Archive - January 2016

1
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev Wanted to be a PCV
2
Scott Ritter says “The Peace Corps is the Answer”
3
Cindy Goff (Central African Republic 1983-85) Tales from the Heart Comic Books
4
Catherine Varchaver (APCD Kyrgyzstan 1995-97) Edits Her Grandmother’s Book on Fly Fishing
5
Kellie Greene Peace Corps Former Director of the Office of Victim Advocacy Has More To Say
6
Julie Ellen Fryman (Philippines 2015-17) Tells The Incredible Story of Lola Ko Sa Pilipinas
7
David Edmonds (Chile 1963–65) publishes thriller THE GIRL IN THE GLYPHS
8
Alan Toth (South Africa 2010-12) Goes Free With Posh Corps
9
Review — CROCODILE LOVE by Joshua Berman (Nicaragua 1998-2000)
10
More Links about Benghazi attack
11
Tino Calabia (Peru1963-65) Comments on "13 Hours: the Secret Soldiers of Benghazi"
12
A mayor, a liberal lion, and a moment of tears
13
The New Yorker Features George Packer (Togo 1982-83) Pieces From the Magazine
14
Harris Wofford Interview With Bill Moyers at New York Main Library
15
I Was Raped in Burkina Faso

Katherine Russell Tsarnaev Wanted to be a PCV

Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, Wife Of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Wanted By Feds For Interview Katherine Russell was a talented artist, a good student who grew up Christian, the daughter of a suburban doctor. Then she went off to college in Boston. A few years later, she had dropped out of school, converted to Islam and was Katherine Tsarnaeva, wife of a man who would become a suspect in the deadly Boston Marathon bombings and a subject of one of the biggest manhunts in American history. Tsarnaeva attended North Kingstown High School, graduating in 2007. Her yearbook entry lists her plans as college and the Peace Corps. Her art teacher for four years, Amos Trout Paine, remembered her talent in painting and drawing and said she was at the top of her class. MORE AT: Several sources. huffingtonpost.com is one. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/katherine-russell-tsarnaev-feds-interview_n_3131242.html also People at http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20694041,00.html

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Scott Ritter says “The Peace Corps is the Answer”

Thanks to a heads-up from Tom Hebert (Nigeria 1962-64) about the Huffington Post article “‘Digital Democracy’ and the ‘January 25 Revolution’ in Egypt” by Scott Ritter, author of Dangerous Ground writing about the fifth anniversary of the so-called “January 25 Revolution” of 2011, which led to the removal from power of Egypt’s President, Hosni Mubarak. The final paragraph in Scott Ritter’s Huffington Post article: There has never been a greater need for American leadership in the Middle East than today, and yet America finds itself hamstrung by its own hand. How and when America will be able to resume a leadership role based on the values of its ideas, as opposed to the strength of its military, is impossible to predict (there is an American model that does work — the Peace Corps, which promotes American values through constructive action while fully respecting the culture and traditions of the nation so engaged). . . .

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Cindy Goff (Central African Republic 1983-85) Tales from the Heart Comic Books

Organizing my Peace Corps books to donate them to one of the academic Peace Corps collections, I came across 8 comic books that were co-written in the late ’80s and early ’90s by Cindy Goff (Central African Republic 1983-85) and Rafael Nieves. The comics were first published by Entropy Enterprises in Minnesota, then by Slave Labor Graphics, in San Jose, California. The co-authorship began, as the two explain in the first issue, because of their friendship. Cindy writes, “He [Rafael] got me hooked on comics early in our friendship. Why we are friends is hard to figure out. He grew up in a tough Puerto Rican neighborhood of Chicago; I in the lily-white suburbs of Minneapolis. He dislikes chatter and boisterousness, both of which I am accused of regularly. He dislikes chatter and boisterousness, both of which I am accused of regularly. He is quiet and serious and street smart, . . .

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Catherine Varchaver (APCD Kyrgyzstan 1995-97) Edits Her Grandmother’s Book on Fly Fishing

Maxine Atherton learned to fish with her father and attended the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) where she met her future husband, John Atherton, the renowned painter and illustrator-and avid angler. After John’s untimely death in 1952 while fishing on the Miramichi in New Brunswick, Maxine embarked on an extended angling adventure in France and Spain that led to many more adventures over the next four decades. In 1962 Max published Every Sportsman’s Cookbook. She spent her last years writing in Manchester, Vermont, and died in January 1997. When she passed away, her granddaughter, Catherine Varchaver, (APCD Kyrgyzstan 1995-97) found a wrapped roll of manuscript pages that she had honed, one reviewer writes, “into this winsome yet powerful memoir” just published by Skyhorse Publishing and entitled, The Fly Fisher and the River. It is being released in conjunction with a reissue of The Fly and the Fish by . . .

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Kellie Greene Peace Corps Former Director of the Office of Victim Advocacy Has More To Say

Thanks to a ‘Heads Up’ from our blogger Joanne Roll (Colombia 1963-65) who found this comment from Kellie Greene who was dismissed by the Peace Corps last April. It appeared on First Response Actions’ Faceobook. Kellie Greene for Victim’s Rights Hello and welcome! I am Kellie Greene. I was the Director of the Peace Corps’ Office of Victim Advocacy (OVA) until April 29, 2015, when Peace Corps essentially removed me from my position. Chances are you are here because you saw or read in the news that I filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) against the Peace Corps. It’s true. I have. You can find the articles under “In the News”. Before I continue, I need to inform you of two things. First, the content on this website is mine alone and does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps. Second, this post . . .

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Julie Ellen Fryman (Philippines 2015-17) Tells The Incredible Story of Lola Ko Sa Pilipinas

Marching On: The Incredible Story of Lola Ko Sa Pilipinas (My Grandmother in the Philippines) by Julie Ellen Fryman (Philippines 2015-17) This story was originally written down on July 30, 2015, the night that it was told to me, so that I wouldn’t forget how my host grandmother looked when she told me these things or how it was that she came to share it with me. It pains me to think that if just a few decisions had been different – if the family hadn’t volunteered to host a Peace Corps trainee at the last minute or if I had been placed in the next barangay (community) over, I would not have had the privilege to sit with my host mother and grandmother that night and listen to how the family I fell in love with was all made possible through the extreme courage and resiliency of the tiny . . .

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David Edmonds (Chile 1963–65) publishes thriller THE GIRL IN THE GLYPHS

David writes — A cave in Nicaragua. A wall of mysterious glyphs. Pirate gold. What could possibly go wrong? Jennifer McMullen-Cruz, a Smithsonian specialist in ancient writing, is on a mission to find a mysterious “glyph” cave in Nicaragua. But no sooner does she arrive than she’s set upon by a gang of tomb looters who are also searching for the cave, not for glyphs, but for pirate gold. They’ve already killed one of her associates, and now they’re after her. Things get messy when she falls into a spiral of romance and intrigue with a handsome stranger at the US Embassy. And messier still when her cheating husband wants her back. Her life is further complicated by an obnoxious reporter who dogs her every step and an old Indian couple who may or may not be spirits. But her greatest challenge is in that cave in Nicaragua, written in . . .

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Alan Toth (South Africa 2010-12) Goes Free With Posh Corps

Three years ago, I started working on the Posh Corps project. The idea was simple: to discuss the modern Peace Corps experience honestly. I wanted to cut through the mythology and the marketing, and capture the experience of volunteering in a rapidly changing world. I spent three months in South Africa shooting the film. I returned to the United States and spent six months editing the film. In 2014, I started selling the film and screening it around the country. By the end of 2015, Posh Corps sales had almost recovered the production costs, and I started thinking about making a change. Today, if you visit poshcorps.com, you’ll find that all the feature films on the site are free. In fact, almost everything on poshcorps.com is now free, with theexception of licenses. I still ask people to pay for public screenings and educational licenses, as this helps cover the costs . . .

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Review — CROCODILE LOVE by Joshua Berman (Nicaragua 1998-2000)

  Crocodile Love: Travel Tales from an Extended Honeymoon by Joshua Berman (Nicaragua 1998–2000) Tranquilo Travel Publishing 294 pages 2015 $17.95 (paperback), $4.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Peter Deekle (Iran 1968–70) • When I served in Peace Corps/Iran in the late 1960s, I was urged to share my experiences with others upon my return to the United States.  Joshua Berman has fully accomplished this through his monthly column in The Denver Post, his five previous travel books, his blog and website, many articles in The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler and other publications. Crocodile Love: Travel Tales from an Extended Honeymoon is Berman’s first narrative travel book, and one that not only vividly describes exotic locales, but also draws the reader into a compelling and extended story. The book makes the mysteries of different cultures both accessible and personal. As the author says early on in the book, “Everything about . . .

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More Links about Benghazi attack

Thank you Tino Calabia for your penetrating review of “13 Hours.”Here are links that give more  information about the horrendous attack. The soldiers of the Benghazi movie were EX military. They had jobs as contract security for the CIA. Here is what their CIA boss says about the movie: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/former-cia-chief-in-benghazi-challenges-film-version-of-2012-attack/2016/01/15/9cf2defc-baf7-11e5-b682-4bb4dd403c7d_story.html Here is what the heartbroken father of Ambassador Stevens pleaded: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2218117/Father-Ambassador-Chris-Stevens-says-abhorrent-play-politics-sons-death-Benghazi.html Here is  career foreign service officer Gregory Hicks’s testimony before Congress. Hicks recounts that he was in charge of the Embassy in Tripoli because Ambassador Stevens had gone to the Benghazi outpost on 9/11. Hicks  knew that embassies in the Mid East were being attacked.Yet, at the end of his work day, he retired to his villa and was watching TV. He missed two cell phone calls from Ambassador Stevens. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/08/transcript-whistle-blower-account-sept-11-libya-terror-attack.html

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Tino Calabia (Peru1963-65) Comments on "13 Hours: the Secret Soldiers of Benghazi"

Most RPCVs, new Volunteers, and staff know of RPCV Christopher Stevens’ model service as a PCV and then a U.S. Ambassador until he was slain in Libya in 2012.  Many may be curious to see how Hollywood would portray him.  Now we know.  In “13 Hours: the Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” Stevens is, in Hollywood-speak, “a bit player.” Nonetheless, “This is a true story” declares a typed preface rolling at the film’s start.  The name of Libya’s second biggest city has become an epithet of scorn meant by many to besmirch Hillary Clinton’s record as President’s Obama’s first Secretary of State.  The killing of Stevens and three colleagues had fanned the partisan flames of the 2012 Presidential campaign, and surely those flames will flare up again before this year’s Presidential election is over.  But little in this movie can be easily argued to derail Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The reason?  “13 Hours . . . .

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A mayor, a liberal lion, and a moment of tears

Mayor Kenney (right) speaks with former U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford during the opening ceremony for the 21st annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service at Girard College on Jan. 18, 2016. by Maria Panaritis If you thought public office would make Philadelphia’s new boss less Jimmy and more Mayor, think again. Kenney, the former longtime City Councilman whose sleeve and heart are famously one and the same, had a moment that nearly brought him to tears the other day in front of a large crowd of onlookers. It happened at Girard College as Kenney stood on stage with a smorgasboard of other political VIPs for the 21st annual Martin Luther King Day of Service. Dignitary after dignitary approached the podium to reflect on the legacy of the slain civil rights leader. As they did, Kenney seemed thrilled to be standing next to one of his heroes, former U.S. Sen. . . .

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The New Yorker Features George Packer (Togo 1982-83) Pieces From the Magazine

A selection of stories from The New Yorker’s archive George Packer’s World In late 2008, George Packer drove around Florida, one of the places where the financial crisis began. He wanted to understand how the state had become the foreclosure capital of America, and what the “diagram of moral responsibility” looked like. It was shaped, he wrote in “The Ponzi State,” like an inverted pyramid, “with the lion’s share belonging to the banks, mortgage lenders, regulators, and politicians at the top.” The race to build more and more subdivisions-even when the people buying them clearly couldn’t afford them-was essentially a confidence game, with “everyone involved both being taken and taking someone else.” A George Packer piece, whether it is about the housing crisis or Silicon Valley, always provides readers with the rhetorical equivalent of a panoramic shot.These big-picture moments, however, are paired with intimate portraits of individual lives. In “The . . .

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Harris Wofford Interview With Bill Moyers at New York Main Library

​Over 180 friends and colleagues of Harris Wofford packed the Celeste Bartos Forum of the New York Public Library last week for a conversation with Harris and Bill Moyers, and a special preview of the documentary being made about Harris’s life.  Generous donations are helping with the goal of completing the film in time for Harris’s 90th birthday this April, but more support is still needed.  You can contribute online here:supportwofforddoc.splashthat.com.

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I Was Raped in Burkina Faso

Jezebel is a feminist blog. This piece by RPCV Yaara Zaslow was published on the site a few days ago. It is a profound and powerful account of what happened to her in Burkina Faso. It is also a sad story of what can happen to women in the Peace Corps. I’d served in Burkina Faso in West Africa with the United States Peace Corps. I was raped, and because I did everything “right” afterwards-I talked to the Peace Corps, talked to the Embassy, completed a rape kit-I didn’t understand the nausea that came over me whenever I did anything aside from hide in my bed. Soon after, I was evacuated from the country with a canvas backpack and a change of clothes. I stayed home, in Seattle, for three months, while the Peace Corps did a full investigation. In this investigation, the Peace Corps noted the three broken locks . . .

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