Author - John Coyne

A note from the Textor family: ROBERT BAYARD TEXTOR, MARCH 13, 1923–JANUARY 3, 2013 Dear Thirsters in Residence and in Absentia, Many of you will already have heard the sad news that our father passed away in the early morning hours of January 3, 2013. Robert Bayard Textor was born, not so peacefully, in his parents’ bed in the middle of a Minnesota snowstorm; he died, peacefully, in his own bed, in the city he loved, full of excitement about the coming day’s “barn-burner” of a Thirster talk. In the interim, he lived in half a dozen countries, learned half a dozen languages, and had enough adventures to make Phileas Fogg (and possibly even Don Draper) green with envy. Reflecting on our father’s life, it occurs to us that the sheer unexpectedness of his passing is, in a way, the greatest possible testament to him. If the death of an . . .

  Joanne Roll (Colombia 1963-65) who blogs on the site at: Peace Corps: Public Records was kind enough to send me this email after we learned of the death of Dr. Textor. I thought you might like to see it. As you may know Robert, in the fall of 1961, then a graduate student consultant at the Peace Corps, wrote the original memo “In, Up & Out,” for his boss, Franklin Williams, who gave the memo to Shriver and it, almost overnight, became Peace Corps policy. In that memo is this passage on the selection criteria for Peace Corps Representatives, i.e. Country Directors. It is, I think, generally agreed that the position of the CD is the most important one in the Peace Corps. Here’s what Bob thought. The candidate . . . should be the opposite of ethnocentric. He should start out with a genuine humility toward other peoples’ way of life. . . .

Dr. Robert B. Textor, the author of the original, 1961  “In, Up and Out” memo that became the foundation for the so-called “Five Year Rule,” died Thursday, January 3, 2013. Dr. Textor made significant contributions to the development of the Peace Corps in the early days. In 1966, he edited Cultural Frontiers of the Peace Corps, published by M.I.T. Press. Early in his academic career, he was an Associate Professor of Education and Anthropology at Stanford, served as a consultant to the agency, and lectured on cultural adjustment to Volunteers in twenty-two training programs. For the last 15 years–among many other activities– he organized gatherings of the Thirster an informal worldwide community that met in Portland, Oregon, to discuss issues of peace, freedom, creativity, development, ethics, fairness, sustainability and respect for cultural differences. It was a salon of sorts that came together for camaraderie, pitcher beer and to discuss issues of common interest. We will . . .

The word came down by email about ten days ago that RPCVs weren’t invited to join the Presidential Inaugural Parade this January. It is the first time in years that the PCVs won’t be represented for the work they do for America. The impressive display of flags from countries where we have worked and served, appears not to hold any value with the current administration, while marching high school bands are warmly welcomed. So much for “Ask what you can do your country!”   The official reason given to RPCV/W was that the Administration wanted a smaller Inaugural. The “Peace Corps Community” (i.e., RPCV/W) submitted a formal application to the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC), not the NPCA. The NPCA at the moment while having a salaried staff and offices, but appears not to have the ability to do the necessary work.)    However, RPCVs working in Washington volunteered (as always) and drafted the lengthy application. Led by RPCV/W President Chris Austin (Paraguay . . .

[In a late December, 2012 letter to friends, Chic tells the Peace Corps Community about his decision to retire. Chic is the author of  Exhaust the Limits: The Life and Times of a Global Peacebuilder, self-published in 2010. We wish Chic well in his retirement years. His letter to friends.] Dear Friends, I am about to wrap up my final tasks here in the office and move on to the next stage in my life – retirement!  It will be an active retirement with some teaching, consulting, lecturing, and service on a few nonprofit boards, but it will also include lots of reading, good music and some canoeing and fishing. Congressman Garamendi has agreed to name Chris Austin as the Acting Chief of Staff. He can be reached at chris.austin@mail.house.gov.  Chris will continue to be the Legislative Director in addition to his new responsibilities. I can’t tell you what an . . .

  EYE ON THE SIXTIES: The Iconic Photography of Rowland Scherman Jan 13 7 PM All tickets: $10 Award-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker Chris Szwedo’s newest work is an intimate portrait of LIFE magazine photographer Rowland Scherman and the photojournalist process. It’s also a piece of American history, documenting how one man’s photographic genius worked within one of the country’s most transformational eras — the 1960s. In the documentary, Scherman’s candid recollections of the time combine with his breathtaking photographs, offering rare glimpses of major celebrities, politicians, and the monumental events of the day, including the dawning of the Peace Corps, the March on Washington, Dylan’s entree at the Newport Folk Festival and Woodstock. Appearing in the film are singer Judy Collins, noted former LIFE Washington Bureau Chief and PEOPLE magazine founder Richard B. Stolley, close personal friends of Scherman; and cameo appearances by commentator Bill Moyers and American Idol . . .

By Robert Nolan (Zimbabwe ) How the Peace Corps Benefits Diplomatic Security Robert Nolan is an editor at the Foreign Policy Association and producer of the Great Decisions in Foreign Policy television series on PBS. You can follow him on Twitter @robert_nolan. As a young Peace Corps volunteer in Zimbabwe during the late 1990s, my colleagues and I used to joke that we had a much deeper understanding of politics in the southern African country than the American ambassador posted in Harare. Living in rural communities among average Zimbabweans, we were often privy to late night political discussions around a shared “scud” of Chibuku, (a local beer named after the missiles used in the 1991 Gulf War), during lunch breaks at the secondary schools where many of us taught or while traveling between the countryside and the capital on unreliable buses. Trusting Zimbabweans might chat with us about an uptick . . .

Doug Kiker was from Griffin, Georgia and had early success as a short story writer while still a student at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, majoring in English. There’s a story about how he wanted to get published and he picked up Martha Foley’s short stories collection, went to the rear of the book and found the list of short-story publishers, closed his eyes and punched in the dark. He hit the Yale Review, to which he promptly submitted a short story. And they accepted his story. While still in college he worked as a reporter, covering the Senate race between Strom Thurmond and Olin Johnston. After college he joined the navy and was commissioned an Ensign, serving in Korean War. Discharged, he returned to Atlanta and worked at the Atlanta Journal and covered the first sit-ins at lunch counters in North Carolina. Out of that experience came his . . .

Mark D. Gearan, President of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in upstate New York and the former Director of the Peace Corps (1995-99), was one of more than 160 presidents to sign an open letter to U.S. policy makers in the wake of last week’s shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown calling for stricter gun laws. The college presidents signed an open letter to U.S. policy makers that was drafted by the leaders of two Georgia schools, Lawrence M. Schall, president of Oglethorpe University, and Elizabeth Kiss, president of Agnes Scott College. The letter calls for: Ensuring the safety of college communities by opposing legislation allowing guns on campuses and in classrooms Ending the gun show loophole, which allows for the purchase of guns from unlicensed sellers without a criminal background check Reinstating the ban on military-style semi-automatic assault weapons along with high-capacity ammunition magazines Requiring consumer safety . . .

One of the first hands to be raised asking to be appointed “The Next Peace Corps Director” is that of Carolyn Long (Gabon 1963-65) who, years ago when I first knew her, worked for TransCentury, a non-profit company started in the mid-sixties by Warren Wiggins, one of the original Mad Men of the agency, and Dick Irish (Philippines 1962–64). Carolyn has had a long career in international work. For many years she was the manager of  InterAction, and today she is listed as Director, Global Partnership on their site, and travels around the world evaluating and advising on NGOs. InterAction is the largest alliance of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), with more than 190 members working in every developing country.  Members are faith-based and secular, large and small, with a focus on the world’s most poor and vulnerable populations. Carolyn has not been active with the RPCVs in D.C. or involved with the NPCA or the Peace Corps. She . . .