The Foreign Service Journal, October 2003

OCTOBER 2003 • AFSA NEWS 3 AFSA NEWS BRIEFS Ambassador Bernstein (center) with (from right): Tony Satterthwaite’s son George, his widow Kay, his daughter Janet and his son Henry. WEB NEWS ... Official Post Reports on the Web Until recently, theofficial StateDepartment Post Reports were only available through the Overseas BriefingCenter andon the IntraNet system. As of mid-August, they were posted to the State Department’s Internet Web site. You can find them at: http://www.foia.state.gov/MMS/postrpt/ pr_view_start.asp. Unofficial Post Reports at Tales from a Small Planet Where can you find up-to-date reports on what it’s really like to live at posts suchasBaghdad, Bombay andBeijing? Or howabout a funny essay about cows and visas, or reviews of the latest books about overseas living? The answer is Tales from a Small Planet , an informative, humorous and sometimes irreverent Web site that is gaining popularity among Foreign Service employees and family members, especially among the incoming classes. The Tales site offers a wide range of information and enter- tainment for Foreign Service personnel and their families. Most popular on theWeb site are theReal Post Reports: uncensored, first- personaccounts ofwhat it is really like to live inmore than200 cities around theworld. “Whohasn’tmoved toanewpostwithonlymin- imal informationabout life there?” saysVictoriaHess,Chief Executive Officer for Tales . “Real Post Reports fill an information gap. Even the department’s best efforts toprovide informationat theOverseas BriefingCenter donot give you a full impressionof life in your new city, and the official ‘Post Reports’ tend tobe out-of-date once they are available.” The literature section gives heart to the site. Tales ’ goals are “to find stories, essays and poetry that illuminate what it’s really like to live abroad, and the more honesty and humor, the better,” says Editor-in-Chief FrancescaKelly. Another popular part of the site is the Message Boards. “We have always thought that ‘community’ was important to the Foreign Service, and the Message Boards are a terrific resource for those who need information about our communi- ty,” said Kelly. Tales froma Small Planet, Inc., was recently award- ed a significant grant from the Una Chapman Cox Foundation. A $5,000 portion of the grant is contin- gentonTales’ raising thesameamountbyJune2004. Donations are critical to the long-term success of the site , and can be made on-line (click on the word “donate” in the home page banner for information) or by check to: Tales from a Small Planet, P.O. Box 6777, Jackson, WY 83002. Since Tales from a Small Planet is a 501(c)(3)organization, donations aredeductible to the extent allowed by law. Further informationmay be obtained fromVictoria Hess at victoria@talesmag.com or Francesca Kelly at francesca@tales- mag.com. Please visit the site at www.talesmag.com and explore all it has to offer. AnAmericanAbroad.com Another Web resource worth checking out is AnAmericanAbroad.com, which calls itself “the hub for Americans travelingorresidingabroad.” Itisagoodresourceforexpatsforthings such as current news of interest to overseas Americans, stories of American experiences abroad, community forums, travel bookings, country reports, expat shopping information, recommendedbooks, links to world newspapers in English as well as many other links. One of the goals of the site is to simplify the amount of infor- mationavailable andprovide aneasy gateway forAmericans abroad. Another goal is toprovideAmericans inexperiencedwith life abroad with feedback and information fromAmericans overseas. This site was created in the spring of 2003, and is a work in progress. It is edited by BrianWall, who is also the founder. 1959 Thule Helicopter Crash Victims Remembered U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Stuart Bernstein unveiled a memorial at Embassy Copenhagen on July 14 in honor of two American diplomats from Embassy Copenhagen who died in a helicopter crash near Thule, Greenland on Aug. 26, 1959. Deputy Chief of Mission Livingston Lord “Tony” Satterthwaite and Air Attaché Col. James F. Hogan were part of a joint U.S.-Denmark delegation that visited the Inuit community at Qannaaq. The delegation was flying back to Thule from Qannaaq when the accident occurred. All seven persons on board perished, including a Danish liaison officer, the Thule flight surgeon, the commander of the Army Artillery Group at Thule and the aircrew of the helicopter. Dedication of the new memorial plaque at the embassy in Copenhagen follows the addition of Tony Satterthwaite to the AFSA Memorial Plaque at the State Department in 2002. Briefs continued on page 4