Miscellany

Board of Directors Elections 2012 The Governance Committee of the NPCA Board of Directors announces the 2012 elections for member-elected representatives to the NPCA Board of Directors. NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.  Voting will take place primarily online between March 30 and April 30, 2012. All eligible voters will receive an election flyer in the mail with instructions on how to vote. Each candidate was asked to state (in 100 words or less) “why you want to serve on the NPCA board and what you hope to accomplish as a board member.” Voting is open to current NPCA members only. To renew your membership and/or update your contact information, log into the NPCA membership database here.(Note the “forgotten your password” link under the login boxes, if needed.) The candidates up for election are as follows. Please click on the names below to read their biographies and nomination statements.  Note that you may also . . .

[This Op-Ed by Joe Nocera appeared in the NYTIMES this morning. Nocera writes about a man many of us remember fondly, Charlie Peters. A lawyer, WWII Veteran, Kennedy campaigner,  Master’s in English and former West Virginia Legislator, Charlie was chosen by Shriver to run the first evaluation unit in a federal agency at the Peace Corps. Peters did so with relish, hiring professional journalists and fanning them out overseas to independently evaluate the new Peace Corps programs, many times these reporters wrote evaluations that upset the people back in HQ who had created those programs. The RPCVs who were around in those early days remember him fondly. Well, Charlie is still at it, spinning out words of wisdom after all these years. And what Charlie has to say about government agencies, and the personnel in them, still rings true. The Peace Corps attempted to avoid stagnation with the unique policy of  “In, Up and Out.” The . . .

Kristina Owens (Bolivia 2000-02), the ‘Strategic Partnership Director’ of RPCV/W sent out the following email to ‘RPCV friends and supporters’ of the group. She was  relating what she titles, “A Successful RPCV/W Peace Corps Town Hall Meeting!” held last week in Shriver Hall at PC/HQ. Here it is, reprinted. Dear RPCV Friends and supporters, Last week’s Peace Corps Town Hall Meeting was a resounding success, in part because of the interest and questions from the RPCV community. Over 100 RPCVs came to listen to the Peace Corps Leadership and participated in the Q & A session. RPCV/W President Chris Austin began the hour by reflecting on how our community came together to commemorate 50 years of the Peace Corps; it was a tribute to a diverse community who understood that Peace Corps affected each of us in an important way.        This effort continues to inspire RPCV/W to facilitate new and creative initiatives . . .

Another Peace Corps Film!  I am the Water, You are the Sea A Documentary project by Malachi Leopold · THE STORY In 1977, a young Peace Corps volunteer named Alex stared out the dusty back window of a silver BMW.  As the car pulled away, he watched his secret Iranian lover, Ali, stand in the middle of the street, waving goodbye.  The car picked up speed, turned a corner, and Ali disappeared from sight.  Alex turned around, blinked, and stared at his hands, which had just moments before embraced the love of his life as they said goodbye.  When would their hands touch again?  Would they ever?  Through tears, he stared out the window, watching the city of Tehran speed by.  The Iranian revolution was drawing near, and he had no choice but to leave.  To leave the only man who had ever truly loved him.  His heart was breaking. . . .

[It is truly ironic that the Washington Monthly has let an intern stick a bloody knife into the heart and soul of the Peace Corps. The Washington Monthly (and perhaps young Ryan Cooper doesn’t know this) was founded by Charlie Peters, the first evaluator of the agency, and who many considered the conscience of the Peace Corps in its early days.  What has happened to the Peace Corps? Where have all our saints gone… are they out sinning with all the other development folks? Frankly, I think that Aaron Williams and Peace Corps Washington is working to fix the agency after the years of shameful Republican control, when the Peace Corps was run by a former cops and  yes-women like RPCV Jodi Olson. That said, there is a lot of truth in what Ryan Cooper has to say about his tour in South Africa. My guess is that if the agency hadn’t come down with their big . . .

This film (they are raising money to produce) is a dramatic thriller about a group of Peace Corps Volunteers working in the Congo in the late 1980’s. These initial funds will be used for the development phase of this project: hire casting agent, location scouts, music supervisor, shoot test footage, legal fees, meetings with potential distributors, begin with props, sets, etc. Any funds raised over this amount will be applied to the shooting and production of the film! Target shoot date is Spring 2013 (but could be earlier if funds are raised). Probable location will be in Hawaii and/or Caribbean with a 2nd unit working out of South Africa. They are in the early in the planning stages, but have, as they say, ” some amazing people  attached to this project” including an Oscar-winning producer and others who worked with  the “Lord of the Rings” films. The plot goes something like this: At is . . .

[The reporter who ‘broke” this story to the American press is Rob Schmitz, an RPCV from China 1996-98. Several China RPCVs were very suspicious of the detail, I’m told. Peter Hessler, now in Cairo, emailed me that “Many of us former China guys were really suspicious since the details didn’t make sense (like the guns–I knew there was no way that was true.)” According to Peter there has been at least one RPCV working for a major news bureau in China since 1999. These reporters are another example of how the Peace Corps experience is paying off. We’re educating Americans about the world. p.s. Jason Boog, who published this piece, is also a former Latin America Peace Corps Volunteer. We are everywhere!] This American Life Retracts Mike Daisey Episode By Jason Boog on March 16, 2012 3:42 PM This American Life has retracted an episode about Apple factories in China featuring storyteller Mike Daisey. Here is . . .

By Harold McNeil News Staff Reporter Published:March 15, 2012 Caring and empathy are the cornerstones of social justice, Maureen Orth, an award-winning journalist and author, told young women Wednesday evening at Nardin Academy. Abundant opportunities await students of the all-girls Catholic high school, but the fruits of their education should not just accrue to them, but to others, Orth said. Orth was the keynote speaker for the school’s annual forum on social justice, which was attended by about 500 people. Orth, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and graduated from the University of California-Berkeley in 1964, served for two years in the Peace Corps in Medellin, Colombia, where she helped build Escuela Marina Orth, a school that was named in her honor. “I learned so much there about the way God does not discriminate when he hands out brains or talent, or how happy you could be with . . .

Condemnation of Rush Limbaugh Shows Our Hypocrisy by Paul Theroux Mar 10, 2012  From the DailyBeast http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/10/condemnation-of-rush-limbaugh-shows-our-hypocrisy.html   ‘Slut’ and ‘whore’ are offensive words, but some of his biggest critics in the whole Sandra Fluke controversy are guilty of using the similar language-they just happen to be liberals. Paul Theroux on how the whole affair reveals our smugness and hypocrisy. At first I didn’t know whether I’d yawn or puke when I read what Rush Limbaugh said reacting to the Georgetown Law student and self-described reproductive-rights activist, Sandra Fluke. “What does it say about the college coed Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants . . .

March 05, 2012 By Grant Segall The Plain Dealer Lakewood–On his way to the top in industry, Kevin O’Donnell paused to bring the Peace Corps to South Korea and save the agency worldwide. O’Donnell, who led the Peace Corps, Sifco and more, died Feb. 29 at EnnisCourt after a short illness. The two-time widower was 86. “He was a fantastic mentor,” said Jeff Gotschall, Sifco chairman. “He walked the talk. He wasn’t afraid to do things he asked other people to do.” In 1966, O’Donnell took his new second wife and their eight children from Fairview Park to Korea. They quickly learned a new language and made new friends. He told The Plain Dealer a year later, “The Korean, they’re the Irish of Asia: a high-energy people, willing to work hard, learning quickly, amenable to change, possessing a good sense of humor, emotionally outgoing. Guess that’s why I feel at . . .

Peace Corps Town Hall Meeting Looking forward to the next 50 years RPCV/W cordially invites you to attend a Peace Corps Town Hall Meeting What: a forum with returned volunteers and Peace Corps leadership to listen and discuss current agency initiatives Where: Peace Corps Headquarters, Shriver Hall; 1111 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20526 When: March 14, 2012 from 6PM – 7PM (please arrive 10-15 minutes early to clear security and check in at registration) How: you must register to attend, (open to members and non-members) Program: 1.      Welcome and introduction from RPCV/W leadership 2.      Remarks from the RPCV/W President Chris Austin 3.      Remarks from the NPCA President-Kevin Quigley 4.      Remarks from Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams 5.      Q & A, audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions, questions submitted online will also be addressed Have questions but can’t attend the town hall? Email your questions to Kristina . . .

Our blogger Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996–98) got some recent press in her home state of New Mexico. Bonnie, who earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University/Los Angeles in June 2007, was an honors graduate of Columbia University (BA, Literature/Writing, 1979), and then a writer and editor for nearly 30 years, and an educator — in the U.S. and overseas — for over 15 years. For ten years (from 1986 to 1996) she was a chef, caterer, and cooking instructor in Manhattan, during which time her freelance writing focused on food. In 1996, she joined the Peace Corps and served as a health and nutrition Volunteer in Gabon in central Africa. Her book, How to Cook a Crocodile: A Memoir with Recipes (Peace Corps Writers, 2010), recounts her experience teaching healthy cooking in Gabon. The following piece about Bonnie appeared online in The Taos News on Sunday, March 4, 2012. • Bonnie . . .

LAST WEEKEND I RECEIVED A PHONE CALL from Joan Corboy who was the wife of one of our APCDs back in Ethiopia in the early Sixties. She is now pushing 90, the mother of eight, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, and a wonderful woman. She called me to test her memory (it is, by the way, much better than mine!). Since I work at a Catholic college she wanted to know if I could get my hands on an article by Judge John T. Noonan, a Harvard educated lawyer, who had written a piece on contraception back in the mid-sixties. Joan, who is a faithful Catholic (Yes, Virginia, there are still some) was annoyed (to say the least) at all of Rick Santorum’s remarks on contraception, remembered the article, and wanted me to track it down for her. I had no idea who John T. Noonan, Jr. was, or about the article he had written on contraception. . . .

David Peterson del Mar recently published in the scholarly journal, African Identities (Vol. 9. N0 4, November 2011, 349-361) an article entitled “RERFLECTION At the heart of things: Peace Corps volunteers in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Peterson, who is not an RPCV, is an Assistant Professor at Portland State University for the Department of History and Extended Campus. He is the author of six books, including What Trouble I Have Seen: A History of Violence against Wives (Harvard University Press, 1996) and The American Family: From Obligation to Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).  He is currently researching American attitudes toward Africa since World War II for his next book which is tentatively entitled, Africa Existenial. His research for this new book that led him to RPCVs who served in Africa, and the writing that they have done over the years. He wrote me, “I very much enjoyed the research (on PCVs in Africa) — and hope that . . .

On this Peace Corps Birthday I thought I’d tell again one or two of the early stories about the agency.      A lot has been written, especially last year, about those days when the Peace Corps attracted the best and the brightest, or so they claimed. One document stated the agency’s  staff was composed of “skiers, mountain climbers, big-game hunters, prizefighters, football players, polo players and enough Ph.D.’s [30] to staff a liberal arts college.” There were 18 attorneys, of whom only four continue to work strictly as attorneys in the General Counsel’s office and the rest [including Sargent Shriver] did other jobs. Also, all of these employees were parents of some 272 children. In terms of staff and PCVs, the ratio was quite small. Figures from WWII showed 30 people were required to support every soldier in the front lines. After the war, peacetime ratio was one person in Washington to every four overseas. The Peace Corps was . . .