The Foreign Service Journal, February 2006

travel and per diem are not included, and this makes working in Washing- ton, D.C., cost-prohibitive. My efforts to obtain overseas WAE assignments consisted of sending my resumé to the regional assignments coordinators; repeatedly phoning to check on possible assignments; per- sonally calling on the post-assignment coordinators when I was in Virginia in 2004 and 2005 on other business; and, finally, asking the under secretary for political affairs to intercede on my behalf. Maybe the best way to obtain WAE jobs is to take the Job Search Program, which I did not do. I relocated to Wisconsin because I own a house here, and wanted to live in it for two years and decide how to proceed. I enjoy living here; howev- er, I miss the intellectual and cultur- al stimulation that the Washing- ton, D.C., area offers, as well as the opportunity to find WAE work in the department. If you are single, as I am, relocating to what once was your home will be a major adjustment. Chances are good that there will be no Foreign Service retirees living nearby. Moreover, the local folks haven’t a clue about Foreign Service life and are only inter- ested in their backyard happenings such as football, baseball, etc. I miss the connection to what was the major emphasis in my life for more than 36 years. I have learned that you can’t just close the door and begin anew, because FS life has greatly altered your views on life and the world. Lois Luebke Bozilov Oconomowoc, Wis. Activities, Literary and Nonliterary When I retired from the United States Information Agency in 1986, I planned to write. And that is largely what I have done. Immediately after retirement I spent a term at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, researching foreign affairs, followed by three terms at Clare Hall, Cambridge, where I subsequently became a life member. I return there every sum- mer. I am also an associate of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, where in 1992 I directed and edited a study of USIA published by the institute. I have written two works of history, The Vision of Anglo-America (Cam- bridge, 1987) and The Fall of Che Guevara (Oxford, 1998), and one book of four novellas, Impure Thoughts (PublishAmerica, 2004). I have also written innumerable short- er items; e.g., commentaries for “Talking History,” a program carried by a group of National Public Radio stations and by the Voice of America. I have also done newspaper pieces on international affairs, written the introductions to two books about Che Guevara, and contributed a number of articles to Government Executive magazine. I planned and wrote the text for an exhibit and then a booklet produced by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, A Brief History of United States Diplomacy. Part of the exhibit was used in a wider dis- play at the State Department. I have also worked as a consulting senior his- torian for History Associates Inc., mostly researching and writing back- ground for legal cases involving eco- logical issues. Among my non-literary activities, two stand out. In 1993, Peter Krogh, then dean of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, asked me to direct the development of a list of more than 100 books on the conduct of diplomacy and then get them shipped to institutions teaching diplo- macy in the newly independent coun- tries of Eastern Europe and the for- mer Soviet Union. USIA provided invaluable financial and logistical sup- port for this program. My other major non-writing activi- ty lasted more than a decade, from the late 1980s to the late 1990s, and involved tutoring Washington elemen- tary school children. An all-volunteer program, the Saturday Learning Extension Program provided one-on- one tutoring for some 140 children at its peak. We tutored on Saturday mornings at two locations, one in Northwest Washington and one in Southeast. I began as a tutor and soon helped manage the program, eventu- ally directing it for about five years. Finally, as an avocation, I write plays. Some have been produced in England — at Cambridge, London and Edinburgh — and some in Washington, D.C. My advice for new retirees: beware of isolation, especially if you write. You can get carried away with your work and suddenly find yourself get- ting neurotic from lack of adult com- pany, especially if your spouse is away most of the day, as mine was. Many organizations in Washington will glad- ly invite you to interesting programs. Look into them. They will help keep you sane. Henry Butterfield Ryan Washington, D.C. 50 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6 Retirees are welcome in the state offices of any senator or representative; you just have to go in and volunteer. — Joseph M. Kemper