Jason Pearce

Interesting news. After reading Peace Corps Online’s “Protest at the Peace Corps” story, I placed a little post at the end telling others about my experience with the Peace Corps.” I wrote:

Guyana’s Country Director Earl Brown (2002 � 2004) has twice sent volunteers home for expressing their first amendment rights.

In August 2002, I was given early termination for promoting a better understanding of the Guyanese on the part of Americans via my personal Web site, audio diary, and photo album. Though the site was public at one point, I tried to appease the Peace Corps by adding passwords and other barriers of entry to protect my personal comments from others, to no avail.

In February 2003, two more volunteers were sent home due to a personal email sent to friends and family. Through forwarding, their message made it back to Guyana, their community, and the Peace Corps. Though private, their message wrongfully ended up reaching unexpected recipients and they were sent home because of it.

It’s disappointing that the Peace Corps strips volunteers of their right to freedom of expression via personal Web sites, private emails, online photo albums, and the many other ways that they might choose to communicate with friends and family. Volunteers cannot promote a better understanding of Americans if they are not permitted to behave and communicate as Americans.

My comments apparently attracted the attention of Hugh Pickens, publisher, of Peace Corps Online. Pickens sent me an email asking if he could do a follow-up story on First Amendment rights within the Peace Corps by featuring my case in next month’s issue. Here is what he wrote.

Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 22:20:36 EDT
Subject: Peace Corps Online

Dear Mr. Pearce,

I read the post you made on our Peace Corps Online web site regarding your Peace Corps termination and went to your web site to read the details. Your case raises some very interesting issues regarding free speech in the Peace Corps in the internet age that I think need to be discussed in the Returned Volunteer community.

I’d be interested in doing a follow up on our “Protest at the Peace Corps” story from this month’s issue and do a story based on your case for our next month’s issue. It seems to me that your case is not really a case of “political free speech” like we saw in the Dominican Republic but more akin to the Marjorie Michelmore post card case in Nigeria in 1961 that you can read about at:

http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/0001/001pchist.html

What I’d like to do is present both sides of what happened in your case. I’d like to present the summary of your case from your point of view from your page at:

http://jason.pearce.net/peacecorps/cos/caseforappeal.html

and I’d like to present the Peace Corps’ point of view as summarized in the CD’s letter at:

http://jason.pearce.net/peacecorps/cos/memoregardingdeparture.html

Please let me know what you think about my idea.

Best Regards,

Hugh Pickens
Publisher, Peace Corps Online
Peru, 1970 - 73

I sent him an email this evening accepting his invitation and offered other suggestions as to how I can help him present a fair and informative story. I look forward to seeing how this all develops.

PeaceCorpsOnline.org, an Independent News Forum that is not affiliated with the US Peace Corps, recently posted an article that concerns first amendment rights by volunteers serving in the Peace Corps. Having been kicked out of the Peace Corps for exercising my rights by maintaining a personal Web site, audio diary, online photo albums, and Guyana RPCV listserve, I had great interest in this story. Here is a description of the story:

The story is about a group of sixty Peace Corps volunteers in the Dominican Republic who had planned a peace demonstration at the US Embassy against US policy in Iraq in March. Three days before the demonstration was scheduled, Peace Corps officials sent an e-mail to all volunteers warning that anyone taking part could face administrative separation. Fearful of being sent home, the vast majority who had planned to protest dropped out, and in the end, only three protesters showed up. Peace Corps investigated the case but found no grounds for discipline, which made co-organizer Andy Kauffman bitter that the larger march was suppressed. “We were basically silenced,” says Kauffman.

Should volunteers retain the same first amendment rights while serving overseas as they do as citizens living in the United States? Is it all right for Peace Corps Volunteers to protest US foreign policy if they do not identify themselves as volunteers? Should the Peace Corps spell out rights and responsibilities of new volunteers and have them sign a contract in which each volunteer acknowledges the conditions under which political expression can be made while serving as a volunteer? Read the story, make up your mind, and leave your comments.

I also wanted to add a new Peace Corps posting over the weekend, but failed to make the time. I will add that I mailed all of the remaining GUY10 volunteers a post card on Friday. The cover of the post card said “Dot-Com, Dot-Gone. Glad you are not a dot on the radar.” This is funny because Country Dictator Earl Brown used to always say “Now I don’t want any of you showing up on my radar.” Well, I must have been a huge blimp on his radar while I was there. I’m just glad the others have managed to fly lower than I ever did.

Here is the content of the postcard:

Dear Friends,

It’s been one year since we met and nine months since I’ve left; yet, I still find myself thinking about the whole experience often. I hope you are doing well and are happy with your assignment and community.

I’m now in Norwalk, CT (hour north of NYC), and am serving as director of operations for a Moroccan-owned Web development firm. Though I stay busy, I can’t imagine my work impacts others even half as much as your work does daily.

So consider this note a letter of praise and encouragement. I’m glad you are still there. You’ve made it halfway. And I wish I could have been there to enjoy it all with you.

Then again…I do get a hot shower every morning, I drive an Audi and curse at traffic, I catch all of the movies, I sometimes fall asleep on my couch watching HBO, and there is no saltfish in the house.

In the next three months, I plan on sending a few more of these cards everyone’s way, so keep a lookout for them.

–Jason.Pearce.net

I spent most of the day wrestling with the task of modifying my Xbox. It took me about five hours to properly take apart, solder in the mod chip, and reassemble. I can�t believe I had as many problems as I did. But I think I got it up and running. Now I just have to figure out how to flash the mod chip with a new BIOS, install a new operating system, and a whole bunch more.

In preparation for performing some plastic surgery on my Xbox this weekend, here are a few notes that I’ll need.

How to open the Xbox
This guide will walk me through opening up the Xbox and taking out the motherboard so that I’ll be able to solder in the mod chip. Parts needed for this procedure are:

• A Torx 20 screw driver
• A Torx 10 screw driver

Next, I install the mod chip
I’ll be using the HeaderPin Install for X-ecuter2 Lite method. I like this method because there will be less soldering. But I’ll still have do some soldering, and will refer to this guide in doing so. Also looks like I’ll need these tools:

• 15-Watt Soldering Pencil with Grounded Tip (RSCN 64-2051)
• 0.032″ Diameter Lead-Free Solder (RSCN 64-025)
• Adjustable Wire Stripper/Cutter (RSCN 64-2129)
• Desoldering Braid (RSCN 64-2090)
• Anti-Static Wrist Strap with Cord (RSCN 276-2397)

Next, I’ll have to deal with the dreaded soldering of point DO
This is the hardest soldering point of all because it is small and close to a lot of other circuits. Another method for point DO is this one.

After the soldering is complete, I then reseat the motherboard and its components. I’ll restart my Xbox, and will hopefully be presented with “Xecuter2″ directly underneath the Xbox logo. This is the sign of a properly installed Xbox mod chip.

After adding a mod chip to my Xbox, I’ll give my game console a serious face-lift by replacing the Microsoft dashboard with a new one called Evolution X (EvoX). I’ll need to be sure I’ve downloaded the most recent version of Evox by first checking their website.

After getting a copy of Evox, I’ll need to modify the evox.ini file to meet my needs. Detailed instructions on modifying the evox.ini file are found here, here, or here.

Once I’m happy with the evox.ini file, I’ll burn EvoX to a CD-R or CD-RW. I’d like to burn it to a DVD-R, but I don’t have a burner. To do this, I’ll reference this guide.

I’ll need to create an ISO image to burn. Not just a standard ISO image, however, but an XISO image. This guide, and perhaps this one, will help me here. Once I’ve created the CD-RW, insert it into my Xbox and turn on the console; I’ll see the ExoX dashboard. Now I can FTP/telnet into your Xbox and copy files onto my network.

Once I’ve copied all of the contents of my Xbox’s 8 GB hard drive to a safe place on my network, it will be time for me to install the new 120 GB drive. I’ll first set the jumper on the new drive to cable select. Then I’ll put the EvoX setup CD in the Xbox drive and turn on your Xbox. I’ll choose the “Configure new hard drive” option, which will partition and set up the hard drive. Then I’ll repeat the FTP process, but this time I’ll copy my data to the new drive. Reboot. Lastly, I’ll need to remember to lock the drive, which I’ll learn how to do here.

Lastly, I’ll install Xbox Media Player. I think I’ll get into the details of that project once I’ve complete all of the above mentioned steps. Wish me luck.