Archive - April 6, 2022

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President Biden has nominated Carol Spahn to be Director of the Peace Corps
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The Volunteer who photographed the Summer of Love & then went on to slake a great thirst — Bill Owens (Jamaica)

President Biden has nominated Carol Spahn to be Director of the Peace Corps

  Carol Spahn has been serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Peace Corps, and was officially Acting Director from January 20, 2021 until November 16, 2021. Under her leadership, the agency is returning Volunteers to overseas service after being evacuated for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the agency created a domestic service initiative for only the second time in Peace Corps’ history, working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to support vaccination campaigns across the United States, and launched a new strategic plan which focuses on re-imagining service, advancing equity, and delivering quality. Prior to serving as Acting Director, Spahn served as Chief of Operations in the Africa Region covering Eastern and Southern Africa, and before that, served a five-year term as Country Director of Peace Corps/Malawi. Her Peace Corps roots extend back to her service, with her husband, as a Volunteer from 1994 to . . .

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The Volunteer who photographed the Summer of Love & then went on to slake a great thirst — Bill Owens (Jamaica)

  A Profile in Citizenship by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963–65) •   (This Profile of Bill Owens, Jamaica 1964-65, was largely drawn from in interview conducted by Tony D’Souza, Ivory Coast 2000-02 and Madagascar 2002-2003.)   Early on in his career, Bill took iconic photos of the Hells Angels beating concertgoers with pool cue sticks at the Rolling Stones’ performance during the Altamont Speedway Festival in California four months after Woodstock on December 8, 1969. Altamont is considered by historians as the end of the Summer of Love and the overall 1960s youth ethos. Bill was so fearful of retribution by the Hells Angels that he published the photos from the festival under a pseudonym fearing they would “come and murder’ him. Some of the negatives were later stolen, he believed by the Hells Angels.   In 1964, Bill joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to teach high school in . . .

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