Dear Colleagues and Fellow Writers from Around the World,
That’s right—I’m responding to requests to expand my second book with new stories. I’ll also provide highlights of Desert Nights, Rising Stars writing conference. In Culture Watch a few words on why Arizonans are missing a representative in Congress. In What Others Are Saying some commentary from readers and a special book review in What We’re Reading and Why about one of my favorite places, Sierra Leone as well as an important announcement in the updated Calendar.
Although the response to my book was positive, a growing number of readers complained it was too short—after all it was a Travel Chapbook. Since the publication of this book two years ago, it received the Best Travel Book Award from the Peace Corps Writers group and I’ve written four new essays and we have a new map to add making for over 120 pages.
The book is part of my “Yin & Yang of Travel,” which represents the duality of travel—both the outer journey of exploration and the inner journey of transformation. It was inspired by Paul Theroux’s “The Tao of Travel.” His book also celebrates 50 years of travel writing. It’s an invaluable portal into the world of timeless global travel.
As I reflected on my own fifty years of travel miscalculations and disasters, I also appreciated how and why I travel has changed over the years. As a young Peace Corps Volunteer with no overseas travel experience, the world was my oyster, and I figured I could go anywhere if I set my mind to it—with little or no money. Then I married a Guatemalan lady and had to think more about “our” needs; then, three children meant additional requirements and responsibilities. And later, as a professional fundraiser, I would arrange donor visits to program areas which needed funds and this meant considering the needs of up to 15 individuals, including children and some donors in their 70s and 80s. More recently eight grandchildren have introduced an intergenerational perspective to my travel. I’ve become a savvier trekker, although I’m still prone to the occasional snafu. I’ve updated the manuscript and am on the challenging search for a new publisher.
Mark & fellow board member Daniel Dickenson at the Arizona Authors Association booth
I was on a literary high during the three-day Desert Nights, Rising Stars writing conference organized by the Virginia Piper Center for Creative Writing, interacting with many of the hundreds of fellow authors, poets and publishers. Alberto Rio, the Center’s Director made a revealing presentation on the linguistic roots of Magical Spiritualism and the community it comes from and how worldview and linguistics inform how and what we write.
Sandra Cisneros, keynote speaker and author of The House on Mango Street, debuted her poem “For a World on Fire.” Fellow author and founder of the Phoenix Writers Network summed up the impact of Cisnero’s presence:
Her career has been long and successful, and her wisdom and grace filled the auditorium in a way that I have not seen in a long time. She held the audience rapt. She reminded us that we must see that we can be “healers in a wounded time. That the world we live in is a house on fire and the people we love are burning.” When our hearts are broken open, we must seek to take care of each other with our words and our writing.
Culture Watch
Despite mounting public pressure, the U.S. government continues to stonewall the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files—while the British royal family has taken visible steps to distance itself from the scandal by stripping Prince Andrews of his remaining titles and throwing him out of his royal mansion.
While in the U.S. the administration response has been marked by obstruction and delays focusing on protecting the white, male perpetrators while ignoring the plight of the victims. While the MAGA movement have been demanding the release of the Epstein Papers for over a year, our President has now decried a “Democrat Epstein Hoax.” Adding insult to injury, convicted sex trafficker Chislaine Maxwell met with Trump appointed Deputy Attorney Gener Todd Blance for several hours after which she was transferred to a prison nicknamed “club Fed.”
All of this came to a head with victim Virginia Giuffre’s memoir; Nobody’s Girl was published six months after her death by suicide. The book was her final act of advocacy. In an attempt to block the revelation of the Epstein file, Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to swear in Rep. elect Adelita Crijalva who won a special election to fill the seat of her deceased father. Our attorney General Kris Mayes has sued Johnson calling it “taxation without presentation” and accusing him of “protecting pedophiles” and disenfranchising over 800,000 Arizonan voters.
What We’re Reading and Why
Betsy Small’s Before Before offers a deeply personal and historically rich account of Sierra Leone, blending memoir and ethnography with emotional resonance. She draws from her Peace Corps service in mid-1980 and a return visit in 2013 with her 13-year-old daughter. This memoir is more than a recollection—it’s a meditation on cultural exchange, colonial legacies, and the fragile threads of memory that bind us across time and geography.
Like the author, I ran for a map to find where my new Peace Corps home would be for the next two years. I, too, was recruited for an agricultural program with no farming experience. Although my site was isolated, after working in Sierra Leone for almost four years, I was amazed at the cultural and physical challenges facing Peace Corps Volunteers upcountry which the author confirmed. Common ailments included malaria, Lassa fever, and monkey pox, which explains Sierra Leone’s reputation during the colonial period as the “White Man’s Grave.”
Story Story is a masterful blend of autobiography and ethnography, offering readers a window into Sierra Leone’s past and present through the eyes of a thoughtful observer and a loving mother. Go to the Million Mile Walker website for the full review: https://millionmilewalker.com/2025/10/before-before-a-story-of-discovery-and-loss-in-sierra-leone-by-betsy-small-reviewed-by-mark-d-walker/
For more on Betsy’s story go to the “SoftPower” website for her interview. #5 – Betsy Small
Former U.S. diplomat Christoper Wurst has interviewed me as well as part of a weekly series. The premier season will feature stories from foreign aid experts, ambassadors, Peace Corps volunteers, NGO leaders, healthcare professionals, businesspeople, novelists, scientists, travel influencers, and others. Look for my story on December 19th—I’m excited to be part of the talented group sharing stories of how overseas development and caring impacts so many here and abroad.
What Are Others Saying?
On My Saddest Pleasures:
“Thoughtful, affectionate, and slender – you look for these qualities in your friends — and find them in My Saddest Pleasures: 50 Years on the Road” Tom Miller, author of The Panama Hat Trail, On the Border, Trading with the Enemy, and Revenge of the Saguaro.
On my review of Before Before
It’s really amazing that you have done this on behalf of this book! I am truly humbled! & Thank you for such an in-depth and kind review! You exceeded my expectations in every way! I had no idea that I would have the chance to see it before you sent it out. I am so deeply grateful and honored! Betsy Small, author of Before Before
Calendar
- November 15th: Arizona Authors Association Literary Award luncheon at Moon Valley Country Club. I’ll attend as a board member and will accept the award on behalf of my friend, fellow author, and co-founder of Seeds for a Future, Earl de Berge.
- December 19th: My interview on “SoftPowers” “FulStories”
You can find my 85 book reviews and 28 articles, as well as several videos and photos, on my website, which also offers a reduced price for my new book if you read it and pass it along to your local library:
. “Follow” me on Blue Sky—at (2) @millionmilewalker.bsky.social — Bluesky, Substack- Mark’s Substack | Mark D Walker | Substack – and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/millionmilewalker/ for the latest international affairs and literature. And please share the link to the sign-up page with the Dispatch for any friends you think will enjoy it. Million Mile Walker Newsletter – Million Mile Walker.
And, as always, if you’ve read Different Latitudes: My Life in the Peace Corps and Beyond, My Saddest Pleasures: 50 Years on the Road, the Best Travel Book according to the Peace Corps Writers, and, of course, my most recent book, The Guatemala Reader, please review and rate them on Amazon and Goodreads.
Shalom!
Mark D. Walker