Archive - July 2019

He became famous, in part, by dressing like a PCV, as he was in Panama 1969-70. He created on television “the handy-man-hero aesthetic. The rumpled, but somehow polished workman in a flannel shirt, jeans and work boots.” That uniform has come to be synonymous with home improvement television, with variations worn by current HGTV stars like Jonathan Scott of “Property Brothers” and Chip Gaines of “Fixer Upper.” “He  single-handedly shifted the narrative of an age-old trade,” said Chip Gaines in a long article in The New York Times RealEstate Section of the paper this Sunday, July 7, 2019, entitled This Old House’ Turns 40. Bob Vila was the show’s original host in 1979 and was on the show until 1989. He next had his own show, “At Home with Bob Vila.” Since then he has made periodic cameos on the sitcom “Home Improvement.” The Times article writes that to celebrate . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Alana DeJoseph (Mali 1992–94) Leslie Hawke (Romania 2002-04) was already middle-aged when she arrived in Romania for the first time as a PCV. Thirteen years later she is still there, running a nongovernmental organization she co-founded and continuing the work that earned her an Outstanding Citizen Award from the United States Agency for International Development in 2005. A former editor and publishing executive, and mother of actor Ethan Hawke, Ms. Hawke left everything she knew in New York City to join the Peace Corps, trading a Central Park West apartment and leisurely Sunday brunches for life in Romania. “I joined … to give myself time to think about what I ought to be doing, not really expecting to actually find it in the Peace Corps,” she explains one recent afternoon while sitting in her office in the center of Bucharest, the capital. Around her, many of . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dale Gilles (Liberia 1964-66) Dale writes… “I have just posted the following on the two Peace Corps/Liberia Facebook pages that I follow.  As for your readers, whether blue or red, whether they support Mayor Pete or not …. they surely would like to see the Peace Corps included in this narrative.  Why not get behind this to push Pete to include the Peace Corps?” Strange — and unfortunate — that there is no mention of the Peace Corps in Mayor Pete’s plans for national service. May I respectfully request that you somehow reach out to him — and ask your colleagues to do the same — asking him to backtrack a bit and start including the  Peace Corps when he discusses these plans. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/03/politics/pete-buttigieg-national-service-plan/index.html https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8kreEg7itlw&fbclid=IwAR0SXIifLO-QUIYbbwMr1VkJri5_tL0tj-Ft0nu6EHC-DdMYi_rbUqGI_qY

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Bill Josephson (PC/HQ 1961-66) CR – Garamendi Statement on Introduction of the PCRA 06-25-2019

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 143 awards have been given since that time. If you have a book published in 2018 that you wish to nominate, please email John Coyne at: jcoyneone@gmail.com The Awards will be announced in August, 2019. The awards are: The Maria Thomas Fiction Award The Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award The Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award The Award for Best Poetry Book The Award for Best Travel Book The Award for Best Photography Book The Award for Best Children’s Book Other Awards Books published in 2018 that have already been nominated are:  Travel Books: The Award for Best Travel Book Why Travel Matters: A Guide to the Life-Changing Effects of Travel . . .