John Coyne – Page 307 – Peace Corps Worldwide

January 2011 Peace Corps Books

Feb 02 2011

Exploring Hong Kong: A Visitor’s Guide to Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories by Steven K. Bailey (Poland 1993–95) ThingsAsian Press $14.95 289 pages 2009 • The Insider’s Guide to the Peace Corps: What to Know Before You Go (2nd edition of So, You Want to Join the Peace Corps) by Dillon Banerjee (Cameroon 1994–96) Ten Speed Press $14.95 192 pages 2009 • One World:A Global Anthology of Short Stories Skye Brannon (Samoa 2004–06), contributor New Internationalist $16.95 192 pages 2009 • The Man Who Caught No Birds by Thomas Burns (Marshall Island 1976–78) CreateSpace $15.00 206 pages 2010 • Roman Proud, Wayward Widower by Tino Calabia (Peru 1963–65) AuthorHouse $15.49 360 pages December 2010 • Soldiers of God (graphic novel) by Kelly Clancy (Turkmenistan 2004-06) www.thedivinebanquet.com Sixta Comics $15.00 256 pages 2010 • A Year on the Bus by Dan Close (Ethiopia 1964–66) The Tamarac Press $15.00 . . .

Being Roger Rosenblatt

Feb 01 2011

I’m a big fan of Roger Rosenblatt. I love his essays on PBS News Hour. I love his soft voice, quiet demeanor, the gentleness of this gentleman. When I grow up, I want to be just like him. I love the way he writes, the smooth elegance of his prose. He is like that polished English butler of English movies who has everything under control and quietly, unobtrusively, brings the dinner party to the dining room table and serves them roast duck under candle light. Besides everything else that Roger Rosenblatt does, he writes books. Unless It Moves the Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing, just published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, is his latest. He is also professor of English and writing at SUNY Stony Brook. He teaches students how to write. Though, as he says in his essay, “Can I teach them to become professional . . .

How PCVs Make a Difference….

Feb 01 2011

My friend Jocelyn Zuckerman (Kenya 1991-93 ) who happens to be in Haiti right now writing about their situation (on a grant from the Carter Center) sent me this ‘heads up’ in the NYTIMES. You can read it at: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/when-microcredit-wont-do/ Entitled, “When Microcredit Won’t Do” is written by Tina Rosenberg. Here are a few excerpts that show how the “peace corps connection’ pays off. Greg Van Kirk was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nebaj, Guatemala, a town of about 10,000 people in a mountainous Mayan region. He was an unusual Peace Corps volunteer, having already had one career as an investment banker. He had worked in structured finance for UBS, helping companies do complex deals to buy, sell or lease airplanes and power plants…. Van Kirk worked with a local mason named Augustín Corrio to build a better stove. Corrio took a standard stove design and rejiggered it in various ways. The best . . .

Chuck Ludlam Blasts Coyne….But I Don't Know Why!

Feb 01 2011

Chuck Ludlam (Nepal 1968-70 & Senegal 2005-07) sent me this email from Patagonia. He is traveling there with his wife, Paula Hirshoff ( Senegal 2005-07), and he asked me to post his comment as his internet connections are chancy. He did write as the end of his blast at me, “Please post this as a response to your post.” So here’s what Chucky had to say about me from sunny Patagonia! It’s too bad that John Coyne didn’t bother to read our 150 page report on Peace Corps reform — posted since July 2009 on PeaceCorps Wiki. It would help the readers to see it posted on Coyne’s website. John would find there that we oppose the 5-year rule, which has given political appointees entirely too much power at the agency and destroyed its capacity for institutional memory. He’s also find that the Peace Corps transferred the investigative authority away from the Office of . . .

So you want to be self-published!

Jan 31 2011

Over the weekend I read this interesting article in The New York Review of Books by Jason Epstein. He was reviewing a book Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty–First Century by John B. Thompson. Epstein is a famous figure in U.S. publishing. In 1952 he launched the trade paperback format. In 1963 he was a founder of The New York Review and in 1979. In 2007 he cofounded On Demand Books. In his review he was talking about the whole industry. As he writes, “Far more than any other mediu, books contain civilizations, the ongoing conversation betwen present and past. Without this conversation we are lost. But books are also a business….” So, the article really is about books and the digital revolution, and he makes this point, however, (in a footnote) that is interesting: “Self-publishing has an illustrious history. Milton published Areopagitica himself and Whitman self-published the first . . .

RPCV Poet George Wallace will read and discuss poetry in Taos, New Mexico

Jan 30 2011

George Wallace (Korea 1975–77), writer-in-residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace, will present a program of readings and conversation entitled “Whitman And Beyond, Fanfares for the Common Man” at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, Taos NM, on Friday Feb 4, 2011 at 7 pm. In his presentation, Wallace will trace the thread of 19th century Romantic/Transcendental ideas about ‘the common man’ through early and mid-20th century American writing, and into the contemporary era. According to Laurel Johnson, Review Editor of New Works Review, “Wallace’s poetry is neither conventional nor even ‘conventionally’ atypical… Anyone who ever loved or needed love should read these poems.” Some of Wallace’s recent work: Poppin Johnny Three Rooms Press 2009 • Who’s Handling Your Aubergines Green Panda Press 2008 • Sunnyside Up: The Dream Cloud Egg Good Japan 2008 • Summer of Love Summer of Love Shivastan Woodstock NY 2008

RPCVs Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff have their say on ABC NEWS

Jan 29 2011

Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff talk with Brian Ross about the Peace Corps.

Review of Dan Close's A Year on the Bus

Jan 29 2011

A Year on the Bus by Dan Close (Ethiopia 1966-68) Warren, VT: Tamarac Press $15.00 131 pages 2010 Reviewed by Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963-65) THIS IS A SMALL BOOK THAT DESERVES a short, but positive review. In the space of 131 small pages, with a slightly larger than usual font, the author convinced me that this is a good book for a lot of folks. Have you ever been “caught” behind a school bus when you have to get somewhere fast? he asks. Are you, or have you ever been, a school bus driver? Are you the parent of a kid on a school bus? Were you ever a kid on a bus? If any of these questions are you, then, this book is for you. And, I’ll add, if you know a school bus driver, give him or her a copy. If only for laughs, because this is a . . .

Stan Meisler's Comments on the Sexual Assaults in the Peace Corps

Jan 28 2011

Next month Stan Meisler’s book on the Peace Corps When The World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years will be published by Beacon Press, here, Stan emailed me his ‘take’ on the issue of assaults in the Peace Corps based on his research and long experience with the agency. We should all listen to what Stan has to say.] While writing my book on the history of the Peace Corps, I tried to deal with the sensational series of articles in the Dayton Daily News in 2003 that painted lurid pictures of mayhem in the Peace Corps. The ABC News 20/20 segment on rape raised many of the same issues and sent me back to the Peace Corps’ statistical studies of the problem. There is no doubt that ABC News and congressional investigators are exaggerating and distorting the issue. First of all, let’s . . .

Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams' Response to ABC World News on Jan. 27, 2011

Jan 28 2011

“Peace Corps takes the issue of sexual assault very seriously. There are procedures in place at each post to respond quickly and compassionately to our volunteers. Teams of specialists from the medical, mental health, security and legal fields are available immediately to assist the volunteer in the recovery process. There is no tolerance for a culture that blames victims. The women interviewed by ABC’s 20/20 are courageous and strong, and their stories of sexual assault over the past decade are heartbreaking. “ABC’s 20/20 program does not accurately reflect the support we currently provide to Peace Corps volunteers. The health and safety of our volunteers is the single most important priority for our agency. We have made significant improvements over the past two years in providing support to sexual assault victims, and we look forward to working with Congress to further strengthen the Peace Corps and advance our mission of world . . .

Congress to Investigate Peace Corps Treatment of Sex Assault Victims

Jan 28 2011

[In case you might have missed last night’s ABC News, Congress is investigating charges that as many as 1,000 former Peace Corps volunteer women were raped during their service abroad. Many of those volunteers are charging that Peace Corps officials asked them to remain quiet and cover up: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/peace-corps-congress-investigate-peace-corps-treatment-sex/story?id=12777476.] In the wake of an ABC News “20/20” investigation, a Congressional committee announced plans for hearings on the Peace Corps’ handling of more than a thousand cases of female volunteers who were raped or sexually assaulted over the last decade. “This is very upsetting. If these numbers are accurate this is something that Congress definitely should investigate,” Rep. Rohrabacher, R-California, Chairman of the House subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, told ABC News. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, called for the hearing Wednesday, telling ABC News he was “furious and sad” after watching the “20/20” report. In the report, six former Peace Corps . . .

RPCV Congressman Garamendi (Ethiopia 1965-67) Introduces Resolution Honoring Shriver

Jan 27 2011

Congressman Garamendi Joins 13 Colleagues Introducing Resolution Honoring Life and Legacy of Sargent Shriver WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman John Garamendi (D-Walnut Creek, CA), who served as a Peace Corps volunteer with his wife Patti Garamendi in Ethiopia, introduced a resolution honoring the life and legacy of Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps. House Resolution 64 is supported by 13 original co-sponsors: Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Howard Berman (D-CA), Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA), Natural Resources Ranking Member Edward Markey (D-MA), Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI), Congressman Sam Farr (D-CA), Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU), Congressman James Langevin (D-RI), Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN), Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA), Congressman David Price (D-NC), Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY), and Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA). “Sargent Shriver was a true American hero, a selfless humanitarian, and a . . .

What did they know? And when did they know it?

Jan 26 2011

This is the follow-up to my blog post “The Peace Corps & ABC 20/20” published on January 19th. It is my second — and last — blog on what happened in Africa to Kate Puzey. • What Appears to Have Happened in Benin in 2009 SHORTLY BEFORE BENIN PCV KATE PUZEY was scheduled to complete her service and leave the country in 2009, she emailed staff members at the Peace Corps/Benin office to inform them that a teacher at her school — a person who was also a part-time local-hire employee of the Peace Corps doing in-country training — was molesting young female students at her school. This individual was identified recently by ABC’s 20/20 in a segment “Scandal Inside the Peace Corps: Investigation into whether the Peace Corps puts women into dangerous situations” as Constant Bio, a citizen of Benin. Kate urged the PC staff to not rehire Constant Bio to train . . .

Review of Robert Balmanno's Runes of Iona

Jan 26 2011

Runes of Iona by Robert Balmanno (Benin 1973-75) Regent Press $15.95 349 pages August 2010 Reviewed by Paul Shovlin (Moldova 1996-98) THE SECOND BOOK in the Blessings of Gaia series by Robert Balmanno, Runes of Iona, is in print, and, like the first, it’s far-ranging and ambitious. The series began with September Snow which followed the protagonist Tom Novak, an author, philosopher, freedom fighter, as he worked with September Snow to disable the climate controlling wind machines of the Gaia-domes. In Runes of Iona, the machines are down and nature is slowly returning to something like normal, but little has changed in terms of the power of the Gaia-domes and their domination of the world. The second book follows Iona Snow and Kull, a freed slave, as they build a guerrilla army for the expressed purposes of dismantling the current power structure and toppling the dictatorship of the Gaia-dome government. . . .

Review of Thomas Burns' The Man Who Caught No Birds

Jan 25 2011

The Man Who Caught No Birds by Thomas Burns (Marshall Islands 1976–78) CreateSpace 201 pages $15.00 2010 Reviewer Reilly Ridgell (Micronesia 1971–73) WHEN I WRITE STORIES SET IN MICRONESIA where I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer, all my main characters are American. Host country nationals are often peripheral or secondary characters because my stories are ultimately about how Americans relate to the culture and lifestyle of the host country. For myself — though someday I might try — I feel uncomfortable putting a Micronesian as a main character because I don’t feel confident that I can accurately portray his or her aspirations, moods, thought processes, etc. As much as we get to know the culture, language, and people of the countries where we are stationed, we’re still Americans and we still view their world through American eyes. Thomas Burns has written a novel set in the Marshall Islands where . . .

Author - John Coyne