Archive - 2014

1
NBC FINDS PCVS “RELUCTANT TO EVACUATE DESPITE EBOLA OUTBREAK”
2
“Trail of Medical Missteps in a Peace Corps Death” – NYTimes July 25, 2014
3
Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963–65) story in The New Yorker
4
Peace Corps Removing Volunteers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Two PCVs Exposed
5
The NY Times on Jason Carter (S Africa 1998–2000) and his grandfather
6
Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan 1996-97) writes about Wm. T. Vollmann
7
Wise words for new authors
8
Review: Church of the Adagio: Poems by Philip Dacey (Nigeria 1963–65)
9
US Pulls Peace Corps Volunteers From Kenya
10
Gwyn Hyman Rubio (Costa Rica 1971–73) has new novel coming out
11
Sage advice for writers revisited
12
Carrie Continues Campaign: Washington Journal Appearance
13
John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962–64) publishes Long Ago and Far Away
14
Review: Lauren Greasewater’s War by Stephen Hirst (Liberia 1962-64)
15
Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet also a victim of a sexual assault during Peace Corps Service.

“Trail of Medical Missteps in a Peace Corps Death” – NYTimes July 25, 2014

Nichols Castle, Peace Corps Volunteer, died, February 7, 2013, while serving in China. The New York Times investigated the circumstances surrounding this death and has published a series on this tragedy. The first  article describes these circumstances and includes interviews with Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet, the parents of Nicholas Castle, and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers.  The Inspector General of the Peace Corps, Kathy Butler, has not yet published her report of the death; but the Times article does link to the public documents the reporter obtained for her report. Read the NYTimes story as well as the 467 comments received about the story.   Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/world/asia/peace-corps-death-china-medical-missteps.html The Times also published the accounts of Peace Corps Volunteers about their own experiences while serving. These stories include both positive and negative comments. Read the RPCV stories. Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/25/world/peace-corps-stories.html?partner=rss&emc=rss In addition to the 467 comments received about its . . .

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Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963–65) story in The New Yorker

Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963-65) has a new story in the August 4, 2014 issue of The New Yorker entitled, “Action” which is one of the stories in the collection  he will publish in October entitled, Mr. Bones: Twenty Stories. In the New Yorker John Updike is quoted as saying that  Mr. Bones exhibits Theroux’s “fluent, faintly sinister powers of vision and imagination.” To pre-order Mr. Bones from Amazon.com, click on the book cover or the bold book title  — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support our annual writers awards.

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Peace Corps Removing Volunteers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Two PCVs Exposed

Peace Corps has issued the following press release: WASHINGTON, D.C., July 30, 2014 – The Peace Corps today announced that it is temporarily removing its volunteers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea due to the increasing spread of the Ebola virus. The agency has been and will continue to closely monitor the outbreak of the virus in collaboration with leading experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of State. The Peace Corps has enjoyed long partnerships with the government and people of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and is committed to continuing volunteers’ work there. A determination on when volunteers can return will be made at a later date. In recent months, the Peace Corps has provided volunteers in adjacent areas of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea with guidance to ensure they take the utmost precautions to protect their health. Transmission of Ebola . . .

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The NY Times on Jason Carter (S Africa 1998–2000) and his grandfather

The New York Times ran a lengthy, front-page article in its Sunday edition (7/27/14) about Peace Corps writer Jason Carter (South Africa 1998–2000) who is the Democratic candidate for Governor in Georgia, and the close relationship he has with his grandfather, former President Jimmy Carter. The article relates that Jason was advised to join the Peace Corps by his grandfather. In 2002, Jason published his memoir of his Peace Corps experience, Power Lines: Two Years on South Africa’s Borders (National Geographic Society) and in 2003 the book won the Peace Corps Writers Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award. Read “Grandson Proudly Squirms in Carter’s Footsteps” by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, for insight into the special bond between these two men.

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Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan 1996-97) writes about Wm. T. Vollmann

The August issue of New Republic carries a long (and engaging) piece by Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan 1996–97) entitled, “You Are Now Entering The Demented Kingdom of William T. Vollmann.” Vollmann, as Tom writes, “has been churning out thick, conceptually audacious books faster than New York publishing could keep pace. From 1987 through 1993, for instance, Vollmann published eight books through five difference houses.” It turns out that Tom Bissell first came upon Vollmann’s vast outpouring when he was 26 and an assistant at Henry Holt. Vollmann had sent in his manuscript, Rising Up and Rising Down, on compact disks that translated into 3,800 pages of paper Tom had to print out for his editor. In an interview with Vollman this year, Bissell appears to have been taken back by the strangeness of the man who, among other things, was listed as a Unabomber suspect. Vollmann found out that only when . . .

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Wise words for new authors

A couple of days ago Brooke Warner at Huffington Post posted an article listing mistakes new writers shouldn’t make. They are: 1. Believing what they want to hear. 2. Not taking advantage of every available digital platform. 3. Deciding that they don’t need a marketing campaign, or starting one too late. 4. Believing that more is better. 5. Going renegade. 6. Not doing enough research on who they’re publishing with. 7. Believing that “traditional” is better, no matter what. 8. Failing to get sample product. 9. Not hiring professionals. 10. Choosing a print run over print-on-demand (POD). NOW, go to “The 10 Biggest Mistakes New Authors Make” to read the whys.

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Review: Church of the Adagio: Poems by Philip Dacey (Nigeria 1963–65)

Church of the Adagio: Poems by Philip Dacey (Nigeria 1963-65) Rain Mountain Press $15.00 95 pages June 2014 Reviewed by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-93) Reading Philip Dacey’s poems is like having a conversation with a funny, sophisticated, and insightful friend. You’re laughing, you’re nodding in appreciation, you’re saying, “A-ha. I never saw things that way, but-wow-you’re right.” And you don’t want to say goodbye anytime soon. If you pick up Dacey’s new collection of poems, I guarantee you will: 1. Laugh. At, for example, a poem about a llama who shows up in Dacey’s driveway. “I was all stammer and gawk and disbelief,” Dacey writes. When the llama ventures into the middle of the road, however, Dacey must act: . . . I saw the headline, “Llama killed by truck.” Dropping the rake, I raced to rescue him, who now stood frozen, straddling the centerline, looking this way and that-oh, too much . . .

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US Pulls Peace Corps Volunteers From Kenya

ABC News is reporting an AP story that Peace Corps has pulled Volunteers from Kenya.  Here is the link: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-pulls-peace-corps-volunteers-kenya-24696220?singlePage=true Here is the AP story:  Please note that there is an error in giving the beginning of the Peace Corps.  It was President Kennedy, not Senator Kennedy, who initiated the Peace Corps on March 1, 1961 by Executive Order. “NAIROBI, Kenya — Jul 24, 2014, 1:05 PM ET By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press The Peace Corps is suspending its programs in Kenya because of security concerns and is pulling more than 50 volunteers out of the country until threat levels decrease, the Peace Corps and State Department said Thursday. A statement to The Associated Press from the State Department said that the Peace Corps “has been closely monitoring the security environment in Kenya … and has decided to officially suspend the program in Kenya.” The Peace Corps will monitor the security . . .

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Gwyn Hyman Rubio (Costa Rica 1971–73) has new novel coming out

Gwyn Hyman Rubio’s newest novel will be published in October. Entitled Love & Ordinary Creatures. Gwyn’s website says this about the book: Love and Ordinary Creatures is told through the eyes of a cockatoo in love with his very human caretaker. Snatched in a net from his Australian homeland as a young parrot, Caruso has adapted to captivity and has learned the lessons of love from his previous owner, Theodore Pinter, who was obsessively fixated on his childhood sweetheart. Now in his new home with the beautiful and talented Clarissa, Caruso has found both love and happiness—until a handsome stranger arrives in town and sets his sights on Clarissa. Smart, passionate, and wildly inventive, Caruso strives to put his human rival in his place before he steals Clarissa away for good. Set in the early 1990s in the quaint seashore town of Ocracoke, North Carolina, Love and Ordinary Creatures is . . .

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Sage advice for writers revisited

I just came across an article that was published in May of 2004 on the our old website Peace Corps Writers that is worthy of republishing for all those contemplating — or are in the midst of — writing a book. — M • The Ticking by Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996–98) • THERE IS a classic fiction-writing-workshop story that goes something like this: A man drove home from work, pulled into his driveway, and parked his car. As he opened his front door he called out, “Hi, Honey, I’m home!” Then he settled into his favorite chair, exhausted, to read the evening paper. “Sweetheart, I’m just putting a pie in the oven,” he heard his wife call out from the kitchen. “Dinner will be ready in about a half hour.” “Great,” said her husband, “I’m starving to death.” “So what?” you say? “Who cares?” You put the story down . . .

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Carrie Continues Campaign: Washington Journal Appearance

Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet continued her campaign to promote the Peace Corps by appearing, today, on C-Span’s Washington Journal. The Director described the new and speedy application process. She answered questions called in live from across the country.  To hear the program, here is the link: http://www.c-span.org/video/?320586-5/washington-journal-future-peace-corps

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John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962–64) publishes Long Ago and Far Away

Yes, our very own, recently retired editor has just published his latest novel — it’s number 13! Here’s what John has to say about his new book in his PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY By John Coyne Displaying the storytelling skill that has made him a seven-time bestselling author, John Coyne delivers a suspenseful, haunting and tender story about star-crossed lovers who first meet in their twenties and four decades later are reunited. The novel takes place on three continents, and involves the lives of four main characters. The plot pivots around the tragic death in 1973 of a young woman in Ethiopia. The outcome of a trial changes the lives of the four young people, leaving unresolved the question of whether it was an accident or murder. Long Ago and Far Away opens in Westchester, New York, in 2008, and through a series of . . .

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Review: Lauren Greasewater’s War by Stephen Hirst (Liberia 1962-64)

Lauren Greasewater’s War (novel) by Stephen Hirst (Liberia 1962–1964) Muuso Press 2013 238 pages $14.99 (paperback), $7.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Darcy Meijer (Gabon 1982–84) The front cover of Lauren Greasewater’s War by Stephen Hirst is an Edward Curtis photo from 1907 depicting the full face of a Havasupai woman. From the first page until the dramatic finish, Hirst relates a gripping story that could well have occurred in 1970s Arizona within the Native American Havasupai community. Lauren Greasewater’s War comprises five parts: Cradle, Blood, Song, Shelter and War. The first four develop the themes of the novel — origin, family, spirituality and home, while the last part brings these together. In brief, New York lutenist Lauren Napier, adopted by a white family as an infant, learns her true parentage and travels to the Havasupai canyonlands in the Southwest to find out more. Strong-willed and driven by the need for senses . . .

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Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet also a victim of a sexual assault during Peace Corps Service.

Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet  made this revelation  in an interview in MORE magazine. During this in-depth interview, the Director talked about the new application process as well as other changes in the Peace Corps. In discussing her own Peace Corps service, she referenced what had happened to her and how important safety and security for Volunteers was to her, now. The interview is made all the more gripping because it was conducted by Beatrice Hogan, RPCV Uzbekistan 92-94,who served as part of the first wave of volunteers sent to the former Soviet Union. Hogan is now Research Chief at MORE. Read the interview. Here is the link: http://www.more.com/news/personalities/carrie-hessler-radelet-peace-corps-director

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