2006.12.17: December 17, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Swaziland: Business: Internet: Movies: Entrepreneurship: New York Times: Reed Hastings writes: I spent summers in the Marines and between sophomore and junior year I was in Quantico, Va., in boot camp. I found myself questioning how we packed our backpacks and how we made our beds. My questioning wasn’t particularly encouraged, and I realized I might be better off in the Peace Corps.
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Swaziland:
Special Report: RPCV Reed Hastings:
Reed Hastings: Newest Stories:
2006.12.17: December 17, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Swaziland: Business: Internet: Movies: Entrepreneurship: New York Times: Reed Hastings writes: I spent summers in the Marines and between sophomore and junior year I was in Quantico, Va., in boot camp. I found myself questioning how we packed our backpacks and how we made our beds. My questioning wasn’t particularly encouraged, and I realized I might be better off in the Peace Corps.
Reed Hastings writes: I spent summers in the Marines and between sophomore and junior year I was in Quantico, Va., in boot camp. I found myself questioning how we packed our backpacks and how we made our beds. My questioning wasn’t particularly encouraged, and I realized I might be better off in the Peace Corps.
"After a yearlong application process for the Peace Corps, I left college early on my graduation day to begin my training. I was assigned to a high school with 800 students in northwest Swaziland. I taught geometry, algebra and differential equations. We were in a rural part of the country. We had no electricity and cooked with propane and wood. Corn was our staple. I lived in a thatch hut and slept on a cot. The high school graduation was really colorful. The celebrations were traditional and there were a lot of color wraps and furs. I was one of the few in Western dress."
Reed Hastings writes: I spent summers in the Marines and between sophomore and junior year I was in Quantico, Va., in boot camp. I found myself questioning how we packed our backpacks and how we made our beds. My questioning wasn’t particularly encouraged, and I realized I might be better off in the Peace Corps.
Out of Africa, Onto the Web
As told to AMY ZIPKIN.
Published: December 17, 2006
MY father was an attorney for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in the Nixon administration. One weekend when I was about 12, my parents, sisters and I were invited to Camp David, when the president wasn’t there. Elliot Richardson, who held several cabinet positions, invited us. We rode around in golf carts, had a tour and I saw that President Nixon had a gold-colored toilet seat.
I took a year off between high school and college and sold Rainbow vacuum cleaners door to door. I started it as a summer job and found I liked it. As a sales pitch, I cleaned the carpet with the vacuum the customer had and then cleaned it with the Rainbow.
I wanted to go to a small liberal arts school and went to Bowdoin College in Maine. I majored in math because I found the abstractions beautiful and engaging.
I was very interested in serving my country and first joined the Marine Corps in their Platoon Leader Class, a sort of officers’ candidate school. I spent summers in the Marines and between sophomore and junior year I was in Quantico, Va., in boot camp.
I found myself questioning how we packed our backpacks and how we made our beds. My questioning wasn’t particularly encouraged, and I realized I might be better off in the Peace Corps. I petitioned the recruiting office and left the Marines.
After a yearlong application process for the Peace Corps, I left college early on my graduation day to begin my training. I was assigned to a high school with 800 students in northwest Swaziland. I taught geometry, algebra and differential equations.
We were in a rural part of the country. We had no electricity and cooked with propane and wood. Corn was our staple. I lived in a thatch hut and slept on a cot. The high school graduation was really colorful. The celebrations were traditional and there were a lot of color wraps and furs. I was one of the few in Western dress.
I went home once in three years, for my sister’s wedding, about 9 to 10 months after I got there. I was home for five days. I flew to Boston and when I returned it was a 12- to 14-hour trip to Johannesburg, then another four hours to reach the homestead in Swaziland. When I arrived, I could still smell the party, the roses and the Champagne on my clothes. It was challenging. I missed lots of parts of America.
In 1985, I decided to go to graduate school in computer science. I took a two-hour bus trip to Mbabane, the Swaziland capital, to take the Graduate Record Examination. I didn’t get into my first choice, which was M.I.T. I got accepted to Stanford. I had never been to California and arrived in late summer. Driving up to the campus I saw palm trees. It was dry and brown. I asked myself, “Where’s the ivy?” Within a week I had fallen in love with California.
After graduate school, I worked for Schlumberger and then went to work for a start-up. I started my first company, Pure Software, in 1991. I was 31. As the company grew from 10 to 40 to 120 to 320 to 640 employees, I found I was definitely underwater and over my head.
I was doing white-water kayaking at the time, and in kayaking if you stare and focus on the problem you are much more likely to hit danger. I focused on the safe water and what I wanted to happen. I didn’t listen to the skeptics. The company was acquired by Rational Software in 1997.
I got the idea for Netflix after my company was acquired. I had a big late fee for “Apollo 13.” It was six weeks late and I owed the video store $40. I had misplaced the cassette. It was all my fault. I didn’t want to tell my wife about it. And I said to myself, “I’m going to compromise the integrity of my marriage over a late fee?” Later, on my way to the gym, I realized they had a much better business model. You could pay $30 or $40 a month and work out as little or as much as you wanted.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: December, 2006; RPCV Reed Hastings (Swaziland); Figures; Peace Corps Swaziland; Directory of Swaziland RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Swaziland RPCVs; Business; Internet; Movies; California
When this story was posted in December 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
 | All Volunteers Safe in Fiji
All Volunteers in Fiji are safe and accounted for. The Peace Corps is monitoring the situation very closely. Volunteers are on standfast but there are no plans for evacuation at this time. Peace Corps is working closely with the US embassy and with host country partners to monitor the situation. Peace Corps is confident that volunteers are not in harm's way. The military seized control of Fiji on December 5 after weeks of threats. Subscribe to our news feed to read the latest breaking news. |
 | Ron Tschetter in Morocco and Jordan
On his first official trip since being confirmed as Peace Corps Director, Ron Tschetter (shown at left with PCV Tia Tucker) is on a ten day trip to Morocco and Jordan. Traveling with his wife (Both are RPCVs.), Tschetter met with volunteers in Morocco working in environment, youth development, health, and small business development. He began his trip to Jordan by meeting with His Majesty King Abdullah II and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and discussed expanding the program there in the near future. |
 | Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps
Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
 | He served with honor
One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
 | Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance
The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process. |
 | The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again
The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace. |
 | PCOL readership increases 100%
Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. |
 | History of the Peace Corps
PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: New York Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Swaziland; Business; Internet; Movies; Entrepreneurship
PCOL35603
02
