November 2013 – Page 3 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Review of Jackie Zollo Brooks (Madagascar 1997-99)The Ravenala

Nov 11 2013

The Ravenala by Jackie Zollo Brooks (Madagascar 1997-99) A Peace Corps Writers Book $16.00 (paperback) 286 pages 2013 Review by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-96) The Ravenala is a palm tree found in Madagascar, whose fanning branches point east and west, so it is also called the “travelers’ tree.” It serves as a metaphor for the novel, especially its main character, Vivian, who seeks direction and freedom as a Peace Corps Volunteer in her early sixties. The Malagasy people who are her English students, and those who work for her domestically teach her lessons in humility, goodness and courage. When her gas stove blows up in the face of Merlah, her warrior guard, she takes care of him, treating his burns, and realizes how deeply she cares about him, his family and the brave island people. Vivian walks past prisoners of a crumbling fort who are free to go have . . .

Draft Strategic Plan 2015-2018 – Continuation of Service

Nov 11 2013

Third Goal Activities and the role of RPCVs are part of the Draft Strategic Plan. I have underlined the two items that caught my attention. Rather than the all RPCV run agency that Dr. Robert Textor envisioned with his “In, Up and Out” policy”, the Peace Corps agency will “Establish a competitive internship program where exceptional RPCVs compete for year-long positions within the agency and its strategic partners.” The other interesting item is the plan to engage RPCVs in a network “similar to a college alumni model”. I found the reference to college illuminating. I am beginning to think that the institutional model that best describes the Peace Corps best is that of a university. The “traditional” Peace Corps Volunteer is the undergraduate. The RPCVs in the lower level positions are the graduate assistants, soon to be replaced by the proposed “interns.” The other employees are the adjunct professors, on . . .

RPCV Writer Jason Carter (South Africa 1997-99)Running for Governor of Georgia

Nov 10 2013

RPCV Jason Carter (South Africa 1997-99) the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter has decided to run for governor of Georgia. President Carter says Georgia faces serious challenges and would “greatly benefit from a smart and fresh leader focused on improving our schools, creating opportunities for a more prosperous middle class and restoring a sense of trust and transparency back to state government.” Carter’s decision shakes up the 2014 race. Republican Gov. Nathan Deal already faces two primary opponents and now will deal with the prospect of a Carter campaign that will likely be well-financed. Jason’s great-grandmother, Lillian Carter (India 1967-69) published Away From Home: Letters to my Family, in 1977. Jason’s book on his tour in Lochiel, South Africa, where he taught, was published by National Geographic in 2003. It is entitled, Power Lines, and details the racial divides he experienced in South Africa while living near the Swaziland . . .

Paul Clements (Gambia 1985-87) Announces Candidacy For U.S. Congress

Nov 10 2013

Democrat Paul Clements attracts standing-room-only crowd at Kalamazoo rally writes the Kalamazoo Gazette Reporter Yvonne Zipp. KALAMAZOO, MI More than 50 people packed into the Kalamazoo County Democratic headquarters Saturday to hear Paul Clements formally announce his candidacy for the 2014 congressional race to a standing-room-only crowd. WMU professor Paul Clements, who is looking to unseat U.S. Rep. Fred Upton in 2014, speaks to a packed crowd at the Kalamazoo County Democratic headquarters Nov. 9. Clements, a Western Michigan University professor who is looking to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, was on his fourth stop of the day on an eight-city tour of Southwest Michigan. He began the day in Buchanan, with stops in Allegan, Benton Harbor, Cassopolis, South Haven, Three Rivers and Union Pier. Clements received a standing ovation when he entered the headquarters at 3254 S. Westnedge Ave. at 12:25 p.m. “I’m pretty happy as a professor . . .

Draft FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan – From the Peace Corps website

Nov 08 2013

Draft FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan Over the past several months, the Peace Corps has been engaged in a comprehensive and highly inclusive process to develop a new strategic plan to guide the agency’s work over the next five years (fiscal years 2014-2018). The draft strategic plan strengthens far-reaching reforms introduced in recent years, addresses decades-old challenges, and leverages promising opportunities to increase the impact of our Volunteers and improve our operations. Please review the key components of the plan noted below and if you have any feedback or comments, let us know, We can accept comments on the draft strategic plan until December 2, 2013. Note: The above is from the Peace Corps website. Here is the link to read the mission statement: http://www.peacecorps.gov/open/plan/ It is possible to read the specific activities projected to meet the goals as outlined. Go to: http://www.peacecorps.gov/open/plan/ and then click on the heading written in orange. The site will . . .

Peter Hessler (China 1996-98) Morsi’s Chaotic Day in Court

Nov 08 2013

[This comes from the New Yorker webpage] By Peter Hessler http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/11/scenes-from-the-first-day-of-mohamed-morsis-chaotic-trial-in-cairo.html= On my way to Monday’s trial of Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected President of Egypt, and the second former President to be tried on criminal charges during the past two years, I found myself walking next to one of Morsi’s lawyers. His name was Said Hamid, and he was sweating and breathing hard. We were still in the early stages of the security gauntlet that had been set up for the trial. Any journalist or lawyer had to carry a stamped statement of approval from the Cairo Court of Appeals, and then he had to pass through four armed checkpoints and three metal detectors. Nobody was allowed to carry a camera, voice recorder, or cell phone; the state seemed determined to control all digital recordings of this event. Each attendee also had to hike for more than half . . .

Timely New Novel, Vatican Waltz, by Roland Merullo (Micronesia 1979-80)

Nov 08 2013

Roland Merullo (Micronesia 1979-80) has written thirteen books, including Golfing with God and Revere Beach Boulevard. He has a novel coming out this December from Crown. It is entitled Vatican Waltz. This is a Catholic novel in the sense it is about a woman who believes she is called by God to be the first female Catholic priest. In the course of the novel, the woman, Cynthia Clare Piantedosi, reaches out to other unreceptive officials within the Catholic establishment and is met with ridicule. (Hello? Being Catholic, I could have told the protagonist that.) Unable to tune out the divine messages, she leaves behind all that she knows, letting the power of her unswerving faith drive her all the way to the Vatican in pursuit of a destiny she doesn’t full understand. (Well, perhaps Pope Francis will be more understanding.) The book has already received positive reviews from the Chicago . . .

William F.S. Miles (Niger 1977-79) "A Used Book, a Lost Era"

Nov 07 2013

The back page of The Chronicle Review always has a thoughtful short essay written by an academic (yes, some academics can write) and it is usually what I turn to when the weekly Chronicle of Higher Education arrives. (This publication, by the way, is one of the best edited papers in the U.S.) The November 8, 2013, issue has an essay entitled “A Used Book, A Lost Era” by William F.S. Miles (Niger 1977-79) that tracks how he found a used copy of R.C. Abraham’s 992-page Dictionary of the Hausa Language, that he had as a PCV in Niger, and that he would use later when he was a Fulbright Scholar in Niger. He found a used copy of Abraham’s dictionary on sale at Amazon for $25. He bought the book and he writes with great feeling and great regret: I opened the shipping packet with the kind of anticipation . . .

Carrie Hits It Out of the Ball Park at Senate Hearing

Nov 06 2013

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Chaired by Senator Ed Markey, this Wednesday morning was a love feast for Carrie Hessler Radelet (Western Samoa 1981-83) at her Nomination Hearing. However, most of the hugs and kisses went to Harris Wofford, the former senator, and also a chief architect of the Peace Corps, one of the famous early Mad Men of the Peace Corps who in 1960 met with Shriver in the Mayflower Hotel and hatched out the idea of the agency. So much was the tribute to Wofford that at the close of the Hearing, Markey asked for a round of applause for Wofford, saying the Committee was ‘honored to have him there” to nominate Carrie for the job as Director of the Peace Corps. Harris even got a kiss from Carrie! Harris, for a man in his mid-80s, was sharp and articulate and, as always, rallying support for . . .

From the Atlantic Monthly: Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975-76) Should Literature Be Personal or Political?

Nov 06 2013

[By Heart is a series on the Atlantic Blog edited by Joe Fassler in which authors share and discuss their all-time favorite passages in literature. Here is the last by Fassler and Shacochis. Joe Fassler: Is a writer obligated to address the way that powerful institutions affect how we live and what we feel? Or is it enough to conjure life on the scale of garden, bed, and kitchen table? Bob Shacochis, author of The Woman Who Lost Her Soul, is more qualified than most to answer these questions, to sort out the relationship between what he calls “the literature of political experience” versus “the literature of domestic experience.” For years, he wrote the “Dining In” column for GQ-short, wistful celebrations of the meals prepared and shared with a beloved woman. (He collected these essays, which include recipes, in a book aptly titled Domesticity.) But Shacochis’s fiction, and his globe-trotting work as a . . .

Anne Pellicciotto (Mexico 2010-12) Kickstarter Project To Write Her Book

Nov 05 2013

Anne has hit her Kickstarter goal of $15,000. She wrote me, “Lot’s of generous people – friends and strangers – are interested in my Peace Corps Mexico story. NOW it’s time to shift attention back to the writing and get this book done! However, you can get on-board with this project by reserving an advance-copy of the book and getting an invite to the book launch party this coming year. Your help will allow me to complete, professionally edit, layout the art and photos, and produce a quality finished product to add to the Peace Corps collection. Here’s the link to checkout our progress and the rewards: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2074468560/a-story-of-sustainability-from-south-of-the-border (I had to repost the http to make it work. Anne’s bio: As founder and president of SeeChange, Anne Pellicciotto has 15 years’ experience with systems-level change in diverse environments – from IT transformation to reorganization, new program launch to board alignment. In . . .

Tune In Tomorrow For Senate Confirmation Hearing

Nov 05 2013

Nomination U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Presiding: Senator Menendez Date: Wednesday, November 06, 2013 Time: 10:30 AM Location: Senate Dirksen 419 Webcast: This hearing is scheduled to be live webcast. Please return to this page to view the hearing live at the specified date and time. The Honorable Carolyn Hessler Radelet of Virginia, to be Director of the Peace Corps http://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/nomination-11-6-2013

Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975-76) on Amazon's Omnivoracious

Nov 05 2013

Omnivoracious by Neal Thompson on November 04, 2013 Over drinks at Seattle’s Brave Horse Tavern, Shacochis described his encounter in Haiti years ago with the “haunting” and “unpleasant” woman who became the inspiration for the main character in his new novel, The Woman Who Lost Her Soul, which was an Amazon Best Book of the Month pick in September. The National Book Award-winning author met the woman–“blonde, young, infuriating,” as he calls her in the opening line of the book–while covering the US occupation of Haiti for Harper’s Magazine. She claimed to be a photojournalist and asked Shacochis to give her a tour of a voodoo temple; during the drive there, she said she’d lost her soul. “I knew her for less than 36 hours, and I forgot her name within days,” he said. “But what happened in that temple disturbed me so much it haunted me for five years. “I just never . . .

Review of Thurston Clarke (Tunisia 1968) JFK's Last Hundred Days

Nov 03 2013

JFK’s Last Hundred Days The Transformation of a Man and The Emergence of a Great President by Thurston Clarke (Tunisia 1968) The Penguin Press, New York 415 pages August 2013 $29.95 Reviewed by Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996-98) “That’s the trouble with all you historians!” JFK railed at his aide Arthur Schlesinger Jr., who had praised FDR effusively in his New Deal trilogy. “You made all those New Dealers seven feet tall. They weren’t that good. They were just a bunch of guys like us.” — JFK’s Last Hundred Days In this his newest book, Thurston Clarke focuses on the three months leading up to John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s assassination at the age of 46, fifty years ago this month. Clarke, author of eleven widely acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction, paints an honest portrait of the fascinating, complex, and elusive man who served less than two years of his . . .

Peace Corps Writers publishes LITTLE WOMEN OF BAGLAN by Susan Fox

Nov 03 2013

Little Women of Baghlan: The Story of a Nursing School for Girls in Afghanistan, the Peace Corps, and Life Before the Taliban is the true account of Joanne – Jo – Carter who answers the call to service and adventure during an extraordinary time in world history. Her story rivals the excitement, intrigue, and suspense of any novel, unfolding against the backdrop of changing social mores, the Cold War, the Peace Corps, and a country at the crossroads of China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and Iran. When John F. Kennedy delivers a speech in the Senate Chambers on a hot July day in 1957, a young Jo Carter listens from the Senate gallery. In 1967 Jo remembers the now-deceased President Kennedy’s words and is inspired to join the Peace Corps. As a new Peace Corps Volunteer she flies into Afghanistan on March 21, 1968 with her training group. From her plane . . .

Archive - November 2013