Responses to Community Peace Corps Blog Helps Volunteers Tell Thiner Stories



Responses to Community Peace Corps Blog Helps Volunteers Tell Thiner Stories

Community Peace Corps Blog Helps Volunteers Tell Thiner Stories

When President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps in 1961, he created three simple goals for the organization. The third goal was ( and still is ) to “Help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans.”
In February 2005, Third Goal was created out of a need to provide Peace Corps volunteers a free, easy, and independent way to share their stories with the rest of the world.

“Third Goal helps others understand the joys and difficulties Peace Corps volunteers experience in cultures very different than our own,” says Jason Pearce, Third Goal’s founder. “By offering volunteers an independent community and anonymity, they may more freely and accurately help everyone understand distant cultures.”

By offering a consolidated venue for all Peace Corps volunteers, the public receives a concentrated resource of first-person experiences from worlds very different than their own.

Third Goal offers volunteers a free and anonymous place to blog their experiences for others to read in real time. More so, their real-life stories will help shape Americans’ understanding of other peoples.

http://www.blogherald.com/2005/03/29/community-peace-corps-blog-helps-volunteers-tell-thier-stories/


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(Post a new comment)


meggans_life
2005-03-31 15:59 (link)
I feel hesitant about 3rd goal site, in that it was started by the guy who was allegedly kicked out (they actually just said he did not have a counterpart or something to that effect) for bogging.
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i_am_ashleigh
2005-03-31 16:02 (link)
right, which is why I find it very interesting so many people use it. I find it weird that he would even bother with such a thing after being kicked out for that exact reason. Weird...
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greeps
2005-03-31 17:22 (link)
I think it makes total sense that he's doing this. He got kicked out for blogging - now he's found a way to allow PCVs to blog anyway... anonymously.

It's like his own kick in the balls to PC.

I love it.
(Reply to this) (Parent)


greeps
2005-03-31 17:26 (link)
By the way...

Here's Jason Pearce's personal site talking about his departure from PC. It's very well put-together.

http://jason.pearce.net/peacecorps/cos/index.html
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runninggunblues
2005-03-31 19:25 (link)
I think I also remember seeing somewhere that he was reapplying. Don't quote me on that though.
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malwae
2005-04-01 02:48 (link)
I read a little bit of his story. The Third Goal site might be a nice idea, and it sounds like he has the tech savvy to keep participants protected. I do question his judgement a little though. When you join up it's pretty clear that you have to be willing to treat information carefully. This is the Federal Government; and they do have issues around dissemination of information. Legit or not, when you sign up you kind of agree to play by their rules. People have gotten adminsepped from Uzbekistan for doing innocuous things that violated the terms of their PC service; I find it kind of surprising that this guy managed to get sent home just in the three month training.

When this story was posted in April 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

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RPCVs and Friends remember Pope John Paul II Tony Hall found the pope to be courageous and capable of forgiving the man who shot him in 1981, Mark Gearan said the pope was as dynamic in person as he appears on television, Maria Shriver said he was a beacon of virtue, strength and goodness, and an RPCV who met the pope while serving in the Solomon Islands said he possessed the holiness of a man filled with a deep love and concern for humanity. Leave your thoughts here.

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Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

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This Month's Feature Stories - only on PCOL Dream Come True - Revisiting India after 34 years The Coyne Column: Read Winning Vanity Fair PCV Essay Tomas Belsky's paintings inspired by service in Brazil RPCV reunites with friend after 40 years RPCV reviews "Los Heraldos Negros" by Cesar Vallejo Photo Essay: Taking it to the Streets

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April 3, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Ralph White suspended for opening locked gates 2 Apr The Coyne Column: Events in Kyrgyzstan 2 Apr Timothy J. O’Brien suggests Korea increase publicity 1 Apr Danielle Wain deals with dry areas in Uganda 1 Apr Chris Matthews says Schiavo's Dad having "Good Time" 1 Apr Chris Dodd to reintroduce workers protection act 1 Apr Steven Lawry named president of Antioch College 31 Mar Matt Sesow shines light on grief and pain of war 31 Mar Kinky Friedman Preps for Gubernatorial Run 30 Mar Police travel to Tonga with RPCV 28 Mar Randall L. Tobias speaks at PC Headquarters 28 Mar NBC apologizes to Turkey for West Wing episode 28 Mar Jim Doyle proposes domestic partner benefit 27 Mar University to name library auditorium for Elaine Chao 26 Mar Rockefeller says every young American should serve 26 Mar Chris Shays calls Republicans "party of theocracy" 25 Mar Norm Coleman to visit South America 25 Mar

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April 3, 2005: RPCV Groups in the News Houston RPCVs sponsor "Around the World in a Day"on April 6 25 Mar Vasquez to visit DePaul University on April 6 22 Mar Henry McKoy speaks at Clemson University April 6 1 Apr Minnesota RPCVs need Photos for Exhibition 24 Mar Maryland RPCVs eat crab cakes in Annapolis 17 Mar Connecticut RPCVs held fundraiser on March 5 3 Mar RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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Crisis Corps arrives in Thailand After the Tsunami in Southeast Asia last December, Peace Corps issued an appeal for Crisis Corps Volunteers and over 200 RPCVs responded. The first team of 8 Crisis Corps volunteers departed for Thailand on March 18 to join RPCVs who are already supporting relief efforts in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and India with other agencies and NGO's.

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RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter.

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Add your info now to the RPCV Directory Call Harris Publishing at 800-414-4608 right away to add your name or make changes to your listing in the newest edition of the NPCA's Directory of Peace Corps Volunteers and Former Staff. Then read our story on how you can get access to the book after it is published. The deadline for inclusion is May 16 so call now.

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March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Read the stories and leave your comments.