The Peace Corps

  PEACE CORPS MUSEUM SEEKING VOLUNTEERS     The Museum of the Peace Corps Experience has accepted numerous objects and stories from Returned Peace Corps Volunteers — so many, in fact, that we are looking for more RPCVs to commit a few hours each week to curate Museum activities. Tasks in the following activities are waiting to be addressed as quickly as possible: MARKETING – reaching new audiences through newsletters, press relations and social media COLLECTIONS — managing and cataloging objects and curating exhibits WRITING/EDITING — editing stories for publication and creating outreach messages MULTIMEDIA — enhancing website and expanding virtual exhibits FUNDRAISING — researching and writing grant proposals and planning new fundraising methods BOARD — especially younger volunteers with leadership experience or service on other boards If you can offer assistance in any of these activities and can devote 2 – 5 hours/week, please send a description of your . . .

  Erin Meyer is a professor at INSEAD, one of the leading international business schools. Her work focuses on how the world’s most successful managers navigate the complexities of cultural differences in a global environment. She helps companies to develop organizational cultures that breed both flexibility and innovation and offers cutting-edge strategies to improve the effectiveness of projects that span the globe. Living and working in Africa, Europe, and the United States prompted Erin’s study of the communication patterns and business systems of different parts of the world. Her Culture Map framework allows international executives to pinpoint their leadership preferences, and compare their methods to the management styles of other cultures. Erin has taught thousands of executives from five continents to decode cross-cultural complexities impacting their success, and to work more effectively across these differences. More recently Erin conducted an in-depth study with Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix, . . .

  Open Book with Efrem Sigel, author of Juror Number 2 Sept 6, 2020 by Lindsey Hollenbaugh The Berkshire Eagle   Most people do everything they can to get out of serving jury duty, but on Nov. 20, 2017, Efrem Sigel found himself sitting in a Manhattan courtroom being told by a New York State Supreme Court judge: “This is the most serious case you could be involved in.” “All of a sudden, I’m on jury duty,” said Sigel in a phone interview from his Great Barrington home. “I even picked a week [Thanksgiving week] I thought not much was going on; but there I was in the courtroom. The judge offered us all an easy way out, but for some reason, I was really intrigued by it. Next thing I knew, I was on the jury. It’s all a matter of luck.” Sigel became Juror Number 2 in The . . .

Museum News Direct to You The Museum of the Peace Corps Experience wants to keep our members up-to-date. Once a month we’ll send you news of our latest projects, activities, stories, and exhibition plans. Our Inaugural Newsletter invites you to view – from the comfort of your home – “A Towering Task, The Story of the Peace Corps” documentary; announces the Many Faces of Peace Corps; encourages you and others to volunteer with the Museum; focuses on our active Marketing Team; and offers you ways to contribute objects, stories, and money. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome at contactus@peacecorpsmuseum.org Co-Chairs, Nicola Dino, RPCV Ecuador 1994-1997 Patricia Wand, RPCV Colombia 1963-1965 “A Towering Task” Peace Corps documentary! The Museum of the Peace Corps Experience hosts a screening of “A Towering Task,” the award-winning Peace Corps documentary, viewable September 18 – 30, 2020… Read More Museum Launches Many Faces of Peace Corps Peace Corps 60th . . .

  The organization that is hosting the event is the Constituency for Africa (CFA). A hyperlink to register for the event is posted on their event webpage.    

Gov. Wolf Receives Hubert H. Humphrey Award for Public Service NEWS PROVIDED BY Pennsylvania Office of the Governor September 10, 2020, 15:49 GMT Governor Tom Wolf (India 1968-70) received the American Political Science Association (APSA) Hubert H. Humphrey Award. This award, which was announced during a virtual ceremony at the APSA annual meeting, honors notable public service by a political scientist. Previous recipients of the award include Condoleezza Rice, Susan E. Rice, Henry G. Cisneros, Mark Hatfield, Madeline Albright, Donna E. Shalala, Brent Scowcroft and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Tom Wolf embarked on a lifetime of public service early when he interrupted his undergraduate studies at Dartmouth to spend two years serving in the Peace Corps in India. He went on to earn a doctorate in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his doctoral thesis was awarded APSA’s E. E. Schattschneider Award for best dissertation in the field . . .

  John E. Lewis (Moldova (1995-97) is the creator, writer, and executive producer of the web series Lost in Moldova. He wrote the first few episodes while getting his MFA in TV and Screenwriting in LA. It’s loosely based on his Peace Corps experience — as well as the experiences of other Vols and RPCVs. Lost in Moldova was recently selected under the comedy category for Webfest Berlin.  Check out the first episode of the series. Take a look.  

  Days 10, 11 & 12: A Winter Storm And No Power By NATE HEGYI The Mountain West News Bureau   Nate Hegyi, rural reporter for the Mountain West News Bureau, is embarking on a 900-mile cycling trip crisscrossing the continental divide in August and September, interviewing and listening to Americans ahead of the 2020 election. September 5-7: Driggs, Idaho to Dubois, Wyoming, 48 miles I’m being chased by a cold front, which threatens to bring snow and freezing temperatures across the northern Rockies. Winter is coming and I’m in the high country. Alpine meadows and tall, green pine are smudged by wildfire smoke drifting in from nearby Yellowstone National Park. But I have a stiff tailwind and my legs feel good – I took two days off from reporting over Labor Day weekend to spend some time driving around the parks with my fiance, Christine, who came down from Missoula with our . . .

  UNSCREWING AMERICA by Mike McCabe (Mali 1989 – 91) Little Creek Press 272 pages February 2020 $17.95 (paperback), $8.00 (Kindle)   Reviewed by Dr. Robert E. Hamilton (Ethiopia 1965-67) • This is how Mike McCabe ends his latest book, Unscrewing America (February 2020): “America is never finished. It is always a work in progress. . . . It is always in the making.” If we work on improving our “goodness,” McCabe argues, we don’t have to worry about our “greatness,” which will follow. To get the reader to this point, over 200 pages from the beginning, McCabe first writes a memoir of his campaign in 2018 to be elected Governor of his home state, Wisconsin. He and a dozen other Democrat candidates lost to the current Governor, Tony Evers, who defeated incumbent Governor Scott Walker. Following the 60 pages of memoir, McCabe then describes and offers his opinion of the present . . .

  The Sunday, September 6, 2020 issue of the New York Times Book Review section has a column in the front of the magazine entitled: What We’re Reading. It is there every Sunday. Today’s column is focused on Norman Rush (Staff: Botswana 1978-83). It was written by Noor Qasim, a Book Editor Fellow at the magazine. Qasim writes: I picked up Mating because it’s long. I’d been craving something immersive, to draw me in and force me to sit still. Norman Rush’s unnamed narrator — an American anthropologist in Botswana, whose failed thesis propels her to a series of romantic encounters — provides it. Witty and incisive, she drops Latin at every turn, and examines the practice of mating with precision. Mating was published in 1991. It was Rush’s novel set in Botswana ( Whites, his collection of short stories set in Botswana, was published in 1986). Mating won the . . .

 Newsweek – 4 Jun 19 Tiffany Trump’s child support payments would have been ended by Donald if she joined the Peace Corps. “President Donald Trump’s newly revealed prenuptial agreement with his second wife Marla Maples contains rules regarding their daughter Tiffany Trump — specifically on circumstances under which his child support payments for her would end early. The 1993 prenup, obtained and reported by Vanity Fair on Tuesday, established that Donald Trump would halt $100,000 child support payments for Tiffany Trump when she turned 21 years old, or earlier if she joined the military, the Peace Corps., or landed a full-time job.”

Senior Policy Director (202) 546-0795 x 2502 abell@armscontrolcenter.org Alexandra Bell is the Senior Policy Director at the Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation. Her areas of focus include bilateral and multilateral arms control and non-proliferation, Euro-Atlantic security, and Congressional affairs. Previously, Bell served as a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Before joining the Department of State in 2010, she worked on nuclear policy issues at the Ploughshares Fund and the Center for American Progress. Bell received a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the New School and a Bachelor’s degree in Peace, War and Defense from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From 2001-2003, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica. Bell is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Member of the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) Board of . . .

Palo Alto photographer publishes images of pre-revolution Iran by Karla Kane / Palo Alto Weekly September 3, 2020 Palo Alto resident Dennis Briskin (Iran 1967-69) has published two books of photographs he took while serving in the Peace Corps in pre-revolution Iran. Courtesy Dennis Briskin. When Dennis Briskin was preparing to move to Iran for a few years in the late 1960s, he had a thought: “Maybe I should get a camera.” Though he didn’t have any prior photography experience, he read up a bit, got a basic camera and, fresh out of college and inspired by Life and Look magazines, was on his way. “The best advice I got was, ‘Film is cheap; take lots of photos,’” he recalled. The Palo Alto resident has now compiled many of his favorite photos and published two books: “Iran Before” (released in 2019) and “The Face of Iran Before” (focused on portraits, released this . . .

• What Have You Done (Lately) For Your Host Country? As you have read on this site, there are numerous RPCVs who have never forgotten the people of their Peace Corps countries. Recently we wrote about what several Ethiopia RPCVs have done, and are still doing today, for where they once served. We know there are many similar stories that can be told by all of you. We call this generous effort the Fourth Goal of the Peace Corps. A term suggested By David Arnold (Ethiopia 1963-65). It is how being a PCV does not end with the close of service conference. We ask you now — What have you done for your Peace Corps country since you came home? How have you helped one or more of your former students? What have you done for the family that adopted you, gave you a new name and all their love, . . .