Peace Corps writers

The Incurables by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991–93) University of Notre Dame Press $20.00 233 pages 2012 Reviewed by Susi Wyss (Central African Republic 1990-92) As a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic in the early 1990s, I once accidentally ingested a triple dose of Fasigyn to treat a case of giardia. That night, my mind slipped into an alternate world in which I hallucinated that rats were coming through my window and trying to crawl under my mosquito net. That experience instilled in me an enduring empathy for people struggling with mental illness, and taught me just how thin the membrane is that separates sanity from madness. In Mark Brazaitis’ fifth book, a deep and introspective collection of stories called The Incurables, this membrane seems especially thin and permeable, and his varied cast of characters manifests symptoms of varying degrees of madness. A school coach turns into a . . .

Never Gonna Cease My Wanderin’: Letters Between Friends by Ruth Kesselring Royal (Philippines 1962-64) and Beryl A. Brinkman (Afghanistan 1967-69) Peace Corps Writers $15.00 September 2012 Reviewed by  Douglas Foley (Philippines 1962-64) Never Gonna Cease my Wanderin’ is a lovely, heartfelt coming-of-age story of friendship between two female Peace Corps Volunteers. The principal author, Ruth Kesselring Royal (Philippines 1962-64) reconstructs her friendship with Beryl Brinkman (Afghanistan 1967-69) through their extensive correspondence. She supplements the letters with recollections from her journal. To her credit, the edited letters retain much of their original language and tone. I must forewarn the readers that a long string of raw letters may present some reading challenges. The letters meander over many topics and contain a great deal of mundane information. But if readers plunge into the detail, they will find the fascinating narrative threads I am about to suggest. First, Ms. Royal is telling a . . .

David Mather discusses his book, One for the Road, a fictionalized account of a young Peace Corps Volunteer living in Cufeo, Chile, and supervising a reforestation project to help save the community in Gainesville, Florida, at 1:30 p.m., on January 22, 2013 in the Headquarters Branch Library at 401 University Avenue. Mather, who served in southern Chile with the Peace Corps from 1968 to 1970, has lived off-grid for more than 40 years. He and his wife divide their time between Lyme, New Hampshire, and Florida’s Gulf Coast. David Mather grew up in Sarasota, Florida, before attending school in New England where he graduated from Deerfield Academy (’64) and Bowdoin College (’68). He then served in southern Chile with the Peace Corps from 1968 – 70. He was the most isolated volunteer in his program, and the two years in the Peace Corps strongly influenced him. Upon his return, he . . .

  The Beach at Galle Road: Stories from Sri Lanka by Joanna Luloff (Sri Lanka 1996-98) Algonquin Books $22.95 278 pages September 2012 Reviewed by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-93) • Every morn and every night Some are born to sweet delight. Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night. -William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence” Blake’s observation is as true of countries as it is of people. Some indeed seem born to endless night. Guatemala. Mozambique. Rwanda. Three otherwise beautiful counties plagued by civil war. There are others, of course. Sri Lanka, an island nation located off the southern coast of India, for example. From 1983 to 2009, Sri Lanka was the site of a civil war pitting the government against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, whose aim was to create an independent state in the north and east of the island. Over the 26-year-long war, . . .

The winner of the “Multicultural Non-Fiction” Award from USA Book News is Dodging Machetes: How I Survived Forbidden Love, Bad Behavior, and the Peace Corps in Fiji by Will Lutwick (Fiji 1968-70). A Peace  Corps Writers Book, it was published in 2012. Other finalists were: Journey to the Heart: Secrets of Aboriginal Healing by Dr. Gary Holz with Robbie Holz (iUniverse) and Returning: A Tale of Vasalisa and Baba Yoga by Suzanne Banay Santo (Red Butterfly Publication) This the 10th Annual USA Best Book Awards. USA Book News covers books from all sections of the publishing industry-mainstream, independent, & self-published.  USA Book News will continue to feature quality books and aggressively promote those books to the publishing & entertainment industries, national media and the book buying public. Awards by USA Book News are giving in 137 categories from  African-American Studies  to Youth Issues.

Gregory D. Johnsen (Jordan 2001-02) is a former Fulbright Fellow in Yemen and a Ph.D. candidate in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. He has written for Newsweek, Foreign Policy, appeared on NPR and the Charlie Rose Show among other places, and this week W.W. Norton will  publish his book: The Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia. It is, the cover copy reads: A gripping account of how al-Qaeda in Yemen rebounded from an initial defeat to once again threaten the United States. On November 13, 2012, of this week, Johnsen spoke at the Brookings Institution saying among other things that the struggle against al Qaeda in Yemen may become a lasting model for U.S. fights against non-state actors, but it hasn’t worked. He goes onto point out that the approach to counterterror in Yemen, where the United States carriers out air strikes but avoids putting boots . . .

Departures Magazine, the premium publication of American Express that goes to holders of platinum cards, has a travel piece in its November/December 2012 thick Christmas issue written Vanity Fair Special Correspondent by Maureen Orth (Colombia 1964-66) entitled, “Colombia: A Brave New World.” In her piece Maureen is able to make a pitch for her Marina Orth Foundation that works with three schools and 1,200 children in Colombia, teaching English and technology, and give a plug to the new NPCA Next Step Travel program which organizes two-week trips combining travel, service and education to places like Dominican Republic and Guatemala.  She also tells rich card holders what to see and where to go in this “now-thriving South American country” that has “emerged as a full-fledged tourist destination ready for its moment.” Maureen sums up her connection to Colombia this way, “My journey to the country began more than four decades ago . . .

Dr. Dark by Robert E. Hamilton (Ethiopia 1965–67) Amazon Digital, $.99 356 pages October, 2012 Reviewed by R J Huddy (Morocco 1981-83) The set-up for Robert Hamilton’s novel Dr. Dark is an event that many of us might have encountered at one time or another. One day you’re tooling along, minding your own business, when, without warning, some startling event occurs, and suddenly someone needs your immediate assistance. Sometimes it even means life or death. Maybe someone needs a Heimlich maneuver, or CPR. Or maybe, as in Dr. Dark, it’s a car accident. You may find-as did Hamilton’s Dr. Barbara Kelly-that someone else, a total stranger, has appeared at your side, and for a few moments you are irrevocably linked with this stranger in the immense effort to save the life of another stranger. Perhaps, like Dr. Kelly, you are more calm and rational in that tense effort than you’d . . .

[When I first met Ron Arias (Peru 1963-65)  he worked for People Magazine. I asked him what he wrote about and he smiled and said that he covered the Third World for People! Indeed he did. Ron’s first book was The Road to Tamazunchale, published by Bilingual Press in 1992. He then wrote Five Against the Sea, which grew out of an article that he wrote for People. He co-authored, Healing from the Heartwith the famous Dr. Mehmet Oz, published by Dutton in 1998. With Paul D. White Ron wrote White’s Rules: Saving Our Youth One Kid at a Time, a story of a Canoga Park teacher’s response to killing of a student , published in 2007 by Random House. His memoir of his father, published by Bilingual Review Press, was entitled, Moving Target. It came out in 2002. By then, he had left People and returned to his home in Southern California. Rob’s brother, Bob, also . . .

The Devil’s Causeway The True Story of America’s First Prisoners of War in Philippines, and the Heroic Expedition Sent to Their Rescue by Matthew Westfall (Philippines 1983-85) Lyons Press $26.95 (hardcover); $12.90 (Kindle) 417 pages 2012 Reviewed by P. David Searles (CD Philippines 1971–74) TO THE EXTENT THAT AMERICANS KNOW anything about the Philippines, they tend to know that the United States played a key role in liberating the country from its 300-year-long Spanish occupation.  They would probably know enough to say that this event took place during the Spanish American War at the end of the nineteenth century.  What they have little or no knowledge about is the fierce, bloody and barbaric war that the United States and the Philippines fought immediately following the dispatch of the Spanish. Even to this day, the United States refuses to give the struggle legitimacy by calling it a ‘War.’  Instead, we insist . . .

You may have read the A1 story above the fold, left side, in the New York Times this morning. It was written by journalist and RPCV Jonathan Weisman (Guinea Bissau/Philippines 1988-90.) Jonathan is one of two RPCV reporters at the NYTIMES. The other is Maya Lau (Senegal 2009-11). Maya is in New York; Jonathan works out of the Washington office. We have had other RPCVs working for the TIMES, (our blogger Karen DeWitt (Ethiopia 1964-66) was one.) Jonathan says he had a strange Peace Corps career. “My wife and I went to Guinea Bissau in July 88 to train for Peace Corps 1 in Cape Verde. But the Cape Verdean government shrunk the program and we were left in the cold. We were then transferred to the Philippines where we served until July 1990, when the program was evacuated. With two years in and lots of evacuations due to the invasion . . .

Craig Carrozzi (Colombia 1978-80) will be signing books this Saturday, November 3rd, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Green Arcade Bookstore at 1680 Market Street at the corner of Gough in San Francisco. The Green Arcade is a very eclectic and original bookstore. Craig will be featuring readings from The Curse of Chief Tenaya, an historic novel about the Gold Rush and Yosemite and, City ‘Scapes, the nostalgic book about the San Francisco Giants who just won the World Series. Both of these books are available as E-books from Amazon, but there are only a precious few copies in original book form and they are sold exclusively at the Green Arcade.  Craig will also will be selling his trilogy of South American adventure travel books, Wedding of the Waters, The Road to El Dorado, and Festival of Conception.

From Galley Cat, the blog of  Jason Boog (Guatemala 2000-02) on October 25, 2012 3:07 PM Literary agent Janet Reid offered some self-publishing advice on her popular blog, urging aspiring writers to take a realistic view of the indie route. According to her post, self-published writers need to sell “more than 20,000 copies” to get the attention of traditional publishers these days. These are tough numbers for any kind of author, and set daunting odds new writers. What do you think? Check it out Janet concludes: This post is not to dissuade you from self-publishing. Have at it with all your might. BUT be realistic about what self-publishing is, and what it can accomplish. And more important what it can NOT accomplish. First among the list for what it can’t is launch a mystery series.  Publishers are not keen on picking up Book #2 if Book #1 sold fewer than . . .

27 Months in the Peace Corps: My Story, Unvarnished John Guy LaPlante (Ukraine 2007-09) 559 pages Infinity Publishing, $24.95 (Available as an ebook) 2012   Reviewed by Darcy Munson Meijer (Gabon 1982-84) I’ve just finished John Guy LaPlante’s book about his stint with the Peace Corps in Ukraine 27 Months in the Peace Corps: My Story, Unvarnished. LaPlante is a fluid writer, and I learned quite a bit, but at 559 pages, the book is way too long. At age 78, LaPlante became a Peace Corps Volunteer and served from 2007-2009 as an English instructor in Chernihiv. He was the oldest Volunteer serving in the world in Ukraine. LaPlante is a real trooper, a man of heart and goodwill who, in joining the Peace Corps, fulfilled a longtime personal desire to serve the U.S. In addition to his recounting of daily trials and small victories, he frequently asks himself whether the . . .

Seven Sonnets by Julie R. Dargis (Morocco 1984-87) $5.99 16 pages 2012 Reviewed by Ann Neelon (Senegal 1978-79) As a girl growing up in New England, I visited many colonial houses-the Paul Revere house on the Freedom Trail in Boston, the birthplaces of John Adams and John Quincy Adams in what is now Adams National Historic Park just south of Boston, the houses at Old Sturbridge Village in central Massachusetts and Historic Deerfield in western Massachusetts where the famous massacre took place. Framed on the walls of these houses, the cross-stitch sampler proved an ubiquitous artifact. Its (often wobbly) stitches testified to the progress a young girl had made in acquiring elemental skills in needlework. Seven Sonnets, a new chapbook by Julie R. Dargis, qualifies as the poetic version of such a sampler. It serves at once as affirmation of Dargis’s painstaking attention to the sonnet form and as indication . . .