Jamaica

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Bill Owens: Photographer, Author, Brewer & Distiller
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New books by Peace Corps writers | January — February 2024
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ACROSS THE KENTUCKY COLOR LINE by Lee Durham Stone (Jamaica)
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Florence Phillips (Guatemala, Jamaica, Kenya) is still volunteering. You can too!
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PCVs accused of spying in Jamaica
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19 New books by Peace Corps writers — March and April, 2022
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The Volunteer who photographed the Summer of Love & then went on to slake a great thirst — Bill Owens (Jamaica)

Bill Owens: Photographer, Author, Brewer & Distiller

    This iconic photograph from the Altamont music festival jumped out at me whilst visiting Kunsthalle Praha earlier this year. I found it in the gift shop, in the form of a postcard. I don’t normally buy postcards in the city I live in, but this picture spoke to me. It stayed on my desk in my office for several months, until it finally dawned on me to reach out to the photographer,  and ask for his permission to publish it in this blog.   Little did I know at the time that Bill Owens (Jamaica 1964-66) is not only a renowned photographer, he is also a giant in the brewing and distilling world.   Bill was born in San Jose, CA September 25, 1938. He is known as the foremost chronicler of Suburbia, made famous with the publication of his book by that name in 1972. In 1983 . . .

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New books by Peace Corps writers | January — February 2024

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — CLICK on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. We include a brief description for each of the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers  to order a book and/or  to VOLUNTEER TO REVIEW IT.  See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at marian@haleybeil.com, and she will send you a free copy along with a few instructions. P.S. In addition to the books listed below, I have on my shelf a number of other books whose authors would love for you to review. Go to Books Available for Review to see what is on that shelf. Please, please join in our Third . . .

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ACROSS THE KENTUCKY COLOR LINE by Lee Durham Stone (Jamaica)

  Across the Kentucky Color Line: Cultural Landscapes of Race from The Lost Cause to Integration by Lee Durham Stone (Jamaica (1979-82) Self Published December 2023 300 pages $7.99 (Kindle); $27.00 (Hardback)   In Beloved, novelist Toni Morrison has her protagonist Sethe say that she thought she was “gonna die in wild onions on the bloody side of the Ohio River.” That violent side of the river was Kentucky, the subject of Across the Kentucky Color Line. This study examines Kentucky’s violent history of racial relations from 1865 to 1970, focusing on Muhlenberg County, its seven contiguous neighbors, and others in the Bluegrass State. The author prefaces the book with his experience of a segregated school trip to see “The Ten Commandments” in 1957. Historical topics include Kentucky’s post-Civil War racial strife, the Jim Crow era, Lost Cause politics, and a detailed examination of a trial and public “legal lynching” in . . .

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Florence Phillips (Guatemala, Jamaica, Kenya) is still volunteering. You can too!

  Born in New York to Jewish parents who fled Europe before the holocaust, RPCV Florence Phillips knows firsthand what is like to be the child of immigrants who don’t speak English. “My parents could not talk to my teachers; my parents could not help me with homework,” said Phillips. But all of that would change when she joined the Peace Corps. Florence served three tours of duty as a Peace Corps Volunteer in three different countries. 1988 – 1989 PCV Guatemala Organized 12 Mayan Indian women in a small village and assisted them in forming a cooperative weaving business. Established local and tourist markets for their products. 1990 – 1992 PCV Jamaica Small Enterprise Development and Business Advisor. Secondary projects established included teaching remedial reading and tutoring at primary school level; organized sport activities; taught adult literacy. 1997 – 1999 PCV Kenya Small Enterprise Development and Business Advisor. Taught . . .

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PCVs accused of spying in Jamaica

ABENG The Abeng was a horn used by Maroons to communicate between communities. The Abeng, as I knew the term during the spring of 1969 while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer living in Santa Cruz, St. Elizabeth, was a Jamaican publication of about four pages published weekly that existed for only nine months of 1969 but was a major force in the development of Jamaican and Caribbean radical thought focused on Black Power. Articles in the Abeng for April 26, May 3, and May 10, relate directly to my personal experience and that of three other volunteers representing The United States, Canada, and England.  This article headlined JAMAICAN BATTLE LINE affected my life and the lives of the CUSO couple very directly.  Fortunately, none of us was physically harmed.  I do not have any information about what happened to the other two named. Some Jamaicans tend to believe anything . . .

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19 New books by Peace Corps writers — March and April, 2022

  To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — CLICK on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. We now include a brief description  for the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers  1) to order a book and 2) to VOLUNTEER TO REVIEW IT.  See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at marian@haleybeil.com, and she will send you a copy along with a few instructions. In addition to the books listed below, I have on my shelf a number of other books whose authors would love for you to review. Go to Books Available for Review to see what is on that shelf. Please, please join in our Third Goal . . .

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The Volunteer who photographed the Summer of Love & then went on to slake a great thirst — Bill Owens (Jamaica)

  A Profile in Citizenship by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963–65) •   (This Profile of Bill Owens, Jamaica 1964-65, was largely drawn from in interview conducted by Tony D’Souza, Ivory Coast 2000-02 and Madagascar 2002-2003.)   Early on in his career, Bill took iconic photos of the Hells Angels beating concertgoers with pool cue sticks at the Rolling Stones’ performance during the Altamont Speedway Festival in California four months after Woodstock on December 8, 1969. Altamont is considered by historians as the end of the Summer of Love and the overall 1960s youth ethos. Bill was so fearful of retribution by the Hells Angels that he published the photos from the festival under a pseudonym fearing they would “come and murder’ him. Some of the negatives were later stolen, he believed by the Hells Angels.   In 1964, Bill joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to teach high school in . . .

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