The Foreign Service Journal, May 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2013 59 AFSA NEWS FS Books: Something for Everyone The Mini Page The April 21 edition of The Mini Page (a newspaper insert for kids that appears in approximately 300 Sunday newspapers across the U.S.) focused on U.S. diplomats. The Mini Page editor found Inside a U.S. Embassy a useful resource, and when asked, we gave permission to excerpt one of the day-in-the-life entries from the book, along with two of the book’s photos. In addition, Inside a U.S. Embassy Editor Shawn Dorman answered a set of questions for their background information. Dorman also arranged for a Q&A with the Foreign Service child of one of the book’s contributors, which was printed along with a picture provided by the family. Visit the book page for a link: www.afsa.org/inside . Walk into the Embassy! The Chinese edition of the 2005 Inside a U.S. Embassy has been published in China and is available through some of the largest online shopping sites in the PRC, including taobao, dangdang and 360buy, as well as on Amazon China (amazon.cn ). The initial print run was 2,000 copies, and the price is 24 RMB ($3.86). Embassy Beijing is purchasing copies for their use. See Talking Points (p.11) for details and links. The AFSA History Book Project The AFSA History Book Project is moving along well. Author and former FSO Harry Kopp began work in October 2012 and has submitted the first two chapters in draft. The first chapter looks far back in history at diplomacy before AFSA (think Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson), and how the consular and diplomatic services were created and evolved through the nineteenth century and up until the Rogers Act of 1924, which created the Foreign Service. The second chapter takes on “The Birth of AFSA, 1924-1946.” An article based on his research appeared in the April Foreign Service Journal for the focus on AFSA’s 40th anniversary as a union. Outreach to Universities As part of the March launch of the AFSA partnership with the University of St. Thomas, AFSA gave out 28 comp copies of Inside a U.S. Embassy to professors and deans from various Texas universities. In March, Shawn gave a presentation on the Foreign Service career to graduate students from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (above). This is the fourth year that students from retired FSO Charles Skinner’s “Foreign Policy and Diplomacy” course have visited AFSA during a trip to Washington, D.C. Outreach to High Schools Embassy Risk Management, a company that provides international property and auto insurance to members of the Foreign Service and other U.S. expatriates serving overseas, has given a grant to AFSA for $6,000. This will fund the purchase (at cost) and distribution/mailing of approximately 700 copies of I nside a U.S. Embassy to U.S. public inner- city and lower-income-area high schools (a traditionally underserved demographic), to promote awareness of the Foreign Service among young Americans.