Archive - 2019

From Lillian Baer (Senegal 1965-67) It is with a heavy heart that we write to you today to announce that our wonderful and close friend, Gary Engelberg, passed away this morning in his beloved Senegal. We want to allow you all to have this information immediately, and we will write more as we compose more gentle words, as well as some detail and plans moving ahead. We are reaching out to you now in our grief at this difficult time, and we hope that by sharing with so many of Gary’s friends and family in Senegal, in the USA, and in the rest of the world, we can each carry a lighter load as we move forward in the world without this shining light. Many of you know how ill Gary has been for past years, and that he has suffered from a number of severe ailments. We are sorry . . .

IN PUTIN’S FOOTSTEPS: Searching for the Soul of an Empire Across Russia’s Eleven Time Zones  St. Martin’s Press By Nina Khrushcheva and Jeffrey Tayler (Morocco 1988-90) 320 pages February 19, 2019 $18.89 (hardback); $14.99 (Kindle); $24.60 (Audio CD)   Reviewed by Bea Hogan (Uzbekistan 1992-94) Why is Putin so popular? The hand-picked successor of Boris Yeltsin was an odd choice: a soft-spoken former spook who’d once helmed the Federal Security Service (FSB), the agency that came after the KGB. Putin took power as the new millennium dawned, and at the time, seemed destined to be a placeholder, a mere footnote in history. But three months later he won the presidential election in a landslide and has been consolidating power ever since. It’s hard to imagine how a man of diminutive stature and unassuming presence—in a land that prizes macho men—could become such a towering figure on the world stage. And . . .

Jia Tolentino (Kyrgyzstan 2009-10) dominates the book world this weekend with articles by and about her in the wake of the publication of her new book Trick Mirror. “To Cut a Long Story Short” is an essay by Jai that appears in the Saturday/Sunday issue of The Wall Street Journal  and Jia is interviewed in The New York Times Sunday Book Section. JC Note.   Writer Jia Tolentino on Her Obsession With ‘Disgusting’ Jean Shorts The author and New Yorker staff writer, whose new book of essays ‘Trick Mirror’ is out this week, describes her lifelong affinity for beat-up denim cutoffs JEAN QUEEN The writer, who has been compared dauntingly to both Susan Sontag and Joan Didion, wearing her beloved shorts in her Brooklyn neighborhood. PHOTO: LEETA HARDING FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By Jia Tolentino Aug. 7, 2019 GROWING UP IN Texas, I attended an evangelical private school whose thorough strictness was . . .

Thanks for a ‘heads up’ from Bea Hogan (Uzbekistan 1992-94)  Athleisure, barre and kale: the tyranny of the ideal woman How we became suckers for the hard labor of self-optimization. By Jia Tolentino (Kyrgyzstan 2009-10) From The Guardian (US Edition) Last modified on Fri 2 Aug 2019 06.31 EDT The ideal woman has always been generic. I bet you can picture the version of her that runs the show today. She’s of indeterminate age but resolutely youthful presentation. She’s got glossy hair and the clean, shameless expression of a person who believes she was made to be looked at. She is often luxuriating when you see her – on remote beaches, under stars in the desert, across a carefully styled table, surrounded by beautiful possessions or photogenic friends. Showcasing herself at leisure is either the bulk of her work or an essential part of it; in this, she is not so unusual – . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from David Miron (Colombia 1963-65)     Peter Navarro (Thailand 1972–75) is the Assistant to the President, and Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. He is the highest ranking RPCV working for Trump. The next highest former PCV is Donald’s dear friend Jody Olsen, the 20th Director of the agency, who has now spent more than 17 years working for the Peace Corps, all during Republican Administrations.              

Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion By E. Fuller Torrey (Ethiopia Staff/Medical 1964-66) Doctor Fuller Torrey (Ethiopia Staff/Medical 1964-66) is associate director for research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute and the founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center. His books include The Roots of Treason: Ezra Pound and the Secret of St. Elizabeths(1984); The Insanity Offense: How America’s Failure to Treat the Seriously Mentally Ill Endangers Its Citizens(2008); Surviving Schizophrenia: A Family Manual,6th ed. (2013); and American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System(2013). He lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife RPCV Barbara Boyle (Tanzania 1963-65) Religions and mythologies from around the world teach that God or gods created humans. Atheist, humanist, and materialist critics, meanwhile, have attempted to turn theology on its head, claiming that religion is a human invention. In this book, E. Fuller Torrey draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to . . .

Our Woman in Havana: A Diplomat’s Chronicle of America’s Long Struggle with Castro’s Cuba By Vicki Huddleston (Peru 1964-66) Ambassador Vicki Huddleston (Peru 1964-66) served under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush as Chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. She also served as U.S. Ambassador to Madagascar and Mali. Her report for the Brookings Institution about normalizing relations with Cuba was adapted for President Obama’s diplomatic opening with Raúl Castro in 2014. She has written opinion pieces in the New York Times, Miami Herald, and Washington Post. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Our Woman in Havana chronicles the past several decades of US-Cuba relations from the bird’s-eye view of State Department veteran and longtime Cuba hand Vicki Huddleston, our top diplomat in Havana under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush. After the US embassy in Havana was closed in 1961, relations between the two countries broke off. . . .

Nature’s Poetry by Eldon Katter  (Ethiopia 1962-64) Eldon Katter was Chair of the Department of Art Education and Crafts and Professor of Art Education at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. He was also editor of SchoolArts magazine for 11 years and president of the National Art Education Association. In the 1950s he taught art in Park Ridge, Illinois and later in Needham, Massachusetts. As Peace Corps volunteers in the 1960s, Eldon and his wife, Adrienne, taught at a teacher training school in Harar, Ethiopia and then worked for the Teacher Education in East Africa Project in Kampala, Uganda. Eldon was the designer and co-author of several educational art games, including Token Response, and the co-author of Explorations in Art, an elementary textbook series for Grades 1-6, and Art and Human Experience, a textbook series for middle school, published by Davis Publications. Inc. He was also the author of Multicultural Art Print . . .

Chasing Heisenberg: The Race for the Atom Bomb By Michael Joseloff (Tunisia 1967-69) Michael Joseloff (Tunisia 1967-69) over the course of his career worked at PBS, CBS News, ABC News and several cable TV networks and won four Emmys, among other awards. His interest in the atom bomb dates back to 1993 when he produced a segment on J. Robert Oppenheimer, Scientific Director of The Manhattan Project, for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. He continued reading about America’s race to beat Hitler to the bomb after that, hoping to find new subject matter for a documentary. Several years ago he came across an old photograph in an online archive. The photo, taken shortly before the start of World War II, showed Werner Heisenberg, future architect of Germany’s atomic research program, standing alongside his good friend Enrico Fermi, soon to become a top Manhattan Project scientist. He had found what he was looking . . .

Keep Peace Corps Independent and Internationally Trusted “Join the Peace Corps community in protecting the independent, non-political nature of the Peace Corps by opposing legislation (S.2320) introduced by Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) that would make Peace Corps subordinate to the Department of State under the direction of the Secretary of State. By safeguarding Peace Corps’ status as an independent agency, we can help to ensure that it will not be used to promote short-term goals of the Secretary of State or whichever administration is occupying the White House. The international perception of the Peace Corps’ independence is imperative for its continued success, which is based on mutual respect and trust of the host countries.” Here is the link to contact your Senators.  Scroll pass the Representative sign to find the letter and the guide to contacting your Senators.https://advocacy.peacecorpsconnect.org/email-congress#/50  

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dale Gilles (Liberia 1964-67), (PC/W 1968-73), (Liberia APCD 1973-75), (PC/W 1991-93) BY JOHN BOWDEN – 07/30/19 03:25  The Peace Corps will cease operations in China and shift to become an arm of the State Department if a bill filed by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Tuesday is passed. Scott’s bill, titled the Peace Corps Mission Accountability Act, would shift the agency from the executive branch to become a sub-agency of the State Department, overseen by the secretary of state. The bill would also immediately direct the organization to end aid efforts in China, where agency volunteers teach English in Chinese schools. “The Peace Corps has an honorable mission of promoting freedom and spreading American ideals to developing countries around the world. We want the Peace Corps to do good work across the globe — just not with our enemies like China,” Scott said in a press release. Scott’s bill “provides . . .

Why Travel Matters: A Guide to the Life-Changing Effects of Travel By Craig Storti (Morocco 1970-72) Craig Storti (Morocco 1970-72) is an expert on cultural communication with over thirty-years experience helping business people, diplomats, civil servants, and foreign aid workers engage effectively with people from other cultures and diverse backgrounds. He leads cross-cultural workshops for international agencies and organizations on four continents, and assists numerous corporations and government agencies to better manage global teams and culturally diverse workforces. He has lived nearly a quarter of his life abroad-with extended stays in Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist cultures-he speaks French, Arabic, and Nepali. When you travel, you have a choice: You can be a tourist and have a nice time, or you can be a traveler and change your life. Why Travel Matters is for those who want to change their lives. Why Travel Matters explores the profound life lessons that await anyone who wishes . . .

The Vodka Diaries: A Peace Corps Volunteer’s Adventures in Russia By Richard Sayette (Russian Far East 1994-95) Prior to joining the Peace Corps, Richard Sayette (Russian Far East 1994-95) earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers University, spent several years backpacking through Europe, Asia and Australia and worked as a professional chef. Richard eventually earned an MBA with a focus in international business from the University of South Carolina and has spent the past twenty years working in the risk management field. In a radio broadcast on October 1st, 1939, Winston Churchill referred to Russia as, “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” During Richard Sayette’s tour as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Russian Far East, he found Churchill’s words to be accurate, as his limited knowledge about Russia stemmed from Dostoevsky and Pushkin novels. From the summer of 1994 until late 1995, he lived and . . .

Remind Me Again What Happened By Joanna Luloff (Sri Lanka 1996-98). Published in 2018 Joanna Luloff (Sri Lanka 1996-98) is the author of a story collection, The Beach at Galle Road, a Barnes & Noble Discover selection. She lives in Denver, where she teaches at the University of Colorado.   Claire wakes in a hospital room in the Florida Keys. She has no idea how she got there or why. The loss of so many memories is paralyzing. Some things she can piece together by looking at old photos saved by her husband, Charlie, and her best friend, Rachel, and by combing through boxes of letters and casual jottings. But she senses a mystery at the center of all these fragments of her past, a feeling that something is not complete. Is Charlie still her husband? Is Rachel still her friend? Told from alternating points of view that pull the reader into . . .