Search Results for “Eres Tu” – Page 88

The RPCV who quit money (and the writer who told his tale)

Mar 25 2012

In 2000, a man in Moab, Utah left his life savings — $30 — in a phone booth and walked away. Twelve years later that man — Daniel Suelo — enjoys an apparently full and sane life without money, credit, barter or government hand-outs, as he fulfills a vision of the good life inspired by his spiritual guides: Jesus, Buddha and wandering Hindu monks. Suelo, whose real name is Daniel Shellabarger, is an RPCV who served in the village of El Hato in the Andes, Ecuador (1988-89) as a health PCV. A friend of Suelo’s, former river guide and now writer Mark Sundeen, has written a book that traces the path and the singular idea that led Suelo to his extreme lifestyle. In The Man Who Quit Money, Sundeen delivers a myth for our times — one that happens to be a true story . The Man Who Quit Money . . .

PC/W Talks Cooperation with RPCVs in D.C.

Mar 23 2012

Kristina Owens (Bolivia 2000-02), the ‘Strategic Partnership Director’ of RPCV/W sent out the following email to ‘RPCV friends and supporters’ of the group. She was relating what she titles, “A Successful RPCV/W Peace Corps Town Hall Meeting!” held last week in Shriver Hall at PC/HQ. Here it is, reprinted. Dear RPCV Friends and supporters, Last week’s Peace Corps Town Hall Meeting was a resounding success, in part because of the interest and questions from the RPCV community. Over 100 RPCVs came to listen to the Peace Corps Leadership and participated in the Q & A session. RPCV/W President Chris Austin began the hour by reflecting on how our community came together to commemorate 50 years of the Peace Corps; it was a tribute to a diverse community who understood that Peace Corps affected each of us in an important way. This effort continues to inspire RPCV/W to facilitate new and creative initiatives . . .

Review of Reilly Ridgell's The Isla Vista Crucible

Mar 15 2012

The Isla Vista Crucible Reilly Ridgell (Micronesia 1971–73) Savant Books and Publications 268 pages $16. 95 (paperback) 2012 Reviewed by Darcy Munson Meijer (Gabon 1982-84) THE 1960s AND EARLY ’70s were an especially interesting period in U.S. history, a decade of changes social, political and ideological. In The Isla Vista Crucible, author Reilly Ridgell examines many aspects of the era from the viewpoints of three students sharing a house in Isla Vista, the community next to the UC Santa Barbara campus. He looks at sex, responsibility, friendship and patriotism in a thoughtful, relaxed way which is both informative and enjoyable. Meet the main characters: Reggie, studying for his Master’s degree in political science. He is serious, diligent and horny. He starts the school’s first lacrosse team. Donnie, his undergraduate roommate. A self-styled political radical and C student, he is self-centered and impulsive. He needs to maintain a 2.0 GPA to avoid being . . .

If I had more time, I would have written a shorter novel!

Mar 14 2012

This piece was in the New York Times on March 6, 2012. It is a fascinating look at what the “next new wave” (for prose) will be. • Miniature E-Books Let Journalists Stretch Legs By Dwight Garner The Kindle Single is not a promising name. It sounds like a new kind of prefabricated fire log, or a type of person you might meet on the dating service eHarmony – perhaps a lonely independent bookstore owner put out of business by Amazon.com. Here’s what Kindle Singles actually are: probably the best reason to buy an e-reader in the first place. They’re works of long-form journalism that seek out that sweet spot between magazine articles and hardcover books. Amazon calls them “compelling ideas expressed at their natural length.” If I didn’t loathe the word “compelling,” I’d think that wasn’t a half-bad slogan. I recently sat down and read 15 of these boutique minibooks. . . .

Meet Joshua Berman: Editor, Author, Peace Corp Volunteer, Tour Guide, and All-Around Travel Junkie

Mar 12 2012

[This is an interview with our famous travel writer Josh Berman (Nicaragua 1998-2000) that appeared recently on the blog inBed.me, the First Social Booking site for Hostels, Beds and Couches.] Meet Joshua Berman. He’s written four books for Moon guidebooks, volunteered for the Peace Corps, taken a 16-month honeymoon, worked as a tour guide, and has had his travel writing published in big-name publications like Outside Traveler, The New York Times, and National Geographic Traveler. He’s even eaten raw testicles on the Travel Channel with Andrew Zimmerman! Want to learn more about this professional nomad? Check out the interview below. You have very extensive experience in the travel world. Let’s start with being a Peace Corps Volunteer. What project were you involved with and what was that experience like? I served as an environmental education volunteer in the village of La Trinidad, Estelí in Nicaragua from 1998-2000. I worked with . . .

Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963-65) Defends Rush Limbaugh (sort of!)

Mar 11 2012

Condemnation of Rush Limbaugh Shows Our Hypocrisy by Paul Theroux Mar 10, 2012 From the DailyBeast http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/10/condemnation-of-rush-limbaugh-shows-our-hypocrisy.html ‘Slut’ and ‘whore’ are offensive words, but some of his biggest critics in the whole Sandra Fluke controversy are guilty of using the similar language-they just happen to be liberals. Paul Theroux on how the whole affair reveals our smugness and hypocrisy. At first I didn’t know whether I’d yawn or puke when I read what Rush Limbaugh said reacting to the Georgetown Law student and self-described reproductive-rights activist, Sandra Fluke. “What does it say about the college coed Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants . . .

Talking with Jane Albritton, Editor of the Peace Corps at 50 Project

Mar 09 2012

Interview by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975–77) WHILE MOST OF US STRUGGLE with our own Peace Corps memoir, Jane Albritton undertook a herculean task: to gather enough Peace Corps personal experience essays to fill a multi-volume anthology. After four years of intense work, she completed the task in 2011 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps’ inception. The four volumes include more than 200 essays that describe the Peace Corps Experience in 88 of the 139 nations served during the past half century. The principal and founder of a writing and editing firm (as well as a university writing instructor), Jane began the Peace Corps at 50 Project with the posting of a very unusual website and an all-call for personal experience essay submissions. As the series editor, she recruited editors, oversaw editing, negotiated publication, supervised formatting, cover design and finally manages marketing. What on earth inspired . . .

A Writer Writes "The Good Old Days"

Mar 08 2012

Roger Landrum was a PCV in Nigeria, 1961-63. He taught at the new University of Nigeria at Nsukka in Nigeria’s first year of independence and his experience was the subject of a Peace Corps documentary film called “Give Me A Riddle.” Landrum was one of the first RPCVs to join the PC/W staff. Landrum devoted most of his subsequent career to expanding youth service opportunities in the US. He founded and directed The Teachers Inc. which provided Peace Corps-like programming for American inner-city schools. Landrum co-authored Youth and the Needs of the Nation with Harris Wofford, a policy blueprint for a large-scale national service initiative. In 1986 Landrum launched Youth Service America (YSA) which led efforts to expand and mobilize a national youth service infrastructure that culminated in the National and Community Service Acts of 1990 and 1993 and creation of the federal Corporation for National Service along with AmeriCorps. As . . .

Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996-98) Awarded International Prize

Mar 07 2012

Yesterday evening, March 6, 2012, Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996-98) received a Gourmand International World Cookbook Awards in Paris, France, for her book How to Cook a Crocodile. How to Cook a Crocodile: A Memoir with Recipes was the first book published by the Peace Corps Writers Imprint. Bonnie’s book won the “Charity and Community” category award. The event, held in the Folies Bergeres theater, attracted an audience from all over the world. Bonnie, who is a blogger on this site at: Cooking Crocodiles & Other Food Musings, gave her acceptance speech in both French and English. The 16-year-old organization Gourmand International, headquartered in Madrid, Spain, publishes GOURMAND magazine and sponsors the Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards. The 2011 awards celebration at the Folies Bergère kicks off a week-long Paris Cookbook Fair. Congratulations, Bonnie!

Bonnie Lee Black's ABC's of healthy cooking

Mar 06 2012

Our blogger Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996–98) got some recent press in her home state of New Mexico. Bonnie, who earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University/Los Angeles in June 2007, was an honors graduate of Columbia University (BA, Literature/Writing, 1979), and then a writer and editor for nearly 30 years, and an educator — in the U.S. and overseas — for over 15 years. For ten years (from 1986 to 1996) she was a chef, caterer, and cooking instructor in Manhattan, during which time her freelance writing focused on food. In 1996, she joined the Peace Corps and served as a health and nutrition Volunteer in Gabon in central Africa. Her book, How to Cook a Crocodile: A Memoir with Recipes (Peace Corps Writers, 2010), recounts her experience teaching healthy cooking in Gabon. The following piece about Bonnie appeared online in The Taos News on Sunday, March 4, 2012. • Bonnie . . .

Sex & Santorum

Mar 05 2012

LAST WEEKEND I RECEIVED A PHONE CALL from Joan Corboy who was the wife of one of our APCDs back in Ethiopia in the early Sixties. She is now pushing 90, the mother of eight, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, and a wonderful woman. She called me to test her memory (it is, by the way, much better than mine!). Since I work at a Catholic college she wanted to know if I could get my hands on an article by Judge John T. Noonan, a Harvard educated lawyer, who had written a piece on contraception back in the mid-sixties. Joan, who is a faithful Catholic (Yes, Virginia, there are still some) was annoyed (to say the least) at all of Rick Santorum’s remarks on contraception, remembered the article, and wanted me to track it down for her. I had no idea who John T. Noonan, Jr. was, or about the article he had written on contraception. . . .

Academic article on PCVs in Africa

Mar 02 2012

David Peterson del Mar recently published in the scholarly journal, African Identities (Vol. 9. N0 4, November 2011, 349-361) an article entitled “RERFLECTION At the heart of things: Peace Corps volunteers in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Peterson, who is not an RPCV, is an Assistant Professor at Portland State University for the Department of History and Extended Campus. He is the author of six books, including What Trouble I Have Seen: A History of Violence against Wives (Harvard University Press, 1996) and The American Family: From Obligation to Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). He is currently researching American attitudes toward Africa since World War II for his next book which is tentatively entitled, Africa Existenial. His research for this new book that led him to RPCVs who served in Africa, and the writing that they have done over the years. He wrote me, “I very much enjoyed the research (on PCVs in Africa) — and hope that . . .

Publishing’s Ecosystem on the Brink: The Backstory

Feb 29 2012

Bloomberg Businessweek’s January 25th cover shows a book engulfed in flames. The book’s title? “Amazon Wants to Burn the Book Business.” A towering pile of books dominates the front page of Sunday’s NYT Business Section. The pile starts well below the fold (print edition), breaks through the section header at the top of the page, and leans precariously. Books are starting to tumble off. “The Bookstore’s Last Stand,” reads the headline. These stories capture pretty well the state of book publishing: this appears to be no ordinary, cyclical crisis that future authors and publishers will shrug off. To understand how the book industry got into this predicament, however, a broader perspective may be needed. The cover story of February’s Harper’s Magazine provides that, discussing a fundamental shift in the federal approach to antitrust law that’s affected bookselling and countless other industries. It’s a story that hasn’t previously been told in a . . .

Interview: Richard Tillotson (Malaysia 1967-69) Author of Acts of God While On Vacation

Feb 22 2012

Interview: Richard Tillotson, Author of Acts of God While On Vacation By April Pohren, BLOGCRITICS.ORG Published 09:00 p.m., Sunday, February 12, 2012 Richard Tillotson has been a Peace Corps volunteer, a playwright in New York, a copywriter in Hawaii, and is a relative of an English Lord, all of which helped him write Acts of God While on Vacation, a National Semi-Finalist for the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and named “Hawaii’s best fiction book of 2011” by The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. He works in Honolulu and vacations in Washington DC. Please tell us a bit about your book and what you hope readers take away from reading it. The novel begins with a death threat received by a philandering general manager of a lavish Hawaii resort, jumps to an anthropologist researching headhunters in the jungles of Borneo, then to a demonic, scandal-mongering paparazzo in New York, and on to a gorgeous, party-loving . . .

Review of Terry Marshall's Soda Springs: Love, Sex and Civil Rights

Feb 17 2012

Soda Springs: Love, Sex and Civil Rights by Terry Marshall (Philippines 1965–68; Solomon Islands & Kiribati Co-CD 1977–80, PC Washington 1980–82) Illustrations by Chuck Asay Friesen Press 367 pages Hardcover $30.39, paperback $19.13, Kindle $7.79 December 2010 Reviewed by Tony D’Souza (Ivory Coast 2000–02, Madagascar 2002–03) IF A POLITICALLY-CORRECT, TWO-DIMENSIONAL soap opera featuring twenty-year-old virgins is what you’re looking for, then Terry Marshall’s novel Soda Springs: Love, Sex and Civil Rights is the book for you. One of the reasons I found the novel irksome — just as with another recent book by a former Peace Corps Country Director, J. Larry Brown and Peasants Come Last — is Marshall’s heavy-handed marketing of Soda Springs. Unlike most review books that come my way, Soda Springs was accompanied by a leaflet campaign touting the cumbersome tome as, “Soda Springs, a place you’ll never forget. A book you can’t put down. You’ll laugh. . . .

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