Peace Corps writers

The other day I received in the mail a beautiful coffee table size book, Vietnam Journeys, from the publish, Gail Fields. The photos for this lovely book were done (I believe) by her husband, Charles Fields, a first class photographer who is a member of the Photography Arts Collective, the Provincetown Art Association, and the American Society of Media Photographers. He is one serious photographer. However, we review and promote only PCV and RPCV and Peace Corps Staff writers and their books. What gives? Why am I getting this lovely book? Then I noticed that the text was done by Mary Ann Braggs, who lives in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and who is a journalist. She was in the Peace Corps from 1980-82, serving in Lobatse, Botswana and that qualifies Vietnam Journeys for a listing in our new books for April and an upcoming review on this site.

Revere Beach Elegy: A Memoir of Home and Beyond by Roland Merullo ( Micronesia 1979–80) AJAR Contemporaries 213 pages 2011 $16.00 Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) REVERE BEACH ELEGY is an autobiography of a painfully honest, and consequently endearing writer, Roland Merullo. It is not, however, “all about him.” Merullo reflects upon his myriad experiences in ways that hold a mirror to the reader’s own life stories and his or her own reactions to them. You don’t have to be Italian American (though I am) from an lower middle class enclave in Revere Beach, Massachusetts to empathize with Merullo’s childhood in an immigrant society with all the pressures that implies — “strictures of the old world and the promises and possibilities of the new.” When he is almost blinded by a baseball, his family believes that it was their prayers to St. Lucy that cured him, as they . . .

From the Journal News written by Karen Croke April 17, 2011 Meet Pelham author John Coyne Last Sunday, John Coyne had more than a passing interest in the Masters golf tournament. Yes, Charl Schwartzel won in a thrilling match, but for Coyne, the sense of history and mythology that surrounds the tournament, and the course where it’s played, Augusta National, hold a particular fascination. It’s the subject of Coyne’s latest book, The  Caddie Who Won the Masters. (Peace Corps Writers, 2011). Coyne says famed golfer Bobby Jones, who created Augusta and the Masters, had always hoped an amateur might one day win the championship. So, in Coyne’s novel, Tim Alexander, a Pelham golf pro, makes just such a run for the title and is helped on his quest by some supernatural forces – namely, a squad of departed golf stars, including Westchester native Gene Sarazen- who emerge, very “Field of . . .

RPCV Poet Paul Violi (Nigeria 1966-67) died of cancer on April 2, 2011, writes William Grimes in an obituary published on April 15 in The New York Times. Grimes says: “Violi was a poet with an easy, conversational style and satiric bent who reworked arcane historical verse forms and invented his own in poems that mimicked glossaries, errata slips, travel brochures and cover letters.” In a Peace Corps Writers.org review written by Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65) of Violi’s collection, Selected Accidents, Pointless Anecdotes published by Hanging Loose Press in 2002, Mueller wrote, “If you need to laugh at the absurdity of life during these dark days, I recommend that you run out and purchase this edgy, hilarious book by Paul Violi. But be forewarned: don’t expect frivolous humor. The unnamed narrator of each story has the sensibility of a twisted, paranoid imp. His is the deadpan voice of a jaundiced observer whose life is . . .

I went to see Anything Goes on Broadway last night which is not a great musical, but has one great dance number, and during the intermission, reading the program I spotted Timothy Crouse’s name. Now who is Timothy Crouse? Well, first of all he is the brother of actress Lindsay Crouse, and secondly, he is the son of Russel Crouse, who with Howard Lindsay, wrote Anything Goes. Reading the program I saw that Tim, who was an RPCV in Morocco 1968-69, co-authored the New Book for the play. In other words, attempted to bring the ‘story’ up to date. Tim’s background is interesting and impressive. After the Peace Corps he wrote for Boston Herald, then the Rolling Stone. At the Rolling Stone, in 1971, he was writing music stories but got interested in covering the 1972 presidential election and the only other writer in the room sharing his interest was Hunter Thompson. Together, they went off ‘on the bus’ to . . .

Gloryland: A Novel by Shelton Johnson (Liberia 1982-83) Sierra Club/Counterpoint $15.95 288 pages 2010 Reviewed by Andy Trincia (Romania 2002-04) I REMEMBER SHELTON JOHNSON from the Ken Burns film “The National Parks:  America’s Best Idea” on PBS a couple years ago. Johnson, a park ranger at Yosemite, was featured prominently in the acclaimed documentary series, speaking eloquently and passionately about our great parks. What I didn’t know was that he was a Peace Corps Volunteer and wrote a book, Gloryland. Indeed, it was a pleasure to dive into this man’s debut novel. In the fictional but historically based memoir Gloryland, Johnson takes us on the life journey of Elijah Yancy, a sharecropper’s son from Spartanburg, South Carolina, born on Emancipation Day in 1863. Elijah is a feisty kid whose African and Seminole blood — and poor but close-knit family — give him a fierce pride despite the difficult post-Civil War . . .

For those who wish to prolong the pleasure of the recent Masters, here’s a book for you. (If I can suggest my own novel, The Caddie Who Won the Masters, published on April 7, 2011, the opening day of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Course.) Briefly, here’s what the book is all about, as described by a “golf blogger” on her site today: “After watching the dramatic finish of The Masters, I couldn’t help but feel a longing for more visions of Augusta National Golf Course. The azaleas in bloom, the walk through Amen Corner, the history that surrounds this golf mecca has me wishing the first major of the season was just beginning and not at an end. “For book lovers who also wish to prolong the magic of The Masters golf tournament, John Coyne has written The Caddie Who Won The Masters a suspenseful novel about a middle-aged amateur’s seemingly impossible . . .

[Richard Sitler has been working on this photo project for years and he has produced a wonderful  book. It is a great way to celebrate the 50th, giving his book as a gift, or keeping it yourself for your coffee table.]  Order Making Peace with the World, a commemorative book celebrating the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps, at Other Places Publishing: http://www.otherplacespublishing.com/mpwtw.html The book is also available at Amazon.com – A portion of publisher proceeds from this title will go to Peace Corps projects around the globe. In June 2009, Richard Sitler embarked on an epic journey to document Peace Corps Volunteers serving communities around the world. Over the next two years, Richard would find himself traversing the planet while staying with Peace Corps Volunteers, experiencing their communities and work sites, and documenting what it’s like to be a Volunteer in the modern Peace Corps. Richard discovered that the values President Kennedy had imagined . . .

Answering Kennedy’s Call: Pioneering the Peace Corps in the Philippines Edited by Parker W. Borg, Maureen J. Carroll, Patricia MacDermot Kasdan, Stephen W. Wells (all Philippines (1961–63) A Peace Corps Writers Book $25.00 498 pages March 2011 • One Hand Does Not Catch A Buffalo: 50 Years of Amazing Peace Corps Stories — Africa Edited by Aaron Barlow (Togo 1988–90) Series Editor Jane Albrition (India 1967–69) Travelers’ Tales/Solas House $18.95 March 2011 • Fiesta of Sunset: The Peace Corps, Guatemala and a Search for Truth Taylor Mills Dibbert (Guatemala 2006–08) iUniverse $17.95 paperback, $27.95 hardback 208 pages February 2011 • Through Our Eyes: Peace Corps in Korea, 1966–1981 edited by William Harwood (Korea 1976–78) Korea: COMA, the Artist Company $50.00 + $6.00 shipping 2009 • Out in the All of It by Chris Honoré (Colombia 1967–69) iUniverse $9.95 45 pages March 2011 • Revere Beach Elegy: A Memoir of Home . . .

Robin Williams is on Broadway in the New York premiere of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, a play written by RPCV Rajiv Joseph (Senegal 1996-98). The story was the winner of the 2009 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) award for Outstanding New American Play and was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Today, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is at the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York for a limited run. It stars Robin Williams in tattered clothes as the eponymous tiger, roaming the streets of present-day Baghdad.   The lives of two American Marines and an Iraqi translator are forever changed by an encounter with this quick-witted tiger who haunts the streets of war-torn Baghdad attempting to find meaning, forgiveness and redemption amidst the city’s ruins. The New York Times writes, “This boldly imagined, harrowing and surprisingly funny drama is wonderfully daring.” In a . . .

The Civilized World:  A Novel in Stories by Susi Wyss (Central African Republic, 1990–92) Henry Holt and Company $15.00 226 pages March, 2011 Reviewed by  Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon 1965–67) IN HER DEBUT NOVEL, The Civilized World:  A Novel in Stories, Susi Wyss infuses her characters with the same affability and intimate pain that Alexander McCall Smith infused Precious Ramotswe, his #1 Private Lady Detective, but on a much wider and nuanced scale. Wyss has created contemporary African characters who are not look-alike, one-size-fits-all pieces of cardboard and too, American characters with equally distinguishable lives. The Americans live side-by-side with the Africans under circumstances both provocative and reasonable. Whether Ghanaian or U.S. military brat, Malawian or Washingtonian, each is a unique personality facing conflicts and heartbreaks and successes, sagas which will pull you into the page. Here is Ophelia, newly arrived in Malawi, wife of an American Embassy drone, making plans . . .

The book that Richard C. Holbrooke, former Peace Corps CD in Morocco (1970-72), always wanted to write, the story of his life dealing with international conflicts, will now be written by George Packer (Togo 1982-83). Packer signed a contract with Knopf to “write a book about Mr. Holbrooke’s career and the trajectory of American foreign policy during his time as a diplomat” according to a piece in today’s New York Times. Packer is reported as saying he had “been thinking about it” when a group of Holbrooke’s friends approached Packer and asked him if he had thought of writing a book. Packer says in the Timespiece, “What a life he had, how much ground he had covered, how many crises and big events in American foreign policy he had touched. He had such an outsized life that connected with so many important periods of recent American history.” The book will be released in . . .

History Begins in Africa by Mary Acosta (Afghanistan 1964–66) Birds Nest Publishing $29.95 385 pages December 2010 Reviewed by Shlomo Bachrach (Ethiopia Staff 1966-68) THE CLAIM IN MARY ACOSTA’S TITLE is a bit more modest than the one made by the paleoanthropologists who locate all human origins in the Danakil and the Awash Valley in eastern Ethiopia. But she’s plenty bold: she says that written history begins with a bronze plaque reporting the victory of Terkinos, a king from what is Ethiopia today, over Melmanios, the next to last ruler of Uruk, a major city in Sumer, which became Babylon, which became Iraq in modern times. (Gilgamesh, for those who recognize the name, was a king in Uruk a few centuries after the events she writes about.) Acosta dates her insights into history on material on two plaques that refer to events in the 4th millennium BC. History begins there, . . .

In January 2008 I received an email from Jane Albritton (India 1967–69) asking if I would get the word out about her books project. I was happy to do so. Anything to help RPCV writers get published. Anything to help RPCVs tell their stories. Anything to fulfill the Third Goal of the Peace Corps. Jane’s plan was to publish four books of stories for the 50th anniversary. The four volumes focusing on Africa and the Middle East; Central Asia and Eastern Europe; Asia and the Pacific; and Central America, South America and the Caribbean, would feature stories from past and present Volunteers, staff and instructors. Even while I was “spreading the word” I thought to myself: This is a crazy idea! Well, once again I was wrong. I am now holding: One Hand Does Not Catch A Buffalo, 50 Years of Amazing Peace Corps Stories, Volume One, edited by Aaron Barlow (Togo 1988-90) the first collection of . . .

He’s back! After running unsuccessfully several times for governor of Texas (not teabagger enough), Kinky Friedman (Borneo 1967-69) is being ‘written about’ in a new musical based on his life. The second act of this new musical is “Kinky in the Peace Corps” –see, Fitzgerald was wrong: there are second lives in a man’s life. The ‘world premiere of Becoming Kinky…The World According to Kinky Friedman, written by Ted Swindley, who also wrote the international hit, Always….Patsy Cline, features three actors, including recording artist Jesse Dayton, portraying Kinky at different stages of his life. Little Jewford will play the role he was born to play–himself. Kinky Friedman himself will not appear in the play, but he will attend the world premiere and be available for pictures and autographs after the show. The world primiere is Monday night, March 28, at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck. It will benefit Kinky’s  Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. Benefit tickets cost . . .