The Million Mile Walker Dispatch, 50 Years on the Road: A Journey from Peace Corps Volunteer to Author, April 2023

  Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, Today’s Culture Watch will focus on growing homelessness, as well as yet another tragic death of 17 Guatemalans in Mexican immigration centers on our border. My Writing and Reviews will include my latest book review in the “Wanderlust Journal,” and several articles about me in “The Westerner Magazine,” plus an introduction of several must-see movies.  What Others Are Saying, and Let’s Keep Laughing will include a quip from one of our great writers, plus an updated Calendar that highlights several international events hosted by PEN America. But first, the alumni Magazine […]

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Facing the Congo: A Modern-Day Journey Into The Heart Of Darkness, by Jeffrey Tayler, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

  I’m always attracted to any adventure delving into the “heart of darkness” in Africa. And in this case, a book inspired by Conrad’s epic trip in 1890 down the Congo River on a steamer after being appointed by a Belgian trading company. This story came to mind while floating down the Rio Dulce in Guatemala, where the dense tropical forest came up to the river’s edges, and one could hear different languages on shore (mostly Q’eqchí). But Tayler’s travel adventure is on an entirely different level as he follows the Congo River on a barge for 1,100 of the […]

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