June 2012 – Page 3 – Peace Corps Worldwide

CorpsAfrica Hold Event in NYC in Memory of Ambassador Holbrooke

Jun 12 2012

Liz Fanning (Morocco 1993-94) served as a PCV in the High Atlas Mountains, where she lived in a small Berber village and worked on environmental sustainability projects. Since she has come home, Liz has worked in a wide range of non-profit organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Schoolhouse Supplies and the Near East Foundation, and she was a founding Board member and Vice President for six years of the High Atlas Foundation, a nonprofit organized by former Peace Corps volunteers from Morocco. Then in 2011 she started CorpsAfrica to provide young adults in Africa the opportunity to serve as volunteers in their own countries. CorpsAfrica is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. She is inviting everyone in New York City to a cocktail reception to pay tribute to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. It is on Wednesday, June 20th from 6 pm-8 pm. Holbrooke served as Morocco Country Director for the Peace Corps . . .

Wofford/Shriver/King in the Fog of Political History

Jun 11 2012

This afternoon while having lunch I caught Andrea Mitchell’s program on MSNBC. Around 1:45 EST she was interviewing Mark Shriver on his book about his Dad, A Good Man. Early in this interview, they started to talk about Sarge and his friendship with Martin Luther King back in Chicago when Shriver was head of the Board of Education for the City. Next, they shifted to Kennedy nomination and the famous spontaneous phone call that JFK made to Coretta King on the day her husband had been tossed into a jail for a civil rights protest. It was a politically risky telephone call by Kennedy, and any one his advisers would have stopped it, had they been in the room. It turned out to be a key political gesture by Kennedy and turned the Black Vote for him that November. Andrea Mitchell directed the MSNBC conversation this afternoon and Mark went . . .

Larry Leamer (Nepal 1965-67) "The Last Days of Mary Kennedy" in Current Newsweek Issue

Jun 11 2012

Jun 11, 2012 1:00 AM EDT She was the love of Bobby Jr.’s life. Then everything unraveled. In Newsweek, bestselling Kennedy historian Laurence Leamer reveals the heartbreaking story of Mary’s long decline, including: The account of the couple’s longtime housekeeper, who recalls Mary’s self-destructive drinking habit, her depression in the days leading up her suicide-and tells how she and Bobby discovered Mary dead in the estate’s barn. Details from Bobby Jr.’s sealed divorce affidavit, which contains allegations that Mary physically abused him, stole personal items from his daughter, ran over the family’s dog in the driveway, and repeatedly threatened to kill herself An interview with Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Gunderson, who had met Mary and believes she had a textbook case of Borderline Personality Disorder More at:http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/06/10/the-last-days-of-mary-richardson-kennedy.html

Kirkus gives COOPER’S PROMISE rave review

Jun 08 2012

Cooper’s Promise by Timothy Jay Smith (Program Consultant: Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine and Armenia) iUniverse, $15.95 209 pages April, 2011 COOPER’S PROMISE (reviewed on July 15, 2012) In Smith’s debut novel, a former American soldier hiding out in a small African country can’t escape the ghosts of his past. Sgt. Cooper, an Army deserter, spends his days in Lalanga drinking cheap gin in a dive. He makes a promise to Lulay, a young girl who sells herself each night, to someday take her away. What little money Cooper makes comes from buying smuggled diamonds from a blind boy and his sister, and turning a meager profit at an Arab merchant’s shop. There, he meets the merchant’s son, Sadiq, with whom he becomes quickly enamored; he longs to accidentally run into him at a local hammam (a bathhouse and massage parlor). But Cooper’s life is confounded by a strange . . .

Ben Hogan at the Century County Club, The Beginning of His Career

Jun 08 2012

The end of Ben Hogan’s brilliant golf career in many ways came to its sad conclusion when an unknown municipal golf pro named Jack Fleck upset him at the 1955 U.S. Open played at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. Capturing that moment again for us are two great books that have just been published: The Longest Shot by Neil Sagebiel (Thomas Dunne Books) and The Upset by Al Barkow (Chicago Review Press). These books read like novels (even though we know the outcome) and they take us back once more to that suspenseful summer Sunday in mid-June of ’55. These books also bring the golf world into focus with the return next week to Olympic Club of the 2012 U.S. Open. For a certain generation of golfers who can never read enough about Ben Hogan, both accounts of that tournament are great reads. Finally we have worthy bookends to . . .

Review of P.F. Kluge's The Master Blaster

Jun 07 2012

The Master Blaster by P.F. Kluge (Micronesia 1967–69) Overlook Press 302 pages $26.95 (hardback); $12.99 (Kindle) March 2012 Reviewed by Reilly Ridgell (Micronesia 1971–73) OF ALL THE RPCV WRITERS who have come out of Micronesia, P.F. Kluge is perhaps the most successful. He has had published by mainstream traditional publishers a total of nine novels and two non-fiction works. Most of the RPCV writers who get reviewed on this site are either self-published or published by small presses with scant resources for marketing. Kluge has had two of his writings made into movies. Real, Hollywood movies. I must admit, I envy his success. I had read two of his works before: The Day I Die: A Novel of Suspense [Bobbs-Merrill 1976] set mostly in Palau, and The Edge of Paradise: America in Micronesia [Random House 1991], his Micronesia memoir prompted in part by the suicide of a Micronesian leader he . . .

Richard Lipez (Ethiopia 1962-64) wins Lambda Literary Award

Jun 07 2012

The winners of the 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards were announced on Monday night, June 4, 2012, during a sold-out gala ceremony hosted by comedienne Kate Clinton at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. RPCV writer Richard Lipez (Ethiopia 1962–64) writing at Richard Stevenson, won the Gay Mystery award for his novel Red White Black and Blue, published by MLR Press. Taking place the same week of Book Expo America — the book publishing industry’s largest annual gathering of booksellers, publishers, and others in the industry — the Lambda ceremony brought together over 400 attendees, sponsors, and celebrities to celebrate excellence in LGBT literature. As “mastress” of ceremonies, Clinton treated the audience to her brand of topical, political comedy. She joked, “If you’re here to buy a Big Gulp or smoke a cigarette in a park . . . you’ll have to go to New Jersey.” Later she . . .

Review of Toby Lester's DaVinci's Ghost

Jun 06 2012

Da Vinci’s Ghost: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image by Toby Lester (Yemen 1988–90) Free Press $26.99 (hardback), $16.99 (Kindle) 230 pages 2012 Reviewed by Richard Lipez (Ethiopia 1962–64) TOBY LESTER’S DELIGHTFUL BOOK about Leonardo da Vinci reminds me of my mother-in-law. Barbara Wheaton is both a renowned professional food historian and an accomplished amateur art historian who, on a recent family trip to Paris, told the rest of us in her clear-headed and often witty way everything we needed to know about everything we saw, heard or tasted, but never more than we wanted to know. Like Barbara, Toby Lester is the best kind of traveling companion, especially when visiting places we’ve probably been to before, like Paris, or in Lester’s case ancient Rome and Renaissance Italy. Who would have thought that surprises about these places were still in store, or that there . . .

Kevin Lowther on Blog Talk Radio This Thursday

Jun 06 2012

Kevin Lowther’s (Sierra Leone 1963-65) will be interviewed on Blog Talk Radio, Thursday, June 7 at 9 pm EST. The subject will be his book, The African American Odyssey of John Kizell. The host is Bernice Bennett of “Research at the National Archives and Beyond.” The link is below. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bernicebennett/2012/06/08/the-african-american-odyssey-of-john-kizell–kevin-lowther#. Tune In!

Bill Moyers is 78 Today!

Jun 05 2012

I have written a number of times about Bill Moyers on this site. He is important to the history of the agency, and he also is great copy. Moyers started out at the Peace Corps at age 27 or so, as the Associate Director for Public Affairs, and later was the Deputy Director under Shriver, In 1986, he spoke at the Arlington National Cemetery Amphitheatre on the 25th anniversary of the agency. Here is a short except of what he said that bright September Sunday morning. It is, in my opinion, one of the finest statements about the Peace Corps and our place in American history. Moyers Remarks “We are struggling today with the imperative of a new understanding of patriotism and citizenship. The Peace Corps has been showing us the way, and the Volunteers and staff whom we honor this morning are the vanguard of that journey. To be a . . .

Pink

Jun 05 2012

Susan O’Neill writes about her story “Pink”: The missionaries we knew in Venezuela were young men who always traveled in pairs. I’ve often toyed with the idea of what might happen if circumstance or fate separated them in some exotic locale. Then, five years ago, we traveled to Amsterdam for our younger son’s wedding to a Dutch woman. We wandered on foot or on bike over most of the center city, and I was amazed at how, when you’re not used to the layers of traffic — cars, trolleys, bikes, pedestrians —it’s an incredible challenge just to cross a street. The two ideas — paired missionaries, and the exotic, precarious city of Amsterdam — meshed in this story. It was once much longer, but I’ve tinkered with it over time, until it became rather naughty and twisted and something close to “flash fiction.” Pink by Susan O’Neill (Venezuela 1973–74) James . . .

Review of Peter Lefcourt’s An American Family

Jun 04 2012

An American Family Peter Lefcourt (Togo 1962–64) Amazon Digital $3.99 (Kindle) 454 pages March 2012 Reviewed by John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962–64) Over the weekend I read two family sagas: A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor, the late great southern writer from Tennessee, and Peter Lefcourt’s An American Family. The novels couldn’t have been more different. Taylor came out of that rich southern tradition of liquid prose, a fellow traveler of Faulkner, Caroline Gordon, Tennessee Williams, Katherine Anne Porter, William Styron, and many more, including our own Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975–76) and Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia 1965–67). Taylor’s novel was published in 1986 by Alfred A. Knopf. For some reason, and I don’t why, I happen to have an autographed first edition of this book. Like all Knopf books, it is a work of art, the Note on Type says it was set on the Linotype in Janson, “a recutting . . .

Three Goals, Five Years

Jun 04 2012

The first number speaks to the Goals of the Peace Corps spelled out, with typical Kennedy eloquence, fifty years ago. The second is the Five Year Rule that defines the unique tenure law in the Peace Corps personnel system, limiting most appointments to a total of five years. The Goals are timeless, but the rule of “Five Years” may be changing. Last year, Inspector General of the Peace Corps announced a review of the Five Year Rule. The final draft of that evaluation and its recommendations are being reviewed. The Inspector General expects to publish the final report anytime within the next 30 days. I make the argument that Peace Corps has been most successful in accomplishing Goal Two – Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served- and Three-Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served. These . . .

Mark Shriver's Book about Sarge Now Published

Jun 01 2012

Mark Shriver book about his father–A Good Man Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver– will be official published on June 5, 2012. Mark will be everywhere talking about the book and his father, beginning with the Today Show on Monday, June 4. As he wrote me recently, ” I am nervous but excited — excited, really, to share Dad’s story of a strong faith that demanded acts of hope and love. And those acts were the work of his life — the Peace Corps, Head Start, Job Corps, and Legal Services, to name a few; his efforts alongside my mom to spread Special Olympics around the world; and, most importantly, his role as father and grandfather.” Tom Brokaw of NBC has said of the book, “This is a deeply touching story of a famous family and the private joys and trials that came with it. Mark’s love letter to his Dad . . .

Bill Hemminger (Senegal 1973-75), an African Son

Jun 01 2012

Bill Hemminger (Senegal 1973-75) published African Son in April and will be reading from his book at Barnes & Noble Bookstore this Saturday, June 2, 2012, at 2 p.m. B&N is located at 624 S. Green River Road in Evansville, Indiana. Today Bill is Chair of the English Department at the University of Evansville where he also teaches French, translates African writers, writes poetry, plays classic music, and authored “Friend of the Family” that won the 1994 Syndicated Fiction Project competition sponsored by National Public Radio. This is his first book. Bill started out in life by getting his B.A. from Columbia University. Next he studied piano at Juilliard in Manhattan, French at the Sorbonne, and then he went to Senegal. Later he got his Ph.D. in literature at Ohio University and followed that with Fulbrights to Madagascar and Cameroon. Bill wrote me recently to say, “My memories from my . . .

Archive - June 2012