The Foreign Service Journal, March 2023

12 MARCH 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL rapprochement with Mr. Putin’s Russia and sowing chaos in the Balkans. Such an involvement, I suggest, would be more effective if it included cooperation from the Greek government. Greece remained neutral when the U.S. and NATO intervened in the most recent Balkan wars that penalized Serbia, but it has now probably noted, and is undoubt- edly suspicious about, the apparently private Russian investments in the Greek section of Cyprus prior to Mr. Putin’s most recent aggression in Ukraine. George B. Lambrakis Senior FSO, retired Paris, France Yes to a Vehicle Stipend I recently came across an interesting Speaking Out article about the benefits of a privately owned vehicle (POV) stipend while overseas as an alternative to the POV allowance ( “Stop Shipping Your Personal Vehicle!” by Warren Leishman) in the October 2020 FSJ . This would be a much-needed benefit for me, as a blind FSO, as well as a poten- tial savings for our foreign affairs agencies, as indicated in the article. I am legally blind and haven’t driven in more than five years. I don’t have a car, and there’s no alternative for people likeme to benefit from the POV shipping allowance. This article poses a win-win solution, and I would appreciate it if AFSA would consider seriously advocating for this. Eric Baylor Regional Agricultural Attaché Embassy Santo Domingo Research Request I am a former FSO and current Ph.D. candidate at the Virginia Tech Center for Public Administration and Policy. My dis- sertation research will examine the effects of outside appointments on Civil Service employee workplace attitudes through a case study of the State Department, which will include a series of individual and small-group interviews. I invite current and former department employees from both the Civil and Foreign Services to participate in this research study. Interviews are planned for summer 2023 in person in the D.C. area, as well as virtually via Zoom. All collected data will be anonymized to protect privacy, and the interviews will last 30 to 60 minutes. To volunteer or learnmore, please email me at boyettecl@vt.edu . Many thanks. Charity L. Boyette Former FSO Dublin, Virginia Postcard Field Trip: Outreach to Illinois Students I am a school librarian at a tiny school in rural central Illinois. A couple years ago when we were all home on lockdown, I started developing a new curriculum for my students, K-12, to help them see the world. Even when conditions are ideal, my students do not always have the money or the opportunity to travel much farther than the next town over for groceries or maybe a larger nearby town on rare occasions. I wanted all my students to be able to experience as much of the world as possible, even if we were all in our own homes, and now, when we are back in our school buildings together. I call this curriculum “Postcard Field Trip.” We learn about each state and terri- tory of the United States and each country of the world in alternating years. In 2020 we did states. In 2021 we did countries, and in 2022 we were back to states and territories. I amworking on ideas for this year when we return to learning about countries of the world. (Previously I tried Share your thoughts about this month’s issue. Submit letters to the editor: journal@afsa.org contacting tourism bureaus throughout the world, with very limited success.) Last summer at the American Library Association conference I was intro- duced to The Foreign Service Journal and discussed this project with Editor Shawn Dorman, who thought that you all might be able to help in some way. So here goes: Would you be able to send postcards (blank or with notes to the students), bookmarks, or other interest- ing materials from the country you are stationed in for the students at my small, rural school? We have about 200 students in the entire district, but any number of items would be welcome. (We’ll either save them in the library to share, or if it’s enough for a class or two, I’ll distribute them to the students.) Firsthand artifacts and experiences from around the world help my students to learn and grow and be inspired. We have been having so much fun learning about the whole world. If you’d be able to send something from your home state or territory, that would be great, too! Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or to send cool links with more information to nfolkman@hartem. org. If you have physical items to send, you can mail them to Nichole Folkman, Hartsburg-Emden Schools, 400 W. Front Street, Hartsburg IL 62643, USA. Thank you so much! Nichole Folkman District Librarian Hartsburg-Emden, Illinois n