Stories of Racism — Confronted by a Family with Courage and Love
A tribute to decades of work by children’s author Mildred D. Taylor. This year, Peace Corps Writers recognized her with the Writer of the Year Award. By John Coyne Illustration by Montse Bernal Mildred Delois Taylor is a critically acclaimed author of children’s novels. In 1977, she won the Newbery Medal, the most prestigious award in children’s literature, for her historical novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. It was the second book in a series of ten novels focusing on the Logan family, and portraying the effects of racism counterbalanced with courage and love. Her latest book, All the Days...
Letters: Readers Respond to the Special 60th Anniversary Edition of WorldView
Letters, emails, LinkedIn and Instagram comments, Facebook posts, tweets, and other missives. We’re happy to continue the conversation here and on all those nifty social media platforms. One way to write us: worldview@peacecorpsconnect.org Thanks to NPCA as We Return to Service As we prepare to return to Zambia in May 2022, we want to say thank you to each of you (and all of the NPCA staff/interns) for your continued support of us — first, as many of you are RPCVs yourself, and then advocates for Peace Corps even before our service, and throughout our first service, and then as evacuees, and...
An Affectionate Portrait of a Town in Senegal from Half a Century Ago — and an Invitation from the President to Return
Peace Corps Senegal 1968–70 By Carolee Buck. Photography by Carolee and Art Buck Independently Published Photo: M'Bayang, one of the women who was part of the social center in Fatick Reviewed by Steven Boyd Saum Carolee Buck professes to be a reluctant author and makes no claim to be a storyteller. It took the coaxing of fellow returned Volunteers in Oregon for her to chronicle her Peace Corps service in Senegal 1968–70, together with husband Art. In a project rich with Art’s photography, she offers an affectionate portrait of the people and community of Fatick, then a town of about 4,000...
Listen and Watch: Conversations and Podcasts on Ukraine from the Peace Corps Community
TERRELL J. STARR | Host of the “Black Diplomats” podcast Just before Russia invaded Ukraine, Starr wrote for Foreign Policy: “This is what Ukrainians understand and progressives don’t about Putin: Diplomacy doesn’t mean anything if your adversary can kill you and steal your land without consequence.” Starr was a Volunteer in Georgia 2003–05, had a Fulbright in Ukraine, and is a fellow with the Atlantic Council. His highly personal coverage from Ukraine has earned hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. Recent conversations on his podcast: Oleg Volsky, mayor of a town north of L’viv; former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul; and...
Peace Corps Introduces an Ethical Storytelling Toolkit
A video and workbook to help Volunteers — and those who served years ago — think about storytelling. That includes intercultural dialogue and awareness of whose voices are at the center of a story. By NPCA Staff Image courtesy Peace Corps video Shortly before the first Volunteers began returning to service overseas in March 2022, the Peace Corps agency published an Ethical Storytelling Toolkit. How we tell our stories — and the voices at the center of these stories — have informed discussions inside and outside the Peace Corps in recent years. A focus on ethical storytelling was also an important...
Dear Editor: Why Peace Corps Matters
Here’s what the Peace Corps community in one state has to say about it. Some lessons and inspiration from New Mexico. By Jonathan Pearson As National Peace Corps Association worked with members of the Peace Corps community to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Peace Corps Act last September, we launched an eight-week campaign around the anniversary, seeking community members to be advocates through news outlets across the country — both digital and print. The results? Two months in, advocates for the Peace Corps successfully placed 49 submissions in publications across 23 states, reaching an audience...
Peace Corps ‘Jeopardy!’
Four recent contestants — and one champion By NPCA Staff Geographer Charles Fogelman. Photo courtesy “Jeopardy!” Here’s your clue: This University of Illinois geographer served with the Peace Corps in Lesotho 2003–05, once hosted Queen ‘Masenate Mohato Seeiso for dinner in Harlem, nailed questions in the category “The Equator” … and became champion on “Jeopardy!” on February 16. Answer: Who is Charles Fogelman? The one-day winner on the show was one of four recent RPCV contestants. The day before, Jimmy Rollins (Albania 2005–07), an international economic development consultant with Deloitte, leaned on his knowledge of Hemingway to finish second on the show. In...
Peanut Flour, Peace Corps, and the President
In 1967, Jack Allison wrote and recorded a song that went on to be the No. 1 hit in Malawi for two years running. Then the president kicked him out of the country. 45 RPM: “Ufa Wa Mtedza (The Peanut Flour Song)” — No. 1 in Malawi 1967–70. Photo courtesy Jack Allison The Warm Heart of Africa An Outrageous Adventure of Love, Music, and Mishaps in Malawi By Jack Allison Peace Corps Writers Jack Allison served as a Volunteer 1967–69 in Malawi, a country known as “The Warm Heart of Africa.” While there, he wrote and recorded the number...
He Started Out Selling Soap. And Went On to Found the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Good Business The Talk, Fight, Win Way to Change the World By Bill Novelli Johns Hopkins University Press Reviewed by Steven Boyd Saum Bill Novelli’s career includes serving as CEO of AARP, founding the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, leading the humanitarian organization CARE, and establishing global PR agency Porter Novelli. He teaches in the MBA program at McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. In Good Business, he offers lessons on life and leadership. He got his start in the corporate world with Unilever, selling soap. Next stop: a New York ad agency, where he sensed a kind of...
Fixing Loan Forgiveness for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
Rep. John Garamendi joined Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona asking for returned Volunteers to be included in Public Service Loan Forgiveness Reforms. By Jonathan Pearson In early March 2022, CNN reported that the U.S. Department of Education has identified 100,000 borrowers eligible for debt cancellation from the beleaguered Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Reforms were announced to the program last October, allowing some borrowers to receive credit toward PSLF for periods of public service that would not have previously qualified. But Returned Peace Corps Volunteers were not listed among those...