May 2017 – Page 3 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Phoenix Rising & Reading!

May 15 2017

Last week in Phoenix there was a “double reading” and an evening of enjoying host country food. Mike Walker (Guatemala 1971-73), who has just published his memoir Different Latitudes with Peace Corps Writers and Mike Stake (India 1966-68), author of Ripples in the Pond — also published by Peace Corps Writers, read from their books, and then invited guests — RPCVs from Moldova, Liberia, Samoa, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela — to share their Peace Corps tales. Of the evening of readings, storytelling, and wonderful home-cooked food, Mark wrote, “My Guatemalan wife, Ligia, brought Guatemalan goodies like black beans and Rosa de Jamaica (hibiscus juice) and Mike and his wife brought Indian delicacies. It made for quite an international exchange. I felt that this is what sharing our books and appreciation of different cultures is all about.” The next such event in downtown Phoenix is on May 25th at the Pomelo Restaurant, hosted by . . .

F.F. Quigley (Thailand) seeks a way to raise the numbers at Marlboro College

May 15 2017

Kevin Quigley (Thailand 1976-79 & CD Thailand 2013-15 plus the former head of the NPCA) has a new problem as the president of Marlboro College, in Vermont. A recent study by the National Association of College and University Business Officers is showing that tuition discounting at private colleges and universities is straining colleges and their enrollment is still weak. Colleges are now worried about the sustainability of their tuition discounting strategies. “We offer an incredibly generous financial aid package, and someone else increases it by $10,000 or $15,000,” Kevin is quoted in an interview with Inside Higher Education. “We talk to the students or parents and they say, ‘We love Marlboro, we love what you do there, but they just sweetened the pot by $10,000 or $15,000.’ What can you do about it?” Marlboro is in many ways an extreme example of the pressures placed on small colleges. It enrolls . . .

The Peace Corps in the Time of Trump, Part 12

May 13 2017

When Gaddi Vasquez left the agency on September 7, 2006, he was replaced quickly by another Republican, Ron Tschetter, on September 26. Ron was an RPCV, having served in India with his wife from 1966-68. Ron was from Wisconsin, had a career in finance, and after the Peace Corps would move to Florida and retirement. At the agency, I’m told, he focused his attention on getting older Volunteers. (I will forgive him from changed the name I had given my idea, “Crisis Corps” to “Response Corps.”) Ron would be Director until January 16, 2009. During his tenure, the attrition rate increased to 35%, the highest since the first Gulf War. But there were positive movements with the Peace Corps for Ron. In the fall of 2007, 59% of all Volunteers were women. (In the 1960s, 65% of all PCVs were men.) Ethnic minority Volunteers jumped to 17%. Unfortunately, he would not . . .

“America’s Deaf Team Tackles Identity Politics at Gallaudet University” by Matthew Davis (Mongolia)

May 11 2017

Matthew Davis Mongolia 2000–02) writes . . . IN ORDER TO SURVIVE, Gallaudet University has to blend a diverse student body from very different backgrounds: Deaf Culture and Hearing Culture. Can football players show the school how? The homecoming game falls on a brilliant, unseasonably warm Saturday afternoon in late October 2016. The sun streams through the multicolored leaves of oak trees and dapples thousands of alumni and fans in patches of light and shade. Pop-up booths have been erected behind the football stadium: The Class of 2019 is selling crepes; the Class of 1992 is selling T-shirts; writers for the student newspaper, The Buff and Blue, are hawking the latest issue. Little kids terrorize the person dressed as the school mascot, a bison, by pulling his tail and then squealing in delight. The smells of fraternities grilling cheeseburgers waft through the air. Previous classes gather in anticipation of their march around . . .

“That Day”: A poem by Ada Jo Mann (Chad)

May 11 2017

That Day By Ada Jo Mann (Chad 1967–69) It seemed like just an ordinary day Safe in bed next to my husband as we lay under the Peace Corps issued mosquito net, listening to the lulling sounds of millet pounded rhythmically each day in the time-tested traditional way. Soon our cook would arrive and begin rattling pots and pans in the room we called the kitchen I heard the children running fast to school fearing the grass whip’s unfriendly sting, if they were late and made to play the fool because they failed to hear the school bell ring. I rolled out from beneath the gauzy net making sure to check for creatures hiding in my well worn LL Bean slipper set before padding off to what looked like a well-equipped bathroom, but was powered by gravity from a rain barrel on the roof. Delicious anticipation of an upcoming trip . . .

Leita Kaldi Davis wins Lillian Carter Award (Senegal)

May 10 2017

Leita Kaldi Davis wrote — The Lillian Carter Award is given to Peace Corps Volunteers who enter service over the age of 50, in honor of President Jimmy Carter’s mother, Lillian, who went to India with Peace Corps in her sixties. It is also awarded to Returned PCVs who continue the third goal of Peace Corps, “bringing the world home to America.” So, I’m thrilled to tell you that I have won this award! We’ll be going to Atlanta to the Carter Center May 10 to receive the award from the hands of President Jimmy Carter. I’m so happy to share this news with you. Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-96) • Leita Kaldi Davis worked for the United Nations and UNESCO, for Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Harvard University. She worked with Roma (Gypsies) for fifteen years, became a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal at . . .

Stephen King takes on Paul Theroux (Malawi)

May 09 2017

MOTHER LAND By Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963-65) 509 pages An Eamon Dolan Book/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt $28.00 Reviewed by Stephen King New York Times — May 9, 2017 At the outset of this long slog, the narrator, J P (Jay) Justus, passes on a story his mother told him as a child, with a smile and a nod of satisfaction. Once upon a time there was a man condemned to be hanged. As a last request, he asked for a word with his mother. She was taken to the foot of the gallows, where he stood handcuffed. Instead of speaking to her, he bit off a piece of her ear, spat it out and screamed, “You are the reason I’m here, about to die!” What follows this fable are 500 or so pages in which Justus bites not only his mother’s ear but those of six siblings. Only the seventh, . . .

“Gentle Thunder” by Julie R. Dargis (Morocco)

May 09 2017

Gentle Thunder by Julie R. Dargis (Morocco 1984-87) • BEING, AND WORKING WITH PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS throughout Africa, allowed me to experience some of the more exotic cross-cultural aspects of venturing into an environment different from one’s own. But, even with the divisiveness of the political climate of late, I don’t believe that humanity wants or needs to be fractured. As I once wrote, what I have learned from many cultures around the world is that “ . . . notwithstanding our many cultural differences—at our very core, we are all the same.” Now that I am home, through a program at the California Institute for Human Science (CIHS), I am learning that energy fields surround us all, and gravity does not discriminate. The essence of communication is sound, and its vibration has the ability to promote our own capacity to heal. Sound comes in many forms. One of the more mysterious elements . . .

WALLED IN, WALLED OUT published by Mary Dana Marks (Iran)

May 08 2017

About Walled In, Walled Out — A Young American Woman in Iran by Mary Dana Marks (Iran 1964–66) • WHILE THE UNITED STATES leaps on and off a collision course with Iran, Americans forget we have not always been enemies. This memoir is set in 1960s Iran, when the Shah reigns, American consultants abound, the word ayatollah is rarely heard, and SAVAK, Iran’s secret police, wields uncompromising power. In the west, Persia evokes images of colorful carpets, wealthy oil sheiks, and glamorous royalty. Leaders of the 1979 Iranian Revolution are in elementary school when Mary answers John F. Kennedy’s call to “ask what you can do for your country” and joins the Peace Corps. The setting is Kerman, a conservative provincial capital on the stark Iranian plateau where she’s assigned to teach English to high school girls. Problems soon appear. As she struggles with the basics of everyday life, Iranians . . .

SPIES AND DESERTERS published by Martin Ganzglass (Somalia)

May 08 2017

About Spies and Deserters — A Novel of the American Revolution by Martin R. Ganzglass (Somalia 1966–68) SPIES AND DESERTERS FOLLOWS eighteen-year-old Will Stoner, a Lieutenant in General Henry Knox’s artillery regiment, and his friend, Private Adam Cooper, an African American in the Marblehead Mariners, from the bleak, disease ridden camp at Valley Forge through the cauldron of the summer heat of the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse, to the bloody, vicious guerrilla war between Whig and Tory militias and irregulars in southern New Jersey. By drawing on diaries, original letters, military orders and broadsheets, Spies and Deserters creates an accurate picture of the everyday lives of ordinary soldiers, merchants and farmers, women, Whigs, Loyalists and Hessians, all caught up in the revolution. Spies and Deserters is my fourth novel about the American Revolution published by Peace Corps Writers. Like the others in the series, Cannons for the Cause, Tories and Patriots, and Blood Upon . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers — March & April 2017

May 06 2017

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — Click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. We are now including a one-sentence description — provided by the author — for the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers 1) to order the book and 2) to volunteer to review it. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to peacecorpsworldwide@gmail.com, and we’ll send you a copy along with a few instructions. • Yovo (Peace Corps novel) by Stephen F. Dexter. Jr. (Togo 1988–91) Peace Corps Writers February 2017 434 pages $21.00 (paperback) • Walled In, Walled Out: A Young American Woman in Iran by Mary Dana Marks (Iran 1964–66) Peace Corps Writers . . .

Peace Corps headquarters moving out of downtown DC

May 05 2017

I HAVE HEARD from individuals familiar with the Peace Corps that the convenient three Headquarter buildings that the Peace Corps has enjoyed for all of their existence — some 56 + plus years —will soon be history. The agency will move before the end of the year to the far southwest of the District, out close to the Beltway. The Peace Corps will also likely be sharing a building with another government agency. No longer will the Peace Corps have a footprint in the heart of the Nation’s Capital. The first Peace Corps HQ was at 806 Connecticut Ave across from Lafayette Park and with views of the White House. It was called the Maiatico Building and immortalized in a famous Washington Post photograph showing how the Peace Corps was working far into the night to launch the new agency. The second building was at 1990 K Street NW. I am not sure who was the director at . . .

“Loose Ends” by Bob Criso (Nigeria/Somalia)

May 04 2017

Loose Ends by Bob Criso (Nigeria 1966-67, Somalia 1967-68) • SUSAN STEEN AND PAUL BAUMER met on a beach in Bali. She was traveling with her friend Janice, taking a lot of pictures with her fancy camera. He was on his way home after two years with the Peace Corps in Africa. They have sex in the moonlight. It was 1970. “What was it like?” Susan asks, sitting up on the blanket and lighting a cigarette. Paul tells her about his early Peace Corps success. He and his friend Jeff “worked their asses off” and got all the latrines built for their project in only six months, thanks to a lot of help from the locals. He became fluent in Nglele. When the locals didn’t use the latrines, he learned that they use feces as fertilizer and didn’t want to waste it in the latrines. All along, the locals . . .

“Miriam’s Dream and a Peace Corps Story” by Joe Thigpen (Brazil)

May 04 2017

Miriam’s Dream and a Peace Corps Story by Joe Thigpen (Brazil 1963–65) • WHEN I WAS A young Peace Corps Volunteer in Capinzal, Santa Catarina, Brazil, I lived with Guilherme and Miriam Doin, along with their four children, Zezo, Jota, Tânia, and Jane. I was 21, young and idealistic. I was committed to do my job in rural community development in this small community of about 1,000 people. I did not pay much attention to living in the small town, although I did play with the local soccer team, and eventually helped start a local basketball team. Many afternoons after a day in the nearby rural communities I would return to play backyard soccer with the boys and their dad, who was somewhat of a local star on the town’s number one team. For my Peace Corps project I was very fortunate to be part of the 4-H Club . . .

Poet John Robert “Jack” Mueller (India) dies in Grand Junction, Colorado

May 04 2017

Thanks for the ‘heads-up’ from Dan Campbell (El Salvador 1974-77) • John Robert “Jack” Mueller (PCV India), who taught poetry and sailing in New Orleans before gaining prominence among the post-Beat poets in the San Francisco Bay area, died of cancer Thursday in Grand Junction, Colorado. He was 74. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, renowned poet and co-founder of the landmark City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, said, “Jack Mueller is the biggest-hearted poet I have ever known.” Mueller published six collections of poems and two books of sketches, most notably “Amor Fati” (Lithic Press, 2013). A reviewer praised his approach to “almost exclusively cosmic questions — about mortality, love and our relationship to language.” He created art wherever he went, making sketches and short poems on bar napkins, coasters and index cards, according to his brother, Gordon “Nick” Mueller, president and CEO of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. . . .

Archive - May 2017