January 18, 2017 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Review: PAPER MOUNTAINS by Jonathan Maiullo (Armenia)

Jan 18 2017

Paper Mountains: An Armenian Diary (Peace Corps memoir) Jonathan Maiullo (Armenia 2008–10) Gomidas May 2016 164 pages $22.00 (paperback) Review by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-96) • My Armenia is not a country. . . . It is a place without a physical form. It is a collection of events shaped by external pressures. Jonathan Maiullo was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia from 2008 to 2010. He taught English classes in Yeghegnadzor when he wasn’t exploring the country on foot. After his service, he taught English in Paraguay, among other places, and hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2016. He was an actor, and he studied veterinary medicine. He changed his name in 2001 from Dickerson to his grandparents’ real name that was changed upon immigration to the U.S. (I love that, being of Italian descent also.) What struck me most about this writer is his ultra-keen observations. He’s a verbal camera. He . . .

Did you use Lariam during Peace Corps service?

Jan 18 2017

The newsletter of the Columbia River Peace Corps Association printed this announcement. I have reprinted it here, as I think we are part of the Peace Corps networks! • NPR seeks to interview RPCVs with negative experiences of Lariam CRPCA’s acting E-update Editor, Bill Stein, had two phone conversations this morning with National Public Radio investigative journalist Daniel Zwerdling, who asked to forward the following information request to Peace Corps networks. I’m doing stories on the controversial history of mefloquine (the brand name used to be Lariam). Among other issues, I’m examining why the Peace Corps continues to use it widely, even though the US military has pretty much banned it. I’ve interviewed dozens of former volunteers, government officials, researchers at university medical centers in the US and Europe, and others. I’m actually putting the stories together now, but I’m always eager to chat with more people who took . . .

Archive - January 18, 2017