The Peace Corps

Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion By E. Fuller Torrey (Ethiopia Staff/Medical 1964-66) Doctor Fuller Torrey (Ethiopia Staff/Medical 1964-66) is associate director for research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute and the founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center. His books include The Roots of Treason: Ezra Pound and the Secret of St. Elizabeths(1984); The Insanity Offense: How America’s Failure to Treat the Seriously Mentally Ill Endangers Its Citizens(2008); Surviving Schizophrenia: A Family Manual,6th ed. (2013); and American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System(2013). He lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife RPCV Barbara Boyle (Tanzania 1963-65) Religions and mythologies from around the world teach that God or gods created humans. Atheist, humanist, and materialist critics, meanwhile, have attempted to turn theology on its head, claiming that religion is a human invention. In this book, E. Fuller Torrey draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to . . .

Our Woman in Havana: A Diplomat’s Chronicle of America’s Long Struggle with Castro’s Cuba By Vicki Huddleston (Peru 1964-66) Ambassador Vicki Huddleston (Peru 1964-66) served under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush as Chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. She also served as U.S. Ambassador to Madagascar and Mali. Her report for the Brookings Institution about normalizing relations with Cuba was adapted for President Obama’s diplomatic opening with Raúl Castro in 2014. She has written opinion pieces in the New York Times, Miami Herald, and Washington Post. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Our Woman in Havana chronicles the past several decades of US-Cuba relations from the bird’s-eye view of State Department veteran and longtime Cuba hand Vicki Huddleston, our top diplomat in Havana under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush. After the US embassy in Havana was closed in 1961, relations between the two countries broke off. . . .

Nature’s Poetry by Eldon Katter  (Ethiopia 1962-64) Eldon Katter was Chair of the Department of Art Education and Crafts and Professor of Art Education at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. He was also editor of SchoolArts magazine for 11 years and president of the National Art Education Association. In the 1950s he taught art in Park Ridge, Illinois and later in Needham, Massachusetts. As Peace Corps volunteers in the 1960s, Eldon and his wife, Adrienne, taught at a teacher training school in Harar, Ethiopia and then worked for the Teacher Education in East Africa Project in Kampala, Uganda. Eldon was the designer and co-author of several educational art games, including Token Response, and the co-author of Explorations in Art, an elementary textbook series for Grades 1-6, and Art and Human Experience, a textbook series for middle school, published by Davis Publications. Inc. He was also the author of Multicultural Art Print . . .

Chasing Heisenberg: The Race for the Atom Bomb By Michael Joseloff (Tunisia 1967-69) Michael Joseloff (Tunisia 1967-69) over the course of his career worked at PBS, CBS News, ABC News and several cable TV networks and won four Emmys, among other awards. His interest in the atom bomb dates back to 1993 when he produced a segment on J. Robert Oppenheimer, Scientific Director of The Manhattan Project, for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. He continued reading about America’s race to beat Hitler to the bomb after that, hoping to find new subject matter for a documentary. Several years ago he came across an old photograph in an online archive. The photo, taken shortly before the start of World War II, showed Werner Heisenberg, future architect of Germany’s atomic research program, standing alongside his good friend Enrico Fermi, soon to become a top Manhattan Project scientist. He had found what he was looking . . .

Keep Peace Corps Independent and Internationally Trusted “Join the Peace Corps community in protecting the independent, non-political nature of the Peace Corps by opposing legislation (S.2320) introduced by Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) that would make Peace Corps subordinate to the Department of State under the direction of the Secretary of State. By safeguarding Peace Corps’ status as an independent agency, we can help to ensure that it will not be used to promote short-term goals of the Secretary of State or whichever administration is occupying the White House. The international perception of the Peace Corps’ independence is imperative for its continued success, which is based on mutual respect and trust of the host countries.” Here is the link to contact your Senators.  Scroll pass the Representative sign to find the letter and the guide to contacting your Senators.https://advocacy.peacecorpsconnect.org/email-congress#/50  

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dale Gilles (Liberia 1964-67), (PC/W 1968-73), (Liberia APCD 1973-75), (PC/W 1991-93) BY JOHN BOWDEN – 07/30/19 03:25  The Peace Corps will cease operations in China and shift to become an arm of the State Department if a bill filed by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Tuesday is passed. Scott’s bill, titled the Peace Corps Mission Accountability Act, would shift the agency from the executive branch to become a sub-agency of the State Department, overseen by the secretary of state. The bill would also immediately direct the organization to end aid efforts in China, where agency volunteers teach English in Chinese schools. “The Peace Corps has an honorable mission of promoting freedom and spreading American ideals to developing countries around the world. We want the Peace Corps to do good work across the globe — just not with our enemies like China,” Scott said in a press release. Scott’s bill “provides . . .

Why Travel Matters: A Guide to the Life-Changing Effects of Travel By Craig Storti (Morocco 1970-72) Craig Storti (Morocco 1970-72) is an expert on cultural communication with over thirty-years experience helping business people, diplomats, civil servants, and foreign aid workers engage effectively with people from other cultures and diverse backgrounds. He leads cross-cultural workshops for international agencies and organizations on four continents, and assists numerous corporations and government agencies to better manage global teams and culturally diverse workforces. He has lived nearly a quarter of his life abroad-with extended stays in Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist cultures-he speaks French, Arabic, and Nepali. When you travel, you have a choice: You can be a tourist and have a nice time, or you can be a traveler and change your life. Why Travel Matters is for those who want to change their lives. Why Travel Matters explores the profound life lessons that await anyone who wishes . . .

The Vodka Diaries: A Peace Corps Volunteer’s Adventures in Russia By Richard Sayette (Russian Far East 1994-95) Prior to joining the Peace Corps, Richard Sayette (Russian Far East 1994-95) earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers University, spent several years backpacking through Europe, Asia and Australia and worked as a professional chef. Richard eventually earned an MBA with a focus in international business from the University of South Carolina and has spent the past twenty years working in the risk management field. In a radio broadcast on October 1st, 1939, Winston Churchill referred to Russia as, “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” During Richard Sayette’s tour as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Russian Far East, he found Churchill’s words to be accurate, as his limited knowledge about Russia stemmed from Dostoevsky and Pushkin novels. From the summer of 1994 until late 1995, he lived and . . .

Remind Me Again What Happened By Joanna Luloff (Sri Lanka 1996-98). Published in 2018 Joanna Luloff (Sri Lanka 1996-98) is the author of a story collection, The Beach at Galle Road, a Barnes & Noble Discover selection. She lives in Denver, where she teaches at the University of Colorado.   Claire wakes in a hospital room in the Florida Keys. She has no idea how she got there or why. The loss of so many memories is paralyzing. Some things she can piece together by looking at old photos saved by her husband, Charlie, and her best friend, Rachel, and by combing through boxes of letters and casual jottings. But she senses a mystery at the center of all these fragments of her past, a feeling that something is not complete. Is Charlie still her husband? Is Rachel still her friend? Told from alternating points of view that pull the reader into . . .

Senator Wants Peace Corps Out of China & Other ‘Hostile’ Nations July 31, 2019ALEX PICKETT TAMPA, Fla. (CN) — Senator Rick Scott wants to withdraw the Peace Corps from “hostile” countries such as China, the Florida Republican said Tuesday, in introducing legislation that would strip the program of its relative autonomy and put it under the State Department. Scott’s “Peace Corps Mission Accountability Act” would put the Peace Corps under the umbrella of the State Department instead of its current position as an independent agency under the executive branch. Containers are piled high at a port in Qingdao in easterna China’s Shandong province Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. Growth in Chinese exports to the United States ticked up in October as traders rushed to beat another round of tariff hikes. (Chinatopix via AP) The bill would give the secretary of state authority over the director of the Peace Corps and “ensure . . .

A Writer Writes     Strange by Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996-98) For my Spanish homework this week my maestra, Edith, asked that I write a true story — in Spanish, of course — about a strange (extraño) incident I’d experienced. Piece of cake, I thought. In a life that has spanned seventy-four years and countless miles so far, I felt I have a lot of material to draw from. But the strangest stories of all for me have come from my eight-or-so years lived on the ground in Africa. One incident in particular stands out. I gave it only two paragraphs in my Peace Corps memoir, How to Cook a Crocodile, but in my memory it’s as vivid as a full-length feature film.   I was taking the ten-hour train ride — on the country’s one and only train — from Lastoursville, my Peace Corps post in the thickly-rainforested interior of Gabon, to the . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dale Gilles (Liberia 1964-67), (PC/W 1968-73), (Liberia APCD 1973-75), (PC/W 1991-93) We have all heard about the two sons of Neil Armstrong who are staging a series of auctions of about 3,000 mementos from their father’s moon mission, NASA career, as well as his life before and after the Moon Landing. They are selling everything from an American flag that had flown to the moon on Apollo 11; a flight suit their father had worn earlier in his career; and many possessions that had nothing to do with space, including Armstrong’s childhood teddy bear, a preschool report card he signed, and a silver medal commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Peace Corps in 1971. What you might not know is that Neil Armstrong was chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Peace Corps from 1971 to 1973. Nixon was president during those years and . . .

From The Harvard Gazette   Mark Gearan and Mary Herlihy-Gearan take over Winthrop House Dean of Harvard College Rakesh Khurana announced Friday the appointment of Mark Gearan ’78, director of the Institute of Politics (IOP) at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Mary Herlihy-Gearan as interim faculty deans of Winthrop House. “Mark and Mary are devoted Harvard community members,” Khurana said. “They are well prepared to ensure that Winthrop feels like a home where students can bring together their academic, social, and personal passions and pursuits. I am delighted that they have agreed to serve on an interim basis.” Gearan has served as director of the IOP since March of 2018. Prior to assuming that post, he was president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., from 1999 to 2017. Gearan was also director of the Peace Corps from 1995 to 1999, a job he took after serving as . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Dale Gilles (Liberia 1964-67), (PC/W 1968-73), (Liberia APCD 1973-75), (PC/W 1991-93) The centerfold of this Sunday’s Book Review in The New York Times has a double page spread of the United States with the headline Murder Map/50 Bodies Minimum by Ross MacDonald and Tina Jordan. The subheadline is: “Every state has its murder–and its true-crime book.” Of course an RPCV writer has to get in that list, and we have Maureen Orth (Colombia 1964-66) claiming Florida and her true crime story Vulgar Favors. Maureen, winner of a the Peace Corps Writers Paul Cowan non-fiction award, was one of the first women writers at Newsweek. Currently she is a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, and has profiled everyone from Vladimir Putin to Angela Merkel and has also written a bestselling cover story for National Geographic on the Virgin Mary. Maureen has not forgotten her host country and . . .

  John Hogan     Published in The Washington Post on July 26, 2019   On July 22, 2019 John P. Hogan (age 81) passed away peacefully. Proud of his Irish Brooklyn, NY upbringing, Jack was a citizen of the world. Working overseas in many different countries, he was always happy to return to his Brookland home in Washington, DC. Jack had a passion for social justice and service, striving to make the world a better place and inspiring others to do the same. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Mary Jo, and daughters, Pilar Closkey (Sean), Maura Donohue (Brendan), and Clare Reidy (Patrick) and nine grandchildren who will miss him dearly. A funeral mass will be held on Tuesday, August 6 at 10 a.m. at the Franciscan Monastery at 1400 Quincy St NE. Family will receive friends before mass at 9 a.m. at the church. In lieu of . . .