Miscellany

I’m not sure how many of you caught Chris Matthews (Swaziland 1968–70) Hardball program last night (September 22nd), but he spoke about the anniversary of the Peace Corps agency being approved by Congress. I realize Matthews can be annoying, the way he interrupts everyone, but this is an eloquent statement about Peace Corps service and Sarge Shriver, and since Matthews gave it himself, he didn’t need to interrupt! LET ME FINISH WITH THE FACT that today, September 22, is the anniversary — now just one year shy of a half-century — of Congress approving the US Peace Corps. Ask anyone who’s volunteered and they’ll tell you it was the opportunity of their life — the moment they broke out of their world — into a larger one, when they came face to face — on the other side of the globe — with a very different human experience. I went to Swaziland as . . .

A few days ago, while on vacation, I read in The New York Times where the late senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has a book coming out of his letters. The book is entitled, Daniel Patrick Moynihan: A Portrait in Letters of an American Visionary. Public Affairs Press is publishing the book next month. The book was edited by Steven R. Weisman, a former reporter for The New York Times who is now the editorial director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Excerpts from this book appeared this week in New York magazine. In his private–and not so private letters–Moynihan takes a whack at quite a collection of individuals and institutions. He didn’t like Hillary Rodham Clinton’s smugness, thought Spiro Agnew was a demagogue, and complained to Brooks Brothers about the holes in their socks. And then he wrote that the Peace Corps was full of elitists. Well, that got . . .

[Larry Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77) has a cause, and that is to get RPCV books in the Library of Congress. Here is what Larry has in mind, and if you can help him (and all Peace Corps writers,) get Peace Corps books recognized as part of our literary heritage by the Library of Congress. Please send him a comment, ideas, support. Many thanks.] Larry writes… As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of the Peace Corps’ inception, no institution collects, categorizes and makes available copies of published Peace Corps experience books. While the Kennedy Library has a Peace Corps collection, its emphasis has been private original papers and recently, recorded interviews with volunteers and staff members who served overseas. For anyone interested in merely finding a repository of personal experience books written by staff and volunteers, they can stay home. Ironically, Congress (which officially created the Peace Corps and annually appropriates funds) has its own library . . .

A time-sensitive note while John is away from his computer — a few days ago msnbc.com posted a link “Were you in the Peace Corps? Share your photos.” — but the link didn’t work. Just wrote them and here is the story — and the correct link: Were you in the Peace Corps? Share your photos. After years of war, the Peace Corps has returned to Sierra Leone. Nightly News will be broadcasting a report on the volunteers efforts to improve lives there. Nearly 50 years since it was first launched, the Peace Corps has sent Americans all over the globe. Were you a Peace Corps Volunteer? Send us your pictures, and we’ll feature a selection of them on msnbc.com. Images must be .gif, .jpg/jpeg or .png formats. Videos must be in .avi, .mov, .mpg/.mpeg, .wmv, .asf, or 3gp formats. Combined file size limit: 40MB Tell all your friends. Let’s . . .

Since Aaron Williams (Dominican Republic 1967-70) took over the Peace Corps on August 24, 2009–over a year ago–the agency has had no Communications Director or Congressional Liaison Director. (And the names, I’m told, now being considered for the congressional position aren’t worth while writing home about.)  These positions are, after the director and deputy, the two most important ones at the agency. Suzie Carroll,  the present Acting Congressional Liason, is a Republican hanger-on. A nice woman (not an RPCV, of course), who is considered weak and ineffective by congressional aides on the Hill. Allison Price, another non-PCV, another political appointment, is a nice young woman who is sadly not up to the job in the press office. She is unable to market the agency. She is unable to get the director on radio or television on in the press. You want to know why people say: is there still a Peace Corps? You tell them, “Allison Price is working on it!” The former Peace Corps . . .

Have you ever noticed how every organization having to do with service or goodness or overseas is someway linked to The Peace Corps! First there was the “domestic” Peace Corps, VISTA; then came National Service, and all those other peace -corps-like-programs, either academic or short term or do-this-and-you’ll-feel-good-programs. Enough already! Well, recently I read about the Priest Corps. Some of you might have heard of Father Andrew Greeley, a Catholic priest, who was (and might still be) on the staff of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, and who is a professor at the University of Arizona. I read his book, PRIESTS: A Calling in Crisis that was published in 2004 by the University of Chicago. In this book, according to Publishers Weekly, “Greeley draws upon the tools of his trade to challenge some stereotypes of the priesthood.” What interested me was one of his “policy implications for . . .

Yesterday, Tuesday, September 7, 2010, the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post’s On Leadership site jointly produce the Federal Coach, hosted by Tom Fox, director of the partnership’s Center for Government Leadership, as the question of  “U.S. gopvernment officials, “what’s your favorite book on leadership?”  Among those who they asked was Aaron Williams, the Peace Corps Director. Aaron  replied: “Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom is an outstanding book, because it’s one of these unique situations where someone who’s in prison for a long time comes out with a positive view of what needs to be done in that society. He has a plan of action to carry it out and doesn’t allow the past to be baggage that impedes his way to progress in the future.” Now! After being Peace Corps Director what will Aaron’s favorite Peace Corps book be? Give me your suggestions….

In The Washington Post on Friday, September 3, 2010, Aaron Williams was interviewed by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post’s On Leadership site jointly produce the Federal Coach, hosted by Tom Fox, director of the partnership’s Center for Government Leadership. The goal is to “engage, inspire and learn from you, the federal worker, whether you are a new hire, a contractor or a manager at the highest level.” Share your ideas and questions at fedcoach@ourpublicservice.org. Humility, risk-taking make leaders great Aaron S. Williams is the director of the Peace Corps and a former volunteer who served in the Dominican Republic. He previously served as the USAID mission director in South Africa, where he led a billion-dollar foreign assistance program when Nelson Mandela was president. Ranked five out of 34 small agencies, this was the first year that the Peace Corps participated in the Best Places to . . .

[Another report from our RPCV Costa Rica Correspondent. This news item was in their A.M. Costa Rica wire services.] In the early 1980s, Gordy Mengel served as a Peace Corps volunteer in an isolated community in what was then called Zaire, now Congo.  “I was placed somewhere in the middle part of the country,” said Mengel. “And in the small community where I lived there was no post office, so getting letters out, which was basically the only means of communication, was very challenging. Letters would take weeks, or months, to arrive. But now, thanks to technology, that is no longer the case. Computers, cells phones and the Internet have changed the way Peace Corps volunteers do their work and stay in touch. Now a Peace Corps programming and training officer in Rwanda, Mengel says improved communication technology has changed how people serve in the Peace Corps. Back when he was . . .

Peace Corps volunteers will embark on energy initiative: Special to A.M. Costa Rica The U.S. Department of State is providing $1 million to support Peace Corps volunteer efforts that increase rural access to energy, mitigate the effects of climate change, and support the use of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies in Central and South American communities, in support of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas. With this funding, Peace Corps volunteers will work with international experts, local organizations, businesses, and community members on the ground to create efficient and green solutions to energy challenges in the Americas, said the U.S. State Department, adding: Under the partnership, Peace Corps volunteers will work with members of local communities to build infrastructure to support environmentally-friendly energy and to educate communities on climate change and energy conservation. Volunteers will train host-country citizens in the use of alternative fuels and to install, . . .

I spotted this note on the Net earlier today: Until fairly recently, joining the Peace Corps usually meant living in a remote location and leaving behind family, friends and way of life. But mobile devices and the Internet are changing how volunteers serve — and how they keep in touch with home. This connectivity is helpful for the volunteers, but not always for the Peace Corps staff. Parents today know their kids never leave home, even when they are off at college, what with texting, emails, and Skype. Whatever happened to separation? Growing up? Out on your own? Still, there are advances of these strong family connections. I saw that when I was running the New York Recruitment Office. The whole family joins the Peace Corps when a child goes overseas. That’s not a bad thing. Shriver always said it would be the children of RPCVs who would benefit the most as they would . . .

The CIA and Peace Corps blog that I recently deleted by mistake was about SpyTalk, a column in The Washington Post, written by  Jeff Stein a longtime investigative reporter specializing in U.S. intelligence, defense and foreign policy issues.  Stein was writing about a new spy drama on USA Network, and how the Smithsonian was used as ‘cover’ for a CIA agent. He asked Melvin Gamble, a retired high-level CIA official, about that episode. And Gamble replied that it was ‘possible’ that the ‘cover’ with the Smithsonian.  Gamble spent four decades in the operations wing of the spy agency, retiring in 2008 as chief of the Africa division. However, Gamble said, the Smithsonian would have to agreed to the arrangement. He then went onto add that like any other U.S. government or quasi-government agency (with the exception of the Peace Corps), the venerable institution is fair game for use by the spooks. Now another (nameless) . . .

It was me! Sorry to say that I personally–not the Peace Corps! Not the CIA—deleted the post I put up on the Peace Corps and the CIA. I went to delete another item and missed! (Much like my golf game.) Now, if Marian was here in the States and now off in Ethiopia building a home in her old site, she could fix it, but I have NO IDEA!  Sorry to everyone who made commetns on the blog. Thank you.

On the Peace Corps new website yesterday I noted that  The Franklin H. Williams Award Ceremony will be held on September 9, 2010 at the Peace Corps Headquarters in D.C. The announcement listed the years that the Award has been given in Williams’ name. It does not say, however, that the first  Franklin H. Williams award ceremony was held in the Regional Recruitment Office in New York City in 1999, and that the New York Office named it “The Franklin H. Williams Award” and held the event. Now, nothing gets lost faster in the Peace Corps than its history so I thought (since I was involved!) I would detail how the Franklin H. Williams Award came about in the first place. At the time, I was the Regional Manager of the office and one of my recruiters,  Leslie Jean-Pierre (Guinea 1997-99), came to me with the suggestion of having an event in . . .

You might have seen the Washington Post article on Teach for America, how it has become the ‘hot’ program for college graduates. 4,500 Teach for America recruits were trained this summer. Smart kids are attracted to this program for lots of reasons, one simply being the salary and the opportunity to study for advanced degrees. This month, Teach for America won a $50 million federal grant that will help the program nearly double in the next four years. Teach for America was founded in 1990 by a Princeton graduate who hoped to expose future leaders to the problems of education. The program resembles the Peace Corps: two years in low-income urban and rural public schools. Applications are up by a third, but only about 12% are accepted. The new college grads make  $49,000 this year, and possibly more if they participate in a voluntary performance pay program. That’s better than the . . .