Marian Haley Beil – Page 5 – Peace Corps Worldwide

The Volunteer Who Discovered the First Area of Human Occupation in Costa Rica

Sep 09 2023

by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) Michael Snarskis attended the University of Iowa, graduating in 1964, then Yale University majoring in Spanish in 1967. After one year of law school, he joined the Peace Corps as a Volunteer in Costa Rica, 1967-69. There his interest in archeology was awakened and on his return to the U. S. he studied archelogy at Colombia University. After three years of field work in Costa Rica, he received a Ph. D. in 1978 with a dissertation on the Archaeology of the Central American Watershed of Costa Rica. When he received his doctoral, there was almost no scientific archeology in Costa Rica. Michael founded the archeology department at the Museo National de Costa Rica in San Jose, Costa Rica, and directed it for ten years. As an archeologist and conservationist, Michael worked for the Tayutic Foundation which seeks to preserve and explore the Guayabo . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers | July–August 2023

Sep 04 2023

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 include a brief description for each of the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers to order a book and/or to VOLUNTEER TO REVIEW IT. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at marian@haleybeil.com, and she will send you a free copy along with a few instructions. P.S. In addition to the books listed below, I have on my shelf a number of other books whose authors would love for you to review. Go to Books Available for Review to see what is on that shelf. Please, please join in our Third . . .

Talking with Marnie Mueller (Ecuador) about her new book THE SHOWGIRL AND THE WRITER

Aug 27 2023

PCW: The Showgirl And The Writer is an unusual book about an unusual friendship. What initially drew you to your subject? Marnie: For fifteen years I was friends with Mary Mon Toy, a Japanese American showgirl who had been incarcerated in an America concentration camp during World War II. Our bond was the fact that I, though Caucasian, was born in the Tule Lake Japanese American High Security Camp in northern California, where my parents, young leftists, had gone to work . . . much as I joined the Peace Corps decades later, As Mary aged, I became her Power of Attorney and, when she died, the Executor of her estate, and it was only upon her death that I learned that during her entire theater career, after being released from camp, she had passed as Chinese American. She had often regaled me with the story of her Chinese father, though she did . . .

“Vamos, Let’s Win a Borrego!”

Aug 22 2023

by Becky Wandell (Ecuador 2018 –20) One afternoon, I overheard Margarita, my host-mom, talking on the phone. I usually didn’t understand much of what she said — or much of what anybody said during my first weeks living in Ecuador — but on this day, I clearly heard “Becky is a good baker, she can make the cakes.” Ummm… Margarita? What am I going to do? After finishing her conversation, she pulled me over to the table and patiently explained that her husband Jose’s Dad, Victor, was having a birthday this weekend and they needed some cakes for the celebration. I had been around long enough to know that usually the family just goes to Tio Sam’s bakery for saccharine sweet gelatinous cakes, so if they were asking me to bake them, this was a big deal! And besides, I would do anything for Victor who had welcomed me to . . .

James Denbow (Malawi) and his love song for his wife

Aug 15 2023

My Life’s Story and Love James Denbow (Malawi 1968–70) • I have worked in African archaeology for almost 50 years, living for many years in Malawi, Botswana, and the Republic of Congo. My first experience in Africa was as a Peace Corps volunteer working in environmental health in a village in northern Malawi. My wife of 54 years, Jocelyne, and I were married in Blantyre, Malawi. Because my BA degree was in archaeology, I was asked by the Peace Corps to carry out an excavation with another Peace Corps volunteer, Wayne Olts, for the Malawi Department of Antiquities at the Old Livingstonia Mission site, established by David Livingstone at Cape McClear. The Peace Corps thought this would be a good way to keep some Peace Corps teachers active during their school holidays. This experience led to my career. After the Peace Corps, my wife and I moved to Maun, . . .

Hesperian Health Guides is having a story contest just for RPCVs

Aug 15 2023

HESPERIAN HEALTH GUIDES is the publisher of the beloved Where There Is No Doctor and 11 other books published in multiple languages that have been used by Peace Corps Volunteers serving around the world to support individuals and communities in their struggles to realize the right to good health since the early ’60s. Hesperian invites PCVs and RPCVs to share your stories of how any of the Hesperian books helped you during your Peace Corps service in your efforts to give care to the people of your communities. AND, if you have them, any photos of our books in action can be sent with your stories. Please email your submissions or any questions you have to vanessa@hesperian.org . Winners will be chosen at random. The deadline to enter this contest is August 25, 2023. PRIZES: 4 winners will be able to send a complete Hesperian Library set to a . . .

The Volunteer Who Became an Astronaut | Joseph M. Acaba (Dominican Republic)

Aug 06 2023

by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) Joseph M. Acaba spent two years in the Peace Corps serving in the Dominican Republic, 1994-96. Ten years later, in May of 2004, he became the first person of Puerto Rican heritage to be named as a NASA astronaut candidate when he was selected as a member of NASA Astronaut Training Group 19. He completed his training on February 10, 2006, and was assigned to STS-119, which flew from March 15 to 28, 2009, to deliver the final set of solar arrays to the International Space Station. In 1990, Joseph had received his bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of California/Santa Barbara, and in 1992 he earned his master’s degree in geology from the University of Arizona. He then went on to earn an M.Ed. in 2015 from Texas Tech University. In between these higher educational endeavors, he somehow managed to . . .

The Volunteer Who Had a Professional Career of Leadership in Agriculture and Economic Development

Jul 18 2023

A Profile in Citizenship Emmy Simmons (Philippines 1962-64) • by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) Emmy Simmons grew up in a farming community of northern Wisconsin before serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines, 1962-64. There, it was just her luck to be assigned as an education Volunteer to a farming community near the “summer capital” of Baguio where the population grew rice for food and pineapples for cash. She found herself drawn to the issues of agriculture and economic development in a context different from that of northern Wisconsin. After Peace Corps, she earned a M. S. in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University. Emmy was able to build a career in food and agriculture in the following decades, from participating in a rural development research program at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria where she focused on families’ nutrition and women’s microenterprises to serving as the Assistant Administrator . . .

WORDS CREATE WORLDS: Poems by Ada Jo Mann (Chad)

Jun 18 2023

Words Create Worlds: Poems Ada Jo Mann (Chad 1967-69) Peace Corps Writers 147 pages April 2023 $14.99 (paperback) Words Create Worlds is a collection of poems that span the life of the author, Ada Jo Mann, who grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Chad from 1967-69. Her Peace Corps service led to a career in international development which took her to many countries around the world where she focused on building strong communities and organizations using a strength-based approach to change called Appreciative Inquiry. Upon the author’s retirement, she began taking courses at the independent bookstore, Politics and Prose, in Washington, DC. As a participant in the Poetry Circle she was inspired to try her hand at poetry and this collection of her poems was the result. In addition to the international focus of her poems, the author writes about memories of . . .

Review | BIODIGITAL: A NOVEL OF TECHNOPOTHEOSIS by John Sundman (Senegal)

Jun 05 2023

Biodigital: A Novel of Technopotheosis John (F.X, Compton, Damien) Sundman (Senegal 1974-76) Rosalita Associates 2015 $5.99 (Kindle) Review by: D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador, Costa Rica) • This is a novel by a computer, biology, and sci-fi nerd for other nerds in particular, and for anyone who strives to understand the space between technology that we know exists and that which either may currently exist or likely soon will exist in some form. Most of us are likely in this latter category! Sundman states that he is especially interested in the convergence of biological and digital technologies. He has been a hardware, software and science technical writer, and a manager of information architecture in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. Biodigital is a sci-fi thriller about a fictitious Silicon Valley tech genius/messiah named Monty Meekman and the quasi-religious cult of transhumanist computer designers and brain hackers who are his devoted followers. It . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers | May — June 2023

Jun 05 2023

The Volunteer Who’s Professional Career Focused on African Art, Architecture & Culture | Suzanne Preston Blier (Dahomey | Benin)

Jun 04 2023

by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) Suzanne Preston Blier is an American art historian who currently is a Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Her interest in African art began when she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Save, a Yoruba Center in Dahomey (now Benin Republic) 1969-71. She began her professional career at Vassar College serving as a lecturer from 1979 to 1981. She then spent the following years at Northwestern University as an assistant professor. In 1983, she began work at her alma mater, Columbia University until 1993, subsequently transferring to teach at Harvard University. In 1988, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Soon after, many other Fellowships followed, including from the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Amidst all these professional engagements, Suzanne managed to write in 2019 Picasso’s Demoiselles, the Untold Origins of a Modern . . .

REVIEW — THE CALL by Jamie Price

Jun 03 2023

The Call: The Spiritual Realism of Sargent Shriver by Jamie Price, introduction: Charles Hefling 336 pages SSPI Press March 2023 $11.49 (Kindle); $22.00 (Paperback) Review by D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 1974–76; Costa Rica 1976–77) • I think of Sargent Shriver as one of the all-time greatest examples of the truth of the saying, “If you want something done give the task to a busy person.” From his anti-racism work with the Catholic Interracial Council of Chicago, to his leadership role in designing and directing the Peace Corps, to his role in running the War on Poverty under President Lyndon Johnson, to his work with Special Olympics International, Shriver was always busy building peace. This book is not a biography or a historical account. This book attempts to answer the question of why he did what he did and how he discerned what could and should be done. The Call . . .

The Volunteer Who Created Compelling Novels out of Her Family’s Oral History — Mildred Taylor (Ethiopia)

May 15 2023

by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) Mildred Taylor served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia, 1965-67, after having graduated from University of Toledo in 1965. She was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1943, and is the great-granddaughter of a former slave who was the son of an African-Indian woman and a white landowner. After returning to the U. S. following her Peace Corps experience, she earned a MA degree in journalism at the University of Colorado where she was instrumental in creating the Black Studies Program as a member of the Black Alliance. Mildred’s works are based on oral history, told to her by her father, uncles and aunt. She said that without her family, and especially without her father, her books “would not have been.” She’s stated that these anecdotes became very clear in her mind, and in fact, once she realized that adults talked about the . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers | March–April 2023

May 01 2023

Author - Marian Haley Beil