In this issue —
A Writer Writes
This issue has two wonderful essays. Adrienne Benson Scherger (Nepal 1992–94) writes about growing up as a child of PCVs who served during early years of the Peace Corps. In her essay she writes about living in the shadow of Sargent Shriver and about her own Peace Corps experience, sans Shriver. Her essay is entitled: “Renewable Resources: Growing Up With ‘Sarge’ Shriver’s Biggest Fans.”
A former PCV in Russia, Heather Carroll (Russia 2000–01) writes about the pressing problem of “No Shortage of Toilet Paper Here” and tells us another side of the Peace Corps experience.
As an aside, Heather was one of the first 9 RPCVs to take the on-line Peace Corps writing class we offered that finished in the spring. This essay came out of that writing class.
Andy, we hardly knew you!
RPCV Andy Trincia (Romania 2002–04) who has emailed us wonderful pieces for the last two years has completed his PCV tour in Romania and emailed us his last essay, “What Planet Are You From.” Thank you, Andy, for all your wonderful prose.
Note: Andy will make his first post-Peace Corps appearance at the NPCA Conference in Chicago where he will read from his published essays and be a panelist for the Careers in the Media Workshop. Talk about culture shock!
In the footsteps of Mark Twain
Last issue we published Bonnie Lee Black’s (Gabon 1996–98) engaging essay on “how not to write a Peace Corps book,” and this issue we have another point-of-view: “In the Footsteps of Mark Twain” by writer/publisher Craig Carrozzi (Colombia 1978–80) who has successfully self-published five books and takes a different stance on writing and publishing.
War before, war during, war after, war again!
Thus begins another installment of our essays about PCVs who also served in the U.S. Army. Ronald Wheatley (Nigeria 1963–64) experienced war in Nigeria and Vietnam. His piece is entitled, “Elusive Dreams” and he is still haunted by those years in Africa and Asia.
Book reviews
We have five reviews in this issue including our review of American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps by Philip Weiss, a book you probably have heard about, and perhaps read by now. By odd circumstances I happened to be the first “official” Peace Corps person to whom Philip spoke when he began this book and, like some of you, I knew the story out of Tonga. When I received an advance copy of it for review, I debated about reviewing it myself, but instead asked a writer I knew would bring his own vast experiences in the Pacific, as well as, his writing skills to the task. P.F. Kluge (Micronesia 1967–69). Writer in Residence at Kenyon College and contributing editor at National Geographic Travels, Kluge is the author of five novels, and two non-fiction books, one of which, The Edge of Paradise: America in Micronesia, touches on his Peace Corps experience.
And finally…
James Kaufman, a researcher at California State University in San Bernardino, has studied 2,000 dead writers who lived in various countries during different centuries to support “The Sylvia Plath Effect.” He found that, on average, poets lived 62 years, 4 years fewer than novelists. He has yet to study Peace Corps writers — poets or novelists.
See you, I hope, in Chicago.
Now to the reading . . .