July 2010 – Page 3 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Review of RJ Huddy's(Morocco 1981–83) The Verse of the Sword

Jul 13 2010

Darcy M. Meijer was a Peace Corps EFL teacher in Gabon, and has taught ESL for the past 25 years. She is also the editor of the Gabon Letter, the quarterly newsletter of the Friends of Gabon. Currently she is working in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, and spends cool summers in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Here she reviews RJ Huddy’s first novel, The Verse of the Sword. • The Verse of the Sword R J Huddy (Morocco 1981–83) XPat Fiction September 2009 456 pages $17.50 Reviewed by Darcy M. Meijer (Gabon 1982–84) THE VERSE OF THE SWORD, RJ Huddy’s first novel, is a thoroughly enjoyable read. The book is funny, informative, and engaging on many levels. It’s time someone wrote a literary novel about the Middle East that faces religious extremism in a human, thoughtful way. Verse opens in an Intensive Care Unit in Boston, where . . .

Review of Reilly Ridgell's (Micronesia 1971-73) Green Pearl Odyssey

Jul 12 2010

Reviewer Bryant Wieneke’s (Niger 1974-76) is the Assistant Dean for Policy in the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of a series of peace-oriented suspense novels that are available for $10 each through his own micro publishing company at Peace Rose Publishing. • Green Pearl Odyssey Reilly Ridgell (Micronesia 1971–73) Blue Ocean Press $16.95 468 pages February 2010 Reviewed by Bryant Wieneke’s (Niger 1974–76) IF YOU LIKE SUSPENSE NOVELS set in exotic places, this is a good one. Scott Taylor, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Micronesia, witnesses the murder of his wife and brother by Page 10 of Green Pearl Odyssey. He exacts his revenge by Page 20. The remainder of the novel is devoted to the game of global hide-and-seek between Taylor and a crime kingpin obsessed with rubbing him out. Taylor’s odyssey begins in Majuro, the capital of . . .

Review of P.F. Kluge's new novel A Call from Jersey

Jul 08 2010

Patrick Chura is associate professor of English at the University of Akron and author of Vital Contact: Downclassing Journeys in American Literature from Melville to Richard Wright. His second book, Thoreau the Land Surveyor, is forthcoming in 2010. He recently returned to Lithuania as a Fulbright lecturer. Here he reviews P.F. Kluge’s new novel that is coming out this September. • A Call from Jersey by P. F. Kluge (Micronesia 1967-69) Overlook Press 352 pages $25.95 September 2010 Reviewed by Patrick Chura (Lithuania 1992-94) IN A CALL FROM JERSEY, P. F. Kluge isn’t out to write an epic or a blockbuster. He’s trying instead for a quiet, emotionally intelligent book about sentiments real to all of us. The main characters in this thoughtful novel are Hans Greifinger, an aging German immigrant who came to the United States in 1928, and his Americanized son George Griffin, a baby boomer who is . . .

Finding A Job In Publishing: Literary Agent #6

Jul 08 2010

It has been said that you must be short to be an agent. Not true. If you love books, have a comfortable shoulder on which writers can cry on, can generate ideas and see trends in what readers want to read and learn about, and if you like to be taken out to expensive luncheons paid for by editors, then you might want to think about being an agent. Again, you have to start at the bottom of the food chain as an assistant and do a lot of crappy jobs. The typical tasks of an agent’s assistant is to read and evaluate manuscripts; submit manuscripts to publishers, handle contracts, checks, and royalty statements; write permission with pitch letters; and handle the boss’s schedule, phone, and expenses. The way to get a job as an agent’s assistant is to move to New York City, read mediabistro.com and the half dozen other on-line websites that . . .

Congressman Garamendi (Ethiopia 1965-67) Comes Out Against Endless Afghanistan War

Jul 07 2010

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman John Garamendi (D-Walnut Creek, CA) and (Ethiopia 1965-67) who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, today voted for two amendments that would end the war in Afghanistan and set a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan. John voted for an amendment authored by Obey and McGovern that requires the President to present Congress with a new National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan by January 31, 2011 and a plan by April 4, 2011 on the safe, orderly and expeditious redeployment of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, including a timeframe for the completion of the redeployment. By a vote of 162-260, it did not secure a majority vote. Garamendi also voted for an amendment by Rep. Barbara Lee that would restrict funding in Afghanistan to only what is necessary to have a safe and orderly withdrawal, protect soldiers and contractors on the ground, and carry out diplomatic . . .

The Books We Carried

Jul 07 2010

In the fall of 1962, the Peace Corps Volunteers arriving in Ethiopia were reading, or had packed into our carry-on luggage, Catch 22 by Joe Heller; The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone; Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger; Exodus by Leon Uris. And, of course, The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell. There were, I’m sure, a few other books being read on that long overnight flight on TWA out of the old Idlewild Airport in New York to Rome and Athens, and then in the fleet of Ethiopian DC-6Bs into Africa. There were nearly 300 of us crossing Egypt and Sudan to arrive in Addis Ababa at dawn at the end of the “big rains” when the Ethiopian highlands are blanketed with bright yellow Maskel flowers. We stepped from the plane and smelled for the first time the burning of a hundred thousand eucalyptus fires — the smell of Africa . . .

More Mad Women: Sally Bowles

Jul 06 2010

Dick Irish, that old codger, has goosed me into recalling on paper a few more of the grand gals and guys who started the Peace Corps in the winter of ’61. One woman who I remember fondly, and who was one of the class acts at the agency, was the very young and very charming, Sally Bowles, who was, everyone will agree, the first Peace Corps employee. She went to work for no pay at the Maiatico Building on March 1, 1961. Sally was the daughter of Ambassador Chester Bowles, an honors graduate in history from Smith College where she was named editor of the college newspaper and was elected president of the student body. By the time she arrived at the Peace Corps, she had traveled and lived in Southeast Asia, India, Mexico, Morocco, France and Spain. She had worked for Congressman John Brademas of Indiana and as an administrative assistant to . . .

Finding A Job In Magazine Publishing #5

Jul 06 2010

Magazine staffs are usually broken down into two divisions: editorial and advertising. Editorial Assistant: Editorial staff are usually subdivided departmentally, depending on the focus and structure of the magazine. Again, the duties of the entry-level editorial assistant are largely administrative and/or clerical–but in addition to these, the assistant may also review manuscripts, give opinions on story proposals, line edit copy, generate story ideas, post items on the website, and even write for the magazine itself. Production cycles are much shorter in magazine publishing than they are in book publishing, since most magazines publish monthly or even weekly. Thus, the world of magazines can at times seem much more frenzied than the world of books, which moves at a slower and more deliberate pace. Advertising Assistant: Advertising assistants at magazines help their bosses sell advertising space–and have done that, work very hard to maintain good relationships with advertisers so they’ll continue . . .

Finding A Job In Publishing: Production Assistant # 4

Jul 06 2010

A production assistant will work with copy editors, typographers, binders, and designers to help with the actual construction of a book. As more and more publishers realize that an unusual design or arresting cover art cn help sell books, this area of publishing is getting more fun and inventive. Of course, good copy editors have always been and will always be essential to publishing of any sort.

June Books By Peace Corps Writers

Jul 02 2010

Torn in the South Pacific by Jeff Bronow (Fiji 1988–90) PublishAmerica $24.95 246 pages June 2010 • Henry Walters and Bernard Berenson: Collector and Connoisseur by Stanley Mazaroff (Philippines 1961–63) The John Hopkins University Press $40.00 248 pages June 2010 • Cold Snap: Bulgaria Stories by Cynthia Morrison Phoel (Bulgaria 1994–96) Southern Methodist University press, $22.50 208 pages June 2010 • The Drums of Africa (Peace Corps Novel) by Tim Schell (Central African Republic 1978–79) Mammoth Books $15.95 247 pages 2007 • A Small Brown Dog with a Wet Pink Nose (Children K–3) by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen (Tanzania 1989–90); illustrated byLinzie Hunter Little, Brown Books for Young Readers $16.99 32 pages January 2010 • The Ghost of Milagro Creek by Melanie Sumner (Senegal 1988-90) Algonquin $13.95 264 pages June 2010 • Go Home Bones (Poems) by Tony Zurlo (Nigeria 1964–66) Pudding House Chapbook Series $10.00 (to order jen@puddinghouse.com) 30 pages 2010 . . .

Peace Corps Writers To Publish How To Cook A Crocodile

Jul 02 2010

Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996-98) who lives and teaching writing in Taos, New Mexico, has written How To Cook a Crocodile. It is the first book to be published by our new imprint, PeaceCorpsWriters. Bonnie, author of the memoir, Somewhere Child (Viking Press, 1981) decided at the age of 50, after a breast cancer scare, and ten years of physically exhausting catering work, to shut down her New York business and join the Peace Corps. “I was a health and nutrition Volunteer in Lastoursville, in the middle of the rainforest, and like so many PCV before me, I emerged from this experience having learned more than I taught. Unlike other Peace Corps authors, though, I tell my tale in a new way: as interconnecting essays with recipes.” Bonnie goes on to say, “In 1942 – in the midst of war rationing, when many American households had reason to fear the wolf at the door – an opinionated, highbrow beauty from California published a . . .

Finding A Job In Publishing: Publicity Assistant #3

Jul 02 2010

A publicity assistant sends out galleys (early bound and typeset copies of a book) to select book reviewers at newspapers and magazines, maintains and updates lists of reviewers who should receive free copies of the published book one it’s out, works with his/her boss to arrange radio, print, and television interviews for authors, and may work to organize book release parties and signings at bookstores. Additionally, the assistant needs to know all the social media venues like Facebook and Twitter as this, too, is how books are promoted. Publicity assistants go on to become publicity directors–and because good publicity is so important to book sales, the best publicists sometimes move on to corporate marketing and executive publishing levels. There are also two other ‘assistant’ roles, one in marketing where the department seeks to build ways of promoting the book on its own, via web campaigns and book events. There is a role . . .

Afghanistan: You can't get there from here!

Jul 01 2010

In the July 5, 2010 issue of The New Yorker, in The Talk of the Town section, there is a comment made by George Packer (Togo 1982-83) on the firing of General Stanley McChrystal, Obama, and the nine years of fighting in Afghanistan. First a little history. Packer, as some of you will recall, supported Bush and the Iraq invasion. He was right up there with ‘mister personality,’ Christopher Hitchens himself. I had a falling out with George over his support of Bush and “Mission Accomplished,” not that he seem to notice. No, he just went ahead and wrote his award winning The Assassins’ Gate, and got a full time gig at the New Yorker. But he also came around to his senses when he saw what really was happening in Iraq, and now he is getting as pissed off about what is happening at Afghanistan as I am. Packer knows what he is talking . . .

Finding A Job In Publishing: Editorial Assistant # 2

Jul 01 2010

The changing, consolidating nature of publishing staff today is that everyone, even assistants in various departments, are taking on more and more responsibility. In the past, where the job of ‘assistant’ use to mean mainly administrative tasks, today the position comes with more and more duties and responsibilities. That said, there are basically three entry level jobs in book publishing. The first one is: Editorial Assistant An editorial assistant, in addition to performing the universal assistant-duties mentioned above, might be called upon to review incoming manuscripts and provide reports to his/her boss; to go through the “slush” pile of unsolicited queries from hopeful authors, and bring anything worth a look to the editor’s attention’ and to work with agents and authors to ensure that contracts are handled and processed correctly. Today, many Editorial Assistants will have their own authors and projects, and participate in editorial meeting where books are presented by . . .

The View From Belgrade

Jul 01 2010

[Laurence Leamer (Nepal 1965-67) is considered a leading authority on the Kennedy family for his trilogy The Kennedy Women, The Kennedy Men, and Sons of Camelot. He also has written best-selling biographies of Johnny Carson, the Reagan family, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. His latest work is Madness Under the Royal Palms: Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach. Here is a piece he published Tuesday on newsmax.com and written from Belgrade.] America Looks Like a Fortress By: Laurence Leamer I am spending time this summer in Belgrade, Serbia with my wife, Vesna, who was born in the Eastern European country. Last week we decided to visit Kosovo, a region that the Orthodox Serbs see as their Jerusalem. There are only a few protected enclaves of Serbs left in Kosovo. The Muslim majority claim that if the land that was once part of the former Yugoslavia becomes fully independent, the Serbian . . .

Archive - July 2010