Archive - June 2019

    Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dale Gilles (Liberia 1964-66) • Grants for projects favored by McConnell raise ethical questions for Elaine Chao   BY CHRIS MILLS RODRIGO From The Hill Paper,6/10/19   Secretary Elaine Chao‘s Department of Transportation (DOT) designated a special liaison for grant applications in Kentucky, the home state of her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), Politico reported Monday, facilitating awards totaling at least $78 million for projects favored by the GOP lawmaker. The liaison, Todd Inman, reportedly stated in an email to McConnell’s office that Chao had personally asked him to serve as an intermediary who could assist the senator and local Kentucky officials on grants with special significance to McConnell. Those grants included a highway-improvement project in a McConnell political stronghold that had been rejected twice previously, according to Politico. Beginning in April 2017, Inman and Chao reportedly met annually with local officials from Owensboro, Ky., and discussed two projects of special importance: a plan . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Maureen Orth (Colombia 1964-66) World Peace World Peace is a celebration of the efforts by artists and statesmen seeking a more peaceful world. Music has long been a vehicle for inspiring people to seek peaceful ways to bridge political and cultural divides. Artists featured on this album include Keb’ Mo’, India Marie, Nina Simone and many more. We greatly appreciate these musicians’ commitment to achieving peace, justice and freedom. 2% of proceeds from this album will be donated to the National Peace Corps Association.  Read more… This album is also available at thousands of gift, book and other specialty stores worldwide and on iTunes. www.putumayo.com.au. © 2019 by Putumayo World Music. Questions? Comments? Please contact us at: info@putumayo.com About the Album Putumayo is pleased to announce the release of World Peace on June 14th, 2019. It was inspired by President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Reverend Martin . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon 1965-67) From the Daily Kos Reporter Gabriel Sherman obtained a copy of the 1993 prenuptial agreement between Donald Trump and Marla Maples, the woman he left his first wife, Ivana, for after publicly dating Marla Maples while still married. That affair resulted in Tiffany Trump, whose child support was considered in the agreement. There are several interesting items to unpack in this agreement, including the near-universal acknowledgement that Trump inflated his net worth for the agreement, but let’s start with the most eyebrow-raising: the child support terms for Tiffany Trump. More than anything, the prenup shows how fiercely Trump wanted to protect the money he did have. Maples reportedly wanted $25 million, but Trump agreed to pay her only $1 million if they separated within five years, plus another $1 million to buy a house. Trump also would stop making $100,000 child support . . .

To further fulfill its goals to encourage, recognize and promote Peace Corps writers, RPCV Writers & Readers, the newsletter that was the precursor of PeaceCorpsWriters.org and PeaceCorpsWorldwide.org, presented its first annual awards for outstanding writing in 1990. A total of 151 awards have been given since that time. Winners receive a certificate and small cash award. Nominate your favorite Peace Corps book published in 2018 by sending an email to: jcoyneone@gmail.com The Awards THE MARIA THOMAS FICTION AWARD, first presented in 1990, is named after the novelist Maria Thomas [Roberta Worrick (Ethiopia 1971–73)] who was the author of the well-reviewed novel Antonia Saw the Oryx First, and two collections of short stories, Come to Africa and Save Your Marriage: And Other Stories and African Visas: A Novella and Stories, all set in Africa. Roberta lost her life in August, 1989, while working in Ethiopia for a relief agency. She went down in the plane crash that also killed her husband, . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dale Gilles (Liberia 1964-66)   Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary, oversees the American maritime industry. Her family’s shipping company, Foremost Group, has deep ties to the Chinese elite. By Michael Forsythe, Eric Lipton, Keith Bradsher and Sui-Lee Wee June 2, 2019 阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版 The email arrived in Washington before dawn. An official at the American Embassy in Beijing was urgently seeking advice from the State Department about an “ethics question.” “I am writing you because Mission China is in the midst of preparing for a visit from Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao,” the official wrote in October 2017. Ms. Chao’s office had made a series of unorthodox requests related to her first scheduled visit to China as a Trump cabinet member, according to people with knowledge of the email. Among them: asking federal officials to help coordinate travel arrangements for at least one family member and include relatives in meetings with . . .

Calling all RPCV Writers Are you writing a memoir, poems, short stories or a scholarly essay? Whether it is about the Peace Corps or not, you are invited to the first Peace Corps Writers Workshop this September.  Have your work reviewed in a very supportive setting, and learn about agents, submissions, and  publication. The workshop–only open to 15 RPCVs–will be held from Wednesday, September 18th to Saturday, September 21rd at Shore Retreats on Broad Creek, on the fabulous Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Costs range from $100 – $500 and includes shared living quarters, and most meals. If interested contact John Coyne at: jcoyneone@gmail.com As of this week, only four more writers will be accepted.  This workshop is organized by Peace Corps Worldwide and it will be lead by these published RPCV writers. Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65) was born in the Tule Lake Japanese American Segregation Camp. She is . . .

Only one book–of the many RPCV writers books published this spring/summer– has made The New York Times Book Review Summer Reading list published June 2, 2019. This thick section of the Times–67 pages–has in its “Roundups” section a Travel list and in it reviewer Liesl Schillinger, a critic and translator, singles out In Putin’s Footsteps: Searching for the Soul of an Empire Across Russia’ Eleven Time Zones published by St. Martin’s and written by Nina Khrushcheva and Jeffrey Tayler (Morocco 1988-90) calling the book a “fascinating account of their travels in 2017 between Kamchatka and Kaliningrad.” Their book, Schillinger writes, “delivers a unified impression of a ‘coherently incoherent’ Russia.”