July 30, 2010 – Peace Corps Worldwide

The Man Who Knows Publishing: Jason Boog (Guatemala 2000-02)

Jul 30 2010

Forget about Paul Theroux, Peter Hessler, Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, Tony D’Souza and all the other noted Peace Corps writers! If you want to know where publishing is headed, read what Jason Boog has to say. Jason is an RPCV who is ahead of the “publishing game” in New York City. I have been aware of Boog for a few years and watched him from a distance as he has successfully circumnavigated the deep, shark-infested waters of traditional Manhattan literary life. But who is this smart guy with the weird name, anyway? After spending two years on top of a mountain in Peace Corps Guatemala, Jason writes that he “chased the dream of every skinny Midwestern writer boy with glasses: to starve to death in New York City.” Today in New York, he is an editor of Mediabistro Publishing, where he “curates publishing events and helps with the digital publishing curriculum at mediabistro.com. He also edits Mediabistro blogs . . .

More About The New Peace Corps Report

Jul 30 2010

It should be noted that when Shriver and the others were developing the “Peace Corps” in the Mayflower Hotel it was Sarge who held the position that Peace–not Development–that was the overriding purpose, and the process of promoting it was necessarily complex. So the Peace Corps should learn to live with complexity that could not be summed up in a single proposition. Finally, the Task Force agreed on three. Goal One: It can contribute to the development of critical countries and regions. Goal Two: It can promote international cooperation and goodwill toward this country. Goal Three: It can also contribute to the education of America and to more intelligent American participation in the world. On the morning of Friday, February 24, 1961, Shriver delivered the report-the Peace Corps Magna Carta-to Kennedy and told him: “If you decide to go ahead, we can be in business Monday morning.” It had taken Shriver, Wofford, Wiggins, Josephson and . . .

Review of Torn in the South Pacific by Jeff Bronow (Fiji 1988-90)

Jul 30 2010

Reilly Ridgell is the author of the textbook Pacific Nations and Territories that has been in print continuously since 1983, and its elementary level version, Pacific Neighbors. He has also written Bending to the Trade Winds: Stories of the Peace Corps Experience in Micronesia, and has just released his first novel, Green Pearl Odyssey. He is currently a dean at Guam Community College. Here Reilly reviews Jeff Bronow’s Torn in the South Pacific. Torn in the South Pacific by Jeff Bronow (Fiji 1988–90) Publish America $24.95 246 pages January 2010 Reviewed by Reilly Ridgell (Micronesia 1971-73) I’M A SUCKER for books set in the tropical Pacific. I’ve read most from Melville to Stevenson, to London, to Maugham, to Burdick, to Frisbie, to Nordhoff, to Hall, to Michener, to Becke, to Stoddard, to Osbourne, to Russell, to Grimble — all making their best effort to explain, through their European or American . . .

July Books by Peace Corps Writers

Jul 30 2010

Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter by Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan 1996–97) Random House/Pantheon $22.95 201 pages June 2010 • Iracema’s Footprint (Peace Corps novel) by Bernard F. Blanche (Brazil 1965–67) Eloquest Books $21.95 460 pages April 2010 • Mosquito Operas: New and Selected Short Poems by Philip Dacey (Nigeria 1964–66) Rain Mountain Press $10.00 (from PublishersGraphicsBookstore.com) 73 pages July 2010

Archive - July 30, 2010