Search Results for “Eres Tu” – Page 16

“How to Write a Memoir” by Bonnie Black (Gabon 1996-98)

Jul 21 2023

If I were still teaching Creative Nonfiction Writing at the University of New Mexico in Taos, I would assign this book to my students to read and study carefully, because I think it’s an excellent example of contemporary memoir writing done well. Some people, I’ve found, confuse memoirs with autobiographies. To clarify: Autobiographies are stories of a life – written by (or ghost-written for) famous people who have a built-in following. Their fans have a deep-seated curiosity: How in the world did she (or he) become so famous? So they’re willing to follow that person’s story from cradle to however close to the grave this celeb might now be — all the ups and downs of that person’s life that led to their enviable fame. Memoirs, on the other hand, are stories from a life. Not the whole life story, but rather the life-changing part or parts, drawn from the life of a regular, ordinary . . .

I Shall Not Want | by Andrea Elise (South Korea)

Jul 20 2023

I Shall Not Want Poems Andrea Elise (South Korea ) Create Space Publishing February 2015 46 pages $6.95 (Paperback) This is a collection of poems that express love, friendship, regret, loss, gratitude, vanity. It also includes a number of haikus and an essay about one day in the life of a young woman’s 2-year stint in the Peace Corps in South Korea in the late 1970’s. Andrea Elise was born in Sopron, Hungary and immigrated to the United States with her parents in 1956. She grew up in Amarillo, and attended Amarillo College before transferring to Duke University, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature. She spent two years in the Peace Corps in South Korea, then obtained a Master’s degree in Counseling from West Texas A&M University. Her interests include writing essays and poetry, partner dancing (East Coast swing or jitterbug), playing mandolin, hiking, working out and . . .

2023 Winner of the Peace Corps Writers‘ Moritz Thomsen Award for Best Book about the Peace Corps Experience

Jul 16 2023

A Five Finger Feast Two Years in Kazakhstan, Lessons from the Peace Corps by Tim Suchsland (Kazakhstan 2007–09) author and illustrator • A Five Finger Feast is a collection of coming-of-age stories set to the backdrop of Kazakhstan, with the ups and the downs, the excitement and the thrill of living abroad as a young person and working in the Peace Corps. Tim Suchsland, a teacher and artist, takes the reader on a very interesting journey into a vast corner of the world that none of us has ever seen, of which we know virtually nothing, which borders on Russia’s infamous Siberia and yet is populated with very interesting people — Kazaks from many tribes, Armenians, Volga Germans and Russians — each with a story of how their people came to be in the village of Valenka, twenty miles from the Russian border and 840 miles (22 hours by road) from . . .

2023 Winner of Peace Corps Writers Award for Best Book of Non-Fiction

Jul 12 2023

Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet by Michael Meyer (China 1995-97) The incredible story of Benjamin Franklin’s parting gift to the working-class people of Boston and Philadelphia — a deathbed wager that captures the Founder’s American Dream and his lessons for our current, conflicted age. Benjamin Franklin was not a gambling man. But at the end of his illustrious life, the Founder allowed himself a final wager on the survival of the United States: a gift of two thousand pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to be lent out to tradesmen over the next two centuries to jump-start their careers. Each loan would be repaid with interest over ten years. If all went according to Franklin’s inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would be a windfall. In Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet, Michael Meyer traces the evolution of these twin funds as they age alongside America itself, bankrolling woodworkers and . . .

Dennis McCarty (Guatemala) | THE QUEST TO END HUMAN TRAFFICING

Jul 11 2023

by Academic Minute 07/11/2023 Human trafficking is not just fought in the shadows. Dennis McCarty, Ph.D. (Guatemala 1973-75), a lecturer at the University at Albany says we all have a role to play. He worked for several criminal justice agencies before retiring as an Assistant Director at what was initially known as the New York State Office of Homeland Security. Professional honors include a Gubernatorial commendation for developing and coordinating the NYS Law Enforcement Counter-Terrorism Training Program following the attacks of 9/11. His volunteer work includes service with the Peace Corps in Guatemala, assisting residents of a shelter for domestic violence survivors, and helping vulnerable youths living on the streets of New York City. Academic honors include several teaching awards and the 2021 UAlbany Terra Award for helping the university earn national recognition as a Fair-Trade institution. The Quest to End Human Trafficking People often assume that only legislators and law . . .

INDIA AND PEACE CORPS

Jul 06 2023

A Fortuitous Partnership that launched India’s Modern Poultry & Egg Production Industry by John Chromy (India 1963-65) INTRODUCTION Sometimes it seems the “stars align in their courses.” And so it happened in the 1960s when a series of factors came together. The Government of India was committed to improving life in its 600,000 villages through a nation-wide Community Development and Agriculture Extension program. India’s Health and Nutrition officials recognized the need to infuse protein into the diet of the majority of the people. There existed a kernel of awareness among the agricultural and animal husbandry officers that the techniques of modern poultry production (hybrid chicken strains, enclosed poultry houses, nutritious feed) might be adapted to the India setting and had the potential to produce protein rich eggs and meat on an enhanced scale. Within the Community Development and Agriculture Extension program there was a very limited number of . . .

Building the Transcaucasian Trail (Georgia)

Jul 05 2023

Building the Transcaucasian Trail in Khutsubani, Georgia “I taught English in a public school in a small village in Georgia. I also wrote and received a grant from USAID to build a library at the school and helped direct a nationwide environmental awareness project.” Paul Stephens (Georgia 2005-07) Paul Stephens remembers the first time he explored the Caucasus Mountains, a place he calls “one of the most biologically, culturally, and linguistically diverse regions in the world.” After his graduation from Wabash, Paul moved to Georgia in 2005 as a Peace Corps Volunteer. When he wasn’t teaching English, the Batesville, Indiana, native would lace up his boots, load up a backpack, and spend hours hiking — an activity he’s enjoyed since he was a kid. “I’ve always been an outdoorsman, curious about the world around me,” Paul said, recalling family trips to the Great Smoky Mountains he shared with his brother, . . .

2023 Winner of the Peace Corps Writers‘ Maria Thomas Award for Best Fiction

Jul 04 2023

The World Against Her Skin: A Son’s Novel John Thorndike (El Salvador 1967-68) The World Against Her Skin is an extraordinary work, written by a mature, highly published author. John Thorndike defines his book as a “Son’s Novel,” a hybrid memoir/novel or “biographical novel.” It is his endeavor to know his mother, as he openly states in his “Author’s Note, “I want to know everything about my mother,” especially the secrets that were kept from him as her son. He inhabits this woman character in order to know her. His are the height of literary goals; find truth through your imagination, cross boundaries through sympathy and empathy, and do it because you need to for survival. It beautifully flies in the face of current stricture to only write what you can know as determined by your gender, race, ethnicity, class and so on. Thorndike completely succeeds in capturing feelings that many . . .

Paul Newman (Nigeria) | Authority on the Hausa Language

Jul 02 2023

Paul Newman (Nigeria 1961-63) is the world’s foremost authority on the Hausa language. He is also an attorney with special interest in the intersection of language and law. He was a member of the first Peace Corps group to go to Nigeria back in 1961. He has held academic positions at Yale, Bayero University Kano, University of Leiden, and Indiana University. He has published over 20 books and was the founding editor of the Journal of African Languages. Distinguished Professor Emeritus Paul Newman received his B.A. (Philosophy) and M.A. (Anthropology) from the University of Pennsylvania, and his Ph.D. (Linguistics) from UCLA (1967). Newman also has a law degree (J.D., summa cum laude, 2003) from Indiana University. He is a member of the Indiana Bar. He has held academic and administrative positions at Yale University, Abdullahi Bayero College (now Bayero University Kano), Nigeria; University of Leiden, The Netherlands, and . . .

PCIA National Meeting (Iran)

Jun 24 2023

June 5, 2023 Steve Gottlieb (Iran 1965-67) • My wife and I met years ago when we both served in the United States Peace Corps in Iran. There have been no American Peace Corps Volunteers in Iran since 1976. Peace Corps Volunteers got to know a wide segment of the Iranian population, as we do everywhere, realized trouble was brewing and Peace Corps officials pulled them out. Here in Albany we’ve been part of a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers who’ve served in all parts of the world. We meet monthly, share a pot luck dinner, provide a forum for newly returned Volunteers, and listen intently to news about goings on in the many countries where we used to serve and the many organizations who work with people there and with immigrants from those countries here. A few years ago my wife was asked to become president of . . .

RPCV Darlene Grant (Cambodia) now shaping Peace Corps efforts on diversity, equity and inclusion

Jun 23 2023

By Adrienne Frank June 23, 2023 • Darlene Grant became a Peace Corps volunteer at 49; 11 years later, she joined the agency’s top ranks. In seventh grade, with a bully on her heels, Darlene Grant slipped through a door at her Cleveland junior high school and found herself in the music room, staring at a line of students. Wanting to avoid a beating, she got in line, “like I was supposed to be there,” she said, and the music teacher handed her the last instrument in the closet: a bassoon. “That moment when you realize you’re where the universe needs you to be? That was one of them,” said Darlene Grant, PhD (SAS ’84). Today, Grant is senior advisor to Peace Corps Director Carol Spahn, with a mission to cultivate diversity in the worldwide agency and help remove barriers for underrepresented volunteers and staff and create a more just and equitable . . .

CALLING RPCV WRITERS!

Jun 20 2023

Calling all RPCV Writers Are you writing a novel, a memoir, a scholarly essay, poems, and/or short stories? Whether what you’re working on is about the Peace Corps or not, you are invited to the Second Peace Corps Writers Workshop this October on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. The Workshop—open to a maximum of 15 RPCV writers—will be held from Thursday, October 5, to Sunday, October 7, at Shore Retreats on Broad Creek. The cost ranges from $100 to $500, depending on the applicant’s economic circumstances, and includes shared living quarters and most meals. If interested, please contact Matt Losak (Lesotho 1985-87) at: tokamaphepa@aol.com. The Workshop, organized by Peace Corps Worldwide and supported by the Peace Corps Fund, will be led by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-93), an English professor at West Virginia University, where he directs the Creative Writing Program and the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop. The author . . .

Do you have a book you want to publish?

Jun 17 2023

To publish with Peace Corps Writers imprint Peace Corps Writers — a component of Peace Corps Worldwide — publishes a line of books by writers who have served with the Peace Corps either as Volunteers or staff members. These books — fiction, non-fiction, travel, memoir, poetry, etc.— are printed by Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), a print-on-demand (POD) company and subsidiary of Amazon.com, carry the logo of the Peace Corps Writers imprint, are sold through Amazon.com, and are featured on Peace Corps Worldwide with an announcement of publication in addition to listing in “New Books by Peace Corps Writers,” an interview with the author(s), and a review, should the authors choose to have them. Books need not be about the Peace Corps, the author’s Peace Corps experience, or be set overseas in the country where served. Books by the family and friends of PCVs are also welcome to submit proposals if the . . .

Steamy SF is Out of This World | Donna S. Frelick (The Gambia)

Jun 16 2023

Donna Frelick (The Gambia 1976-78) was a voracious reader growing up—she loved Charles Dickens and recalls checking The Swiss Family Robinson out of her local library 15 times. One of her favorite books was an installment in the Ace Doubles series, which offered two SF books in one volume. One of the stories was written by Ursula K. Le Guin, who became a favorite. (Years later at her marriage ceremony, Frelick quoted from Le Guin’s The Dispossessed.) Frelick’s interest in science fiction grew apace. Inspired by the cult favorite TV series Star Trek, which debuted when she was 13 years old, as well as Rod Serling’s fantastical anthology series The Twilight Zone and such film classics as The Day the Earth Stood Still —“I watched episodes through my fingers.” — her own writing began to boldly go where it had never gone before. What she loves about SF, she . . .

Crafting a Plan to Meet California’s Carbon Neutral Goals | Shereen D’Souza (Honduras)

Jun 09 2023

Shereen D’Souza’s (Honduras 2001-04) path to becoming an environmental leader began when she joined the Peace Corps straight out of college and was assigned to help hillside subsistence farmers in Honduras. D’Souza ’12 MESc went on to tackle urban food justice in Oakland, California, and agricultural issues in her ancestral home in India. Her interest in international work led her to YSE, where she was impressed by Michael Dove, Margaret K. Musser Professor of Social Ecology, whose work focuses on environmental relations of local communities in South and Southeast Asia. After graduating from YSE, D’Souza served in the U.S. Department of State as an adaptation and loss and damage negotiator, where she was engaged in the process that ultimately resulted in the Paris Agreement and its adoption. D’Souza is now deputy secretary for climate policy and intergovernmental relations with the California EPA. She is working with the team at . . .

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