And the Oscar for the Best Peace Corps Film goes to…..

BACK IN 1965-67, the Peace Corps had the idea of letting two RPCVs make a film about being in the Peace Corps. I’m not quite sure how it all came about, but I’m guessing the idea had the encouragement of Harris Wofford, then an Associate Director of the agency, and the film was made by two Nigeria One RPCVs: Roger Landrum (Nigeria 1961–63) and David Schickele (Nigeria 1961–63). The film was called Give Me a Riddle. The Peace Corps was planning to use it for recruitment. Well, when RPCVs make a movie of their experiences, let me tell you, the agency is never going to use it for recruitment. Give Me a Riddle was too honest a representation of Peace Corps Volunteers life overseas; the agency couldn’t handle it. I was thinking about Give Me a Riddle last  night as I watched Niger’66: A Peace Corps Diary. It was done by two Niger Volunteers, . . .

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“In, Up, and Out” – Then and Now

What if returning Peace Corps Volunteers had run the agency from the earliest days? Would it have made a good and great difference? I say, “Absolutely!”  What do you think?  Read what the author of the original “In, Up, and Out” wrote in 1961 and says now. Dr. Robert Textor, Editor of “Cultural Frontiers of the Peace Corps“,  was a young anthropologist when Peace Corps hired him in the Spring of 1961. During his  tenure, he helped design the training programs for Malaya One and other Far East operations. He also worked on the Talent Search to find talented Americans to become country “Representatives.” Almost as a “participant observer” of the emerging Peace Corps culture, he turned his trained eye on its developing programs.  And from that perspective, he wrote the original memo advocating an “In, Up, and Out” policy for the Peace Corps, which became the basis for the . . .

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Review of Robert Klein's Being First

Being First: An Informal History of the Early Peace Corps by Robert Klein (Ghana 1961–63) Wheatmark, Inc $19.95 182 pages 2010 Reviewed by Kevin Lowther (Sierra Leone 1963–65) GHANA I — Peace Corps groups were Roman-numeraled in the early years  — began with 58 trainees at the University of California at Berkeley. It was July 1961, four months after President John F. Kennedy asked R. Sargent Shriver to establish the Peace Corps. The 58 guinea pigs and their trainers were all too aware that the experiment could rise or fall on the basis of their performance. “That challenge,” Robert Klein writes in Being First, “created a sense of uniqueness which has lasted through the years.” Fifty years, of course, and counting. Klein was a 32-year-old teacher in Harlem when he volunteered. Kennedy’s summons “added a moral dimension” to Klein’s “restless romanticized adventurism.” The group supposedly had been sifted through a . . .

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Father of the PCV

Charlie Putnam’s (Ecuador 1979-82) daughter went  into the Peace Corps this week. Charlie wrote to say that his daughter calls herself a “Peace Corps Brat.” Charlie met his wife in Ecuador in 1980. This “Peace Corps Putnam Brat went to stating in D.C. this last Monday.  The 20/20 stories on the murder of Kate Puzey, the sexual assaults of female volunteers and the interview of Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff have all aired as she, and her group, got ready to leave the U.S. Charlie wrote me, “a number of her friends called her before she left for Staging to ask if she had seen the 20/20 series. In a phone conversation with her mom and me last night our daughter reported that Aaron Williams had attended the Staging and met with the Trainees as part of their security briefing. My daughter didn’t remember exactly what Mr. Williams said, but reported that she was favorably impressed by him. . . .

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Peace Corps Poets at AWP Conference

A group of RPCV poets, gathered by Virginia Gilbert (Korea 1971-73), will have a panel discussion entitled,” Broadening the Poet’s Vision Through the Peace Corps Experience” at the 2011 Annual Conference of the Assocation of Writers & Writing Programs on February 2-5, 2011.  The panel is scheduled (subject to changes, of course) on Thursday from 1:30-2:45 in the Harding Room of the Marriott Wardman Park, (Mezzanine Level). Here are the details, if  you are attending the conference: R167. Broadening the Poet’s Vision Through the Peace Corps Experience. (Virginia Gilbert (Korea 1971-73); Sandra Meek (Botswana 1989-91); John Isles (Estonia 1992-94); Ann Neelon (Senagal 1978-79); Derick Burleson (Rwanda 1991-93). “How does a stint in the Peace Corps influence a writing life? This panel investigates the question of how living in a developing country as a volunteer contributes to the growth of a poetic voice. Five award-winning poets who served in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe discuss . . .

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Ludlam/Hirschoff Plan to Save the Peace Corps

On July 24, 2009, Chuck Ludlam (Nepal 1968–70; Senegal 2005–07) and Paula Hirschoff (Senegal 2005-07) sent then Peace Corps Director-Designate Aaron Williams a “Plan to Strengthen and Expand the Peace Corps: Priorities for President Obama’s First Term.” Chuck and Paula wrote in their introduction: This Twenty Point Plan to strengthen and expand the Peace Corps — drafted over four years by a couple of two-time Volunteers and circulated widely for comment within the Returned PCV community — proposes an ambitious road map for President Obama and Peace Corps Director-Designate Aaron Williams and his leadership team. The Ludlam/Hirschoff Plan is attached as a PDF file for those of you who have not seen it or heard about it. Photo: Paula Hirschoff and Chuck Ludlam on 20/20

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