Miscellany

    Breaking U.S. immigration laws saved lives in 1975. It gets you arrested today by THURSTON CLARKE (Tunisia 1960) JUL 15, 2019 | 3:05 AM Op-Ed Los Angeles Times    As the Vietnam War caromed to an end, Sister Marie Therese LeBlanc, a middle-aged American nun serving at Friends of the Children of Vietnam orphanage in Saigon, signed one affidavit after another attesting to sons and daughters she never had. It was April 23, 1975, one week before the city fell to the communists. The 36 people LeBlanc claimed as her children were the adult employees of her orphanage and their families. Nevertheless, State Department officials at the evacuation processing center at Tan Son Nhut air base affixed their consular seals to her affidavits, and American airmen added the names she provided to the flight manifests of the Air Force transports flying out of Saigon. They collaborated with her because they . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Gerry Schwinn (Nigeria 1963-65)   On the eve of the Venice Biennale, the artist’s shaping hand frames a view of his troubled, and troubling, homeland.   Martin Puryear, Citizen Sculptor By Holland Cotter May 3, 2019 New York Times “This moment has caught me being as much a citizen as an artist,” said the sculptor Martin Puryear (Sierra Leone 1964-66) on an afternoon in his studio in New York’s Hudson River Valley early in April. In two days he would leave for Venice to begin installing a solo exhibition at the 58th Venice Biennale in which he will officially represent the United States. Rising to that responsibility can’t be easy in an American “moment” tense with divisive politics, resurgent racism, and gun violence. Yet anyone who has followed this artist’s 50-year career, knows he is more than up to the task. Now 77, he is . . .

    Joe Lurie (Kenya 1967-68) is the Executive Director Emeritus of UC Berkeley’s International House, and author of Perception and Deception: A Mind-Opening Journey Across Cultures (Nipporica Associates, 2018). C-Span just aired a book  talk in which Joe references discoveries he made while he was a PCV in Kenya that opened his eyes in profound ways, and were the seeds of his book, now in its second expanded edition.  In case the program is of interest, it’s likely to be aired again , but in case you miss it, here it is. A former director of semester and summer programs abroad for the School for International Training in France, Kenya, and Ghana, Joe lived in Europe for four years, and lectures widely for Cal Discoveries in Africa, Asia and Europe. He is fluent in French as well as Swahili. The Joe Lurie Returning Peace Corps Volunteer Gateway Fellow for entering Ph.D . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Marian Haley Beil (Ethiopia 1962-64)   Bill Owens (Jamaica 1964–66), is our most famous RPCV photographer. Back in 1972 Bill published a collection of photographs on suburbia entitled Suburbia. In this cult classic book, photographer Owens acted as an anthropologist objectively documenting suburban inhabitants, their native environs, and their daily rituals. By pairing the images with quotes made by the subjects, Owens created a hilarious and absurd account of life in the suburbs. A life that included Tupperware parties, backyard barbecues, and going to the hairdresser. In 2004 the fourth and final volume in his landmark Suburbia series — Suburbia (1973; 1999); Our Kind Of People (1975); Working — I Do It For The Money (1977) — Leisure (2004) was published. In his introduction to Leisure, photographer Gregory Crewdson writes: Owens’ photographs belong to an American aesthetic tradition of art that explores the intersection of everyday life and . . .

    Concetta Anne Bencivenga (Thailand 1992-94) is Director of the New York Transit Museum, the largest museum in the United States devoted to urban public transportation history and one of the premier institutions of its kind in the world. The New York’s first subway station opened in 1904 under City Hall with luxuries that today’s subway riders can hardly imagine. Here’s a look at the station today. • Failing New York Subway? Not Always — Once There Were Chandeliers by Winnie Hu New York Times April 11, 2019 New Yorkers once waited for the subway by the glow of chandeliers. Really. When the city’s first subway station opened in 1904 underneath City Hall in Lower Manhattan, it was a testament to New York’s arrival as a world-class city on par with London, Paris or Rome. The ornate station featured chandeliers, ornamental skylights and soaring archways with zigzagging patterns of terra-cotta . . .

      The Northern California Returned Peace Corps Association knows how valuable Hesperian books are to Peace Corps Volunteers — many used Where There Is No Doctor or our other health resources during their service overseas. But the Peace Corps does not provide every Volunteer with Hesperian’s lifesaving resources. The NorCal RPCV Association wants to remedy that, so they have awarded us a grant to send free books to Peace Corps Volunteers whose US home is in Northern California. This program is brand new, but we have already sent 26 books to PCVs serving in Ecuador, Ghana, Liberia and Lesotho. This grant provides the resources to send 50 more books that support not just the work of PCVs, but also will be left in the host community to ensure that our health information makes a lasting impact. If you are a PCV from Northern California, you can apply on our website. And if you are part . . .

  Posted Friday, March 22, 2019 10:57 am By Richard Lipez (Ethiopia 1962-64)   BANGKOK — Most of the parties in the aftermath of the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash, in which 157 died, came out looking bad. The FAA for three days of dithering, Boeing for pushing through certification of a plane with an apparent dangerous flaw, and pretend aviation expert Donald Trump, who privately told officials Boeing’s 737 Max “sucks” before grounding the model because doing so was important “psychologically and a lot of other ways.” Amtrak, anyone? Sadly, Ethiopian Airlines may also have gone down in the estimation of the flying public, and it should not have. The airline has long enjoyed a good safety record. But since Boeing raised no alarms, EAL’s pilots did not receive training for dealing with the new 737 computer software that twice seems to have fatally turned against cockpit crews, in Indonesia in October . . .

From the Wall Street Journal  

  Memorial Services New Jersey Monmouth University – Woodrow Wilson Hall 400 Cedar Ave, West Long Branch, NJ 07764 Saturday, August 25th, 1:00 to 3:00 PM ET   Washington D.C.  DACOR (Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired) Bacon House 1801 F St NW, Washington, DC 20006 Saturday, September 8th 2:00 to 5:00 PM ET If you have any questions, email Amin Dulkumoni at  ad293@njit.edu or call him at 443-949-4724.   Obituaries New York Times: Tom Gallagher, Diplomat Who Became a Gay Activist, Dies at 77   Washington Post: Tom Gallagher, Foreign Service officer who quit to live as openly gay, dies at 77 Asbury Park Press: Thomas Gallagher 1940–2018 Advocate: Tom Gallagher, First Foreign Service Officer to Come Out, Dies at 77 Gay Times UK: Tom Gallagher, the First Openly Gay Foreign Service Officer Has Died, Aged 77 Washington Blade: Tom Gallagher, U.S. Foreign Service officer, dies at 77 Los Angeles Blade: . . .

  Thanks for heads-up from Dean Jefferson. •   The RPCVs of Wisconsin-Madison announce that the 2019 Peace Corps International Calendar is now available. The official calendar unveiling took place Saturday, June 2nd. The following current or past Peace Corps countries are featured in the 2019 calendar: Mali, Indonesia, Ghana, Senegal, Philippines, Nicaragua, Colombia, Nepal, Haiti, Mongolia, Argentina, and Turkey. The 2019 cover photo was taken at the renowned Pushkar Mela livestock fair in Rajasthan, India. In addition to the beautiful photos for each month, plus the cover, each month features a brief story related to the photo and featured country (flash non-fiction?). You can find out more about the calendar and order one for yourself. at: www.rpcvcalendar.org/calendar-2019-rpcv-groups •

  A note from Maureen Orth (Colombia 1964-66) Fellow RPCVs: We’re in the home stretch and hope you will share the pride. I am a former Colombia Peace Corps Volunteer living in Washington DC with a foundation in Medellin that provides laptops and teacher training and emphasizes technology, English and leadership in 21 schools with 8000 kids: MarinaOrthFoundation.org <http://marinaorthfoundation.org/>.  Two of our robotics teams, The Little Engineers, all girls 12-13, and Digiminds, 3 boys and 1 girl, ages 10-11, are about to have one of the most thrilling experiences of their short lives. They have won the robotics championship of Colombia sponsored by RoboRAVE and will be traveling to Albuquerque May 7 – 13 to represent Colombia and compete in the worldwide RoboRAVE competition. These kids beat some of the best public and private schools to have this chance and it is quite an accomplishment for them. They have never been in . . .

  Thanks to the “heads up” from Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) — JCoyne • I wonder whether someone might be able to help me. I am writing from Blink Films, the producers of the PBS documentary series “We’ll Meet Again” with Ann Curry.    We’ll Meet Again | PBS www.pbs.org Join Ann Curry for a new series featuring dramatic reunions of people whose lives crossed at pivotal moments. View history through their eyes and hear stories of heroism, hope and the forging of unbreakable bonds.   “We’ll Meet Again” explores significant historic events that have shaped America and its citizens — told not from the point of view of world leaders, but through the eyes of ordinary people who experienced them directly. Our first season has recently broadcast on PBS, featuring watershed events such as WWII, the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Each episode introduces us to two individuals . . .