Miscellany

August 21, 2012 Dear Colleagues: For the past three years, I have had the privilege to lead one of the most beloved and valued agencies in the United States federal government.  It has been a distinct honor to serve as the Director of the Peace Corps in President Obama’s Administration and to further his policy of broader global engagement.  That is why it is with a heavy heart that I announce my decision to step down as Peace Corps Director effective September 17, 2012. This has been a difficult choice because serving in this position has been the highlight of my public service career.  It has brought my personal journey in government full circle – from Peace Corps Volunteer to Director.   It is time, however, for me to shift my focus to my family. It has been an honor to lead an outstanding team who support our remarkable Volunteers day . . .

The August 17, 2012 issue of the Chronicle Review, published with The Chronicle of Higher Education, has an excerpt from Seth Rosenfeld’s new book Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise to Power published this month by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Rosenfeld was for many years an investigative reporter for both The San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle.The book is about Mario Savio, leader of the Free Speech Movement, Berkeley’s most notorious campus agitator, and Clark Kerr, the president of the university. It is also about Ronald Reagan and most importantly, J. Edgar Hoover, who in the 1950s and 1960s ran a secret operation within the FBI called the “Responsibilities Program” to hunt down professors whose political views were deemed by J. Edgar as unacceptable. Frustrated in 1964 by the successful uprisings by students at Berkeley, Hoover was eager to find a collaborator in Reagan . . .

Who and how many people are going to this website? Looking at the Google Analytics of www.peacecorpsworldwide.org on any given day (but weekends) and I read something like these numbers that tell us about our site. We average 900 ‘hits’ and the average viewer is on the site for a minute and a half.  More than half are unique visitors, new to the site. On weekends we are down to half that number. If we have something about ‘sex in the Peace Corps’ or tragedy in the agency the number of ‘hits’ jump dramatically.  Visit 9,521  Unique Visitors: 6,820  Pageviews: 15,509  Pages / Visit: 1.63  Avg. Visit Duration: 00:01:34  Bounce Rate: 75.36%  % New Visits: 66.63%

The European Science Foundation and the Linkoping University are organising a Research Conference on: In search of Peace: Dialogues between theories and practices. It will take place on 20 – 24 October at the Norrköping, Sweden  The deadline is extended to 22 September, and several grants are available for young researchers and scholars. European Science Foundation Conference In search of Peace: Dialogues between theories and practices 20 – 24 October 2012 The search for peace is longstanding. And yet, the concept remains elusive. Most probably the reason is simple, namely that peace is never fully achieved, it is not an end-point, but rather a constant process of negotiation among different actors regarding the terms of their relationships in a myriad of different arenas. In this conference the aim is to investigate peace as a process and the various forms in which it has been conceptually framed and empirically practiced. In . . .

On June 27, 2012 Milford CT resident Jesse Osmun, 32, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing four girls while a PCV in South Africa. Steps are now being taken to set up a restitution fund for girls sexually abused by Osmun while he was in the Peace Corps. $10,000 has been provided by Osmun’s family for the fund. Restitution was discussed as part of a plea agreement, said Osmun’s attorney, Richard Meehan Jr. Osmun is accused of traveling from the United States to South Africa to engage in illicit sexual conduct with children. He has admitted that he sexually abused four minor girls, all under the age of six, while he was a volunteer with the United States Peace Corps in South Africa, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Osmun will be sentenced Sept. 19, and he faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years and a fine of up to . . .

Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award Feather: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle by Thor Hanson (Uganda 1993-95) The Lion of Judah in the New World: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and the Shaping of Americans’ Attitudes toward Africa By Theodore M. Vestal (PC/Ethiopia 1964-66) Ukraine: Discover the Real Ukraine By Ashley Hardaway (Ukraine 2006-08) Girls of the Factory: A Year with the Garment Workers of Fes By M. Laetitia Cairoli (Morocco 1985-87) The African-American Odyssey of John Kizell: A South Carolina Slave Returns to Fight the Slave Trade in His African Homeland By Kevin G. Lowther (Sierra Leone 1963-65) Angels of Mercy: White Women and the History of New York’s Colored Orphan Asylum By William Seraile (Ethiopia 1963-65) Big Dogs of Tibet and the Himalayas: A Personal Journey By Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963-65) Maria Thomas Fiction Award The Civilized World: A Novel in Stories by Susi Wyss (Central African Republic 1990-92) . . .

A good friend from Boston (not an RPCV!) sent me this short clip of Mark Shriver on Colbert last night talking about his father and his book on his Dad, A Good Man. It is a informative five minutes about Sarge, his place in history, and how well he is remembered. Check it out. http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/417499/august-07-2012/mark-shriver

So, if you wanted to join the Peace Corps in the early days, here are a few of the questions you needed to answer (I’ll add the answers so you’ll know your grade) Good Luck! # 1 VERBAL APTITUDE Directions: Each question below consists of a word printed in capital letters, followed by five words or phrases lettered A through E. Choose the lettered word or phrase which is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in capital letters. Since some of the questions require you to distinguish fine shade of meaning, be sure to consider all the choices before deciding which one is best. LABORIOUS: (A) stationary (B) free (C) automatic (D) common (E) easy # 2 AGRICULTURE Directions: Which of the following is most commonly used in the United States for feeding swine? (A) Clover (B) Wheat (C) Alfalfa (D) Corn (E) Lespedeza #3 HEALTH SCIENCES Directions: . . .

PRESIDENT NATIONAL PEACE CORPS ASSOCIATION WASHINGTON, D.C. THE ORGANIZATION: Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization supporting Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and the Peace Corps community. NPCA supports former Volunteers through their continued service back home and connects and champions Peace Corps community members in “bringing the world home” by:  Developing networks and information resources for and about the Peace Corps community.  Providing National Peace Corps Association members and member groups with service and education opportunities that build on their Peace Corps experience and values.  Advocating for Peace Corps and its values, and for critical issues identified as affecting National Peace Corps Association members. With a $1million-plus annual budget and a team of seven, NPCA encompasses a network of over 50,000 individuals and more than 140 member groups. Potential active constituents include 200,000+ . . .

In the very early days of the agency the Peace Corps had a set of Placement Tests that applicants were required to take. One was a 30-minute General Aptitude Test, another a 30-minute Modern Language Aptitude Test. One-hour achievement tests in French and Spanish were also offered during the second hour. The tests were ‘non-competitive; there were no passing or failing grades. The results, the agency said, were used to help find the most appropriate assignment for the person. Of course, those of us who took the tests had no confidence that that was ever done, given the assignments we finally got. The General Aptitude Test was composed of three different types of problems: verbal, mathematical, and spatial. The verbal questions require an applicant to select from five alternatives the synonym for a given word. The mathematical questions call for one to solve a problem, stated in a sentence or two, using . . .

Kevin Quigley, President and CEO of the NPCA, will return this fall to Thailand where he was a PCV from 1976-79. Quigley, who has been with the NPCA for nearly a decade, is well equipped to be the next CD in Thailand. He is fluent in the language, and while a PCV converted from his family’s Catholicism to Buddhism, then spent several months having buat phra–become a monk–after his Peace Corps tour. He has returned  to Thailand several times since his Peace Corps years, once as a Fulbright scholar, and he has maintained relationships with many HCNs. Kevin, who studied at Georgetown University, Columbia University, University College Dublin and Swarthmore College, before the NPCA was also the Acting CEO of  the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. His Ph.D. is in international relations and besides the Fulbright, he has been a   Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Resident Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, . . .

Allen Mondell (Sierra Leone 1963-65) has just produced a 71-minute documentary entitled: Waging Peace: The Peace Corps Experience that weaves personal letters, journals, emails and blogs written by Peace Corps Volunteers with the profiles of four RPCVs whose work today shows the enduring impact of these experiences on their own lives and the lives of others. As Allen writes, “I hope this film demonstrates not only the value of volunteering–in a distant land or your own hometown–but also the importance of getting to know another culture firsthand and respecting the differences.” It is a terrific Peace Corps film. It is a terrific film. Allen also filmed a 82-minute RPCV writers’ panel discussion organized earlier this year by Richard Wiley (Korea 1967-69) at the Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas that included Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963-65), Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon 1965-67), Peter Hessler (China 1996-98) and Marnie Muller (Ecuador 1963-65). Allen tells me that he is . . .

I’m told that less than 200 RPCVs attended last month’s NPCV conference in Minnesota. With over 210,000 RPCVs and Peace Corps Staff  200 turning up for an NPCA Conference isn’t much of a showing. Now, what does that poor attendance tell us about RPCVs? How insignificant and unimportant are we in the eyes of the power brokers of the U.S.? Last September, as we know, we had the 50th Reunion in D.C. and it did attract RPCVs from across the country, but no ‘official Washington types’ beyond a few Peace Corps Staff turned out to recognize what we had done for America. No senators or members of Congress came to the official and unofficial gatherings, except for the Library of Congress Luncheon that Marian Beil and I organized for Peace Corps Writers. There was an ‘official’ event earlier in the summer at the State Department but it wasn’t for ordinary RPCVs. Or at least I didn’t get invited. (Well, maybe . . .

The presidential election is a toss up. But what about the next Director of the Peace Corps? It is doubtful that Aaron Williams will stay into a second Obama Administration. (Peace Corps Directors rarely last more than a couple years in the job and it is mostlikely, Aaron will finish off his government career as an Ambassador. If Obama loses, Aaron will certainly get that appointment before the end of the year.) If Romney wins we are looking at a Republican appointment. Either way, come November, we are in for a change of leadership at the agency. I think we might have (finally) established the fact that the Peace Corps MUST be an RPCV. So, who should he/she be? Here are a few RPCV names to consider for next director of the Peace Corps.  Send in your candidate! John Garamendi, California Congressmen (Ethiopia 1966-68) Thomas Tighe, President and CEO, Direct Relief International (Thailand 1986-88) . . .

By Reeve Lindbergh, Published: July 13, Washington Post Mark Shriver’s moving and thoughtful book about his father, Sargent Shriver, who died in 2011, is both an homage and an exploration. In writing it, Mark discovered that the key to his father’s life was not so much the man’s acknowledged greatness as his underlying goodness, sustained by an abiding faith. Sargent Shriver, who married into the Kennedy family, served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. “My life in a famous and often star-crossed American clan,” the younger Shriver writes, “would not be without its trials and disappointments, but I had as my father a man who not only was faith-filled and disciplined, but who also insisted, in large part because of his faith, on the grace and joy in life.” Even those Americans who remember the 1960 presidential campaign may have forgotten how controversial John F. Kennedy’s religion was for a portion . . .