2012 – Page 24 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Meet Joshua Berman: Editor, Author, Peace Corp Volunteer, Tour Guide, and All-Around Travel Junkie

Mar 12 2012

[This is an interview with our famous travel writer Josh Berman (Nicaragua 1998-2000) that appeared recently on the blog inBed.me, the First Social Booking site for Hostels, Beds and Couches.] Meet Joshua Berman. He’s written four books for Moon guidebooks, volunteered for the Peace Corps, taken a 16-month honeymoon, worked as a tour guide, and has had his travel writing published in big-name publications like Outside Traveler, The New York Times, and National Geographic Traveler. He’s even eaten raw testicles on the Travel Channel with Andrew Zimmerman! Want to learn more about this professional nomad? Check out the interview below. You have very extensive experience in the travel world. Let’s start with being a Peace Corps Volunteer. What project were you involved with and what was that experience like? I served as an environmental education volunteer in the village of La Trinidad, Estelí in Nicaragua from 1998-2000. I worked with . . .

Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963-65) Defends Rush Limbaugh (sort of!)

Mar 11 2012

Condemnation of Rush Limbaugh Shows Our Hypocrisy by Paul Theroux Mar 10, 2012 From the DailyBeast http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/10/condemnation-of-rush-limbaugh-shows-our-hypocrisy.html ‘Slut’ and ‘whore’ are offensive words, but some of his biggest critics in the whole Sandra Fluke controversy are guilty of using the similar language-they just happen to be liberals. Paul Theroux on how the whole affair reveals our smugness and hypocrisy. At first I didn’t know whether I’d yawn or puke when I read what Rush Limbaugh said reacting to the Georgetown Law student and self-described reproductive-rights activist, Sandra Fluke. “What does it say about the college coed Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants . . .

How To Write Your Peace Corps Memoir by Larry Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77)

Mar 11 2012

Peace Corps Experience: Write and Publish Your Memoir by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77) explains how to write, publish and promote a memoir. In seven easy-to-read chapters, the author outlines the art of organization, research, writing, editing, self-publication and promotion. The book includes great examples and advice from other Peace Corps memoirists. “It’s written for the novice,” explained Lihosit, “someone who is not a professional writer and realizes that our stories about service are valuable and should be shared.” The author of nine other books and seven pamphlets, Lihosit was inspired to write this how-to book following an unexpected response to our posting of his article about book formatting (The Arts: On Writing and Publishing, December 6, 2011). Within four hours of posting, readership increased forty percent. The Peace Corps community reaction to the book has been positive. Jane Albritton, the series editor of Peace Corps at 50 Project, called . . .

Former Peace Corps Director Kevin O'Donnell and CD in Korea Dies in Cleveland. He was 86.

Mar 10 2012

March 05, 2012 By Grant Segall The Plain Dealer Lakewood–On his way to the top in industry, Kevin O’Donnell paused to bring the Peace Corps to South Korea and save the agency worldwide. O’Donnell, who led the Peace Corps, Sifco and more, died Feb. 29 at EnnisCourt after a short illness. The two-time widower was 86. “He was a fantastic mentor,” said Jeff Gotschall, Sifco chairman. “He walked the talk. He wasn’t afraid to do things he asked other people to do.” In 1966, O’Donnell took his new second wife and their eight children from Fairview Park to Korea. They quickly learned a new language and made new friends. He told The Plain Dealer a year later, “The Korean, they’re the Irish of Asia: a high-energy people, willing to work hard, learning quickly, amenable to change, possessing a good sense of humor, emotionally outgoing. Guess that’s why I feel at . . .

Leaving El Salvador 1980 Final

Mar 09 2012

The following document summarizes how events dictated the final decision: “Summary of Events Leading to the Withdrawal of Peace Corps Volunteers from El Salvador” (DNSA/GWU:Collection: El Salvador, The Making of U.S. Policy 1977-1984, Item Number: ES00332) In early January, PC Deputy Director William Sykes and LAC Regional Director Paul Bell traveled to El Salvador to assess the situation. After much dialogue with PCVs, PC staff, American Embassy and GOES officials, the recommendation was given to Peace Corps Director Richard Celeste not to withdraw the PCVS. (My note: there is an attachment referenced describing the reasons behind this recommendation. I could not locate it. It is cited as ” Attachment I, Appendix A.”). It was hoped that the second Civilian military junta…would be able to stabilize the situation in El Salvador… However, violence continued to escalate. On January 31, 1980, PC Director Celeste made the decision to pull the volunteers . . .

Talking with Jane Albritton, Editor of the Peace Corps at 50 Project

Mar 09 2012

Interview by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975–77) WHILE MOST OF US STRUGGLE with our own Peace Corps memoir, Jane Albritton undertook a herculean task: to gather enough Peace Corps personal experience essays to fill a multi-volume anthology. After four years of intense work, she completed the task in 2011 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps’ inception. The four volumes include more than 200 essays that describe the Peace Corps Experience in 88 of the 139 nations served during the past half century. The principal and founder of a writing and editing firm (as well as a university writing instructor), Jane began the Peace Corps at 50 Project with the posting of a very unusual website and an all-call for personal experience essay submissions. As the series editor, she recruited editors, oversaw editing, negotiated publication, supervised formatting, cover design and finally manages marketing. What on earth inspired . . .

Now Here's a Great Idea and Event in D.C.

Mar 09 2012

Peace Corps Town Hall Meeting Looking forward to the next 50 years RPCV/W cordially invites you to attend a Peace Corps Town Hall Meeting What: a forum with returned volunteers and Peace Corps leadership to listen and discuss current agency initiatives Where: Peace Corps Headquarters, Shriver Hall; 1111 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20526 When: March 14, 2012 from 6PM – 7PM (please arrive 10-15 minutes early to clear security and check in at registration) How: you must register to attend, (open to members and non-members) Program: 1. Welcome and introduction from RPCV/W leadership 2. Remarks from the RPCV/W President Chris Austin 3. Remarks from the NPCA President-Kevin Quigley 4. Remarks from Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams 5. Q & A, audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions, questions submitted online will also be addressed Have questions but can’t attend the town hall? Email your questions to Kristina . . .

Another China RPCV Writer Wins Another Writing Award!

Mar 08 2012

March 07, 2012 Discover Great New Writers award Michael Levy’s (China 2005-07) memoir, Kosher Chinese: Living, Teaching, and Eating With China’s Other Billion ( Holt), was one of the two winners of Barnes & Noble’s annual “Discover Great New Writers” awards, announced Wednesday at a lunch in New York. The memoir by Levy, 35, a teacher in Brooklyn, N.Y. , recounts his Peace Corps experience in rural China in 2005 as a basketball-playing, kosher vegetarian. He said he began the day Wednesday at his day job – a Catholic school where a “wide-eyed 9-year-old asked me why I was dressed in a jacket and tie.” Levy replied that he was going to a ceremony to celebrate “great new writers.” The girl got very excited and asked, “Did you write The Hunger Games?” He had to explain that he didn’t. A panel of former award winners picked the winers. Each received $10,000 and . . .

A Writer Writes "The Good Old Days"

Mar 08 2012

Roger Landrum was a PCV in Nigeria, 1961-63. He taught at the new University of Nigeria at Nsukka in Nigeria’s first year of independence and his experience was the subject of a Peace Corps documentary film called “Give Me A Riddle.” Landrum was one of the first RPCVs to join the PC/W staff. Landrum devoted most of his subsequent career to expanding youth service opportunities in the US. He founded and directed The Teachers Inc. which provided Peace Corps-like programming for American inner-city schools. Landrum co-authored Youth and the Needs of the Nation with Harris Wofford, a policy blueprint for a large-scale national service initiative. In 1986 Landrum launched Youth Service America (YSA) which led efforts to expand and mobilize a national youth service infrastructure that culminated in the National and Community Service Acts of 1990 and 1993 and creation of the federal Corporation for National Service along with AmeriCorps. As . . .

Angry PCVs write Celeste: Leaving El Salvador 1979 – 80 Part Four

Mar 07 2012

On February 27th, 13 Volunteers who had been evacuated to Guatemala wrote and signed a letter to Celeste. In the December 27th letter, entitled, “Volunteers Perspectives on the Voluntary Evacuation, December 1979 ((DNSA/GWU, Collection: El Salvador – The Making of U.S. Policy, 1977 – 1984. Item Number: ES00340), Volunteers wrote: Dear Mr. Celeste: We are Peace Corps Volunteers from El Salvador, Central America. We arrived a few days ago in a few days ago in Guatemala on a strong but confusing “suggestion” from the director that we leave El Salvador. We are but a part of the entire Peace Corps Volunteer personel in El Salvador. The others are in the United States, Honduras or are still in-country. Quite naturally we are upset….We recognize the immense strain the Peace Corps Staff, and ourselves, have been functioning under but feel this is a very poor excuse for the inefficient and ineffective . . .

Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996-98) Awarded International Prize

Mar 07 2012

Yesterday evening, March 6, 2012, Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996-98) received a Gourmand International World Cookbook Awards in Paris, France, for her book How to Cook a Crocodile. How to Cook a Crocodile: A Memoir with Recipes was the first book published by the Peace Corps Writers Imprint. Bonnie’s book won the “Charity and Community” category award. The event, held in the Folies Bergeres theater, attracted an audience from all over the world. Bonnie, who is a blogger on this site at: Cooking Crocodiles & Other Food Musings, gave her acceptance speech in both French and English. The 16-year-old organization Gourmand International, headquartered in Madrid, Spain, publishes GOURMAND magazine and sponsors the Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards. The 2011 awards celebration at the Folies Bergère kicks off a week-long Paris Cookbook Fair. Congratulations, Bonnie!

Bonnie Lee Black's ABC's of healthy cooking

Mar 06 2012

Our blogger Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996–98) got some recent press in her home state of New Mexico. Bonnie, who earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University/Los Angeles in June 2007, was an honors graduate of Columbia University (BA, Literature/Writing, 1979), and then a writer and editor for nearly 30 years, and an educator — in the U.S. and overseas — for over 15 years. For ten years (from 1986 to 1996) she was a chef, caterer, and cooking instructor in Manhattan, during which time her freelance writing focused on food. In 1996, she joined the Peace Corps and served as a health and nutrition Volunteer in Gabon in central Africa. Her book, How to Cook a Crocodile: A Memoir with Recipes (Peace Corps Writers, 2010), recounts her experience teaching healthy cooking in Gabon. The following piece about Bonnie appeared online in The Taos News on Sunday, March 4, 2012. • Bonnie . . .

Sex & Santorum

Mar 05 2012

LAST WEEKEND I RECEIVED A PHONE CALL from Joan Corboy who was the wife of one of our APCDs back in Ethiopia in the early Sixties. She is now pushing 90, the mother of eight, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, and a wonderful woman. She called me to test her memory (it is, by the way, much better than mine!). Since I work at a Catholic college she wanted to know if I could get my hands on an article by Judge John T. Noonan, a Harvard educated lawyer, who had written a piece on contraception back in the mid-sixties. Joan, who is a faithful Catholic (Yes, Virginia, there are still some) was annoyed (to say the least) at all of Rick Santorum’s remarks on contraception, remembered the article, and wanted me to track it down for her. I had no idea who John T. Noonan, Jr. was, or about the article he had written on contraception. . . .

Academic article on PCVs in Africa

Mar 02 2012

David Peterson del Mar recently published in the scholarly journal, African Identities (Vol. 9. N0 4, November 2011, 349-361) an article entitled “RERFLECTION At the heart of things: Peace Corps volunteers in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Peterson, who is not an RPCV, is an Assistant Professor at Portland State University for the Department of History and Extended Campus. He is the author of six books, including What Trouble I Have Seen: A History of Violence against Wives (Harvard University Press, 1996) and The American Family: From Obligation to Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). He is currently researching American attitudes toward Africa since World War II for his next book which is tentatively entitled, Africa Existenial. His research for this new book that led him to RPCVs who served in Africa, and the writing that they have done over the years. He wrote me, “I very much enjoyed the research (on PCVs in Africa) — and hope that . . .

Editor of Peace Corps Anthologies Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) Reading in Fort Collins

Mar 01 2012

Published at Coloradoan.com Fort Collins author assembles Peace Corps anthologies By Stacy Nick StacyNick@coloradoan.com IN 1967, 21-YEAR-OLD JANE ALBRITTON traveled to India as a volunteer for the Peace Corps. It was an experience that changed her life and how she saw the world around her. Forty years later, it motivated her to tackle another adventure: putting her experiences, and those of other Peace Corps volunteers, on paper. With the help of fellow Peace Corps volunteers, Albritton put together a series of four anthologies featuring 200 stories from Volunteers who served all over the world to celebrate and honor 50 years of the Peace Corps. “I started getting old, actually,” Albritton joked as to why she decided to start the project. After years of “pestering” others to record their histories, it occurred to her that her and her fellow Volunteers’ stories might be lost if they weren’t written down. Albritton, a . . .

Archive - 2012