Archive - April 2014

1
Travelers’ Tales For Peace Corps Writers
2
Coyne's Take on Best-Selling Author James Patterson On "How To Write An Unputdownable Story"
3
Review — WHEN BRITISH HONDURAS BECAME BELIZE 1971–73 by Ted Cox
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Laura DeLuca (Kenya 1987–89) publishes YA novel set in the Sudan
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What do you wish Americans knew about your Peace Corps country?
6
The Peace Corps to Host World Malaria Day Google+ Hangout
7
Chasing Misery: An Anthology of Essays by Women in Humanitarian Responses
8
Novelist Hilary Mantel Slams Botswana PCV Teachers Then ETs Herself
9
Charles B. Kastner's (Seychelles 1980-82) The 1929 Bunion Derby
10
Tony D'Souza (Ivory Coast 2000-02, Madagascar 2002-03) Goes Back To Teguela
11
Review of Barbara E. Joe's (Honduras 2000-03) Confessions of a Secret Latina
12
StoryMondo–Where RPCV Writers Might Publish
13
The Peace Corps Announces 2014 Top Hispanic-Serving Institutions for Volunteers
14
Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975-76) Finalist for 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
15
Ancient Fire by William Siegel (Ethiopia 1962-64)

Travelers’ Tales For Peace Corps Writers

Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) senior editor of four books of essays by RPCVs published by Travelers’ Tales/Solas House was kind enough to send me this announcement from Travelers’ Tales. It might be, she wrote, a place where RPCV writers will find a home for their prose. The site is: http://talestogo.travelerstales.com/submission-guidelines/ Submission Guidelines Tales To Go is published by Travelers’ Tales/Solas House, Inc. You will find detailed rights and payment information at our submissions intake site and in the full Travelers’ Tales submission guidelines. Type of Story Please read at least one issue of Tales To Go to get a sense of what we publish. In general, we’re looking for personal, nonfiction stories and anecdotes-funny, illuminating, adventurous, frightening, or grim. Stories should reflect that unique alchemy that occurs when you enter unfamiliar territory and begin to see the world differently as a result. Previously published stories are welcome, as long as you retain the . . .

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Coyne's Take on Best-Selling Author James Patterson On "How To Write An Unputdownable Story"

You have heard of the writer James Patterson. You have, I’m guessing, read at least one of his books. He’s the most popular and prolific writer to come along in the last decade. An estimated one out of every 17 hardcover novels purchased in the United States is his, dwarfing the sales of both Harry Potter and the Twilight vampires. To put it another way, James Patterson’s books account for one out of every 17 hardcover novels purchased in the United States. He is certainly the ‘king’ of summertime beach reading. Recently journalist Joe Berkowitz interviewed Patterson on the website Fast Company Create. In his interview, Berkowitz made the point that what makes Patterson so successful is “his colloquial storytelling style that grabs a hold of readers early on, instilling an insatiable need to know what happens next.” In his interview on the website, Patterson gave 8 points that dictates . . .

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Review — WHEN BRITISH HONDURAS BECAME BELIZE 1971–73 by Ted Cox

When British Honduras Became Belize 1971–73: A Peace Corps Memoir by Ted W. Cox (Sierra Leone 1969–71); Belize (1971–73) Old World Deli, Publications Dept. $16.95 456 pages 2014 Reviewed by Barbara E. Joe (Honduras 2000-03) Years ago, my curiosity about Belize was aroused during a brief stopover at the primitive tree-canopied Belize City airport. So I picked up When British Honduras Became Belize with considerable anticipation. I was surprised by the book’s heft (456 pages) and puzzled when first thumbing through its vast collection of photos, memos, letters, deeds, certificates, and tables dating from the author’s service. Interspersed were reconstructed conversations and present-day commentary in such large type that I didn’t need my glasses to read it. What was this all about? At first glance, this unconventional book looks much like a scrapbook or collage. It contains five maps, including one of Sierra Leone, author Ted Cox’s first Peace Corps . . .

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Laura DeLuca (Kenya 1987–89) publishes YA novel set in the Sudan

In March co-authors Leah Bassoff and Laura DeLuca (Kenya 1987–89) published the young adult novel entitled Lost Girl Found. The story revolves around a young girl — Ponti — whose life in her small village in southern Sudan is simple and complicated at the same time. But when the war comes and there is only one thing for Poni to do. Run. Run for her life. Driven by the sheer will to survive and the hope that she can somehow make it to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, Poni sets out on a long, dusty trek across the east African countryside with thousands of refugees. In Kakuma she is almost overwhelmed by the misery that surrounds her. Poni realizes that she must leave the camp at any cost. Her next destination is a refugee compound in Nairobi. There, if she is lucky, she can continue her education and even . . .

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What do you wish Americans knew about your Peace Corps country?

I got an e-mail today from the Peace Corps’ lovely and talented Eileen Conoboy (Mali 1995-97), Director of Office of Third Goal and Returned Volunteer Services. She wrote that her Third Goal office had put together the Agency’s first video challenge for this year’s Peace Corps Week. They asked one simple question: What do you wish Americans knew about your Peace Corps country? Eileen wrote, “We received 80 video submissions from RPCVs and PCVs representing 40 countries. Together, these videos have already received 25,000 views on YouTube and are shedding a light on unique global perspectives and cultural windows opened through the Peace Corps experience.  Congratulations to our first place winner, Peace Corps Volunteer David Malana, who is being sent an iPad in recognition of his winning video, Kyrgyzstan Is Me.  We hope this will help him continue to support Peace Corps’ Third Goal and complement his efforts as a cultural ambassador. . . .

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The Peace Corps to Host World Malaria Day Google+ Hangout

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, April 23, 2014 CONTACT: Press Office 202.692.2230 *MEDIA ADVISORY* The Peace Corps to Host World Malaria Day Google+ Hangout with Volunteers and Community Members Leading the Fight Against Malaria in Africa WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, April 25, Peace Corps volunteers and their community counterparts will share their experiences collaborating to combat malaria across Africa during a Google+ Hangout On Air for World Malaria Day. The panelists were chosen through Stomping Out Malaria in Africa’s “Malaria Heroes” competition held to recognize host-country nationals and their Peace Corps volunteer counterparts who have demonstrated extraordinary commitment and partnership in the fight against malaria. Volunteers across Africa nominated outstanding individuals from their communities who were then voted on through Facebook. Winners Kory Funk, a health volunteer from Columbus, Ohio, and Mr. Salum Kabugo of Tanzania were selected by a panel of experts from Abt Associates, The Against Malaria Foundation, PATH, ONE, and the . . .

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Chasing Misery: An Anthology of Essays by Women in Humanitarian Responses

Chasing Misery: An Anthology of Essays by Women in Humanitarian Responses Edited by Kelsey Hoppe Includes essays by Miranda Bryant (Kazakhstan 2000–02), Caryl Feldacker (Ecuador 1999–01), Emilie Greenhalgh (Cameroon 2007–09), Carmen Sheehan (Ecuador 2000–03); and photographs by Jenn Warren (Jordan 2002) CreateSpace $10.25 (paperback), $6.99 (Kindle) 318 pages 2014 Reviewed by Susi Wyss (Central African Republic 1990-92) All of the two dozen essays in Chasing Misery are written by women-including four recent RPCVs-who are attempting to describe their experiences working on humanitarian responses of the last decade around the world. While these crises each have their own causes and particular issues, and the people who work on them each have their own motivations and experiences, the world of humanitarian aid and the people dispensing it share enough in common to make this collection a cohesive whole. As any RPCV who has tried to write about their own experience knows, what . . .

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Novelist Hilary Mantel Slams Botswana PCV Teachers Then ETs Herself

[Thanks to Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon 1965-67) for bringing this to my attention. And thanks to RPCV Jason Gross (Botswana 1987-1989) for putting Hilary Mantel in her place with his Comment about being a PCV teacher in Botswana.] June 2, 2012 I Taught Shakespeare in Botswana By HILARY MANTEL Budleigh Salterton, England “THOSE who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” That’s what adults said when I was growing up, and it seemed cruel, since my girls-only school seemed to specialize in turning out teachers, and it didn’t leave us much pride in our future job. After university I became a social worker and then a saleswoman. I seemed to have broken the pattern, but all the time a classroom was waiting for me. I became a teacher under bizarre circumstances, but in retrospect it was one of my better career moves. I was 25 and had been living for a . . .

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Charles B. Kastner's (Seychelles 1980-82) The 1929 Bunion Derby

The 1929 Bunion Derby: Johnny Salo and the Great Footrace across America by Charles B. Kastner (Seychelles 1980–82) Syracuse University Press $24.95 (hard cover) 304 pages April 2014 Reviewed by Thomas E. Coyne WOULD YOU RUN across the continental United States? Would you run across the continental United States . . . twice? You will notice that I did not ask if you COULD run across the country twice. In his book, The 1929 Bunion Derby, author Charles Kastner makes it clear there were any number of men quite willing to put on their running shoes and try . . . willing,  just not able. Charles Kastner has written two books about C. C. Pyle’s epic, but almost forgotten, International Trans-continental Foot Races in 1928 and 1929. The first, Bunion Derby: The 1928 Footrace Across America, published by the University of New Mexico Press in 2007 grew out of a 2001 Kastner article in . . .

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Tony D'Souza (Ivory Coast 2000-02, Madagascar 2002-03) Goes Back To Teguela

[Tony D’Souza had been a HIV/AIDS Volunteer in a village in northern Ivory Coast when that country’s decade-long civil war erupted in 2002. Evacuated to Ghana, Tony transferred to Madagascar before coming home and writing about his experiences in his 2006 novel Whiteman. Whiteman won most of the major first novel prizes, including from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was excerpted by the New Yorker. In 2007, Tony received an NEA grant, and in 2008, a Guggenheim. Last fall, Tony visited his village for the first time in ten years. In this nonfiction piece for Sarah Lawrence University’s Lumina, he writes of the toll of AIDS on the friends left behind, the ravages of the war, the death of his Ivorian girlfriend, and despite all, the happiness of going back to a place one loves. This essay Les Petites Camionaires (The Guys With the Little Truck) on his . . .

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Review of Barbara E. Joe's (Honduras 2000-03) Confessions of a Secret Latina

Confessions of a Secret Latina: How I Fell Out of Love with Castro & in Love with the Cuban People by Barbara E. Joe (Honduras 2000–03) CreateSpace $15.77 (paperback), $5.99 (Kindle) 434 pages 2014 Reviewed by Bob Arias (Colombia 1964–66) I agree 100% with Barbara Joe, the real criminals are the Castro brothers . . . Fidel and Raul! What they have done to the people of Cuba cannot be tolerated . . . simply said, they have been cruel and inhumane to the very people that brought them to power.  A recently released Afro-Cuban former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, Dr. Oscar Biscet, said that 85% of Cuban prisoners are of African descent.  And many prisoners are behind bars not because they committed a crime, but because the Castro brothers feel the individual may perhaps in the future commit a crime against the Peoples Republic of Cuba . . . lock them up before they . . .

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StoryMondo–Where RPCV Writers Might Publish

Dear Writers, This is to introduce StoryMondo, an exciting new website where you can publish your short stories and verse. But the writing we publish is special. It must have a “sense of place” – it must in some way illustrate features or evoke the atmosphere of a particular location. We publish two kinds of writing: Short stories: up to 1,500 words long, these can include folk tales and legends, new or adapted from the old; travellers’ tales about places you have visited; and descriptions or stories that say something about where you grew up or where you live Verse: haiku, sonnets or other forms of poetry, containing any or all of the elements above Your writing can be about any topic – but it must always have a connection with real physical places such as cities, mountains, rivers, buildings and countries – and so can be shown by a . . .

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The Peace Corps Announces 2014 Top Hispanic-Serving Institutions for Volunteers

Press Office of The Peace Corps FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 16, 2014 The Peace Corps Announces 2014 Top Hispanic-Serving Institutions for Volunteers WASHINGTON, D.C., April 16, 2014 – The Peace Corps today announced its 2014 rankings of the top volunteer-producing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). San Diego State University claimed the top spot among HSIs with 33 undergraduate alumni currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers. California State University, Long Beach ranked No. 2 with 31 currently serving volunteers, and the University of New Mexico took the third spot with 26 currently serving volunteers. California is home to seven of the top ten HSIs in this year’s rankings. The state produces more Peace Corps volunteers than any other state nationwide with 973 residents currently serving. Since the Peace Corps was established in 1961, more than 28,000 California residents have served overseas as Peace Corps volunteers. “I applaud these Hispanic-Serving Institutions for elevating the value of . . .

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Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975-76) Finalist for 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975-76) yesterday was named a finalist for the 2014 pulitzer-150Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Shacochis was nominated for his work The Woman Who Lost Her Soul. Published by Atlantic Monthly Press, the novel spans 50 years and three continents. The book explores the murky world of American foreign policy before 9/11, using provocative themes to raise difficult moral questions. The 2014 prize went to Donna Tartt, for her novel The Goldfinch. Pulitzer winners and finalists are announced simultaneously. Shacochis attended the University of Missouri and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and currently teaches creative writing at Florida State University. The Publishers Weekly starred review says of The Woman Who Lost Her Soul: “A brutal American-style John le Carré, Shacochis details how espionage not only reflects a nation’s character but can also endanger its soul. Gritty characters find themselves in grueling situations against a moral and physical landscape depicted . . .

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Ancient Fire by William Siegel (Ethiopia 1962-64)

[Will Siegel (Ethiopia 1962-64) is a writer living now in Boston. I recently published on this site two stories written by Will that are set in New York City at the time of the fifties/sixties-era folk-music revival, the time that is portrayed in the  film, Inside Llewyn Davis. Will, like many PCVs who were overseas at the time of Kennedy’s assassination, are haunted by those days when we were all outside the ‘family’ when death came to our president. Will solved that problem by writing a novel about Kennedy. What follows is the first chapter of Kennedy in the Land of the Dead. I asked Will to write and tell us how his book came to be.] I wrote this chapter a number of years after Kennedy’s death trying to recreate the tenor of feelings that came up for me that day as well as some of the remembered thoughts and . . .

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