Archive - 2020

    Welcome to the Writer’s Life: How to Design Your Writing Craft, Writing Business, Writing Practice, and Reading Practice Paulette  Perhach (Paraguay 2008–10) Sasquatch Books 2018 320 pages $18.95 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by James W. Skelton, Jr. (Ethiopia 1970–72) • Most of us have read books about how to write or be a writer, but this book by Paulette Perhach is by far the best “writer’s book” I’ve ever read. When I began reading it, I was pretty sure I could claim to have already become a writer, but before I was halfway through the text I realized I’m still trying to be a writer. By the time I finished reading Welcome to the Writer’s Life, it was clear that it’s not just another writer’s book or a rule book, it’s much more than that, it’s a writer’s ultimate instruction manual on becoming a successful writer. The amount . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Jeanne Paul (Brazil 1964-66)   Charles Murray Returns, Nodding to Caution but Still Courting Controversy A review in the New York Times, February 13, 2020 by Parul Sehgal     Just when the world seems poised to boil over with political rancor and outrage, along comes Charles Murray — right on time — with a new book titled “Human Diversity.” Yes, that Charles Murray, who in 1994 co-authored “The Bell Curve,” with Richard J. Herrnstein, arguing in two notorious chapters that I.Q. differences between the races were mostly innate and mostly intractable. (They allowed that environmental factors play a part in I.Q., but held that the “balance of the evidence” put a genetic factor of 60 percent “on the low side.”) Social programs like welfare or early education intervention ought to be scrapped not only because they were fruitless but because they encouraged women . . .

Tell us your Peace Corps story (and if you weren’t around back then!)…what did you think of the Peace Corps idea? Why did you join? Today, the agency has been in 141 countries…which one was yours? Over 230,000+ have been Volunteers. When were you a PCV? Tell us in 500 words or less what your service has meant to you. Why is the Peace Corps important for all of us? Send a photo of yourself from your Peace Corps years. Share your story with future generations of PCVs.

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Tino Calabia (Peru 1963-65)     Pompeo Aims to Cut Funds for Program Honoring Envoy Killed in Benghazi The secretary of state rose to prominence investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack. Now he’s on board with an administration plan to eliminate funding for a program honoring Chris Stevens (Morocco 1983-85). BY COLUM LYNCH, ROBBIE GRAMER Foreign Policy Magazine FEBRUARY 14, 2020     As a little-known congressman from Kansas, Mike Pompeo once said his top priority was getting to the bottom of the killing of J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya, calling them heroes who had been let down by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other Democratic leaders who put politics above the safety of their own people. But as U.S. secretary of state, Pompeo is now pressing Congress to eliminate a $5 million contribution to a charity dedicated to Stevens’s memory. . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Bob Arias (Colombia 1964-66)     Click HERE to see the reunion.  

Thanks to Marnie Mueller for the ‘heads up’ (Ecuador 1963-65)    50 States, 50 Love Stories New York Times, Valentine’s Day From sea to shining sea, here’s a tour of unforgettable fiction that explores matters of the heart. In the list of ‘love story’ by novelists from all of our states, Colorado comes up with a real winner, RPCV Kent Haruf (Turkey 1965-67) Colorado Kent Haruf, “Our Souls at Night” Kent Haruf’s final novel opens with an evening visit between neighbors in their 70s. Our reviewer wrote: “Both are widowed — Addie is 70, Louis about the same — and Addie makes the surprising proposal that they begin sleeping together, without sex, just to talk in the dark and provide the sleep-easing comfort of physical company. … We get to watch these two, night by night, pass through phases of awkwardness, intimacy and alliance.” In the summer of 2014 Haruf . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Michael Varga (Chad 1977-79) Peace Corps’ sudden decision to leave China stirs blowback BY REBECCA BEITSCH – 02/12/20 06:00 AM EST 123 The Peace Corps’ abrupt decision to end its program in China has spurred confusion, including from lawmakers who question whether the agency is caving to political pressure from Florida’s two Republican senators. Congress was informed of the decision on Jan. 16, when the agency sent a note to the appropriations committees that it would be withdrawing from China, ending a program where volunteers teach English to university students in some of the nation’s poorest interior provinces. The drumbeat to get the Peace Corps out of China was led by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who has pressed to strip it of independent status under the White House while blocking it from placing volunteers in any “hostile nations.” Scott has introduced legislation to place the Peace Corps under . . .

This information is in response to FOIA 20-0042. The numbers are for the annual census  done in September of 2019.  Marian Haley Beil’s 3 by 5 cards are probably no longer in Peace Corps archives.  But, her legacy of maintaining accuracy  in data remains!  If contacting your Congressional Representative and Senators, it would be good to mention how many PCVs, as of 9/30/2019,  from your state are being evacuated.  This is an election year!https://peacecorpsworldwide.org/number-of-current-pcvs-per-state-and-total-number-of-pcvs-per-state/   Peace Corps also published the top 20 states:   https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/library/peace-corps-announces-2019-top-volunteer-producing-states/     C  

Contrary to some myths, Peace Corps Washington was not a government version of “Mad Men.” writes Joanne Roll (Colombia 1963-65) yesterday in her blog item. Sorry Joanne. I have to disagree. The Peace Corps (like other government agencies at the time was made up of  “mad men”.) In the third year of the Peace Corps–1963–a booklet was published by the agency entitled “Who’s Who in the Peace Corps Washington.” Here is a photo in those early years of a Senior Staff Meeting with Shriver at the head of the table. A list of the top 40 employees were profiled in this booklet. Only three profiles were of women: Alice Gilbert (Director of the Division of United Nations and International Agency Programs); Ruth Olson (Special Assistant to the Chief of the Division of Volunteer Field Support); Dorothy Mead Jacobsen (Chief of the Division of Personnel). There was also a list of  . . .

     “A Towering Task” producter Alana de Joseph asked that question as we tried to decipher how many actual Volunteers were serving from Colorado when Peace Corps did its annual count September 2019. Was this the simplest of requests?  Not exactly.  Only the top 20 states with serving Volunteers were listed on the Peace Corps home page. And then, only certain of these states were awarded an actual number. Colorado was not among them. Instead, Colorado was listed as having 4.1 Volunteers for each 100,000 in population, prompting Alana’s question. (https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/library/peace-corps-announces-2019-top-volunteer-producing-states/)   If I could have decoded that statistic, I would have majored in Physics and not Political Science. Using my Poli Sci degree, I realized we could just ask our Senator.  Within a day, Senator Gardner’s office reported Colorado had 192 serving Volunteers as of September 2019.  But all of this  reminded me of Peace Corps Worldwide’s publisher, Marian . . .

Peace Corps describes  efforts to make sure all serving Volunteers and Staff are safe as the Coronavirus Outbreak continues.  Here is the latest press release: “https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/library/peace-corps-monitoring-coronavirus-outbreak/ “WASHINGTON – Since the outbreak was first reported in early January, the Peace Corps has been closely monitoring the coronavirus with the State Department Bureaus of Medical Affairs and Diplomatic Security, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization, to safeguard volunteers and staff at Peace Corps posts around the world. Peace Corps medical officers are communicating with volunteers on how to mitigate the risks of exposure, and an interdisciplinary working group is working closely with overseas posts to track and analyze the impact on the agency and to ensure an effective and timely response. Each Peace Corps program has developed specific protocols for the coronavirus that have been included in their Emergency Action Plans. Volunteers are thoroughly trained in . . .

  Join author Charles B. Kastner to discuss the history of African-American runners through the lens of his new book, Race Across America. About this Event Join author Charles B. Kastner (Seychelles 1980-82) to discuss the history of African-American runners through the lens of Charles’ new book, Race Across America: Eddie Gardner and the Great Bunion Derbies. A book selling and signing will be held after the discussion. About Race Across America: Eddie Gardner and the Great Bunion Derbies Anyone who roots for the underdog — the guy trying to do something in spite of impossible odds — should read Race Across America. It shows that human limitations are there to be broken and speaks to the untapped potential for human achievement that rests within each of us. It also puts a spotlight on the heroism of one of Seattle’s greatest endurance athletes, Eddie “the Sheik” Gardner. In the late 1920s, Gardner competed in two . . .

    Queen of Hearts: The Story of Anna Sipl Meyers Edited by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96), Anna Sipl Meyers (Author) Self-published July 2018 248 pages $20.00 (paperback) Reviewed by D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 1974-76 & Costa Rica 1976-77) • This is a life story worthy of a Horatio Alger novel, except that it is autobiographical rather than fiction, and the hero, Anna Sipl Meyers, continues her story after achieving her initial goal of owning a Las Vegas hotel and casino. In fact her ups and downs as a hotel and casino owner are among the most fascinating parts of her life story. The book is based on two years of interviews conducted by Claytee D. White, Director of the Oral History Research Center at UNLV (University of Nevada Las Vegas) Libraries. RPCV Leita Kaldi Davis organized the interviews and edited them into a book which is conversational, well organized, and . . .