Archive - 2023

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Peace Corps Writers with 2 ≤ books
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Author of the first Peace Corps memoir | Arnold Zeitlan (Ghana)
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Books that Bred the Peace Corps
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First Books About The Peace Corps
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Review | SORRY, NO ENGLISH by Craig Storti (Morocco)
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Stephen Franklin (Turkey) writers about his host country
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HOUSE OF FIRE by Elizabeth Di Grazia (Tonga)
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The Volunteer Who Went onto National Media with His Political Views — Bob Beckel (Philippines)
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Peace Corps assessing a return to Cape Verde
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Ban foreign aid for abortions for PCVs?
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CorpsAfrica adapts the Peace Corps model (Morocco)
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Brittney Nadler (Sierra Leone) awarded Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship
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Joe Acaba–First RPCV in Space (Dominican Republic)
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John Clark (Ecuador) joins Sarasota’s Selby Gardens
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PCVs to Solomon Islands to counter China

Peace Corps Writers with 2 ≤ books

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 . . .

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Author of the first Peace Corps memoir | Arnold Zeitlan (Ghana)

  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 . . .

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Books that Bred the Peace Corps

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 . . .

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First Books About The Peace Corps

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 . . .

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Review | SORRY, NO ENGLISH by Craig Storti (Morocco)

  Sorry, No English: 50 Tips to Improve your Communication with Speakers of Limited English Craig Storti (Morocco 1970-72) Chambers Publisher October 2022 189 pages $5.94 (Kindle); $12.60 (Paperback) Reviewed bu D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 74-76) and Costa Rica 76-77). • What a shame this book didn’t exist when I was trying to help my wife learn English years ago. Craig Storti has been writing about intercultural communications for over 30 years and has published a number of useful books, but for everyone who needs to interact with speakers of limited English, this is the indispensable handbook we have been waiting for. The book will be useful to anyone working in a public-facing job from government to hospitality, international organizations, human resources, cross-cultural and diversity training, and teaching English as a second language. Also, those who simply have an interest in languages, cultures and communication will love this book. I . . .

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Stephen Franklin (Turkey) writers about his host country

  Chicago Tribune February 10, 2023 • Tragedy has long haunted the broad swath of land where earthquakes have just claimed thousands of lives, left many thousands of people injured and plunged already impoverished millions into yet deeper financial despair. For centuries, an angry earth has shaken communities in the sunbaked mountains and valleys that sprawl across southeastern Turkey. But the earth’s latest deadly roar comes at an especially vulnerable moment for Turkey and Syria, where an unusually bitter cold hourly seals the rubble and the earthquakes’ countless bodies. This tragedy is not a distant one for me. As a journalist, I have traveled along Turkey’s southeastern border and visited Syrian refugees and the places where they were living. But the deeper significance is that my wife and I, as Peace Corps volunteers, ran a small, meagerly supported orphanage for Turkish boys in a slum on the far edge of Istanbul more . . .

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HOUSE OF FIRE by Elizabeth Di Grazia (Tonga)

  House of Fire shows that thirty years of breaking free from a cycle of violence was not enough to prepare Elizabeth Di Grazia for the trials of starting her own family. Growing up in the 1970s, she suffered repeated sexual abuse, incest, and neglect. Although in the Catholic church, she was forced to have a hushed-up abortion at the age of fourteen. Within a year she was pregnant again, by another brother. Di Grazia gave birth to a son who was quickly taken away and adopted into a family she never knew. Elizabeth’s story traces her healing and the creation of an intentional family. She and her partner, Jody, adopted two Guatemalan babies. They learned that provision and protection were not enough, but refused to allow denial and secrets to go unexposed became critical. Elizabeth di Grazia graduated from Hamline University with an MFA in Writing in 2003. She . . .

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The Volunteer Who Went onto National Media with His Political Views — Bob Beckel (Philippines)

  Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65)  • Robert (Bob) Beckel served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines from 1971 to 1972. Prior to that, Bob graduated from Wagner College in Staten Island, where he played football and worked for Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1968. After returning home from his Volunteer assignment, Bob was a graduate school professor of politics at George Washington University in the District of Columbia. In 1977, Bob joined the U. S. Department of State as deputy assistant Secretary of State in the Carter Administration. In that role, he helped to shepherd the Panama Canal Treaty through the Congress to ratification. The following year, he was appointed as Special Assistant to the president for legislative affairs, working on ratification of Salt II and Mideast treaties. Subsequently, Bob was the campaign manager for Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign. During that campaign, he became known as . . .

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Peace Corps assessing a return to Cape Verde

05-02-2023  Africa-Press – Cape verde.    In response to a formal request from the government, a team of eight members of the US Peace Corps is visiting Cape Verde until February 19, to assess the possibility of re-establishing a program in the country. According to a note from the Peace Corps, its team should meet with various government institutions, representatives of civil society and Cape Verdean citizens across the country, to assess opportunities for programs in the areas of English language teaching, development youth and environment. With scheduled visits to the islands of Santiago, São Vicente, Santo Antão, Sal, Maio and Fogo, it also intends to assess living conditions that impact potential Peace Corps volunteers, such as in the areas of health, safety, protection, transport and housing. “The team’s assessment will play an important role in determining the feasibility of re-establishing a Peace Corps program in Cape Verde, but it . . .

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Ban foreign aid for abortions for PCVs?

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 . . .

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CorpsAfrica adapts the Peace Corps model (Morocco)

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 . . .

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Brittney Nadler (Sierra Leone) awarded Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship

Illinois University alumna Brittney Nadler (Sierra Leone 2019-20) was recently awarded a Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship. Funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by Howard University, the Pickering Fellowship supports individuals who seek careers in the State Department’s Foreign Service. Nadler was among 45 awardees selected from nearly 900 applicants. The fellowship will fund a two-year master’s degree in an area of relevance to the Foreign Service. It also will provide extensive professional development opportunities including internships, mentoring and skills training. Nadler will complete a summer internship at the State Department in 2024 and an overseas internship at a U.S. embassy or consulate in summer 2025. Upon successful completion of the program, Nadler will become a U.S. diplomat. Born in Park Ridge, Illinois, and raised in South Elgin, Nadler served as a Fulbright English Teacher in Thailand from 2017-18, bringing 10 of her students to Malaysia . . .

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Joe Acaba–First RPCV in Space (Dominican Republic)

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 . . .

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John Clark (Ecuador) joins Sarasota’s Selby Gardens

John L. Clark PhD Joins Botany Staff at Selby Gardens TUESDAY JAN 31, 2023 |     Marie Selby Botanical Gardens [in Sarasota, Florida] recently welcomed Dr. John L. Clark to its staff as a full-time research botanist. Affiliated with Selby Gardens as a research associate since 2009, Clark has spent his professional career discovering and documenting plant diversity. His work concentrates on the plant family Gesneriaceae, or gesneriads, an important focus of Selby Gardens’ botanical research and a notable component of its living plant collection. An evolutionary biologist as well as a botanist, Clark studies plant systematics, evolution, and biodiversity, focusing on the identification, classification, phylogeny, and taxonomy of neotropical gesneriads. Gesneriads serve as scientific models for understanding broad patterns in the evolution, pollination, and diversification of plants. About a third of gesneriads are epiphytes (a type of plant that grows on another plant without harming it), and Clark’s . . .

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PCVs to Solomon Islands to counter China

  US opens embassy in Solomon Islands to counter China By NICK PERRY Seattle Times February 01, 2023        WELLINGTON, New Zealand — (AP) — The United States opened an embassy in the Solomon Islands on Thursday in its latest move to counter China’s push into the Pacific. The embassy in the capital, Honiara, is starting small, with a chargé d’affaires, a couple of State Department staff and a handful of local employees. The U.S. previously operated an embassy in the Solomon Islands for five years before closing it in 1993 as part of a global reduction in diplomatic posts after the end of the Cold War. But China’s bold moves in the region have the U.S. seeking to increase its engagement in a number of ways, such as by donating COVID-19 vaccines, bringing back Peace Corps volunteers to several island nations, and investing in forestry and tourism projects. “The opening . . .

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