John Coyne – Peace Corps Worldwide

Ann Cavera (Liberia) — “Speeding Past 80” Podcast

Nov 30 2022

Ann Cavera (Liberia 1966-68) shares stories of faith, hope, love and laughter in the weekly podcast ‘Speeding Past 80’ By Julie Carle BG Independent News The podcast “Speeding Past 80” sounds like something racecar enthusiasts or law enforcement officials might listen to. There are no tires screeching or sirens blaring in this Bowling Green-based podcast; however, racing fans and people who deal with speeding tickets still might listen, learn and enjoy. The podcast features the calm, reassuring, grandmotherly voice of Ann Cavera who shares weekly stories of “faith, hope, love and laughter.” And goodness, does she! Of the 40-plus episodes she has recorded at her kitchen table this year, she has touched on topics that range from “spare change” vs. “loose change” to the power of a banana peel. Regardless of the topic, she infuses the usually four-to eight-minute conversations with warmth and a lesson in humanity. The title . . .

Two Visits to the Daejeon Theater (Korea)

Nov 30 2022

Two Visits to the Daejeon Theater Richard Wiley (Korea 1967-69) In 1968, when I was living in Daejeon, Korea, the movie My Fair Lady had a one-week run in at the Daejeon Theater, and I, being a sometimes-homesick Peace Corps volunteer, went to see it. I had seen My Fair Lady in 1964, when it came out. Like half of the other nineteen-year-old boys in America, I loved Audrey Hepburn, whose matchless face launched a lot more than 1000 ships, I’m sure. Helen of Troy had nothing on Audrey. I also remember wondering, in 1964, how Rex Harrison, debonaire though he was, got away with not singing, but talking his way through all those songs. I mean, he made, “I’ve grown accustomed to the tune, That she whistles night and noon, Her smiles, her frowns, Her ups, her downs…” sound like the musings of a lone old man going up and down by in an elevator. He . . .

New Executive Officer of the Peace Corps: Thomas Peng (Philippines)

Nov 29 2022

Thomas Peng Chief Executive Officer Peace Corps Thomas Peng is the new Chief Executive Officer of the Peace Corps. He brings more than 20 years of public and private sector experience and has led, managed, and supported teams in the technology and non-profit sectors. Most recently, Thomas served as Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Peace Corps where he oversaw internal operations, human resources, and strategic information, research, and planning. Previously, he served the Peace Corps as Chief Information Officer, where he strengthened operations and promoted a culture of transparency and inclusion. Thomas’ Peace Corps roots extend back to his service as a Volunteer in the Philippines from 2006-2008, where he trained teachers to use technology in the classroom. Throughout his career, Thomas has championed diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives by sponsoring employee resource groups and facilitating safe spaces for all employees to have brave conversations. Thomas holds a bachelor’s . . .

Peace Corps Gambia Swears In 22 New Volunteers

Nov 28 2022

By Oumie Mendy Peace Corps – The Gambia has Wednesday sworn in 22 agriculture and health volunteers from America in a ceremony held in the Lower River Region settlement of Massembeh training center. The oath taking followed an 8 weeks pre-service training in languages, cross-culture, medical, safety and security professionals. Kelleah B. Young, Peace Corps Country Director said Peace Corps’ founding mission of promoting world peace and friendship among all counties remains relevant, even after 55 years of service in the Gambia under the global COVID-19 pandemic. “Peace Corps have returned to the Gambia in a big way this year, adding to global total today, over 950 volunteers are back in 41 countries and we are still aiming to return to our pre evacuation number of 7000 volunteers worldwide, even adding a few new counties to the mix. Our strength is to build on individual relationships, one connection and one . . .

RPCV Writers Who Have Published 2 Books or More

Nov 27 2022

Here is our new list of RPCV & staff authors we know of who have published two or more books of any type. Currently, the count is 465. 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 (Peru . . .

HAUSALAND DIVIDED by William F.S. Miles (Niger)

Nov 25 2022

How have different forms of colonialism shaped societies and their politics? William F. S. Miles (Niger 1977-79) focuses on the Hausa-speaking people of West Africa whose land is still split by an arbitrary boundary established by Great Britain and France at the turn of the century. In 1983 Miles returned as a Fulbright scholar to the region where he had served as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Already fluent in the Hausa language, he established residence in carefully selected twin villages on either side of the border separating the Republic of Niger from the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Over the next year, and then during subsequent visits, he traveled by horseback between the two places, conducting archival research, collecting oral testimony, and living the ethnographic life. Miles argues that the colonial imprint of the British and the French can still be discerned more than a generation after the conferring of . . .

RPCV Author Lucinda Jackson (Palau)

Nov 25 2022

Author Interview—Lucinda Jackson by Heili Eliason Lucinda Jackson (Palau 2016) is the author of two memoirs: Just a Girl: Growing Up Female and Ambitious, about her struggles to succeed in the male-dominated work world, and Project Escape: Lessons for an Unscripted Life, an exploration of freedom after leaving a structured career. Jackson is a PhD scientist and global corporate executive who features on podcasts and radio and has published articles, book chapters, magazine columns, and patents. She is the founder of LJ Ventures, where she speaks and consults on energy, the environment, and empowering women in the workplace and in our Next Act. Connect with Jackson or find her books at: www.lucindajackson.com. Interview Who or what inspires you to write? I get inspired by having something to say. I feel this burning concept or thought inside me and I just have to get it out! It is this need to express myself, to make sense . . .

32 Magazines That Accept Longer Fiction

Nov 23 2022

32 Magazines That Accept Longer Fiction by S. Kalekar There are many literary magazines that accept stories of up to 5,000 words, or shorter; this list, however, has magazines/outlets that take longer fiction, of up to 6,000 words or more. Many also accept other genres, like nonfiction and poetry. Some of these pay writers. Not all of them are open for submissions now, but many are. They are listed in no particular order. Arcturus Magazine Their website says, “We have no restrictions on the content we publish, except that we’re passionate about publishing new perspectives — new ideas, new voices, new worlds, new challenges, new ways of seeing — a theme that can take an infinite number of shapes, including speculative fiction, flash fiction, experimental poetry, political essays, narrative reportage, and virtually everything else.” Send prose of up to 7,000 words. This is a sister publication of the Chicago Review of Books. Details here. Night Shift Radio: The . . .

“Chic” Dambach (Colombia) School of Global Studies Fellowship

Nov 22 2022

Monday, November 21, 2022 The School of Global Studies at Oklahoma State University has introduced a prestigious fellowship program for college kids with a profession curiosity in international peace. The Fellowship, named after OSU alumni Charles “Chic” Dambach (Colombia 1963-65), will present funding for college kids in the graduate program of Global Studies and allow a brand new technology of peacemakers to graduate from OSU. Dambach started his tutorial profession at Oklahoma State University in 1962, when he got here to OSU on a soccer scholarship. After a shoulder damage rendered him unable to proceed enjoying soccer, Dambach had the alternative to discover different pursuits past the classroom, and interact in social, cultural and political points. He labored with different college students at OSU to deliver points of political and cultural significance to campus, typically placing them at odds with OSU directors. Inspired by the activism he skilled throughout . . .

“Ask Not . . . ” by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia)

Nov 22 2022

by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) • In 1963, I became a Peace Corps Volunteer, assigned to La Plata, a small village of some 3,000 residents nestled at the 4,000 feet level of Colombia’s Andean mountains. It had no telephone systems, though there were episodic telegraphic services. On what soon would became a fateful morning of November 22, 1963, I had taken a bus into the Departmental capital, Neiva, to obtain some governmental authorizations of Community Development Funds for one of our projects. Like most every bus in our area, firmly set above the driver’s head were three pictures with Christmas tree lights around them: Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and President John F. Kennedy. Later in the afternoon, about 3:30 PM or so, before boarding the bus for the trip back, I stopped at a newsstand to see if it had a recent copy of Time Magazine. There was one copy . . .

Here’s a story I never told anyone — Richard Wiley (Korea)

Nov 21 2022

Raw Potato Bridge by Richard Wiley (Korea 1967-69) Here’s a story I never told anyone. One evening in August of 1967 I was walking to our Peace Corps training’s makeshift bar with my roommate, Tom, when he asked me in the kind of shaky voice that signaled deep naiveté back then, “Look, don’t laugh, but do you have to be circumcised to have sex with Jewish girls?” We were strolling along with our hands in our pockets, both our brows furrowed. “I don’t think so,” I said, but did Tom have a particular girl in mind? Someone in our group? I tried to think, but I hardly knew who was Jewish and who wasn’t, and Tom had never mentioned anyone. Tom was from Birmingham, Alabama. He was big (6’2”, 270 pounds), and he’d lost his father to a fire his father started himself, in an alcoholic stupor, in, of . . .

Appointment of Chris Dodd as Special Presidential Advisor for the Americas

Nov 21 2022

Senator Chris Dodd will serve as Special Presidential Advisor for the Americas, following up on his role as Special Advisor for the Ninth Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June. Senator Dodd will help advance the implementation of key initiatives President Biden announced at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, spanning economic cooperation, migration, health, human rights, food security, as well as other priorities. He will also support the work currently being done by Vice President Harris, the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, USAID, and others. Additionally, he will support preparations for the upcoming Cities Summit of the Americas in Denver in April 2023. In his decades as a dedicated public servant, starting as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic and through his time on the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Senator Dodd has built trust with many . . .

THE PANDEMIC PROPHET about early Peace Corps CD Reginald E. Petty

Nov 20 2022

Left Bank Books at 399 N. Euclid Street, St. Louis, presents St. Louis author Jaye P. Willis, with Reginald E. Petty in our store on November 21st at 6 p.m. Join us in the store or on YouTube Live Page. This is a poetic and prose praise song to Mr. Reginald E. Petty. He is from a small town in Southern Illinois called East St. Louis. It is now considered an economically deprived city, but it never stopped his drive and passion to make it better, as well as himself. The book speaks to his upbringing and what makes him a legend to not only the citizens of his hometown, but throughout the world — particularly in Africa. Mr. Petty was one of the first African American Peace Corps Country Directors, appointed by the U.S. President John F. Kennedy. He served in several African nations and went on to . . .

Where Books Go to Die

Nov 19 2022

by John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962-64) There was an almost perfect copy of Papa: Hemingway in Key West 1928-1940 by James McLendon who I knew when I lived briefly in Key West. Tucked inside this Popular Library paperback [which, by the way, sold for .95 cents when it was published in 1972] was an article about Hemingway from an April 12, 1999 Newsweek. It was about the publication of True at First Light, the last writings of Papa edited by his son Patrick. I also picked up a brand new copy of The Sportswriter, a novel by the Pen/Faulkner winning writer Richard Ford, as well as a collection of short stories, The Next New World written by one of my favorite Peace Corps writers, Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975-76). None of these books were library marked. They had, however, been given to the library. And they were now stacked on . . .

One of the Best Thriller and Mystery Novels of 2022 – Richard Lipez (Ethiopia)

Nov 18 2022

The Washington Post has selected Knock Off the Hat by Richard Stevenson (Dick Lipez (Ethiopia 1962-64) as one of the 12 Best Thriller and Mystery Novels of 2022. Dick Lipez, writing as Richard Stevenson, died this year, shortly before the publication of this standout. (Stevenson, writing under his real name, Richard Lipez, was also a frequent Washington Post reviewer.) The story — In post-World War II Philadelphia, detective Clifford Waterman is trying to help a man charged with “disorderly conduct” following a raid at a gay bar. The seemingly small case sends Waterman into a world of corruption involving a dangerous judge who preys on the city’s gay population. Knock off the Hat Richard Stevenson (Richard Lipez – Ethiopia 1962-64) Amble Press, 2022 222 pages 17.99 (paperback), $8.69 (Kindle)

Author - John Coyne