Earlier this month, the “Godfather of contemporary travel writing,” and author of over 45 fiction and nonfiction works plus 134 essays written over 53 years, Paul Theroux, commented on my article in WorldView, “Living Poor,” and threw out an idea for a future project: Mark Thanks very much. Your piece about “Living Poor” in WorldView is worthy of the man. A British publisher, Eland Press in London, is reissuing Moritz’s books – they just asked me if they could use my intro for nothing, and in the spirit of Moritz, I said yes. Actually, I think Moritz would have had […]

I’m pleased to announce that my Guatemalan filmmaker friend, Luis Argueta, was selected to receive the Harris Wofford Global Citizens award! Luis was the focus of my recently published article in Revue Magazine, http://www.revuemag.com/…/luis-argueta-telling-the-stories…/ and together with fellow RPCV, Ken Lehman, we submitted letters in support of Luis’s nomination. I plan to attend the Peace Corps Connect Conference at the University of Texas in Austin this June 22nd-23d, where the prestigious award will be presented! https://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/articles/announcing-the-2019-harris-wofford-global-citizen-award-winner-luis-argueta-of-guatemala?fbclid=IwAR3GZiCdIgihLpEX5zh-uK783H_8Ae27s8NhEBmg2YqJi4JpHBBzTy-z7PU. Read the newsletter . . .  

I’d like to start the New Year with some thoughts on the continued flow of immigrants to our southern border. I introduced Guatemalan filmmaker and immigrant storyteller, Luis, to you in my last message, “Luis Argueta: Telling the Stories of Guatemalan Immigrants, published in Revue Magazine. For more than ten years, Luis’s films have depicted the challenges facing immigrants, especially from Guatemala. I was pleased to orchestrate an effort to send letters of support for Luis’s nomination for the Harris Wofford Award for Global Citizenship as someone who was influenced by, and embodied, many values of the Peace Corps. Harris […]

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and God knows many of us in the U.S. have a lot to be thankful for. We always gather our entire clan together to give thanks and to remember the growing number of people who don’t have the basics here in the U.S. and abroad. My personal favorite group to help the homeless here in Phoenix is the Andre House, so I participated in the “Give a Book Get a Smile” program by taking my latest article, which is part of the “Crossing Class: Invisible Wall” anthology down there, as well as 200 other books […]

The growing income inequality and decreasing social mobility in the U.S. and abroad is a growing concern and, as a fundraiser, I’ve been in touch with some of the wealthiest people in the world and some of the most isolated and at-risk groups. The two books I reviewed reflect this reality, starting with a New York Times best seller on charity and philanthropy, and the “Crossing Class” anthology. But first, I’d like to share my recent visit with award-winning, Guatemalan film Director, Luis Argueta, who hosted screenings of his three films in Tucson and Phoenix. He also visited some of […]

The memory of Senator John McCain strikes an important cord this week due to the politics as usual going on in Washington as of late. “I was an imperfect servant, but I was always a servant,” he said. He was willing to cross party lines for what he considered the better interests of his country. In the late 1990s when I was with Food for the Hungry, I arrived in the wee hours of the morning at Sky Harbor airport, and there was McCain, reading his newspaper alone, no staff, no body- guards, no Lear Jets. In 2012, I visited […]

International travel has been a passion of mine as a time of self-discovery and transformation, and many of my stories are part of my book “Different Latitudes,” which is why it’s now ranked number 66 for “Travel, Central America, Guatemala” on Amazon. The power of travel was also what I discussed with some of the readers at the Barnes and Noble “Authors Event” at Desert Ridge in Scottsdale on July 28th. Barnes and Noble carries my book now so I’ll turn up at other outlets down the line. Special articles and reviews: This is why I’ve written a special review […]

I have some news about a new article as well as some “Cross Border” issues. The article, “My Life in the Land of the Eternal Spring,” is about a chance encounter with my oldest daughter on a coffee plantation in Guatemala and how it impacted my choice of professions. The article has been published in this month’s Ragazine, an online, global publication: http://ragazine.cc/2018/07/mark-walker-creative-nonfiction/. Read the newsletter . . .  

Anthony Bourdain’s untimely death at the age of 61 shocked me and many of his fans, as he’d become an ambassador for the U.S. when we most needed one and used his platform to remind his audience how our lives are intertwined with those in the most remote parts of the world. No matter where he was in the world, his allegiances were clear; he gravitated to people who had been victimized by unjust political or economic systems. Read the newsletter . . .  

First off I’ll be sharing my new video on “The Making of Different Latitudes” as well as a number of special book reviews of two premier travel writers and, at the end, I’ll introduce my “Word of the Day.” “The Making of Different Latitudes” video is brief but powerful. My son, John, was the cameraman and a fellow Returned Peace Corps friend and award winning documentary director, Hal Rifken, directed it while a local video guru, Donald Griffith, edited it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZmJhe-E9rc&feature=youtu.be. Read the newsletter . . .