November 1, 2014 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Peace Corps Update for RPCVs

Nov 01 2014

Thank you to John Coyne for forwarding the following Peace Corps Update designed specifically for RPCVs. I believe that it is published through the Office of the Third Goal. The webpage has a menu specifically designed to link RPCVs to more information. Here is the link to view that entire webpage: http://www.mailoutinteractive.com/Industry/View.aspx?id=626719&q=799195384&qz=899601 Of real interest to RPCVs might well be the description of the positions open with Peace Corps Response. Scroll down to that heading. Much of this information can be found in other parts of the official Peace Corps website. However, this Update is designed specifically for RPCVs and includes the personal letter from Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet. At first glance, I am not sure how much of an incentive the loan program would have to those RPCVs struggling with gigantic student loan debt. The plan appears to require 120 payments be made first. I think that is ten years. . . .

Rereading Paul Theroux's (Malawi 1963-65) Girls At Play

Nov 01 2014

I have been working my way through a new collecting of short stories by Paul Theroux, Mr. Bones: Twenty Stories, which Houghton Mifflin Harcourt published this September. Only one of the stories (so far) relates to his time in Africa. It is entitled, “I’m the Meat, You’re the Knife.” It is the last story in the collection. (Writers–or perhaps their editors–) selected the best stories for the first and last ones in any collection. I first read Girls At Play in the late Sixties. This novel was his third. His first book was Waldo (1967), next three were set in Africa. Fong and the Indians (1968), Girls at Play (1969), and Jungle Lovers (1971). At the time, I remember reviewers were saying Theroux was ‘writing too fast,’ that he should slow down his publishing. At the same time Saturday Review called Fong and the Indians “a small masterpiece.” (If he . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers — October 2014

Nov 01 2014

Rush of Shadows (Historical Fiction) by Catherine Bell (Brazil 1966–68) Washington Writers Publishing House October 2014 384 pages $17.95 (paperback) • Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy (Peace Corps Memoir) by Christopher R. Hill (Cameroon 1974–76) Simon & Schuster October 2014 448 pages $30.00 (hardcover), $12.74 (Kindle) • Love & Ordinary Creatures (Novel) by Gwyn Hyman Rubio (Costa Rica 1971–73) Ashland Creek Press 306 pages October 2014 $17.95 (paperback) • Mr. Bones: Twenty Stories by Paul Theroux (Malawi Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 368 pages September 2014 $27.00 (hardcover), $14.85 (Kindle) • A Man Named Jay: the true story of a boy who died and the man who lived (Children) by Damian Wampler (Kyrgyzstan) CreateSpace 70 pages January 2014 •

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