Archive - 2022

Yogurt Culture: A Global Look at How to Make, Bake, Sip, and Chill the World’s Creamiest, Healthiest Food by Cheryl Sternman Rule (Eritrea 1995-97) Harvest Publisher 352 pages April 2015 $12.99 (Kindle); $19.18 (Hardback)   Award-winning author Cheryl Sternman Rule (Eritrea 1995-97) began writing professionally for newspapers, magazines, and websites in 2004. She was the voice behind the food blog 5 Second Rule (5secondrule.typepad.com), which won the 2012 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) New Media & Broadcast Award for best culinary blog. Cheryl’s work has also appeared in Cooking Light, Sunset, Body + Soul, Health, Vegetarian Times, the San Jose Mercury News, Edible San Francisco, Culinate.com, The Kitchn, and Serious Eats; and in several books published by the American Heart Association and the EatingWell Media Group. Cheryl also served as a contributing editor at EatingWell Magazine, a daily food news blogger at iVillage, and the Fresh Talk columnist for . . .

Let’s Talk About Estate Planning by Virginia McArthur, Esq. (Ethiopia 1964-66) Cambridge Studio Publisher 280 pages September 2020 $8/99 (Kindle); $13.25 (Paperback)     Will your estate plan fail? If you don’t understand how it works, you could dismantle it yourself! Are you tempted to take free advice about planning? Do you avoid reading the fine print? Will joint ownership simplify or complicate your plan? What happens to assets left directly to a minor? Know it or blow it. Let’s Talk About Estate Planning defogs estate planning through invented, but true to life, conversations between friends, or between clients and fictional lawyer Rebecca Dalton. Some of these exchanges expose major errors, not all of them fixable. This entertaining and informative treatment of estate planning, wills, trusts, probate, beneficiary designations, titling of assets, powers of attorney, and gifts illustrates how these pieces fit together. Read it, and you will say “NOW I . . .

January 7, 2022 WASHINGTON – Today, Peace Corps Chief Executive Officer Carol Spahn released the following update regarding the 2019 crash that resulted in the death of Ms. Rabia Issa: “The death of Rabia Issa in Tanzania was a horrible tragedy, and we grieve the incredible loss to her family, friends and community. “We recognize the deep pain that was caused by Ms. Issa’s death, as well as the inequities that exist. Our ongoing work is grounded in a commitment to equity and ensuring our mission is clearly centered in our host communities. We expect all staff and every Volunteer to enter service with deep humility and respect as we seek to foster peace and understanding across cultures. We are committed to doing everything within our power to pursue policy, legislative, enhanced training and other solutions to bolster accountability. “We understand that many questions remain about the agency’s response to . . .

  The first Peace Corps HQ was at 806 Connecticut Ave across from Lafayette Park and within view of the White House. It was called the Maiatico Building and immortalized in the famous Washington Post photograph showing how the Peace Corps was working far into the night in the first days of the new agency. When the Peace Corps was “launched” JFK did so by signing an ‘executive order” to create the agency, an idea of Bill Josephson, co-author of the memo “Towering Task,” who told Kennedy he had the power to create the new agency by using the existing Mutual Security Act of 1954. Kennedy claimed that the establishment of the Peace Corps was an emergency. And it was. By doing so, the Peace Corps was created immediately without going through months of congressional debates. With the signing to create this new agency, Shriver, with the help of Warren Wiggins, obtained three . . .

The Baby Whisperer iUniverse by George Pope (Chile 1963-65) 112 pages September 2021 $5.99 (Kindle); $13.99 (Paperback)       For the past sixteen years, George Pope has been holding and comforting babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) a local Children’s Hospital. The book is full of heart-warming, heart-wrenching, and sometimes downright amusing stories of working with the most caring, the most compassionate, and the most competent professionals he has ever been associated with. His job? He calls himself:  The Baby Whisperer! Before becoming a “Baby Whisperer,” George had a forty-year international affairs career. Beginning as a PCV in Chile (1963-65), he served in six U.S. Embassies and managed the operational aspects of international food aid relief programs in over fifty countries.  

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) – First lady Michelle Obama will travel to Japan and Cambodia this month as part of a U.S. global effort to support education for girls, the White House said on Tuesday. She will visit Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan from March 18 to March 20, and the Cambodian capital Siem Reap from March 21 to 22, it said in a statement. The initiative aims to reduce the number of girls — 62 million worldwide — who do not attend school, according to the administration. The effort, launched last summer through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will use the Peace Corps volunteer program to help expand access for schooling for girls, especially for teenagers. Cambodia is one of 11 countries targeted by the Peace Corp initiative during the program‘s first year, the White House said. The other countries are: Albania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Georgia, Ghana, . . .