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Jesse Lonergan's time teaching English in Turkmenistan became the graphic novel "Joe and Azat," a fictional tale based on Lonergan's year and a half assignment from September 2005 to February 2007
Lonergan, whose parents met and were wed in the Peace Corps, had resisted serving given his upbringing, but soon desired to spend time abroad. His time teaching English in Turkmenistan became the graphic novel "Joe and Azat," a fictional tale based on Lonergan's year and a half assignment from September 2005 to February 2007. The story follows the unlikely friendship of an American and a Turkmen as they trade cultural gaffes and tolerate life in a totalitarian regime. (Azat's brother, for example, claims that he is the Turkmen version of Chuck Norris.)
Jesse Lonergan's time teaching English in Turkmenistan became the graphic novel "Joe and Azat," a fictional tale based on Lonergan's year and a half assignment from September 2005 to February 2007
Graphic Novel "Joe and Azat" Tackles Life in a Totalitarian Regime
By Jamin Brophy-Warren
When Jesse Lonergan got his assignment for the Peace Corps to Turkmenistan, he quickly started researching the post-Soviet satellite state. "I'd heard of it before, and I could find it on a map, but that's about it," he jokes.
Lonergan, whose parents met and were wed in the Peace Corps, had resisted serving given his upbringing, but soon desired to spend time abroad. His time teaching English in Turkmenistan became the graphic novel "Joe and Azat," a fictional tale based on Lonergan's year and a half assignment from September 2005 to February 2007.
The story follows the unlikely friendship of an American and a Turkmen as they trade cultural gaffes and tolerate life in a totalitarian regime. (Azat's brother, for example, claims that he is the Turkmen version of Chuck Norris.)
Cartoonists have long tackled travel writing in a variety of ways. Canadian Guy Delisle wrote about his time in Burma, Pyongyang, and Shenzhen with humor, tracking his various travails in each country he visited with an outsider's eye while attempting to glean something deeper about the places he occupied. Joe Sacco's work on Palestine and Israel, conversely, has a stronger moral tone with the artist injecting his own opinions into his work. For Lonergan, who was inspired by the short stories of W. Somerset Maugham, he hoped to inject some humanity into a country that's known mostly for its eccentric dictator.
"You only read about the crazy politics and it doesn't give a sense of reality. I wanted to focus on what life was like for people there rather than the dictator who names January after himself," says Lonergan. This is a real place and that can be lost in the stories I read."
Of course, not everything Lonergan experienced made its way into the book. "I hated the food," he says. "But that doesn't need to be commented on."
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: November, 2009; Peace Corps Turkmenistan; Directory of Turkmenistan RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Turkmenistan RPCVs
When this story was posted in November 2009, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Memo to Incoming Director Williams
PCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today. Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. Latest: Greetings from Director Williams
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"We will double the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011. And we'll reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity," said Barack Obama during his campaign. Returned Volunteers rally and and march to the White House to support a bold new Peace Corps for a new age. Latest: Senator Dodd introduces Peace Corps Improvement and Expansion Act of 2009 .
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Senator Dodd's Senate Subcommittee held confirmation hearings for Aaron Williams to become the 18th Peace Corps Director. "It's exciting to have a nominee who served in the Peace Corps and also has experience in international development and management," said Dodd as he put Williams on the fast track to be confirmed by the full Senate before the August recess. Read our exclusive coverage of the hearings and our biography of Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams.
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