Archive - 2015

THE PEACE CORPS EXPERIENCE AWARD was initiated in 1992. It is presented annually to a Peace Corps Volunteer or staff member, past or present for the best depiction of life in the Peace Corps — be it daily life, project assignment, travel, host country nationals, other Volunteers, readjustment. Initially entries could be short works including: personal essay, story, novella, poem, letter, cartoon, or song. Beginning in 2009 memoirs were added to the list. In 1997, this award was renamed to honor Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965–67) whose Living Poor has been widely cited as an outstanding telling of the essence of the Peace Corps experience. • The winner of the 2015 Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award is At Home on the Kazakh Steppe: A Peace Corps Memoir by Janet Givens (Kazakhstan 2004–06) • In her memoir, Janet clearly expresses the First Goal of the Peace Corps, writing that as a . . .

First given in 1990, the Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award was named to honor Paul Cowan, a Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Ecuador from 1966 to 1967. Cowan wrote The Making of An Un-American about his experiences as a Volunteer in Latin America in the ’60s. A longtime activist and political writer for The Village Voice, Cowan died of leukemia in 1988. • The winner of the 2015 Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award is — Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy. by Christopher R. Hill (Cameroon 1974-76) Chris Hill begins his award winning book by telling his favorite story, his account of how as a PCV in Cameroon he tried to overhaul a corrupt credit union only to have his efforts rejected, largely because he did not understand the community’s internal dynamics and culture. What happened was something like this: Chris discovered that one board of directors had stolen 60 percent . . .

A Writer Writes It’s Our Planet and We Can Do With It What We Want by Gerald Karey (Turkey 1965–67) • The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish. Industrial waste and chemical products utilized in cities and agricultural areas can lead to bioaccumulation in the organisms of the local population, even when levels of toxins in those places are low. Frequently no measures are taken until after people’s health has been irreversibly affected. — Pope Francis’ Encyclical, “Laudato Si — On the Care Of Our Common Home” Hey, it’s our planet and we can do with it what we want. After all, Genesis grants mankind “dominion” over the earth. That’s dominion, as in control, supreme authority, dominance. So what is there about . . .

The winner of the 2015 Peace Corps Writers Publisher’s Special Award for the book published in 2014 is — Murder In Benin: Kate Puzey’s Death in the Peace Corps by Aaron Kase (Burkina Faso 2006-08) • Aaron talks about himself, his Peace Corps service, and his writing about the Kate Puzey murder. I grew up in Philadelphia, then received a degree in history at Grinnell College in Iowa. After college, I worked at a generic office job and wasn’t thrilled about the career trajectory it offered, so I decided to join the Peace Corps because it offered a challenge, and an adventure. I saw it as a unique opportunity to experience a life totally different from what I had known. I was a Small Business Volunteer in Burkina Faso from 2006 to 2008, and worked in a rural village called Zogore. My primary project was to encourage agroforestry and combat desertification, . . .

Today we are happy to begin announcing the 2015 Peace Corps Writers Awards for books published during 2014. This year we have eight awards, and each winning author (or photographer) will receive a certificate and a monetary gift. • The winner of the 2015 Peace Corps Writers Award for Best Book of Photography published in 2014 is — Timeless Photography of Rowland Scherman (PC Staff 1961-64) . In the introduction in this, his book of photos  from the 1960s and ’70s, Rowland Scherman writes: Like so many others, I was thrilled by JFK’S inaugural speech . . .. JFK’s words made me think that I could be something more, could reach a higher potential, if I volunteered my work and myself for the betterment of my country, instead of simply chasing a buck. Yes, I thought my services just might somehow be useful to the new administration. I found out whom . . .

A Writer Writes Imagined Lives: A Hollywood Fable by Gerald Karey (Turkey 1965–67) • I was a star. Nope, bigger than that. A STAR. Bigger. A SUPER STAR. You got it. I was BIG. I wasn’t just an a-lister. I was an A-LISTER. If I was at a party, it became an A-LIST PARTY. I was on every red carpet. Fans would scream my name when I emerged from my limo with two, maybe three, gorgeous women — every man’s fantasy — at my side. Every man’s fantasy, my reality. Women threw themselves at me — beautiful, sexy, surgically enhanced, if necessary, beyond perfection, women. I could have any woman I wanted. Every man’s fantasy, my everyday reality. Women wanted nothing more than to be with me, to be seen with me, to warm my bed, to stroke my ego. We didn’t talk much. We had sex, tanned by the . . .

On January 9th, the anniversary of America’s former US Poet Laureate, the 2015 poetry award named for William Meredith was be conferred on Andrew Oerke by the William Meredith Foundation. Oerke who died in 2014, in his lifetime was the CEO of an environmental foundation, president of a microfinance organization, Peace Corps Director, Golden Gloves boxing champion, academic and a poet. “The poet has to write from the real stuff of life, the major concerns of the heart, and of life today,” he has said. Oerke believed that poetry was more than just words on a page, that it is a way of living and perceiving and relating to other people. For them, poetry can be useful in bringing about social justice and serve as a solution for changing the mind and spirit of mankind. “Hunger’s grip is cold stone,” Oerke has written of famine in Africa. “It does not . . .

Peace Corps Worldwide will be there in the guise of Peace Corps Writers. John and I are presenting two programs: “Peace Corps Memoirists Talk about Their Writing” Friday, June 5, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Unit 1 Dormitory Quad – APR (All Purpose Room) The panelists will be: Suzanne Adam, author of Marrying Santiago (Colombia 1964–66) Kay Gillies Dixon, author of Wanderlust Satisfied (Colombia 1962–64) Catherine Onyemelukwe, author of My Life and Loves Abroad (Nigeria 1962–64) Angene Wilson, author of Africa on My Mind: Educating Americans for Fifty Years (1962–64) Writing Your Peace Corps Memoir and Preparing Your Manuscript for Publication Saturday, June 6 – 9 AM– 10 AM Unit 1 – Deutsch John will talk writing; Marian, making your book a reality. Pre-conference social gathering We hope that all Peace Corps writers attending the conference will join us at FreeHouse, in Berkeley Thursday evening, June 4th from 7:30pm – . . .