Author - John Coyne

Larry Leamer (Nepal 1964–66), author of Madness Under the Royal Palms: Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach among other books has the following essay posted today in the Huffingtpost.com. • Join Us, Mr. President!! I was the next-to-the-last speaker Saturday at a rally in Washington to build a bold new Peace Corps. Rajeev Goyal, the Morepeacecorps.org national organizer, and I had decided to do this rally only nine days before. It would have been a formidable new task even if we have done nothing else. But we were already working ceaselessly to get the House of Representatives to appropriate the $450 million that would allow the Peace Corps to grow and to reform. We were close to success in the House thanks to a relentless group of representatives and legislative aides. Our problem was not only what would happen in the Senate but President Obama. For some . . .

When I joined the Peace Corps, I was an alienated, troubled young man   I was almost thrown out during training and I arrived in Nepal in 1964 looking for adventure, not looking to help humanity.  I was posted in a tiny village in the eastern hills two days from a road.  And there I began to think of something other than myself.  I learned to help people and reach out to the world with a helping hand, and I became a man I had never been.  In Nepal the mountains are high but the human spirit is higher, and I took in that spirit and I returned to the United States a new man. I have lived on the residue of that spirit for my entire life.  But a few years ago it ran out, and I have felt spiritually bereft.  I have felt terrible empty. For the few months . . .

A friend sent me the following early this Sunday morning…See, I’m not the only one awake and on the computer!  [John: Senator McCollum released this Friday afternoon. Every little bit helps. It could be either to deflect criticism/disappointment–hey, I tried to help; to claim some of the credit– hey, I was there for the PC ; or, most likely because she is doing her bit to help grow the PC. Whatever, calls to both offices would help. So would a personal note to her DC fax 202.225.1968. Her DC Office # is 202.225.6631. Her local # is: 651.224.9191] From McCollum’s Office, June 12, 2009  Washington, DC – Congresswoman Betty McCollum (MN-04) sent a letter to the Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State Foreign Operations yesterday requesting the inclusion of $450 million for the Peace Corps in the upcoming mark up of the FY10 spending bill. “As our nation works to restore our standing in the world, . . .

A piece this Sunday morning in the Washington Post by Staff Writer Yamiche Alcindor says it all: “Dozens Gather.” Okay, to rephrase Edgar Allan Poe, “During the whole of a dull, dark, and rainy afternoon in the early summer of the year a few hundred (not dozens!) gathered in Washington, D.C., to campaign for a “bold” (new phrase) New Peace Corps.” Here’s the early morning report this Sunday, June 14, 2009, from Yamiche Alcindor. Dozens of Peace Corps volunteers rallied downtown yesterday, urging Congress and the Obama administration to expand the program. “We want to help the president adhere to his vision,” said Harris Wofford, a former Democratic senator from Pennsylvania who helped launch the Peace Corps in 1961. Organizers said they hoped to prod President Obama to make good on his promise to double the number of Peace Corps volunteers and allot $450 million to the volunteer program, up from about $373 million the administration . . .

Speaking today at the rally will be: Tim Shriver –  son of  Sargent Shriver.  Former Senator, Harris Wofford Anthony Johnson, the Jamaican Ambassador Writer Laurence Leamer (Nepal 1964-66) Head of MorePeaceCorps, Rajeev Goyal (Nepal 2004-06) The event will feature music from an 22-woman Brazilian drumming group Batala, Peruvian flutist Juan Cayrampoma and the  rock-n-roll band Cairo Fred. After the event, starting at 5 pm, everyone will gather at the Aria Trattoria Restaurant at 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

[Thanks to great Peace Corps Veteran Geri Critchley, and thanks to Peter Yarrow, we have Peter’s recent letter to Rep. Nita Lowey in support of MorePeace Corps.] Dearest Rep. Nita Lowey, This is a personal message to you from your buddy, your long time  supporter and your friend, Puff’s “real” daddy. In the vote coming up  next week on Peace Corps funding, we have a SERIOUSLY IMPORTANT  opportunity to send a message to our nation, and nations beyond, that could greatly help  to rejuvenate the spirit of humanity, morality and generosity in America, so  absent from our policies, our funding and our actions, during the Bush years. We cannot lose this special opportunity,  and I’m relying on you, as one of my favorite and most respected members of  the House, to “hang in there” for doing the right thing, as you have in the  past. Though I fully expect that you’ll . . .

This Friday morning, this morning before the big RPCV rally in Washington, D.C. at 2 p.m. in Freedom Plaza (14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW) to support “Obama’s Peace Corps Vision” the question– which we have never answered–remains: What Has The Peace Corps Done For America? In 2011, the Peace Corps will be fifty years old. This agency is generally seen as the shining achievement of Kennedy’s brief presidency. But what is the legacy of those Volunteers? What lessons can America, and the rest of the world, learn from Volunteers who have served overseas over the past five decades? In the first days of creating the Peace Corps, John F. Kennedy remarked to Harris Wofford that he saw the real benefit of the agency to be in how these former Volunteers would vote on foreign affair issues once they returned home. Kennedy envisioned hundreds of thousands of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers contributing to American society, not only in how they . . .

RPCV Al Kamen (Dominican Republic 1965-67) of the Washington Post  has been tracking the search for a new Peace Corps Director. Here’s what he had to say today in his In The Loop column. “There’s word the administration is looking to name a new Peace Corps director soon. Early chat had been that James Arena-DeRosa, formerly the agency’s New England regional director, was a leading contender for the job, but he seems to have faded. The front-runners now, we hear, are Frank Fountain, a senior executive at the Chrysler Group, and Aaron Williams, now a top executive with the Research Training Institute. Fountain was a volunteer in India, Williams in the Dominican Republic.”

Laurence Leamer (Nepal 1965-67) author of Madness Under the Royal Palms: Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach has put out a call on today’s Huffington Post calling all RPCVs to rally at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. (14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW) on June 13th (Saturday) at 2 p.m., in support of “Obama’s Peace Corps Vision.” Joining Larry Leamer and hundreds of other RPCVs will be, Leamer writes, “former Senator Harris Wofford, a lifelong champion of volunteering, speaks from the depths of his great heart. You will be there listening as Tim Shriver, the CEO of Special Olympics International and the son of Peace Corps founder Sargent Shriver, speaks with passion of a world of challenge and diversity. You will be there listening to the incredible list of speakers of all ages and backgrounds who will be presenting their own testimonies. You will be there listening to . . .

We had one of our website  reporters in Cairo yesterday to cover the President’s talk at the university and we received this report a few hours ago. • It is difficult to start to describe yesterday because so many descriptions come to mind. “Wow” seems to be a good starting place. Then comes “proud” quickly followed by “emotional.” So let’s start with “wow.” Even though there is some disappointment that Obama didn’t provide more concrete policy proposals on the peace process, almost universally Egyptians that I spoke with, saw on TV last night, or read on their blogs gave this speech a big thumbs up. Of course, there was pride of place–Egyptians were excited that Obama chose Cairo as the venue for this speech. After the speech pride gave way to the feeling of a personal connection with the American president. He used verses from the Koran, he spoke about things that mattered to . . .