Moyers was introduced by Thomas Tighe, head of Direct Relief and former national director (sic) of the Peace Corps, who cited about a page worth of Moyers’s incredibly rich and varied achievements and admitted that he could have gone on for more time than the who event had.



Moyers was introduced by Thomas Tighe, head of Direct Relief and former national director (sic) of the Peace Corps, who cited about a page worth of Moyers’s incredibly rich and varied achievements and admitted that he could have gone on for more time than the who event had.

Bill Moyers tells all in an Arts & Lectures benefit

By Gerald Carpenter, Voice Editorial Director

Broadcaster and great soul Bill Moyers had an absorbing, important conversation with the poet Naomi Shihab Nye in Campbell Hall last Tuesday night. Anyone who had been to hear Garrison Keillor the night before (see report this issue) and had been longing in vain for some passionate political commentary, must certainly have come away from the Moyers evening fully satisfied.

Moyers was introduced by Thomas Tighe, head of Direct Relief and former national director of the Peace Corps, who cited about a page worth of Moyers’s incredibly rich and varied achievements and admitted that he could have gone on for more time than the who event had. After listening to this reverent catalog of his virtues, and then to Nye’s equally admiring opening statement, Moyers thanked everyone and said:

"I must apologize that the person who was introduced could not be here this evening, but I am happy to fill in for him."

Nye began by asking Moyers about his discovery of poetry and he traced it back to the teachers he had had in his last two years of high school and his first two years of college. What all these teachers had in common was that "they read aloud to their students." He didn’t offer this as a criticism of present educational practices, because if Moyers reveres any class uncritically, it is that of English teachers. But the audience was free to make the comparisons and decide for themselves.

The conversation ranged far and wide, with Nye drawing Moyers out on a number of disparate topics. As an ordained Baptist minister, he naturally was illuminating on the current high tide of religious fundamentalism -- Christian, Islamic, and Jewish. Taking "fundamentalist" and "tribalist" as synonyms, he spoke of his own background as "Evangelical but not fundamentalist." He was saddened to note that "globalization had often produced a new tribalism."

Moyers said he remains an optimist: "I just couldn’t get up each morning if I didn’t believe in a confident future."

But when asked about specific things, he was much gloomier. Did he see hope for a Palestine-Israeli settlement in the foreseeable future? "No," he said, "because extremists are driving events."

On the Bush administration, he said: "How can someone so well-loved, so well-schooled, and so well-churched, be so unaware of the experience and pain of other people?"

And: "They don’t have the imagination to put themselves on the other side of any question."

And: "Nothing seems to embarrass the political class in Washington nowadays."

Of his own profession, journalism, he was not censorious of the failure of his erstwhile colleagues to keep the public informed but he urged everyone to seek out information on the web or from books. "News," he said, "Is what people want to keep hidden. Everything else is publicity."

Moyers stressed the importance of acting locally, "where we all live," and he suggested we pay particular attention to "redistricting," "a universal voting machine with a paper trail," and "controlling the power of money in politics."

Asked whether he was hopeful that it was possible to save American democracy, Moyers said: "I can’t answer that question. But I know that we have no choice but to act as if we can turn it around."

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

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 over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

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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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March 5, 2005: RPCV Groups in the News San Diego RPCVs host reception with Gaddi Vasquez on March 6 4 Mar Alaska RPCVs speak for dividend 4 Mar Western North Carolina's RPCVs sponsor Africa Night on March 6 3 Mar Maryland RPCVs lobby their Senators for Peace Corps 3 Mar Connecticut RPCVs hold fundraiser on March 5 3 Mar Charles Baquet speaks at Louisiana PC Breakfast on March 4 28 Feb RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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March 5, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Senate FR Committee approves $345 M PC budget 4 Mar RPCV's "Kennedy's Kitchen" records second CD 4 Mar Sam Farr asks Army to reconsider burial policy 3 Mar Bayanihan jewelry designed by Philippines RPCV 2 Mar Todd Vetter receives calling during PC service 2 Mar Sargent Shriver still on Washington's A-list 2 Mar Photographer Bill Owens publishes new book 2 Mar Crisis Corps to open new program in Sri Lanka 28 Feb PC wants new stories for "The Great Adventure" 28 Feb Ukraine PCV asks "Is Bush right on Iraq?" 28 Feb Carol Bellamy defends "feminism" in aiding children 28 Feb John Bridgeland discusses role as Bush assistant 28 Feb Paul Theroux recalls high times with Hunter Thompson 28 Feb Elaine Chao Leads Delegation to Uruguay 28 Feb RPCV reunites with friend after 40 years 27 Feb Kay Muldoon-Ibrahim's photography on exhibit 27 Feb Jim Doyle displays political brilliance on tax cuts 26 Feb

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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.

Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory.

Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments.

WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service.

Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

Read the stories and leave your comments.