Archive - November 11, 2013

I saw this film last night. It is great! I had the opportunity to relive my Twenties. A large section of it is film from the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary, events as well as the March to Arlington. Rowland Scherman went around the world for the Peace Corps in the fall of ’62 and there are photographs from that era, as well as great images and stories about Bob Dylon, The Beatles, Arthur Ashe, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, all the Kennedys and Shrivers, and maybe you! Check it out. Thursday Night Nov. 14. 7:30pm Cape Ann Community Cinema 21 Main Street Gloucester, MA http://vimeo.com/ondemand/eyeonthe60s/66046480

I was on a Peace Corps recruiting blitz at University of Pennsylvania sitting at a table in the student union handing out brochures for “the toughest job you’ll ever love,” jawboning students to take the plunge, having just returned from two years as a PCV in Nigeria. Word of JFK’s assassination circulated through the union with a shocked buzz. The sudden death of our young president seemed unreal. The recruiting team immediately headed back to DC by van. At the recruiting table with us was a relative of LBJ, who had been foisted on the PC staff. I thought she was going to break a leg in her rush to get back to Washington. Peace Corps headquarters, then across Lafayette Park from the White House, was a stricken place. Everyone, including me, felt like royalty had been assassinated. Many early PCVs shared the feeling that JFK had personally empowered us, . . .