Archive - 2010

1
Peter Hessler Goes Mining In Colorado
2
If You Can't Get Into The Peace Corps…What About The Priest Corps?
3
P.F. Kluge (Micronesia 1967-69) Profiled In New Jersey Star-Ledger
4
Review of Philip Dacey's new book of poems
5
Aaron Williams' Favorite Peace Corps Book????
6
A Writer Writes: Jason Boog's (Guatemala 2000-02) A Man's Life: Sad Men
7
Peace Corps Director Talks Leadership
8
August Books by Peace Corps Writers
9
Technology Changes Life In The Peace Corps
10
Review: Doug Ingold's The Henderson Memories
11
Review: Lauri Anderson's Hunting Hemingway's Trout
12
Naomi Wolf to Teach Non-Fiction Web Course
13
Review: Stanley Mazaroff's Collector & Connoisseur
14
Our Costa Rica Reporter Sent The Following
15
Join The Peace Corps! Never Leave Home

Peter Hessler Goes Mining In Colorado

Peter Hessler (China 1996-98) has written about China in three lovely books, and lives today in Colorado, where, by the way, he is the very new father of twins! He has now turned his amazing journalistic and literary skills on the southwestern section of Colorado where uranium created a cancer epidemic back in the ’50s. He writes about all of this in the September 13, 2010, issue of The New Yorker. You might want to check it out. It is rather amazing how all the talented RPCV writers have come out of China. I have written about this ‘China gang” before. There is Peter, who published Country Driving: A Journey Through China  to Factory in February, and also Michael Meyer (China 1995-97) and his The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed that was published by Walker in 2008. And other writers as well. These guys are serious and important. You should . . .

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If You Can't Get Into The Peace Corps…What About The Priest Corps?

Have you ever noticed how every organization having to do with service or goodness or overseas is someway linked to The Peace Corps! First there was the “domestic” Peace Corps, VISTA; then came National Service, and all those other peace -corps-like-programs, either academic or short term or do-this-and-you’ll-feel-good-programs. Enough already! Well, recently I read about the Priest Corps. Some of you might have heard of Father Andrew Greeley, a Catholic priest, who was (and might still be) on the staff of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, and who is a professor at the University of Arizona. I read his book, PRIESTS: A Calling in Crisis that was published in 2004 by the University of Chicago. In this book, according to Publishers Weekly, “Greeley draws upon the tools of his trade to challenge some stereotypes of the priesthood.” What interested me was one of his “policy implications for . . .

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P.F. Kluge (Micronesia 1967-69) Profiled In New Jersey Star-Ledger

 [This article by Mark DiIonno appeared on September 9, 2010, in the New Jersey Star-Ledge.] BERKELEY HEIGHTS – Author P.F. Kluge’s life has been a global travelogue, taking him far from his childhood home in Berkeley Heights. The Peace Corps took him to the Pacific Island of Palau, and among his favorite places are the Austria village of Altausse, and the Island of Mallaca in the Bay of Bengal. His novel “Biggest Elvis” takes place in the shot-and-beer and g-string town outside the Navy base in Subic Bay, the Phillippines. “Master Blaster,” due out next year, takes place on Saipan, where U.S. Marines battled Japanese soldiers in World War II. After a life of exploring other cultures, Kluge, 69, decided to rediscover his own. “A Call from Jersey,” which was released this week, takes place mostly around Berkeley Heights and centers around an immigrant story rarely told: that of the . . .

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Review of Philip Dacey's new book of poems

Mosquito Operas: New and Selected Short Poems Philip Dacey (Nigeria 1963–65) New York: Rain Mountain Press July 2010 73 pages $10.00 Reviewed by Sandra Meek (Botswana 1989–91) PHILIP DACEY’S MOST RECENT BOOK is an unusual one for the world of contemporary American poetry; rather than being organized by thematic arc or by the chronology of their writing, these poems are brought together because of one shared formal trait: simply, they are all short. In his author’s note that begins the collection, Dacey describes the book as “a kind of family reunion,” noting the earliest of these poems dates back to 1970. From the very first page of poems, this book does exhibit a wild diversity of both subject matter and tone not unlike an extended family gathering where, say, an angst-ridden teenage boy in black eyeliner and fingernail polish might be forced into the buffet line next to his back-slapping, . . .

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Aaron Williams' Favorite Peace Corps Book????

Yesterday, Tuesday, September 7, 2010, the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post’s On Leadership site jointly produce the Federal Coach, hosted by Tom Fox, director of the partnership’s Center for Government Leadership, as the question of  “U.S. gopvernment officials, “what’s your favorite book on leadership?”  Among those who they asked was Aaron Williams, the Peace Corps Director. Aaron  replied: “Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom is an outstanding book, because it’s one of these unique situations where someone who’s in prison for a long time comes out with a positive view of what needs to be done in that society. He has a plan of action to carry it out and doesn’t allow the past to be baggage that impedes his way to progress in the future.” Now! After being Peace Corps Director what will Aaron’s favorite Peace Corps book be? Give me your suggestions….

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A Writer Writes: Jason Boog's (Guatemala 2000-02) A Man's Life: Sad Men

Jason Boog is an editor at mediabistro.com’s publishing Web site, GalleyCat (www.mediabistro.com/galleycat). His work has appeared in The Believer, Granta, Salon.com, The Revealer, and Peace Corps Writers, and he is a contributor to the Poetry Foundation’s  poetryfoundation.org. This piece appeared in the December 15, 2009, issue of Wabash College’s on-line magazine. Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana is a small and very good liberal arts college for men. This article by Jason is one in a series of ongoing conversations about what it means to be a man in the 21st Century. • A Man’s Life: Sad Men by Jason Boog (Guatemala 2000-02) I lost my job in December 2008, unemployed at the beginning of the longest, coldest winter I can remember in New York City. Up until then, everything had been going swimmingly: I was a staff writer at an investigative reporting publication, taught an undergraduate journalism class, and proposed to my girlfriend . . .

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Peace Corps Director Talks Leadership

In The Washington Post on Friday, September 3, 2010, Aaron Williams was interviewed by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post’s On Leadership site jointly produce the Federal Coach, hosted by Tom Fox, director of the partnership’s Center for Government Leadership. The goal is to “engage, inspire and learn from you, the federal worker, whether you are a new hire, a contractor or a manager at the highest level.” Share your ideas and questions at fedcoach@ourpublicservice.org. Humility, risk-taking make leaders great Aaron S. Williams is the director of the Peace Corps and a former volunteer who served in the Dominican Republic. He previously served as the USAID mission director in South Africa, where he led a billion-dollar foreign assistance program when Nelson Mandela was president. Ranked five out of 34 small agencies, this was the first year that the Peace Corps participated in the Best Places to . . .

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August Books by Peace Corps Writers

Name Tagging (Photography) by Martha Cooper (Thailand 1963–65) Mark Batty Publisher $12.95 96 pages July 2010 • Under the Same Moon by Kelli M. Donley (Cameroon 2000) Donley Books $16.00 356 pages May 2010 • The Henderson Memories (Peace Corps novel) by Doug Ingold (Brazil 1964-66) Wolfenden Publishing $14.95 Kindle Edition, $9.75 379 pages 2010 • Lyndon B. Johnson [The American Presidents Series] by Charles Peters (PC/Staff 1961-65) Times Books $23.00 224 pages June 2010 • Becker’s Farm by William V. Timmons (Niger 1965-67) CreateSpace (BookSurge) $18.99 326 pages June 2009 • The Man in the Black and White Dress by William V. Timmons (Niger 1965-67) CreateSpace (BookSurge) $15.99 338 pages 2009 • The Trojan Pony by William Timmons (Niger 1965-67) CreateSpace (BookSurge) $ 14.95 223 pages 2009 • Never Push An Elephant by William Timmons (Niger 1965-67) CreateSpace (BookSurge) $ 15.95 310 pages 2009 To order any of the . . .

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Technology Changes Life In The Peace Corps

[Another report from our RPCV Costa Rica Correspondent. This news item was in their A.M. Costa Rica wire services.] In the early 1980s, Gordy Mengel served as a Peace Corps volunteer in an isolated community in what was then called Zaire, now Congo.  “I was placed somewhere in the middle part of the country,” said Mengel. “And in the small community where I lived there was no post office, so getting letters out, which was basically the only means of communication, was very challenging. Letters would take weeks, or months, to arrive. But now, thanks to technology, that is no longer the case. Computers, cells phones and the Internet have changed the way Peace Corps volunteers do their work and stay in touch. Now a Peace Corps programming and training officer in Rwanda, Mengel says improved communication technology has changed how people serve in the Peace Corps. Back when he was . . .

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Review: Doug Ingold's The Henderson Memories

Reviewer Reilly Ridgell is the author of the recently released novel Green Pearl Odyssey and the anthology of Micronesian Peace Corps stories Bending to the Trade Winds. He is also the author of the widely used textbook, Pacific Nations and Territories, in print continuously since 1983, and co-author of its elementary level version Pacific Neighbors. Reilly is currently a dean at Guam Community College. • The Henderson Memories by Doug Ingold (Brazil 1964–66) Wolfenden 379 pages $14.95 from Wofenden, $9.75 Kindle version Reviewed by Reilly Ridgell (Micronesia 1971–73) THE FIRST TWO OR THREE PAGES OF A NOVEL need to grab the readers and make them want to continue reading. Also, if a book is really bad you’ll generally know after the first few pages. In The Henderson Memories author Doug Ingold starts off by introducing us to the two characters through whom the story will unfold. While the first pages . . .

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Review: Lauri Anderson's Hunting Hemingway's Trout

Reviewer Mark Brazaitis is the author of three books of fiction, including The River of Lost Voices: Stories from Guatemala, winner of the 1998 Iowa Short Fiction Award, and Steal My Heart, a novel that won the Maria Thomas Fiction Award given by Peace Corps Writers. His latest book is The Other Language: Poems, winner of the 2008 ABZ Poetry Prize. His short fiction has appeared in Ploughshares, The Sun, Witness, Notre Dame Review, Confrontation, and elsewhere. He is an associate professor of English and directs the Creative Writing Program at West Virginia University. • Hunting Hemingway’s Trout by Lauri Anderson (Nigeria 1965–67) North Star Press of St. Cloud Inc. $14.95 139 pages 2010 Reviewed by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991–93) IF IMITATION IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF FLATTERY, writing a book in the spirit of an author one admires must be the second highest form. I think Ernest Hemingway would . . .

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Naomi Wolf to Teach Non-Fiction Web Course

Naomi Wolf, bestselling author and feminist (in the third-wave) and a political consultant to Clinton, Gore, and others, as well as author of  the international bestseller, The Beauty Myth, is offering an Internet course “that offers participants the key content of the non-fiction workshop” that she has successfully taught in college classrooms. The Internet workshop will focus on key issues for writers of nonfiction, among them are:  1) how to turn an opinion into a publishable op-ed piece; 2) what a really marketable nonfiction book proposal looks like; 3) how to increase the chances that your book-which will be published into an environment full of competing messages-will  attract as much attention as possible; 4) what actually happens in the publishing and book promotion cycle. And more! She is offering sessions in September and October. Each session consists of three live classes, and each class is two hours long. You may register for . . .

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Review: Stanley Mazaroff's Collector & Connoisseur

Leita Kaldi Davis worked for the United Nations and UNESCO, for Tufts’ Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Harvard University. She worked with Roma (Gypsies) for fifteen years, became a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal at the age of 55, then went to work for the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti for five years. She retired in Florida in 2002. She has written a memoir of Senegal, Roller Skating in the Desert, and is working on a memoir of Haiti. • Henry Walters & Bernard Berenson: Collector & Connoisseur by Stanley Mazaroff (Philippines 1961–63) Johns Hopkins University Press $40.00 212 pages May 2010 Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) Stanley Mazaroff has written a fascinating account of the relationship between Henry Walters, founder of the legendary Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, and Bernard Berenson, the world’s greatest connoisseur of Italian paintings. Walters opened his Italianate museum in 1909, . . .

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Our Costa Rica Reporter Sent The Following

Peace Corps volunteers will embark on energy initiative: Special to A.M. Costa Rica The U.S. Department of State is providing $1 million to support Peace Corps volunteer efforts that increase rural access to energy, mitigate the effects of climate change, and support the use of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies in Central and South American communities, in support of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas. With this funding, Peace Corps volunteers will work with international experts, local organizations, businesses, and community members on the ground to create efficient and green solutions to energy challenges in the Americas, said the U.S. State Department, adding: Under the partnership, Peace Corps volunteers will work with members of local communities to build infrastructure to support environmentally-friendly energy and to educate communities on climate change and energy conservation. Volunteers will train host-country citizens in the use of alternative fuels and to install, . . .

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Join The Peace Corps! Never Leave Home

I spotted this note on the Net earlier today: Until fairly recently, joining the Peace Corps usually meant living in a remote location and leaving behind family, friends and way of life. But mobile devices and the Internet are changing how volunteers serve — and how they keep in touch with home. This connectivity is helpful for the volunteers, but not always for the Peace Corps staff. Parents today know their kids never leave home, even when they are off at college, what with texting, emails, and Skype. Whatever happened to separation? Growing up? Out on your own? Still, there are advances of these strong family connections. I saw that when I was running the New York Recruitment Office. The whole family joins the Peace Corps when a child goes overseas. That’s not a bad thing. Shriver always said it would be the children of RPCVs who would benefit the most as they would . . .

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