The Peace Corps

The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom BattlIne That Brought Down the Klan Laurence Leamer (Nepal 1964–66) William Morrow June 2016 384 pages $27.99 (hardcover), $12.99 (Kindle)   The Lynching published last year is a finalist for the Edgar Award as best true crime book of the year.  In a review of the book, Martin Ganzglass (Somalia 1966-68) wrote, “Whatever hyperbole appears on the back cover will not do justice to Laurence Leamer’s The Lynching — The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan. This fast paced factual thriller, with its numerous short, punchy chapters, is better than a John Grisham courtroom novel.” Review — THE LYNCHING by Laurence Leamer (Nepal)

  Write about your PCV experience and earn your MFA. Click  for the details  

Dear Returned Peace Corps Volunteer,                                                                                     January 19, 2017 As I complete my service this week, I want to reach out to all of you for the last time to express once again how grateful I am to have served with you during my tenure as director of this amazing agency. It has truly been the greatest honor of my life to return to the Peace Corps and lead you all in our historic efforts to safeguard the Peace Corps’ extraordinary legacy, welcome a new generation of Volunteers, and so much more. The magic of the Peace Corps depends on collaboration and on the will and spirit of each . . .

The President of the United States appoints the Peace Corps Director and deputy director, and the appointments must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Read more about the past directors of the Peace Corps. Initially established by President John F. Kennedy by Executive Order on March 1, 1961, the Peace Corps was formally authorized by the Congress on September 22, 1961, with passage of the Peace Corps Act. The Peace Corps enjoys bipartisan support in Congress. Senators and representatives from both parties have served as Volunteers. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and House Committee on Foreign Affairs are charged with general oversight of the activities and programs of the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps’ annual budget is determined each year by the congressional budget and appropriations process. Funding for the Peace Corps is included in the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill. Generally, the Peace Corps budget is . . .

I received the following note from novelist Dick Lipez (Ethiopia 1962-64) who spends his winters in Bangkok. The ‘permanent’ RPCVs in Thailand are having their monthly lunch at the Foreign Correspondents Club this Friday. Dick writes that there are “usually 25 or so people, most of them ex-Thailand PCVs who have stayed in-country.  A few current PCVs may show up.  Plus current staff. As you can imagine, an interesting and congenial bunch.  Also, the food at the FCC is good.” The invitation note from Peter Montalbano to the Thailand RPCVs Good evening, all, and Happy New Year, such as we hope it may be . . . I’m pretty late with the monthly missive here . . . probably due to a mild case of burn-out. It’s been 2 years now I’ve been organizing meetings for the Former PCVs group here in Bangkok, and I’m getting pulled in so many . . .

  The newsletter of the Columbia River Peace Corps Association printed this announcement. I have reprinted it here, as I think we are part of the Peace Corps networks! • NPR seeks to interview RPCVs with negative experiences of Lariam CRPCA’s acting E-update Editor, Bill Stein, had two phone conversations this morning with National Public Radio investigative journalist Daniel Zwerdling, who asked to forward the following information request to Peace Corps networks. I’m doing stories on the controversial history of mefloquine (the brand name used to be Lariam). Among other issues, I’m examining why the Peace Corps continues to use it widely, even though the US military has pretty much banned it. I’ve interviewed dozens of former volunteers, government officials, researchers at university medical centers in the US and Europe, and others. I’m actually putting the stories together now, but I’m always eager to chat with more people who took . . .

  Washington, D.C. Metro Area reclaims no.1 spot for first time since 2009 WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 20, 2016 – The Peace Corps today released its 2016 rankings of the top volunteer-producing states and metropolitan areas across the country. For the first time in six years, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria is the largest metropolitan-area producer of volunteers, bumping longtime leader New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island to no.2 on the total volunteers list this year. Vermont and California remain no.1 on the respective per capita and total volunteer-producing states lists. Montana has also made impressive strides this year with Missoula, Montana making its first appearance since 2011 in the no.1 spot for top metro areas per capita and The Treasure State climbing to no.3 on the list of top states per capita. For the first time, the District of Columbia and surrounding states appear on this year’s top states per capita rankings with D.C., Maryland . . .

  Come Teach in DC! DC Public Schools are looking for candidates for an RPCV-exclusive fellowship to teach Arabic, American Sign Language, French, Italian, Latin, Mandarin, and Spanish (teaching certificate not required). Register to learn more from our webinar and Q&A!    REGISTER    https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USPC/bulletins/17c8c59  

SBA Administrator and Obama Cabinet member Maria Contreras-Sweet and the Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet (Western Samoa 1981-83) signed a five-page set of commitments designed to deepen the working relationship between the two organizations. One key feature of the agreement includes enhancing employment opportunities for returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Another involves intentionally supplying current Volunteers with information relating to targeted SBA programs. This information will help Volunteers expand business and job creation opportunities in the countries where they serve. “It gives me great pride that the Peace Corps recognizes the value of empowering its volunteers to expand business and job creation in the areas where they serve,” said Contreras-Sweet. “Small businesses are the engine of job creation in the United States. With the new SBA/Peace Corps agreement, this entrepreneurial spirit can be exported to improve living conditions around the world.  At the same time, our agency will proudly continue to recruit . . .

During the 1950s, two impulses swept across the United States. One impulse that characterized the decade was detailed in two best-selling books of the times, the 1955 novel by Sloan Wilson, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, and the non-fiction The Organization Man, written by William H. Whyte and published in 1956. These books looked at the “American way of life,” how men got ahead on the job and in society. Both are bleak views of the corporate world. As an editor for Fortune magazine, Whyte was well placed to observe corporate America. It became clear to him that the American belief in the perfectibility of society was shifting from one of individual initiative to one that could be achieved at the expense of the individual. With its clear analysis of contemporary working and living arrangements, The Organization Man rapidly achieved bestseller status. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit was one of the great publishing successes . . .

Write about Your Peace Corps Experience and Earn an MFA Degree Have you ever wanted to tell the story of your Peace Corps experience or the stories of the people you met in your service? The Master in Fine Arts Program at National University is running a special cohort of students comprised of current or returned PCVs, employees of the National Peace Corps Association, or other members of the NPCA that have been closely involved with the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps Cohort will take three writing workshop classes together that will focus on writing about your Peace Corps experience and explore notable texts by other Peace Corps veterans. All three classes will be led by returned Peace Corps volunteer and noted author, John Coyne. The rest of the classes required to earn the MFA degree in Creative Writing will be taken with our experienced MFA faculty and our diverse . . .

If you are starting the new year with the resolution to write the Great Peace Corps Memoir you might take a few hours and read Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77) paperback ($13.95) entitled: Peace Corps Experience: Write and Publish Your Memoir. The paperback came out in 2012 and it is up-to-date and useful, down to the simplest details for writing and self-publishing. The book is also available as a Kindle e-book for $3.99. You can reach Larry by email:  lawrenceflihosit@gmail.com if you have questions about the book. Good luck with the writing.      

  I came across this article after our 50th Anniversary and saved it. With the Trump Transition Team working on a new Administration who knows what might happen to the Peace Corps, but this ‘kind of thinking’ is in the air, I’m sure, at Trump Tower. • THE FORGOTTEN FAILURES OF THE PEACE CORPS by James Bovard April 1, 2011 This article originally appeared in the April 2011 edition of Freedom Daily This is the fiftieth anniversary year for the Peace Corps. Prior to the creation of AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps took the cake as the most arrogant and overrated government program in Washington. At a time when the agency is being hailed for idealism and almost saving the world, it is worthwhile to consider its early record of debacles and defaults. A 1980s Peace Corps recruiting brochure proclaimed, “Most people talk about world problems. The Peace Corps solves them.” The . . .

As the transfer of power from a Democratic administration to that of a Republican administration looms, it may be very important to be able to review the Public Reports from Peace Corps.  If there is a Transition Report, I can not find it.  (I have made a FOIA request, but I suspect it will months before I get a response.)  These reports are the public summaries of Peace Corps work and also that of the Peace Corps Office of the Inspector General.  They may or may not be factors as the new administration directs policy for the Peace Corps.  The best way to scan all the Peace Corps Reports is to go to peacecorps.gov, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Open Gov and Inspector General.  Here are titles and links to those documents I think may be the most pertinent. Peace Corps Reports: peacecorps.gov Strategic Plan . . .