Marian Haley Beil – Page 23 – Peace Corps Worldwide

New books by Peace Corps writers — March & April 2017

May 06 2017

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — Click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. We are now including a one-sentence description — provided by the author — for the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers 1) to order the book and 2) to volunteer to review it. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to peacecorpsworldwide@gmail.com, and we’ll send you a copy along with a few instructions. • Yovo (Peace Corps novel) by Stephen F. Dexter. Jr. (Togo 1988–91) Peace Corps Writers February 2017 434 pages $21.00 (paperback) • Walled In, Walled Out: A Young American Woman in Iran by Mary Dana Marks (Iran 1964–66) Peace Corps Writers . . .

“Miriam’s Dream and a Peace Corps Story” by Joe Thigpen (Brazil)

May 04 2017

Miriam’s Dream and a Peace Corps Story by Joe Thigpen (Brazil 1963–65) • WHEN I WAS A young Peace Corps Volunteer in Capinzal, Santa Catarina, Brazil, I lived with Guilherme and Miriam Doin, along with their four children, Zezo, Jota, Tânia, and Jane. I was 21, young and idealistic. I was committed to do my job in rural community development in this small community of about 1,000 people. I did not pay much attention to living in the small town, although I did play with the local soccer team, and eventually helped start a local basketball team. Many afternoons after a day in the nearby rural communities I would return to play backyard soccer with the boys and their dad, who was somewhat of a local star on the town’s number one team. For my Peace Corps project I was very fortunate to be part of the 4-H Club . . .

Mark Walker (Guatemala) publishes DIFFERENT LATITUDES

Apr 21 2017

SUMMER, 1971. A naïve young man must decide his path upon graduation from a small university in Colorado. Amidst the turmoil of the counterculture years and the looming possibility of being sent to Vietnam, he concludes that he wants to travel, serve, and, if possible, save the world. As a Peace Corps Volunteer Mark embarks on a vigorous cross cultural experience in a Caribbean and two Central American countries, with a final stop in one of the more isolated areas of the highlands of Guatemala. Though beset with a fear of the unknown and feelings of profound isolation due to being the only Volunteer in a remote village, he eventually gets to know and appreciate the people of the rural communities he is privileged to live among. After a near-death experience takes him to another part of Guatemala and eventually to a horse town, Mark meets the love of . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers — February 2017

Mar 30 2017

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — Click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? — Send a note to peacecorpsworldwide@gmail.com, and we’ll send you a copy along with a few instructions. • Nuns, Nam & Henna: A Memoir in Poetry and Prose Larry Berube (Morocco 1977–79) Peace Corps Writers January, 2017 68 pages $5.95 (paperback), $1.99 (Kindle) • Nurse Patch-It’s Diary: The Diary of a Public School Nurse & Clown (Peace Corps memoir) Barbara Kaare-Lopez (Honduras 1978–80) Outskirts Press August 2016 428 pages $19.95 (paperback) • One Man’s Maine: Essays on a Love Affair Jim Krosschell (Korea 1975–77) Brattleboro, VT: Green Writers Press May . . .

An opportunity to TELL your PC stories in the San Francisco Bay Area

Mar 09 2017

Beyond Borders Storytelling in the Bay Area • Founded by 3 returned Peace Corps Volunteers, Beyond Borders Storytelling (BBS) is dedicated to promoting understanding between peoples and cultures of the world through the art of storytelling. They have been running International Story Jams in San Francisco every other month now for over 3 years, and the organization is looking for Peace Corps Volunteers living in the Bay Area to share 5-10 minute stories of their overseas experiences at their next Story Jam on April 12 at Piano Fight, 144 Taylor Street in San Francisco. Most storytellers have never told a story on stage so BSS provides free workshops, practices and coaching to prepare them for live Story Jams. To prepare people for the upcoming event BBS is having a storytelling workshop on March 15, 6:30pm–8:00pm at the Hostelling International USA offices located at 1212 Market St, Third Floor, in San Francisco. This . . .

“Pay The Price” by Robert Gribbin (Kenya)

Mar 06 2017

Pay the Price by Robert Gribbin (Kenya 1968–70) • I WATCHED HIS TWO BROWN FINGERS thump against my arm. “Aha,” he muttered under his breath, then I saw the needle poised slowly before it plunged into the vein. Has it come to this? I thought morosely as I slipped away into somnolence while my blood dripped into the bag. Shortly, I awoke with a start to find Mamadou grinning down at me. “Okay, Jimmie,” he grimaced, “all done.” “You rest until dark, then go. Arrangements are in place. You’ll be safe.” I nodded assent. I was indeed ready to go. TWO AND A HALF YEARS in Sierra Leone was more than enough. I had dawdled and procrastinated, found myself bound by slippery ties to a place that I didn’t really like and to a culture that I could not fathom. Yet that is partly why I stayed to try . . .

“On the Merits of Eating Raw Goat Spleens” by Justin Parmenter (Albania)

Mar 05 2017

On the Merits of Eating Raw Goat Spleens by Justin Parmenter (Albania 1995–97) • YESTERDAY I WALKED TO KUTAL, a nearby village, with my friend Ali. There we sat for a time with a friend of his, knocked back a few rakis and talked goats. Cute little animals, they are. So much cleaner than sheep and, though it may seem a strange word to describe them, so much more intellectual. I love animals, and it pains me to see the malicious way in which they are sometimes treated here. But for some reason, I thought of these goats as Albanians do. As a luxury. After all, May 1st only happens once a year. That little black goat I carried back to Permet was Ali’s Dom Perignon, if you know what I mean. When we arrived back in Permet, we found an expert knife wielder who agreed to do the . . .

Kay Gillies Dixon (Colombia) publishes TALES OF FAMILY TRAVEL with Peace Corps Writers

Feb 13 2017

In Kay Gillies Dixon’s new book, Tales of Family Travel: Bathrooms of the World, she chronicles her family’s globe trotting through Rome, Kenya, Cyprus and parts beyond. Returned Peace Corps Volunteer parents Kevin and Kay Dixon embraced a passion for travel that they hoped to imprint on their four daughters. In the late 1970s, Kevin landed a contract to work in Saudi Arabia. The Dixons could not pack their bags fast enough. This was the opportunity to provide two fundamental values to their children — roots and wings. The author narrates their story with finesse and descriptions that take you along on the journey. Their child-centric exploits lead them to unimaginable experiences that otherwise might have been missed. A day visiting a Maasai settlement nearly takes a deep dive when their precocious toddler wanders away. Determined to go on an elephant safari in Nepal sends them river rafting after their . . .

Larry Berube (Morocco) publishes NUNS, NAM & HENNA

Feb 12 2017

Nuns, Nam & Henna: A Memoir in Poetry and Prose has been published by Larry Berube (Morocco 1977–79). The poems and prose are recollections from his boyhood experiences at St. Peter’s Orphanage in Manchester, New Hampshire, from the age six to twelve; his time as a young soldier in the U.S. Army with the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam; and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco where he worked in small villages of the Middle Atlas Mountain region of Morocco on various water projects. Nuns Nam & Henna is an honest, straightforward — and sometimes heartbreaking — account of the author’s story. Larry says that he “writes with humor when he can, and with an absence of victimhood all the time.” Larry Berube was born in Nashua, New Hampshire. He has a B.A. in Writing and Communications from Rivier College. The author lives in Dunedin, Florida. • Nuns, Nam & Henna: A Memoir in Poetry and Prose . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers — January 2017

Feb 10 2017

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — Click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? — Send a note to peacecorpsworldwide@gmail.com, and we’ll send you a copy along with a few instructions. • Tales of Family Travel: Bathrooms of the World by Kay Gillies Dixon (Colombia 1962–64) Peace Corps Writers October 2016 230 pages $12.00 (paperback), $4.00 (Kindle) • A Silent Herald of Unity: The Life of Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu by Martha Driscoll OCSO (Ethiopia 1965-66) Cistercian Publications 1990 142 pages $45.94 (hardcover), $4.95 (paperback) • Should I Still Wish: A Memoir John W. Evans (Bangladesh 1999–2001) University of Nebraska Press January 2017 156 . . .

Review: PHOBOS & DEIMOS by John Moehl (Cameroon)

Jan 27 2017

Phobos & Deimos: Two Moons, Two Worlds (short stories) by John Moehl (Camaroon 1974–80) Resource Publications August, 2016 136 pages $17.00 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle), $37.00 (hard cover) Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) • It is my hope the reader will find in this work a glimpse of lives that may at first seem very foreign; so different as to be pure invention. These are fictional lives and fictional stories; but they are based on real events, real people and real places. John Moehl introduces his short story collection, Phobos & Deimos: Two Moons, Two Worlds, by stating that the moons of Mars are a metaphor for his world that has been “. . . pulled by the forces of two different moons ≈ two worlds.” Moehl’s worlds exist in foreign countries, particularly Africa, and the United States. “But, as moons, each world is linked to one planet, and part of the same . . .

Review: GRAMPA JOE as told to Troy Montes (El Salvador)

Jan 19 2017

Grampa Joe: Portrait of a Quiet Hero (memoir) Troy D. Montes (El Salvador 2004–06), editor Patriot Media Incorporated May 2016 $14.95 (paperback) Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-96 • Troy D. Montes holds degrees in International Studies, Spanish and Linguistics from the University of Oregon and a degree in Philosophy from Portland State University, as well as a Master’s degree in Conflict Transformation from the School for International Training Graduate Institute. Troy is also a poet and writer. This last skill shows brilliantly in his impeccably edited memoir told to him by his Grampa Joe. The book was published by Patriot Media: Publishing American Patriots, an organization I’d never heard of, but found touchingly appropriate for Joe’s story. Joseph Manly Davis was a humble hero of World War II, serving in the most violent terrain in Europe – Normandy, Battle of the Bulge, through France, Belgium and Germany. In . . .

Review: PAPER MOUNTAINS by Jonathan Maiullo (Armenia)

Jan 18 2017

Paper Mountains: An Armenian Diary (Peace Corps memoir) Jonathan Maiullo (Armenia 2008–10) Gomidas May 2016 164 pages $22.00 (paperback) Review by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-96) • My Armenia is not a country. . . . It is a place without a physical form. It is a collection of events shaped by external pressures. Jonathan Maiullo was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia from 2008 to 2010. He taught English classes in Yeghegnadzor when he wasn’t exploring the country on foot. After his service, he taught English in Paraguay, among other places, and hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2016. He was an actor, and he studied veterinary medicine. He changed his name in 2001 from Dickerson to his grandparents’ real name that was changed upon immigration to the U.S. (I love that, being of Italian descent also.) What struck me most about this writer is his ultra-keen observations. He’s a verbal camera. He . . .

Patrick O’Leary (Sierra Leone) — KFAI radio interview 1/24

Jan 16 2017

On Tuesday, Jan 24th, 7pm to 8pm,CST, KFAI (“Radio without Boundaries”), 90.3FM & 106.7FM from Minneapolis/St. Paul, will interview Patrick O’Leary (Sierra Leone 1966–68) on its show “Write On! Radio”about his Peace Corps memoir From Freeborn to Freetown & Back. KFAI can be heard on the TuneIn app. From Freeborn to Freetown & Back Patrick O’Leary (Sierra Leone 1966–68) Peace Corps Writers September 2016 146 pages $14.95 (paperback), $10.00 (Kindle)

Review: JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THE CONDOR by Emily Creigh (Paraguay)

Jan 13 2017

Journey to the Heart of the Condor: Love, Loss, and Survival in a South American Dictatorship Emily C. Creigh (Paraguay 1975–77) and Dr. Martín Almada Peace Corps Writers February 2016 470 pages $17.50 (paperback), (Kindle) Reviewed by Kay Gillies Dixon (Colombia 1962-64) • Two stories, two people co-existing, contrasting but not connected yet together in Paraguay. In Journey to the Heart of the Condor, author Emily Creigh chronicles her coming of age experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay in the 1970s while Dr. Martin Almada narrates his ordeal as a political prisoner in Paraguay during the same time period. The heart of the book is Dr. Almada’s gripping narrative. Imprisoned for 1,000 days during the dictatorship of President Alfredo Stroessner, Dr. Almada describes the atrocities of his and others prison existence. His doctoral dissertation Paraguay: Education and Dependency, inspired by the Panamanian model of educational reform, as well as the works of . . .

Author - Marian Haley Beil