Celebrating 50 Years of Peace Corps
in Ashland, Oregon

March 1
“Peace Corps: Still wonderful after all these years”
A recruiting event at SOU campus
5 pm Rogue River Room, Stevenson Union, Ashland
Contact Sarah Kassel 503/720-7074

March 3
Celebrating Peace Corps — Open House no-host reception
A Grants Pass celebration for RPCVs friends and family
5:30–7:30 pm at TapRock Northwest Grill in Grants Pass
Contact Amy Wilson 541/218-7085

March 6
“50 Years of Stories: Peace Corps at 50″
No-host, open mike reception
A celebration for RPCVs friends and family
2–5 pm Standing Stone Brewery
Contact Sue Crader or Leslie VanGelder 541/488-4208

July 4
Fourth of July parade, Ashland Oregon
RPCVs will go all out with country of service costumes, regalia, flags, etc

Summer
Music on the Half Shell — Peace Corps gathering
A special invite for RPCVs and friends to gather at a world music concert
as part the outdoor concert series hosted in Roseburg
Contact Sue Crader asetu@q.com

Fall
Possibility for a benefit concert
Contact Leslie VanGelder to offer help planning 541/488-4208

This program will be presented on March 1.

Secretary Shaun Donovan — Welcoming Remarks

Pres. Kevin Quigley, NPCA — Salute to All Who Have Served

Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams — Letter to HUD

Roger K. Lewis (Tunisia 1964–66), Fellow/American Institute of Architects, Washington Post Design & Urban Development Columnist

 [ It takes place at HUD HQ, Metrorail Stop "L'Enfant Plaza," on Tuesday., March 1, 2011 starting at noon. Everyone is welcomed to attend.  Non-Feds who plan to do so have to provide their names so that can  pass  HUD Security. Email:  Tino Calabia:   tino.m.calabia@hud.gov]

Even those born decades after the 1960s know who said, “. . . Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”  Since President John F. Kennedy spoke those words 50 years ago, over 200,000 Peace Corps Volunteers were inspired to answer his call, going on to serve in 139 countries around the globe.  Some three dozen former Volunteers now work in HUD.

Professor Roger K. Lewis will discuss his service as a young Volunteer, fresh out of M.I.T., assigned to Tunisia, a coastal country with an architectural legacy from Rome and, later, from 12 centuries of Arab-Islamic tradition.  But Tunisia was a country left desolate after several decades of colonialism and the hard-fought battles of World War II.  Upon arriving, Professor Lewis found no school of architecture and almost no Tunisian architects.  The vacuum seemed almost a dream to a newly-minted architect eager to practice his profession.

After returning to the U.S. and M.I.T., he earned an M.A. in architecture, helped to start the University of Maryland’s school of architecture where he began teaching.  He also designed and built homes, multi-unit housing developments, schools, art institutions, and commercial buildings, while winning many local and national awards.  Since 1984, his column, “Shaping the City,” has regularly appeared in the Washington Post.

Peace Corps at 50: Celebrating the Journey
A weekend of stories, music and food March 4 - 6, 2011

For those who have served as Peace Corps Volunteers, the journey only began when you completed your service.  To honor the past 50 years of Peace Corps and to celebrate its future, the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Colorado invite you to a weekend of stories, food and music. All Saturday and Sunday events will take place on the University of Denver (DU) campus.

Saturday, March 5th  Panel Discussions - 1:00pm to 5:15pm Reserve your spot via this invitation to listen to discussions on the following topics: • ”Peace Corps through the decades” or “Peace Corps and politics”• ”I was there when…” or “How the Peace Corps change our lives”• ”Future of Peace Corps” or “Adjusting to different cultures” Location: Sturm Hall - 2000 E. Asbury Ave., Denver, CO 80208

Interlude - 5:30pm to 6:45pm Appetizers and drinks 3rd Goal Showcase Location: Driscoll University Center- 2050-5 E. Evans Ave., Denver, CO 80208

Celebrating the Journey Gala - 7:00pm to 10:30pm

Please join us for an evening of food and music, as we celebrate Peace Corps! Musical guests will be Brazilian Samba/Bossa Nova/Villa Lobos pianist Thais Nicolau AND Kissidugu:  West African Percussion and Dance (visit their website HERE). Listen to live music, and if you haven’t had your 2 drinks - now is a time to indulge. We invite guests to dress in attire from their country of service, or whatever you want to wear to celebrate! Location: Driscoll University Center- 2050-5 E. Evans Ave., Denver, CO 80208

All proceeds of from Saturday’s celebration will go towards supporting the Clean Cookstove Project in El Salvador

Pre-Party

Friday, March 4th  Dine Around Denver - 5:30pm We invite you to join your fellow RPCVs from your region of service to dine at ethnic restaurants around Denver beginning at 5:30pm. (We encourage you to join the group with whom you served- ie, you served in Peru, you eat with the South America group.) To RSVP, please email the contact person listed below by February 28, 2011. Locations: Throughout Denver

Regions of Service Caribbean- Please contact Jenni Stanford at stanford.jenni@gmail.com Central America and Mexico- Please contact Sue Golding at goldingjs@comcast.net

South America- Please contact Dan Taubman at daniel.taubman@judicial.state.co.us

Eastern Europe and Central Asia- This dinner is now FULL, but please contact Arianne Burger at aburger@gmail.com if you want to be added to the wait list.

North Africa and the Middle East- Please contact Jon and Becky Bringewatt at jbringewatt@hotmail.com

Africa- Please contact Evan Roth at evanmroth@gmail.com Asia-Please contact Randy Monson at randall.monson@gmail.com The Pacific Islands- Please contact Casey Burnette at caseandcoop@gmail.com

Film “Shriver: An American Idealist” - 8:00pm Make it an evening on the town! We invite you to a screening of “Shriver: An American Idealist” showing at 8:20 at the Denver Film Society’s Colfax Film Center.  To purchase a discounted ticket, please visit the event site here. Location: 2510 East Colfax, Denver, CO 80206

Post-Party

Sunday, March 6th  Meditations on Peace - 9:30am The celebration continues on Sunday for all members. Please join your fellow RPCVs as University Chaplain, Rev. Gary R. Brower, Ph.D, leads a non-denominational service for peace. Location: Evans Chapel 2199 S. Vine St., Denver, CO 80208

Farewell brunch The DU Peace Corps Community will host a free brunch immediately following the Meditations on Peace service in the same location as the service. Location: Korbel school building- 2201 South Gaylord Street, Denver, CO 80208

Here is the link to make reservations and buy tickets:

http://www.rpcvcolorado.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66&Itemid=73

Thursday, March 17, at 7 p.m.
William G. McGowan Theater
The Early Years of the Peace Corps
In commemoration of the agency’s 50th anniversary, the National Archives will present a discussion on the creation and early history the agency. Chris Matthews (Swaziland 1968-70-will moderate. Panelists include Bill Moyers, former U.S. Ambassador Jack Hood Vaughn; and Senator Harris Wofford-all of whom held leadership roles during the agency’s early years. Aaron Williams will introduce the panel.

During the month of March, 2011, The National Archives Experience will also exhibit Executive Order 10924 by President Kennedy.

This program is a joint project of the Peace Corps and the National Archives and Records Administration, with promotional support by the Foundation for the National Archives.

For more information, go to www.archives.gov/dc-metro/events/

I’m told that there will also be a panel discussion at the Peace Corps office during the day with Bill Josephson, C. Payne, Mary Ann Orlando and Charlie Peters.

There are really four key people in the development of the agency. Mary Ann was the only person that Shriver brought with him from Chicago. She was, as they were called in that day, an executive secretary, and now would be an administrative assistant. But Mary Ann was much more than that with Shriver’s office. If you couldn’t get by her, forgetaboutit! you couldn’t see Sarge.

Josephson, as chief counsel, was also a ‘gatekeeper.’ Shriver sent everything to Josephson to be ‘cleared’ before it became policy or law or anything at all. And if Josephson didn’t like you,(and there were many, many people he didn’t like) he would eat you alive.

Charlie Peters was (and is) one of my heroes and after all these years you wanted to pick a person who ‘make a difference’ in the success of the Peace Corps, I would pick Charlie.

C. Payne Lucas (CD in Niger and Peace Corps/Washington, (authored with Kevin Lowther (Sierra Leone & PC/HQ1963-68) Keeping Kennedy’s Promise: The Peace Corps Unmet Hope of the New Frontier,) was an early CD in Africa and then returned to HQ. Later C. Payne founded Africare. Lucas and Lowther wrote in their 1978 book that the Peace Corps was developed too rapidly, that the whole ‘idea’ of developing the agency quick and big was a BIG mistake by Shriver. But the Peace Corps has a big tent, as the Republicans like to say, and after all of these years there is still room for C. Payne and Kevin. Kevin is actually a good friend.

Harper College 50^th Anniversary Peace Corps Event

Hosted by International Studies and
Programs at Harper College.

Featured guest speaker:
John Deever
When the World Calls:
Service as a Path to Success

John Deever taught English as a member of the first group of teachers sent by the Peace Corps to the newly independent country of Ukraine and is the author of Singing on the Heavy Side of the World.

Thursday, March 3, 2011
Reception begins at 6 p.m. 
Speaker begins at 6:45 p.m.
Wojcik Conference Center at Harper College
1200 West Algonquin Rd., Palatine, IL 

Please RSVP by February 25 to rjohnson@harpercollege.edu

March 3, 2011 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

Former Peace Corps Volunteers Sarah Chayes, Chris Dodd, Elaine Jones, Joe Kennedy III and Paul Theroux share their memories of serving and how their experiences changed their lives. Stanley Meisler, author of When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years, moderates. http://www.jfklibrary.org/Events-and-Awards/Forums.aspx.

Peace Corps 50th Anniversary

In 50 years, more than 3,400 alumni of Berkeley have served overseas, ranking the campus #1 in the nation for producing Peace Corps volunteers. On the Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary, Cal reflects on this legacy of international service and renews the call for the next generation of Peace Corps volunteers.

Events

Peace Corps 50th Anniversary Symposium & Celebration 

Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011
International House at UC Berkeley
2299 Piedmont Ave, Berkeley, CA 94720

1PM - 6PM: Symposium on the Peace Corps’ past & future (Free - please register online)

6PM - 10PM: Peace Corps Reunion and Celebration ($15 or free for members of the Northern California Peace Corps Association)

Story Corps, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to recording, preserving, and sharing the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs, will visit the University of Wisconsin-Madison from March 24-26 as part of ”Peace Corps and Africa: 50 Years.” 

StoryCorps and the African Studies Program, will record three days of interviews with former volunteers.

Abby Lesnick, the project’s coordinator for StoryCorps, says,  ”the Peace Corps and Africa event is the perfect opportunity to capture powerful conversations about lives transformed.”

StoryCorps interviews are 40-minute conversations between two people who know each other well, or want to get to know each other better. A trained StoryCorps facilitator guides the participants through the interview process. At the end of each recording session, participants receive a complimentary CD copy of their interview.

With their permission, a second copy is archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and at the Oral History Program at the University of Wisconsin Archives. Segments of select interviews may also air nationally on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

“The recorded human voice has the power to engage, to enlighten, and inspire. The stories we document with StoryCorps will provide a valuable archive of Wisconsin’s own voices to be shared with future generations, and also help trace Peace Corps histories spanning 50 years,” says Catherine Reiland, assistant director of the African Studies Program.

Other notable highlights of the “Peace Corps and Africa: 50 Years” program include talks and roundtables with Johnnie Carson, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; former U.S. Ambassadors Mark Green, John Lange, and John Campbell; founder of Africare C. Payne Lucas; and award-winning poet Sandra Meek.

To register for the conference (and be considered for participation in StoryCorps’ Madison) you must do so by March 1.

Peace Corps and Africa is hosted by the African Studies Program in partnership with the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Madison and with support of the UW-Madison Division of International Studies, the Wisconsin Alumni Association, Global Studies, the International Institute, the Morgridge Center for Public Service, Wisconsin Public Radio, and the Chicago Peace Corps Regional Recruitment Office. The event is open to the general public. Registration is required.

[Back in early August we reported on this blog that the African Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison would host a conference on the Peace Corps and Africa from March 24-26, 2011. The intent of the conference was to explore the impact of the United States Peace Corps in Africa and elsewhere, and on the lives of Americans who have served as volunteers or have been otherwise touched by the Peace Corps."

I received the schedule of events. It has shaped up to be an important Peace Corps event, once again done by RPCVs outside of Washington, D.C.]

Thursday March 24

2:30pm       Conference welcome desk opens (Memorial Union)
4:00pm        Load Buses at Memorial Union for Welcoming Event at Promega 
4:30-6:30 pm       Welcome Reception at the Promega Art Gallery 
6:45pm      Load Buses for return to Memorial Union 
8:30pm     Conference welcome desk closes

Friday, March 25

7:30am Conference welcome desk opens (Memorial Union)
8:30am Plenary 1

Peace Corps: The Early Years 
William Josephson co-author, Peace Corps blueprint The Towering Task
C. Payne Lucas Peace Corps Asst. Dir., Togo (62-71), AfriCare founder
Bob Klein Peace Corps Volunteer, Ghana I. Author of Being First          

10:45am-12:00pm SESSION I

Peace Corps: The Very First Years
C. Payne Lucas, Bill Josephson, and Bob Klein

Peace Corps Perceptions: Text, National Identity, Landscapes
Lynne Heasley, Chris Duvall, and Heidi Frontani

From Isolation to the Daily Skype: Volunteers Communicating with Home
Cynthia Moore, Jonathan Blanchard, Colin Casey

Writing Peace Corps (1): Readings by Writers
Katherine Case, Erica Bleeg, Bonnie Lee Black

Stories of Service (1): Peace Corps Teachers
Sydney Kling, Rebecca Lorentzen, Maria Moreno

African Perspectives of the Peace Corps
Abdi Samatar, Samuel Gyasi Obeng, Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol

West African Linkages
Judy Lamm Figi, Mary Kay Diakite, Judy Reed

12:00 pm Communities of Service

Meet others with an interest in a particular country or region to reflect on Peace Corps service in particular places.

12:45pm Lunch 

Featuring African cuisine

2:00pm-3:15pm  SESSION II

Niger’66: A Peace Corps Diary
A film by Judy Irola

Stories of Service (2): Peace Corps in the 21st Century
Caroline Anderson, Taylar Foster, Brianna Zeigler

African Politics and African International Relations Today
African Politics and African International Relations Today

Returned Volunteers: Staying Connected and Inspired
Kate Schachter, Orelia Busch, Kristin Johnson

Kate Schachter, Orelia Busch, Kristin Johnson
Chris Colizza, Lydia & Wilfred Ngwa, Joanna Dane

Textiles
Mary Hark

3:30pm Plenary 2

Peace Corps: Diplomatic & Policy Perspectives
Mark Green, former United States Ambassador to Tanzania
John Lange, former United States Ambassador to Botswana
John Campbell, former United States Ambassador to Nigeria

6:30pm Distinguished Lecture: Johnnie Carson

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

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Saturday, March 26

9:00am Plenary 3

Returned Volunteers in Action
Tom and Ruth Nighswander, Malawi Children’s Village
Brian Singer, Project Zawadi
John Lange, Global Health Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 
Don Gray,

10:45 am-12:00pm SESSION III

Reconceptualizing Education in African Contexts: Education and Research Informed by Local Knowledges
A film by Judy Irola

Returned Volunteers in Action
A roundtable with Brian Singer, Tom and Ruth Nighswander, John Lange, and Don Gray

Writing Peace Corps (2): Readings by Four Poets
Sandra Meek, Derick Burleson, Susan Rich, Ann Neelon

Peace Corps Oral History
Bob Klein, Angene Wilson, Doug Boyd

Stories of Service (3): How Peace Corps changes lives
John Johnson, Karri Bartlett, Brenda Petta, James Quirin

Scaling up: From local service to international development
Elizabeth Greene, Dechen Albero, Michael Buckler

12:00 pm Lunch

Featuring African cuisine

1:30pm-3:15pm SESSION IV

Every Peace Corps Experience is its Own
Jonathan Zimmerman, Jim Jones, Mark Canavera

Writing Peace Corps (3) Readings by Two Creative Writers
Kara Garbe Balcerzak, Ephrat Livini

Peace Corps Response: A New opportunity for former volunteers 
Representatives from Peace Corps Response

From Peace Corps Training Director to the UW Faculty: A Profile of the Joseph F. Kauffman
Marcia Kauffman Krasnow

Peace Corps Re-connections
Ernie Zaremba and colleagues

African Dance and Movement
Lessons with instructors

3:15 pm Peace Corps March

Gather under flags to process to the Orpheum Theater on State Street

4:00pm Plenary 4

Talking Peace Corps 
Celebrating 50 years of the Peace Corps and the Wisconsin Idea Abroad
Stories, film, and celebration, featuring:

Aaron Williams, Director of the Peace Corps
Harold Scheub, Professor of African Oral and Written Literatures, UW-Madison
Sandra Meek, Peace Corps poet
Susan Rich, Peace Corps poet
Derek Burleson, Peace Corps poet
Ann Neelon, Peace Corps poet
Alhaji Umar N’jai, radio personality
Dan Banda, Emmy-awarding winning filmmaker

8:00pm The Ultimate Peace Corps Party

An evening of dance, celebration, and performance

Tamar Schiffman Lechter, the President of the RPCV/Washington, D.C. group, sent an email around at the end of 2010 asking for funding to help pay for a memorial service for fallen PCVs at the Arlington Cemetery Amphitheater. Included in this service is a  ’silent vigil’ to JFK’s grave site, and a march back across Memorial Bridge to the Mall. All of this is to take place on Sunday morning, September 25, 2011.

Such a memorial service has been done before when RPCVs gathered in D.C., going back to 1965 and the first ‘reunion’ of Peace Corps Volunteers. It is a wonderful gesture and something we all fully support.

The Washington, D.C. RPCVs have been ‘tasked’ with organizing this ceremony by the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) as the NPCA doesn’t have the manpower or money to plan or pay for it. The Peace Corps agency is not helping out, as far as I have been told. So, Tamar Schiffman Lechter is e-mailing and asking for $$$. God love her! Thank you, Tamar, and thanks to the RPCVs in D.C. for doing all this work.

There is only one problem that might–in my opinion–turn the memorial ceremony into a massive pile up on the bridge to Washington. Here’s what I mean.

Tamar wrote in her December 2010 email:

On September 25, 2011, RPCV/W will host a 90 minute program at Memorial Amphitheater followed by a silent procession to Kennedy’s grave, paying tribute to his vision. We will then march together in a parade of flags, across the Arlington Memorial Bridge. (back into D.C.)

Having attended these ’services’ at Arlington going back to 1965 I am firmly convinced the DC group is doing this ‘march thing’ assbackwards.  

At the giant 25th Reunion about six thousand RPCVs gathered on the Mall. They carried flags and walked over Memorial Bridge, from the Mall to Arlington Cemetery, following Shriver, Ruppe and dozens of others dignitaries. They marchers stopped briefly at Kennedy’s grave site and laid a wreath, and then when onto the Amphitheater for the service that Bill Moyers directed. It was a warm September morning, as I recall, and the service lasted over an hour, with all of us sitting out in the sun. Then everyone headed back to the Mall on foot, by subway, and in cars. Everyone wanted to get out of the early heat of Washington, D.C.

I’m told by several of the people directly involved in the planning for 2011 that while they have asked President Obama to appear they think (rightly) he will send someone to speak for him at Arlington. The planners have sketched out a general program (nothing too exciting, I might add, at the 25th). The planners were very clear that after this 90-minutes program, they will organize the RPCVs in a silent procession to Kennedy’s grave.

Hello?

Have they no experience with RPCVs? After 90-minutes of  sitting in the sun, a crowd of say 10,000 RPCVs, plus family, plus kids! none of them are going silently into the good day! Also, they won’t be easily organized around host country flags in an area the size of the Peace Corps building?

If I were them, I’d re-think this arrangement.

These Organizers from what I know have never been to previous events it appears. They are also using as their ‘touchstone’ the last two reunions, where the march went backwards toward the Mall, and where there was a smaller gathering. Fair enough.  They are not, as far as I can see, considering the large number of RPCVs planning to come to the 50th Anniversary in September. 

I might be way wrong on this one, but all of us old farts remember what it was like that Sunday morning twenty-five years ago. After sitting out for 90-minutres, very few RPCVs will be in the mood to be ‘organized’ or to ‘march.’

I would suggest that Tamar Schiffman Lechter and her march planners speak with Roger Landrum and the other RPCVs from D.C. who ran that reunion on the Mall under the big tent twenty-five years ago. It won’t hurt to hear what they think.

I do want to  compliment these new, young RPCVs for stepping up and taking on this important ceremony of remembering the PCVs who died overseas in service to the Peace Corps. Thank you.