Archive - 2023

Here is our new list of RPCV & staff authors we know of who have published two or more books of any type. Currently—in February 2023–the count is 476. If you know of someone who has and their name is not on this list, then please email: jcoyneone@gmail.com. We know we don’t have all such writers who have served over these past 60 years. Thank you.’ Jerome R. Adams (Colombia 1963–65) Tom Adams (Togo 1974-76) Thomas “Taj” Ainlay, Jr. (Malaysia 1973–75) Elizabeth (Letts) Alalou (Morocco 1983–86) Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) Robert Albritton (Ethiopia 1962-65) Usha Alexander (Vanuatu 1996–97) James G. Alinder (Somalia 1964-66) Richard Alleman (Morocco 1968-70) Hayward Allen (Ethiopia 1962-64) Diane Demuth Allensworth (Panama 1964–66) Paul E. Allaire (Ethiopia 1964–66) Allman (Nepal 1966-68) Nancy Amidei (Nigeria 1964–65) Gary Amo (Malawi 1962–64) David C. Anderson (Costa Rica 1964-66) Lauri Anderson (Nigeria 1963-65) Peggy Anderson (Togo 1962-64) James Archambeault (Philippines 1965-67) Ron Arias . . .

  Arnold Zeitlan (Ghana 1961– 63) was a correspondent for more than 30 years, and bureau chief of  The Associated Press, assigned to West Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the Philippines. For UPI, he served as vice president and managing director of the Asia-Pacific division, based in Hong Kong. From 1998 to 2001, he served as director of the Asian Center of The Freedom Forum, a nonprofit foundation devoted to news media issues. In 2001, he founded Editorial Research and Reporting Associates, Inc., which consults news media and journalism educators primarily in Asia in support of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He has lectured and taught at Yale, Boston and Northeastern universities. Before this newspaper career, Arnold was a PCV in Ghana! • The Peace Corps was very new when you joined. Why did you join? I have few heroes but one of them was Ed Murrow. In . . .

Books that bred [and explain] the Peace Corps Apr 14 2022 By John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962-64) During the 1950s, two social and political impulses swept across the United States. One impulse that characterized the decade was detailed in two best-selling books of the times, the 1955 novel by Sloan Wilson, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, and the non-fiction The Organization Man, written by William H. Whyte and published in 1956. These books looked at the “American way of life” and how men got ahead on the job and in society. Both are bleak looks at the mores of the corporate world. These books were underscored by Ayn Rand’s philosophy as articulated in such novels as Atlas Shrugged, published in 1957. Every man, philosophized Rand, was an end in himself. He must work for rational self-interest, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. Then in 1958 came a second impulse . . .

In case you’re wondering (or want to do your Ph.D on the Peace Corps) the first books and pamphlets on the agency in the first five years came out in 1961. There were four published that year. In 1962 one play was produced; 1963 had five more books in print; 1964 six books; three in 1965. One by an RPCV.They are: 1961 An International Peace Corps: The Promise and Problems, by Samuel P. Hayes published by Public Affairs Institute. It cost $1.00 (1961) Complete Peace Corps Guide, by Ray Hoopes, with an introduction by R. Sargent Shriver published by Dial Press. It cost $3.50. (1961) New Frontiers for American Youth: Perspective on the Peace Corps by Maurice L. Albertson, Andrew E. Rice and Pauline E. Birkey published by Public Affairs Press. It cost $4.50. (1961) Peace Corps: Who, How and Where by Charles E. Wingenbach, with a foreword by Hubert H. Humphrey . . .

Senate debates bill that would expand restrictions on foreign aid for abortions   Risch is the primary sponsor of the American Values Act. | Washington D.C., Feb 3, 2023 • Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate would expand and make permanent current laws that are designed to prevent the federal government from funding abortions in other countries through foreign aid. The bill, known as the American Values Act, would bolster existing prohibitions on foreign aid for abortions. It would specifically ban aid for abortion as a method of family planning and would prohibit aid money from being used to encourage or coerce abortions or for involuntary sterilization. The bill would also make permanent a ban on the use of funds for the Peace Corps to pay for abortions. The bill would also establish a long-standing restriction on funds to lobby for or against abortion, funds for any organization that supports or participates . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Jeanne Paul (Brazil 1964-66)   CorpsAfrica Adapts the Peace Corps Model to Build Resilience in Rural Africa   BY MARC CHALUFOUR BOSTON UNIVERSITY|   Liz Fanning was inspired by her experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco and, with CorpsAfrica, has created volunteer opportunities for young Africans to work in their own countries.   In the early 1990s, Liz Fanning spent 1993-95 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a small Moroccan village in the High Atlas mountains. She studied the impact of human and animal populations on endangered species—and witnessed the power of the Peace Corps’ model to aid communities and build mutual understanding between cultures. She also kept hearing the same question from young Moroccans: “How can I sign up?” Fanning had no answer. The Peace Corps, an independent organization run by the US government, only accepts American volunteers, sending them overseas . . .

NASA Veteran (and RPCV) Joe Acaba to Serve as Agency’s Chief Astronaut at Johnson Space Center By NASA information center  //  February 3, 2023 A decorated veteran of multiple spaceflights, as well as a former U.S. Marine and former educator, Acaba is the first person of Hispanic heritage selected to lead the office. Acaba takes the place of NASA astronaut Drew Feustel, who spent two years as deputy chief and has been acting chief of the office since NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman left the post late last year. “Congratulations to Joe Acaba on being named the new chief of the astronaut office! Joe is an experienced space flyer and a proven leader, and he will undoubtedly inspire the next generation of NASA astronauts.” “As we build on the International Space Station’s unparalleled success in low-Earth orbit with our eyes on the Moon and then Mars, Joe will play an integral role in . . .