Archive - 2024

1
The Victimization of Public School Teachers in America
2
Snow in Sawankhaloke by Bill Preston (Thailand)
3
Reflections in a College Bar (Poem)
4
Part 2–In That Time of Their Lives — Jeremiah Norris (Colombia)
5
New List of PCV AUTHORS
6
OTHER RIVERS, a Remarkable Panorama of Change in China
7
Peace Corps Volunteers in Naitasiri, Fiji
8
Paseo Maritimi (Majorca Poem)
9
In That Time of Their Lives — Jeremiah Norris (Colombia)
10
Menorca (poem) | John Coyne (Ethiopia)
11
Peace Corps Billikens!
12
“What Do You Believe In?” | Kayla Kawalec (Thailand)
13
Poem: Lakes of Darkness
14
$75,000,000 donation from Lin Lougheed (Turkey) to Art Institute
15
Bill Owens: Photographer, Author, Brewer & Distiller

The Victimization of Public School Teachers in America

 A new book — The Victimization of Public School Teachers in America by Emmanuel Edouard (Mali 1980-82) Fulton Books Publication 356 pages June 2024 $9.99 (Kindle) & $25.73  (paperback)   The assault on public school teachers’ integrity, livelihood, and professionalism started in 1983 with the publication of A Nation at Risk. Based on the results of our education system performance, they were indirectly accused of failing our children. It peaked in 2004, when Rod Paige, then George W. Bush’s secretary of education, called the country’s leading teachers union a “terrorist organization.” Teachers felt dehumanized then. In 2009, Barack Obama blamed them for “letting our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us.” Teachers felt let down again. In 2017, President Donald Trump lamented how “beautiful” students had been “deprived of all knowledge” by our nation’s cash-guzzling public school system. Teachers felt humiliated and . . .

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Snow in Sawankhaloke by Bill Preston (Thailand)

by Bill Preston (Thailand 1977-80)  . . .  It was the hot season in Thailand. I had recently left Yala, my first site, in the deep-southern province near the end of the dangling elephant’s trunk of Thailand that latches on to Malaysia. Having completed my first year as a Peace Corps English teacher in a Thai secondary school there, I had just relocated to Sukhothai, the provincial capital of the north-central province and name of the nearby old city, with its ancient ruins of the original Thai capital. I was starting over in another part of the country, preparing for a different assignment with new groups of teachers and students. Joining a new project In 1978, several volunteers and I were offered the opportunity to join a new project, a collaboration between the Thai Ministry of Education and Peace Corps Thailand. The idea was to place pairs of volunteers, who had taught . . .

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Reflections in a College Bar (Poem)

Poetry —      Reflections in a College Bar Amidst the chit chit, and the chatter, The single cymbal, and the clatter, We made the scene. Amidst the lazy, stifling smoke, And the hungry wants of life, We saw the light: We watched a bright-eyed co-ed Hasten back from john to John. Knowing she had guessed his calculated look. We saw a bearded one playing pool. Satisfied with little billiards Never comprehending what lies, Unracked beyond this green. While in the back Two huddle deep in talk More ardent than any form of art. They, too, don’t know, or care, And that’s the pity. This perfect time of life Flies away always in the dark. — John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962-64)    

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Part 2–In That Time of Their Lives — Jeremiah Norris (Colombia)

RPCVs in the news — by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) Peter Hessler And, now let us present the man who brought China Home to America, Peter Hessler. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in China, 1996-98, teaching English at a Teacher’s College. Afterwards, Peter continued his work in China as a freelance writer for publications such as: The Wall Street Journal; The Boston Globe; The South China Morning Post; and National Geographic. He joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 2000 and served as a foreign correspondent until 2007. Based on his experience as a Volunteer in teaching English, Peter has written four books on China: 1) River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze; 2) Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China; 3) Country Driving: A Journey from Farm to Factory, which is a record of Peter’s stories when driving a renter car from rural northern . . .

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New List of PCV AUTHORS

PCV AUTHORS Here is our new list of RPCV & staff authors we know of who have published two or more books of any type. Currently—in September 2024–the count is 561. 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 writers who have served over these past 63 years that have published two books or more. Thank you.’ Peter H. Abrahams (Borneo) 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 1963-65) 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) Jack Allison (Malawi 1967-69) Allman (Nepal 1966-68) Nancy Amidei (Nigeria 1964–65) Gary Amo (Malawi 1962–64) David C. Anderson . . .

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OTHER RIVERS, a Remarkable Panorama of Change in China

  Peter Hessler’s new book blends the personal and political in a perceptive exploration of schooling and generational shifts. by contributing editor Crawford Kilian who taught English in China in 1983     A former international correspondent and current staff writer for the New Yorker, Peter Hessler has written an extraordinary new book that is both brilliant reportage and an architectural feat of narrative. Other Rivers: A Chinese Education examines the current experiences of what Hessler calls China’s “generation Xi” university students. They are the cohort that came of age during the presidency of Xi Jinping, also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China. He contrasts them with the “reform generation” of the 1990s, a group that Hessler came to know well as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer during his first years in China. His book brings together a vivid personal account of education in China with perceptive political . . .

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Peace Corps Volunteers in Naitasiri, Fiji

PCVs in the news —  20 Peace Corps volunteer trainees from the US to conduct community engagement in Naitasiri, Fiji By Navitalai Naivalurua Wednesday 18/09/2024     The volunteers were welcomed this morning with a traditional kava ceremony at the Peace Corps Headquarters in Suva. Patrick Hodson, who is one of the 20 trainees, says he chose Fiji to serve because of the wonderful people, the wonderful opportunities and the wonderful culture it has. Hodson says he is looking forward to learning the Fijian culture and kava when he is with the community. USA Ambassador to Fiji Marie Damour congratulated the 20 trainees on choosing Fiji as their place to carry out their community work.     Damour says their work in the Peace Corps is an important part of community building and urges the trainees to take in all the experiences they will go through. The US Ambassador also . . .

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Paseo Maritimi (Majorca Poem)

                The woman in the hotel pool swam in steady lengths, Mindless of the Mediterranean, The yellow sun on harbor walls, The dance of docked white yachts. Mindless as well of my gin and tonic, Or Robert Graves, buried in the thick crust of Deya. Her blond hair combed the turquoise water. Beyond the high tips of palm trees, Palma de Malorca rushed by, While she kept pace in her wet world. Swimmers know nothing but their breath, The pull of muscles, coolness of flesh. She did not know us, watching her slight body, Tan limbs framed in red. I moved my drink with the care given antiques, Wanting to hold the yellowness of light Caught in the glass, Wanting to hold this last image Of the island, the woman, and the sea. Then she rose from the water with a rush, Spraying . . .

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In That Time of Their Lives — Jeremiah Norris (Colombia)

RPCVs in the news — by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65)  . . .  The Peace Corps came into existence through an Executive Order from the President of the U. S. in March 1961. It had three complimentary goals, the 3rd of which stated: “To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans”. This Goal, often summarized as “bringing it back home”, has always been something of an afterthought—because it lacks documentation, though it is worth documenting …it represents a Return on Investment (ROI) that is unmatched by any other Congressional appropriation. In the decades that followed, it passed through two events of global consequence, either one which could have resulted in its organizational demise: the Viet Nam War and the Covid-19 epidemic. In the past several years, one would have to have been an expert in forensic sciences to find any article in the press or social . . .

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Menorca (poem) | John Coyne (Ethiopia)

John writes — MENORCA From the red tile terrace of the Port Mahón Hotel I watch the sun touch Spain. The harbor water is prickly white a painting by Matisse. Boats glide against the tide and disappear in dawn. Menorca, mucky with heat, wakes to the roar of Vespinos, and English tourists breakfasting. I walk to town in the shade of whitewashed walls. At the Plaça Reial I order café con leche, a sugary Ensaimada, and read yesterday’s news. The English follow, crowding the cobblestones, crowding me to the sea. In Playa de Son Bou, under a thatched roof I drink another cerveza and closely watch topless Germans. I swim to sea, float beneath an empty sky. It is August in the Balearics. But I am safe from Vespinos, tourists, and yesterday’s news. Time has stopped at Barcelona.  

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Peace Corps Billikens!

  RPCVs From St. Louis University “Billikens” by John Coyne   Two of the very first Peace Corps Volunteers in 1961 went to my college, St. Louis University: Robrrt Burns graduated in ’59 and went to Pakistan in ’61. Peter McDonough, who graduate in ’61, also went to Pakistan in the fall of ’61. They were among very first 50 PCVs to serve. In the fall of 1961, the Peace Corps had 12,644 applications, and 913 went to training. Nearly one in five (18%) did not finish training. An additional one in ten (10%) would not complete two years of service. This is the lowest worldwide attrition rate ever recorded. (26%). Three-quarters of those who reported for training completed two years of service. The average Volunteer age was 24.5 years. Bob Burns (East Pakistan 1961—63) Bob Burns of St. Louis U. was first assigned to Tanzania I in July 1961. . . .

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“What Do You Believe In?” | Kayla Kawalec (Thailand)

    by Kayla Kawalec (Thailand 2024-26) Sticky Rice Magazine Aug 2, 2024 “What do you believe in?” asked in America, can be close to a threat. You can proudly display your beliefs like a bumper sticker or wield them like a flamethrower, burning lines in the grass – sometimes, at the same time. You don’t have to scroll too far down your preferred social media feed (where it seems like most people get their news as of late) to find a story about beliefs bringing some of us tightly together and sharply dividing others – and not just in America, but globally. Joining the Peace Corps meant relocating from America, a racially, religiously, culturally, and ideologically diverse country of 330 million, to Thailand, a comparatively homogeneous one of 71 million. This isn’t to say that there isn’t diversity within Thailand – because there is, but it’s much more subtle than in America. . . .

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Poem: Lakes of Darkness

Lakes of Darkness by John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962-64) He came here to this green shore From loneliness of bachelor nights, Empty Sundays, A life of shattered hopes Mirrored into tragedies. From semesters of faculty treachery, Misdemeanors in the hall, Months of silly students, Who tore wide his heart With youthful gall. A little man, He wears his age with grace; He brought to me A spirit bent from A course of use. We slid the books aside; Fished for trout off the point. I caught a fighting rainbow Who arched my pole when reeling in The perimeter of its time. In this cruel scene He saw his own tangled metaphor. Caught, he knew, in a shrinking scope Where strong men fight artificial Wars with words, To die unnoticed as commas on a page. A trout (free on the sunset of the water) Flipped in space for flies, Then slid again . . .

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$75,000,000 donation from Lin Lougheed (Turkey) to Art Institute

RPCVs in the news —   CHICAGO (CBS) — The Art Institute of Chicago is getting a new addition thanks to a $75 million donation. The gift is courtesy of Aaron I. Fleischman and his husband, Dr. Lin Lougheed (Turkey 1968-70) —who have been art collectors for many years. The Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed Building will showcase modern art from the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as contemporary art.   The design and location of the new building have yet to be finalized, but it will be on the campus of the Art Institute that spans from Michigan Avenue east to Columbus Drive at Adams Street downtown. It will be designed to have views of Millennium Park, the downtown Chicago streetscapes, and Lake Michigan. The gift from Fleischman and Lougheed is the largest single naming gift in Art Institute history. “We are beyond grateful to collaborate with Aaron and Lin . . .

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Bill Owens: Photographer, Author, Brewer & Distiller

    This iconic photograph from the Altamont music festival jumped out at me whilst visiting Kunsthalle Praha earlier this year. I found it in the gift shop, in the form of a postcard. I don’t normally buy postcards in the city I live in, but this picture spoke to me. It stayed on my desk in my office for several months, until it finally dawned on me to reach out to the photographer,  and ask for his permission to publish it in this blog.   Little did I know at the time that Bill Owens (Jamaica 1964-66) is not only a renowned photographer, he is also a giant in the brewing and distilling world.   Bill was born in San Jose, CA September 25, 1938. He is known as the foremost chronicler of Suburbia, made famous with the publication of his book by that name in 1972. In 1983 . . .

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