Peace Corps writers

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Laurel West Kessler (Ethiopia 1964-66)   by Jim Flint for the Mail Tribune Sunday, February 7th 2021     An Ashland woman’s pandemic project of putting together a memory book about her Peace Corps experiences in the late 1960s in Senegal led to a personal invitation from Senegal’s president to revisit the country.   Carolee and Art Buck (Senegal 1968-70) met years ago at the University of California at Santa Barbara and discovered they shared a desire to work and travel around the world. “We were young, starry-eyed dreamers,” Carolee said. They were inspired to join the Peace Corps by the compelling stories of people doing good works in foreign cultures and by the words of John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” They got married and joined the . . .

  Mickey Miller is a romance author from the Midwest. He’s lived many lives in his short life including collegiate Athlete, Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay, and high school coach and teacher. Now he writes steamy contemporary romance page-turners in his unique, steamy, thoughtful style: Sometimes fantasy, sometimes real, and always hot. Mickey writes: I realize I’m a bit of an oddball as a guy writing romance. It has happened many times that I’ll be out with friends, and the topic will come up that “Mickey is a romance writer.” Girls will often think I am lying to them when I say I write romance. I guess they think it’s something a guy would say to impress them. Honestly, I have shown girls my books, Instagram, Facebook, and they still give me the side-eye like they think they’re being punked. I find it amusing that apparently, my chosen art form . . .

PEACE CORPS BOLIVIA I – 1962-1964   1 Training and a Grand Welcome It was March 1, 1962, and I had almost forgotten about my application (# 102) to this new Peace Corps idea of President Kennedy, so when I received the following phone call, I was stunned. “Congratulations,” said a woman’s voice, “you have been selected for the first Peace Corps project to Bolivia. Can you be ready for training in Oklahoma on March 16th?” I babbled, “B..Bolivia? Oklahoma? March 16th?”  I must have sounded like an idiot. “Yes, the training is in Oklahoma. It starts on March 16th. ” “ Well . . .” I tried to think intelligently, “yes . . . yes I can be ready.” “Fine, I know this is short notice, so please look for an important packet in the mail in the next day or two.” She hung up and I sat there . . .

by Ted Vestal (Ethiopia Staff 1964-66) • The pilot, Captain Paul Wuhrman, was glad to be back over Europe. On the horizon he could see some of the snowcapped mountains of his native Switzerland, neutral, alpine orderly. It had been a long haul flight in Globe Airlines twin-engine turboprop Dart Herald. Before starting with an early morning departure in “the Big Rains” of Addis Ababa in the highlands of Ethiopia, Wuhrman had looked in at the neatly stacked cargo in the fuselage and assumed all was in order. He took his place in the cockpit and started up the Dart 527 engines. The engines roared and the winds buffeted, and he took off from the runway of Haile Selassie I International Airport, popularly known as “Bole” sitting at an altitude of 7,500 feet. Wuhrman flew over the rocky north of the country following the path of the Blue Nile, a route . . .

  While becoming a husband often begins with an overflow of loving feelings and the anticipation of a fabulous future, actually living with your soul mate, best friend, or spouse brings many challenges! Sure, you might have gotten some inkling from your dad — if he was any good at husbanding himself. But, for the most part, you are on your own to figure out how to be one. So, how can a novice become a good husband? Based on numerous interviews with exemplary husbands and their partners, plus the author’s own practical experience through trial and error, the book is filled with good practices that you can replicate. The 50 practices are presented as a first-hand account of the author and his marvelous relationship with his wife, Kathleen. Mixed with humor, each practice is illustrated with real-life examples. Each shows a way to foster being “in sync” with one’s . . .

  The Other Immigration Crisis Charles Fortin (Brazil 1968-70) “Cocaine . . . is typically available in urban, suburban, and rural drug markets throughout the United States . . .  and cocaine supplies are relatively stable at levels sufficient to meet current user demand.” United States Drug Enforcement Administration, National Drug Threat Assessment   The heavily-accented voice on the line said she was acting on a tip. A friend of mine with whom I had worked in Bulgaria had given her my name.  She was calling to get my help with drugs in Latin American and the Caribbean. I took a deep breath. Then, I relaxed as my caller explained she wanted to hire me as a consultant to report on the drug trade, not to participate in it. In the Balkans, my friend had called on me to give a training module to doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators on . . .

  Preceding Paul Theroux: from Addis to Nairobi by Wayne Kessler (Ethiopia 1964-66)   As I age, I’m finding that memories have become a larger part of my life than I want them to be.  I’d rather be thinking and planning something new than being caught up in the past.  Regardless, memories happen, so when I read Paul Theroux’s (Malawi 1963-65) “The Longest Road in Africa” from Dark Star Safari about his journey in Ethiopia from Addis Ababa to Moyale, I was instantly caught up in my own memories of the same trip 36 years before his. My wife Laurie and I left our Peace Corps village in the northern Eritrean Province of Ethiopia on July 1st 1966, with mixed emotions: sad to leave our Eritrean friends but excited about a vague idea of traveling by road from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, . . .

  Despite the thousands of books published on the American Civil War, one aspect that has never received the in-depth attention it deserves is the use of landmines and their effect on the war and beyond. Kenneth R. Rutherford rectifies this oversight with America’s Buried History: Landmines in the Civil War, the first book devoted to a comprehensive analysis and history of the fascinating and important topic of landmines. Modern mechanically fused high explosive and victim-activated landmines were used for the first time in the world’s history on a widespread basis in the American Civil War. The first American to die from a victim-activated landmine was on the Virginia peninsula in early 1862 during the siege of Yorktown. The controversial weapon, which was concealed on or beneath the ground, was built for one purpose: to kill or maim enemy troops. The weapon was the brainchild of Confederate General Gabriel J. Rains, . . .

  Streets of Golfito: A Novel by Jim LaBate focuses on two individuals who meet in Golfito, Costa Rica in 1974. Jim (Diego) is a 22-year-old Peace Corps Volunteer from upstate New York, and he has been assigned to introduce sports other than soccer to the young people. By contrast, Lilli is a shy, beautiful, 17-year-old Costa Rican girl who wants to learn English and escape her small town, a banana port on the Pacific side near the Panamanian border. In alternating chapters, the first third of the book shows these two characters growing up in their respective countries. Then, after they meet, Lilli experiences a tragedy that will drastically change her life, and Jim does all he can to help her survive and thrive in her new circumstances. • Streets of Golfito: A Novel by Jim LaBate (Costa Rica 1973-75) Mohawk River Press 252 pages October 2020 $9.99 (Kindle); $19.95 . . .

  A Narrow Definition of “Winner” Shouldn’t Hide McGovern’s Moral Clarity by Mike McQuillan (Korea 1978-79) An unmarked door opens to a vacant bar where I go seeking news, not booze. Chair-climbing to an aged black and white television, I find a CBS station for the South Dakota Senate update on November 4, 1980, election night in Mitchell, Senator George McGovern’s hometown. Six months before, Greyhound had taken me 1,000 miles from New York City to his last reelection campaign. I traded jeans and tee for a suit and tie in a Sioux City, Iowa diner’s restroom at dawn, then I felt awkward with McGovern’s casually dressed statewide staff in Sioux Falls. “You showed you were serious. That impressed us,” Political Director Judy Harrington would later say. Now, having canvassed house to house through four counties’ farm towns and ranch lands, recorded radio spots, phone-banked, planned events, sent thanks, and . . .

  From “Critical Notes”: Marnie Mueller reviewed Martha J. Egan’s Relicarios: The Forgotten Jewels of Latin America for the Peace Corps Worldwide Network. • Would you like to have your writing distributed to thousands of literary readers? Join the National Book Critics Circle. Live the life of books As an active member of the NBCC, you’ll be able to spread the news of your literary success to readers across the world, plus connect with other members and review editors.