Author - John Coyne

Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter by Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan 1996–97) Random House/Pantheon $22.95 201 pages June 2010 Reviewed by Bruce Schlein (Papua New Guinea 1990–92; Bosnia 1996; PC/Staff/DC 2003–05) EXTRA LIVES OR LIVES WASTED? My inclination upon thinking about the topic of Extra Lives (video games) and delving into the first chapter was to think the latter (hours wasted, many hours). Admittedly this point of view is part predisposition I had recently read an article citing research that shows youth are more disconnected from nature than ever before. The culprits? Electronic media and the perception that society is less safe. It isn’t hard to see how video games, especially ones with names like Crime Life: Gang Wars and Killer 7, could contribute to this phenomenon. But Tom Bissell talks through these issues, and actually relegates them un- or less important as the reader is drawn in by eloquent descriptions of . . .

Exhaust the Limits: The Life and Times of a Global Peacebuilder by Charles “Chic” F. Dambach (Colombia 1967–69) Apprentice House $18.95 314 pages November 2010 Reviewed by Bob Arias (Colombia 1964–66; Peace Corps Crisis Corps: Panama, Paratuay 2009–2010; Peace Corps Staff: Training Center/Puerto Rico 1966–68; Colombia APCD 1968–73; PC/DC 1976–77; CD/Argentina, Uruguay 1993–95)) IN READING ABOUT CHIC DAMBACH´s compelling and moving journey, I am struck by the need to label his efforts as seeking Peace as his Target!  I was moved. It began for Chic Dambach in college, and it has never ceased. Attending the University of Oklahoma on a football scholarship — an outstanding college prospect — he came upon racism on the playing field of his school. He met it head on. It wasn’t just another game for Chic. Fighting racist attitudes was his first challenge, and he reached out to make a difference. This is his  trademark, whether on a football field in Oklahoma, . . .

Never Push an Elephant by William V. Timmons (Niger 1965–67) CreateSpace (BookSurge) $15.95 310 pages 2009 Reviewed by Richard Lipez (Ethiopia 1962–64; PC/DC Staff 1964–67) I WISH William V. Timmons were a more adroit writer, for he plainly knows his way around Southeast Asia. His greatest gifts apparently are non-literary, however. For their achievements as child welfare workers, Timmons and his wife Rachel were decorated by the King of Thailand. In Bangkok, some of the worst suck-ups in the indolent Thai upper classes receive these honors, but I am guessing that farangs recognized by the old monarch have actually done something useful. The deficiencies of this “thriller” about some CIA and U.S. missionary old boys rescuing a young American woman from a Burmese opium magnate are evident right away, and I almost threw in the towel after about 50 pages. The talky opening chapters are set in hectic, sedate, grim, . . .

Under the Same Moon by Kelli M. Donley (Cameroon 2000) Donley Books $16.00 356 pages May 2010 Reviewed by Terry Sack (Bolivia 1963–65; PC/DC 1968–69) KELLI DONLEY’S NOVEL Under the Same Moon is the story of a young girl from Mozambique who, against her will, is brought to America. The book has a unique and attractive cover. Unfortunately, things go down-hill from there. The first and most obvious flaw is evident on page one: the layout. There is no spacing between paragraphs. This, combined with frequently awkward transitions from one paragraph to the next, makes reading of the text difficult. Another distracting layout issue is having the identifying content — name, book title and page number on the bottom of the page. While layout issues are significant, by far the major problem with the book is that it begs for serious professional editing. For example, on page one, paragraph 3: . . .

Kitty Thuermer (Mali 1977-79) is one of the RPCV Community’s finest writers. However, she doesn’t write enough. What she does do is ‘stalk’ famous people, usually at Borders Books down the street from the Peace Corps Office in Washington, D.C. This is the way she works… In the book store she’ll sidle up to someone famous, lets say, Katsuya Okada or Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Kitty religiously studies the Style Section of the Washington Post so she knows everyone by sight.) She’ll note what book they are examining and she’ll say something pithy about the book (Kitty also is very well read; well, actually, she only reads the book reviews in the Post, but she reads all of them.) Her comments will attract the attention of the Famous Person and soon they will be engaged in conversation with this intelligent D.C. woman, and they’ll be thinking “why don’t we have such attractive and intelligent women back . . .

Go Home Bones (Poems) by Tony Zurlo (Nigeria 1964–66) Pudding House Chapbook Series $10.00 (to order jen@puddinghouse.com) 30 pages 2010 Quantum Chaos (Poems) by Tony Zurlo (Nigeria 1964–66) Big Table Publishing Company Chapbook Series $12.00 39 pages 2010 Reviewed by Jan Worth-Nelson (Tonga 1976-78) IT’S POIGNANT, AND POTENT, to be reading Tony Zurlo’s anti-war poems in his 2010 chapbook Go Home Bones on this day, the ninth anniversary of 9/11. I’m stilled and tearful, as the day’s observances roll out like dirges on NPR, taking in Zurlo’s grief-infused “The Mystery of You,” for example, that ends, “Each morning a diminished/congregation rises/for the ritual./Each prayer/ another syllable missing.” Zurlo won the 2010 Peace Corps Writers Award for Outstanding Poetry Book published by a Peace Corps writer (for his 2009 collection The Mind Dancing). He is a prolific writer (this site, a bit behind, lists 14 books in his bibliography) and his . . .

You’ve got to love this! The UW-Madison Writing Center (which, by the way, is very good!) has introduced a new and short (non-credit of course) workshop for those of you with ‘special needs,’i.e., writing your Fulbright application essay, your APA documentation, and also “writing Peace Corps application essays.” I’m all for such workshops, and I won’t mind taking it myself, but when it comes to getting into the Peace Corps, it ain’t the essay that counts: it is the experience and skills of the Applicant. (Of course, getting into the Peace Corps should be based on one’s writing skills, but I’m not running the agency.) However, whether you join the Peace Corps or not, if you are in Madison, Wisconsin, do yourself a favor and take the workshop. You’ll be a better writer and a better person for it. The Writing Center is run by Brad Hughes. And he’s a good . . .

Matt Davis who wrote the wonderful Peace Corps memoir, When Things Get Dark: A Mongolian Winter’s Tale, and where he was a PCV from 2000-02, will be leaving shortly for Damascus. Matt graduated in May with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and has just gotten a Fulbright to spend 9 months in Syria. He plans on working on a novel and reporting on, and researching, a nonfiction project about the cultural scene in Syria’s capital. Matt, as you may recall, was 23 when he left Chicago for the Peace Corps and a Mongolian town called Tsetserleg. Living in a ger, he had a tough go as a teacher, lived through a brutal winter, a rough romance, and then, as he writes, he fell into the trap many Mongolian men succumbing to: drinking constantly. The longer he was in Mongolia, the deeper he fell into depression . . .