2014 – Page 15 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Authors Guild Proposes National Digital Library of Out of Print Books

Apr 03 2014

Jan Constantine, General Counsel of the Authors Guild, testified before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday afternoon on mass digitization of books and so-called orphan works. Those topics, of course, are at the heart of two Guild lawsuits, Authors Guild v. Google and Authors Guild v. HathiTrust. An advance copy of Jan’s written testimony is available on their blog. Here are three highlights: 1. We’re proposing that Congress empower the creation of a collective licensing organization (something like ASCAP or BMI) to deal with both mass digitization and “orphan” books. Such an organization would pave the way for a true national digital library, but it would have to be limited in scope, just as ASCAP is. Here are the key components: A. Authors get paid for the uses, naturally. B. Licenses would be non-compulsory. Authors get to say no. C. Licenses would cover out-of-print books only. No disrupting commercial markets. D. Display uses only. . . .

What's On The Web About The Peace Corps

Apr 03 2014

[Surfing the web the other day for ‘Peace Corps Information’, I came up with this site:henrymakow.com. There are a lot of crazies out there, and this is one place where they gather. For the purposes of ‘lets sigh and shake our collective heads’ here is what someone named David Richard has to say on Henry Makow’s site about the fate of women in the Peace Corps. By the way, Henry Makow is a Canadian author, campaigner against homosexuality, public opponent of Zionism and Freemasonry, conspiracy theorist and the inventor of the boardgame Scruples. If you look into Makow’s philosophy, you’ll find that he believes a hidden hand is shaping modern history. He thinks democracy today serves as an instrument of social control; the mass media generally stifles information and channels thought; and popular entertainment degrades us and diverts the audience from what is really happening. His anti-homosexual, and anti New . . .

Hal Brun (Sri Lanka 1969-71) special education leader, 1947-2013

Apr 02 2014

Hal Brun (Sri Lanka 1969-71) special education leader, 1947-2013 Educator had ‘huge appetite for life’ January 05, 2014| By Joan Giangrasse Kates While a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sri Lanka, Hal Brun was assigned to teach English to villagers, some of them children with severe disabilities who had been deemed unteachable. With little formal training, Mr. Brun developed a special education program for teaching these children and put into place a system to help them attend local schools. “Hal understood that everything begins with an education,” said his partner of 30 years, Jeff Ginsberg. “That this was the starting point to giving these kids their best shot at life.” Upon his return to the U.S., Mr. Brun launched a long career in education, including several years as the director of special education at New Trier High School in Winnetka. “He was the kind of leader that inspired others to do . . .

If you are in Oregon, Near Oregon City

Apr 01 2014

John Slattery's (Morocco 1994-96) film Casablanca Mon Amour

Apr 01 2014

John Slattery’s (Morocco 1994-96) film is being broadcast (in a shorter form) on BBC Arabic TV this week. The FILM: Casablanca Mon Amour explores a Moroccan perspective on the entwined relationship between Hollywood and Morocco. The relationship (between the U.S. and Morocco) is examined through the cultural lens of cinema. A 45 minute version CASABLANCA MON AMOUR will be broadcast on Alternative Cinema BBC Arabic this Saturday March 29th, 2014 at 19:06 GMT and repeated on Monday and Thursday at 22.06 GMT on BBC Arabic TV. It is NOW streaming live online for a 1 week catch up here (you can just fast forward a bit past the first NEWS part and then it begins) http://www.bbc.co.uk/arabic/tvandradio/2012/10/000000_cinema_badila.shtml. Here is the announcement Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=657502917648721&set=vb.324779817587701&type=2&theater There is also a Cinema Badila facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/BBCArabicAlternativeCinema for comments.

Review —ONLY BEES DIE by Robert Keller (Albania)

Apr 01 2014

Only Bees Die: Peace Corps Eastern Europe by Robert Keller (Albania 2008–09) CreateSpace $10.95 (paperback) 212 pages 2010 Reviewed by Ken Hill (Turkey 1965–67) Albania is an exotic and enchanting place, home to a Peace Corps program since 1992. Robert Keller served there as a teacher and consultant from the Spring of 2008 to the Fall of 2009. Only Bees Die provides a lovely afternoon of reading about his experience. The author clearly relished Albania and his book provides a welcome glimpse of life there for the foreigner. Written as a diary and a sort of practical guide, emails sent while in service are scattered throughout, providing an interesting context for insights. The work provides numerous practical tips and suggestions, revealing anecdotes and examples of do’s and don’ts that most PCV’s would agree on. Likely of limited interest outside a Peace Corps or similar context, it should prove useful for . . .

Larry Lesser (Nigeria 1963-65)Marry an Asian Woman

Mar 31 2014

[Larry Lesser, a retired FSO, served as DCM in Bangladesh and Rwanda and as deputy executive director of the Department’s NEA Bureau. Other overseas tours were in Belgium, Burkina Faso, India, and Nigeria – the latter as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Since retiring he has been a re-employed annuitant, chiefly for the Office of Inspector General, as an editor of human rights reports for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), and teaching mediation at the Foreign Service Institute. Lesser has been an OSCE supervisor or observer for numerous elections in eastern Europe. He was an appointed member of the Foreign Service Grievance Board 1997-2003, and an elected member of the American Foreign Service Association board of governors 2005-07.This piece appeared in American Diplomacy. They gave permission to republish it. ] Marry an Asian Woman by Larry Lesser (Nigeria 1963-65) I’m thinking about a man I saw when . . .

Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Acting Director of the Peace Corps at Michigan

Mar 28 2014

By Joel Goldstein, For the Michigan Daily Published March 26, 2014 Fifty-four years ago, U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy, then presidential candidate, held an impromptu election speech on the steps of the Michigan Union, where he proposed to more than 5,000 students the idea of the Peace Corps, a volunteer organization to help impoverished nations. One year after Kennedy’s speech, the Peace Corps was established through an executive order. Since the establishment of the program, the University has supplied the fourth most volunteers to the organization, with 2,556 graduates serving in the Peace Corps. Carrie Hessler-Radelet, acting director of the Peace Corps, spoke at the Ford School of Public Policy Wednesday, discussing the future of the organization. The talk was part of a series of policy talks held at the Ford School this year. Recently, Hessler-Radelet has focused on improving efficiency and safety within the organization. The Peace Corps experienced . . .

Review of Jon Thiem (Ghana 1968-70) Letters from Ghana

Mar 28 2014

Letters from Ghana 1968-1970: A Peace Corps Chronicle Compiled and Edited by Jon Thiem (Ghana 1968–70) A Peace Corps Writers Book (An Imprint of Peace Corps Worldwide) $12.99 (paperback), $10.99 (Kindle) 255 Pages 2013 Reviewed By William G. Spain (Malawi 1967–69) Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in a foreign country knows how important it is to write home about your experiences and receive letters from home. Letters are a lifeline and self-chronicle, a way to reach inside of oneself. When those letters are written by strangers, reading them is like looking into another person’s life in progress. Jon Thiem’s Letters from Ghana 1968–70: A Peace Corps Chronicle is just such a book, full of the small mysteries of everyday life as well as the bigger mysteries of a dynamic period in our history. An introductory essay sets the stage for the collection of letters that follow. . . .

Mark Jacobs (Paraguay 1978-80) Border Bleed

Mar 27 2014

A Writer Writes Border Bleed by Mark Jacobs (Paraguay 1978–80) In 1989, days after my first big publishing break, I was hanged in effigy in Bolivia. Protestors marched on the American embassy. Although I had left the country, the nation’s journalists boycotted our ambassador’s Fourth of July reception to express their anger. La Paz was the setting for a story that The Atlantic Monthly published called “Stone Cowboy on the High Plains.” Being caricatured as a monster in the Latin American media was not the reaction I had been hoping for. I had been set up. An organization called the Council on Hemispheric Affairs published a communiqué linking me with ugly sentiments about Bolivians that the story’s protagonist expressed. The premise was absurd, the motivation political. The magazine’s credits identified me as an American diplomat, and the Council was a fierce critic of U.S. policy to Latin America. But knowing . . .

New York City A Bookstore Desert

Mar 26 2014

In an article this morning in the New York Times reporter Julie Bosman writes how surging rents are forcing booksellers out of Manhattan. Once a literary city, NYC is now a bookstore desert. “Rising rents in Manhattan have forced out many retailers, from pizza joints to flower shops. But the rapidly escalating cost of doing business there is also driving out bookstores, threatening the city’s sense of self as the center of the literary universe, the home of the publishing industry and a place that lures and nurtures authors and avid readers,” writes Bosman. She then details the closing and moving of book stores out of the city. “The Rizzoli Bookstore was recently told that it would be forced to leave its grand space on 57th Street because the owners decided that the building would be demolished. “The Bank Street Bookstore in Morningside Heights announced in December that it would . . .

What's the Peace Corps Going to do: Another African country is expected to Pass an Anti-Gay Law

Mar 25 2014

Terri Rupar writes today in the Washington Post: Another African country is expected to pass an anti-gay law… Ethiopia’s legislature is expected to pass a bill that would take away the president’s ability to pardon people convicted under laws banning homosexual acts, the Associated Press reports. The move comes on the heels of the passage of harsh anti-gay laws in Uganda and Nigeria that drew condemnation from around the world. Same-sex acts were already illegal in Ethiopia, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. But during the Ethiopian New Year, the president often pardons thousands of prisoners, the AP said. The new law, endorsed last week by the Cabinet, would take away his ability to pardon people convicted under anti-homosexuality laws. When Uganda enacted its law last month, the Ethiopian minister for women, children and youth affairs sent out a tweet that seemed to criticize it. Subsequent tweets disowned . . .

Tony D’Souza (Ivory Coast 2000-02, Madagascar 2002-03)Wins College Alumni Award

Mar 25 2014

[Tony D’Souza (Ivory Coast 2000-02, Madagascar 2002-03) has won the Carthage College Alumni Award, called the Beacon, which will be presented on May 3, 2013 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Established in 1847, Carthage is a four-year private college of the liberal arts and sciences, affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The college is located on an 80-acre arboretum on the shore of Lake Michigan, half way between Chicago and Milwaukee. The Award is given to those alumni “who provide light to their communities, honoring the recipient for one specific accomplishment, act of service, professional or personal achievement, event, or program.” Tony was honored, not for his Peace Corps, but for his writings. The release on the college web side reads:] Anthony D’Souza ’95 Sarasota, Florida Anthony’s third novel, “Mule,” was released in September 2011 to advance praise from “Vanity Fair,” “Gawker,” “Kirkus,” “Booklist,” and “Library Journal.”Anthony was was an English major, . . .

Mark G. Wentling (Honduras 1967-69; Togo 1970-73): African Hunger

Mar 21 2014

Mark G. Wentling spent nine years with the Peace Corps (Honduras, 1967-69; Togo, 1970-73; Peace Corps Staff, Togo, Gabon and Niger, 1973-76) before joining USAID in 1977. As a U.S. Foreign Service Officer he served in Niamey, Conakry, Lome, Mogadishu, Dar es Salaam and Washington, D.C before retiring from the Senior Foreign Service in 1996. Since his retirement he has worked for USAID as it Senior Advisor for the Great Lakes and Country Program Manager for Niger and Burkina Faso. He is a 1992 National War College Graduate. He has also worked in Africa for U.S. Non-Governmental Organizations and he is currently Country Director for PLAN in Burkina Faso. On September 20, he marked 41 years since arriving in Africa in 1970. He has worked in, or visited, 53 African countries. This piece appeared in American Diplomacy. They gave permission to republish it. • Africa’s Hunger by Mark Wentling “Cram-cram,” . . .

Looking for a Scholarly Editor to Help Edit your Book?

Mar 20 2014

Editors Janet Dixon Keller and Katharine Wiegele (Philippines 1988-90) have over 40 years of experience as hands-on developmental editors. Janet’s background includes extended terms as Editor-in-Chief at two international journals (The American Anthropologist and Ethos), three decades in bringing student work to fruition, a term as editor of a University of Illinois Press book series, collaborative grant writing, and team-based production of administrative documents. RPCV Katharine Wiegele is an author and anthropologist with years of editorial experience with various publications including Politics and the Life Sciences, Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society, Daily Illini, and others. Her book, Investing in Miracles: El Shaddai and the Transformation of Popular Catholicism in the Philippines, published in the United States and the Philippines, won a National Book Award in the Philippines (Manilla Critics Circle and National Book Development Board). Katharine is also currently teaching at Northern Illinois University. Janet and Katharine have extensive experience with both commercial . . .

Archive - 2014