April 15, 2010 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Mad Man Charlie Peters Comes To Washington, Part Three

Apr 15 2010

Arriving in D.C. and hired as a consultant to the General Counsel’s office, Charlie Peters first job for the Peace Corps was to negotiate with the government of Puerto Rico for the establishment of Camp Crozier at Rio Abajo. The only problem was that he had no idea how to do it. But as he said in Coates Redmon’s book, “In those days my zeal was going well past what I know I was doing.” Kenny O’Donnell, however, had advised Peters to get to know Bill Haddad at the Peace Corps because O’Donnell basically knew Charlie was going to need help in Washington. Haddard happened to have been in Shriver’s office when the White House called to recommend Peters to the agency. Haddard realized that if Bobby Kennedy was prepared to endorse Peters, Peters must be first rate. Haddad also guessed that Peters must have some secret connection to the White House that none of them . . .

Melanie Sumner (Senegal 1988-90) Writes Again!

Apr 15 2010

Melanie Sumner (Senegal 1988–90) published a wonderful collection of stories entitled Polite Society back in 1995 that are all set in Africa where she was a PCV. Next she wrote a novel, The School of Beauty and Charm in 2002. Now she is back again with a new book, The Ghost of Milagro Creek. It will be published in July of this year. Melanie is a character worthy of her own novel. She received a BA in religious studies in 1986 from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (where she studied with the late author Max Steele) and an MFA in creative writing in 1987 from Boston University. From 1988 to 1990 she was in Senegal, and then she lived in Alaska, New Mexico and Provincetown. She currently teaches creative writing at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. Her first book, Polite Society, won the Whiting Award, a regional award from Granta, and from PeaceCorpsWriters the . . .

Archive - April 15, 2010