Archive - May 2014

[This piece by Elise Annunziata (Senegal 1996-99) was published a decade ago, and it is one of our most remembered pieces. So, we are republishing it for those RPCVs who missed reading it the first time.] A Writer Writes The Last Ride by Elise Annunziata (Senegal 1996-99) I HAD SAID SO OFTEN that leaving my Senegalese village, Keur Madiabel, would the most difficult part of my three-year Peace Corps service. Every time a farewell scene crept into my mind, I banished it quickly and vowed to think about it later. But, before I accepted the reality of my departure, “later” was looming over my head and it was time to drive – for the last time – from my village to the regional capital, with a fraction of my original possessions thrown into the backseat of a Peace Corps vehicle. My last full day Most of the afternoon on my . . .

Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965-67) is considered by many to be our ‘great’ Peace Corps writer. He is considered by others to be our most overlooked great American writer. Moritz was the author of a Peace Corps memoir Living Poor, the first of his three published books. He died of cholera in Guayaquil, Ecuador on August 28, 1991. Back in the days of our ‘old’ website: www.peacecorpswriters.org, we published a long essay on Moritz written by Marcus Covert who had reached out to me for any background information I might have on Moritz. Marc had learned about Moritz Thomsen through a piece by Pat Joseph in Salon.com, published in July 1998, titled “The Saddest Gringo.” He borrowed a copy of Living Poor and was hooked immediately. It didn’t take him long to burn through Farm on the River of Emeralds, The Saddest Pleasure, and My Two Wars, then he was, as . . .

Superstition Review is the online literary magazine produced by creative writing and web design students at Arizona State University. Founded by Patricia Colleen Murphy in 2008, the mission of the journal is to promote contemporary art and literature by providing a free, easy-to-navigate, high quality online publication that features work by established and emerging artists and authors from all over the world. They publish two issues a year with art, fiction, interviews, nonfiction and poetry. In their latest issue is this story by Mark Jacob’s (Paraguay 1978-80) Meursault’s Father. Mark Jacobs has published 96 stories in magazines including The Atlantic, The Iowa Review, The Southern Humanities Review, The Idaho Review, and The Kenyon Review. He has stories forthcoming in several magazines including Playboy. His fifth book, a novel set in Turkey entitled Forty Wolves, came out in 2010. A former U.S. Foreign Service officer, he currently works for the State . . .

Cannons for the Cause, is an historical novel about the struggle to bring heavy cannons from Fort Ticonderoga, NY to Cambridge, Massachusetts, a distance of more than 300 miles, in the brutal winter of 1775-1776. It is the first in a series of novels that Marty is planning to write about the American Revolution. Cannons for the Cause has recently been published by Peace Corps Writers. Marty, what is your background? Where did you to go college? I am a graduate of C.C.N.Y, (B.A., 1961) and Harvard Law School, (LL.B, 1964). And your Peace Corps history? I served in Somalia from 1966-1968 (Somali IV), as legal adviser to the Somali National Police Force.  I taught the penal and criminal procedure codes at the Police Academy, provided general advice to the Police Commandant, specific advice to Police Officers who prosecuted criminal cases, drafted some legislation, and wrote a casebook on the Somali . . .

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the book cover, the bold book title or the format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support our annual writers awards. • When British Honduras Became Belize — 1971–1973: A Peace Corps Memoir by Ted W. Cox (Sierra Leone 1969–71, Belize 1971–73) Old World Deli Publications Department $16.95 (paperback) 456 pages 2014 • Lost Girl Found by Leah Bassoff and Laura DeLuca (Kenya 1987-89) Groundwood Books $ 16.95 (hardback); $9.99 (Kindle) 212 pages April 2014 • Indian Summer: A Love Letter to India and the Story of India 29 Arthur J. Frankel (India 1966–68) AuthorHouse $29.95 (hardcover); $22.95 (paperback); $7.99 (Kindle) 296 pages 2014 • Cannons for the Cause: A Novel of the American Revolution by Martin R. Ganzglass (Somalia 1966–68) Peace Corps Writers $11.69 (paperback) 338 . . .

Posted in Paraguay is not the usual Peace Corps book — a first time voyage of discovery — because Eloise and Chuck Hanner had done it all before — twenty-five years before. That was back in 1971 when they left, newly married and newly graduated, for a Peace Corps assignment in Afghanistan. It had been a terrific experience and they swore at the time they would do it again — maybe when they were old and retired. But when they turned fifty (not old or retired) they found themselves bored with their stock-brokerage careers and in need of a new direction. Despite admonitions from Thomas Wolfe, who warned “you can’t go home again,” they decided to join the Peace Corps once more. Although this time they wanted to serve in a Spanish speaking country, and a way to use their business background. The Peace Corps recruiter had just the ticket: . . .

Hunger and Hope by George W. Norton (Colombia 1971–73) Waveland Press, Inc. 179 pages $18.95 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) 2014 Reviewed by Ronald A Schwarz (Colombia 1961–63) In 1961 Sargent Shriver relentlessly cornered members of Congress to establish the Peace Corps. His assets were vision, passion, charm and chutzpah. If he returned to the agency today, he would have other tools in his box. One of the most useful would be Hunger and Hope by George W. Norton. In the early 1970s, George and his wife Marj were volunteers with the Coffee Federation in Colombia. Later he earned a doctorate in Agricultural Economics and began his career as a professor, international consultant and author (his list of scientific publications covers 20 pages). Hunger and Hope addresses the complex factors related to poverty, hunger and agricultural development in a readable and deeply personal manner.  Anecdotes drawn from Norton’s Peace Corps years complement . . .