Author - John Coyne

DENNIS DUTTON, A PCV IN INDIA and a distinguished philosopher, writer and digital-media guru  — he founded Arts & Letters Daily, one of the first Web sites to exploit the Internet — died on Tuesday in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was 66. The cause was prostate cancer. At his death, Dutton was a professor of philosophy at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, where he had taught since 1984. Arts & Letters was an aggregator that linked to a spate of online articles about literature, art, science and politics, and Dutton was one of the first people to recognize the power of the Web to facilitate intellectual discourse. In 2005 TIME Magazine describe him as being among “the most influential media personalities in the world.” Arts & Letters Daily, which was acquired by The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2002, currently receives about three million page views a month. Professor Dutton also attracted wide . . .

The Isthmus: Stories from Mexico’s Past, 1495–1995 by Bruce Stores (Guatemala 1963–65) iUniverse 2009 392 pages $21.95 Reviewed by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975–77) IN BRUCE STORES’ SECOND BOOK, he tackled fiction — a tricky craft for anyone since its aim is to entertain. In fact, many who attempt fiction forget this simple rule, Mr. Stores among them. A serious book about a serious topic, the author attempted to present a five-hundred-year panoramic historical view of an isolated portion of Oaxacan Mexico, an area known for poverty, cruelty and rebellion. This is historical fiction about “natives who have been in continuous struggle for local control.” The book includes eleven vignettes about moments in history, culminating in political activities during the last twenty-five years of the twentieth century: one piece about pre-Colombian history, two about colonial history, two about nineteenth century independence and six about the twentieth century. It is reported . . .

Sandra Meek (Botswana 1989–91), who is the Poetry Editor of the Phi Kappa Phi Forum, director of the Georgia Poetry Circuit, co-founding Editor of Ninebark Press, and Professor of  English, Rhetoric and Writing in the Department of English at Berry College in Mount Berry, Georgia, writes me that she just received a $25,000 grant for poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the only recipient from Georgia to be selected for the Creative Writing Fellowship, which alternates annually between poetry and prose. NEA grant selection is made through an anonymous review process, and the fellowships encourage the production of new works of literature by allowing writers the time and means to write. Last year the NEA received 1,064 applications and gave out 42 fellowships nationwide. Sandra was the only poet selected from Georgia and one of a handful in the Southeast. Meek was granted a Fall 2011 sabbatical from Berry to finish her . . .

A group of RPCV poets, gathered by Virginia Gilbert (Korea 1971-73), will have a panel discussion entitled,” Broadening the Poet’s Vision Through the Peace Corps Experience” at the 2011 Annual Conference of the Assocation of Writers & Writing Programs on February 2-5, 2011.  The panel is scheduled (subject to changes, of course) on Thursday from 1:30-2:45 in the Harding Room of the Marriott Wardman Park, (Mezzanine Level). Here are the details, if  you are attending the conference: R167. Broadening the Poet’s Vision Through the Peace Corps Experience. (Virginia Gilbert (Korea 1971-73); Sandra Meek (Botswana 1989-91); John Isles (Estonia 1992-94); Ann Neelon (Senagal 1978-79); Derick Burleson (Rwanda 1991-93). “How does a stint in the Peace Corps influence a writing life? This panel investigates the question of how living in a developing country as a volunteer contributes to the growth of a poetic voice. Five award-winning poets who served in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe discuss . . .

Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963-65) dropped me a note to say that in the January 2011 issue of the Smithsonian Magazine, “there’s an informative article by Paul Theroux entitled:  ‘The Trouble with Autobiography.’  Don found it “quite informative and insightful.” And recommended it to all Peace Corps writers! The piece is long and full of details on books by famous writers. And then Theroux sums up, with a typical Therouxism: “The more I reflect on my life, the greater the appeal of the autobiographical novel. The immediate family is typically the first subject an American writer contemplates. I never felt that my life was substantial enough to qualify for the anecdotal narrative that enriches autobiography. I had never thought of writing about the sort of big talkative family I grew up in, and very early on I developed the fiction writer’s useful habit of taking liberties. I think I would find it . . .

[Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77) is an urban planner and author of eight books and seven pamphlets, all self published. His latest book, Peace Corps Chronology; 1961-2010, (the first book of its kind) just came out and is available on Amazon.com.  Larry writes here on the importance of writing about the  Peace Corps experience, for yourself, your family, the world!] For fifty years former volunteers and staff have wearily trudged home convinced of a duty to share their experience with family, friends and community. Some have created and performed songs, dances and plays while others have written poems, short stories, novels, essays, history and even memoirs. Together, they form a huge mosaic about the Peace Corps Experience. There are other sources of information: government reports and records. Although some dusty report might list the incidence of rabies in a far-off place, it will not describe the fear of an unarmed village sequestered . . .

One of the unintended consequences of Peace Corps Volunteers is a library shelf of memoirs, novels, and poetry. Unlike travel writers who seek new lands to explore, and unlike anthropologists who find foreign societies puzzles to comprehend, Peace Corps Volunteers arrive, as we know, in-country with some hope that they can do some good. And many, when they come home, want to share their incomparable experiences and insights. Peace Corps writers who have written books based on their experience include, are certainly not limited to– Paul Theroux (Malawi) – My Secret History; George Packer (Togo) – A Village of Waiting; Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon) – Lament for a Silver-Eyed Woman; Norm Rush (Botswana)-Whites; Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador)-Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle; P.F. Kluge (Micronesia) – The Edge of Paradise: America in Micronesia; Peter Hessler (China) – River Town; Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan) – Chasing the Sea; Maria Thomas (Ethiopia) – Come to Africa and Save Your Marriage; Charles . . .

Colonel Susan Luz, the highest-ranking female member of her Massachusetts Army Reserve unit, was 56 when she received the letter deploying her unit to Iraq. She packed her bags, kissed her husband goodbye, and set off on a journey that would test her leadership as an officer, her compassion as a nurse, and her resolve as a witness to the brutalities of modern warfare. Her 15 months on the ground during the surge in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 form the keystone of a book of life of service. A life of service began in Brazil as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1972-75 working in Quixada in the interior of the country. While a PCV she was attacked and raped by a  gang of teenagers, all three of whom were caught and jailed and sentenced to life in prison. It took her best friend, who joined the Peace Corps with her, a week to reach Quixada to be . . .