Letter, August 29, 1976

Dear Mom, Dad & all,

Hope the rain has continued up there, August has been very dry here & on the east side of the country an awful lot of crops were lost. I guess England is the worst dustbowl of all from what the papers say – worst drought in 500 years. Time seems to be trucking right along even though I have no idea what I’ll be doing this December.

I don’t see any way that I can be kept from coming home for Christmas, that’s as for sure as I can say about anything! But from there, I might be another year in Peace Corps in Costa Rica (They’ve given me no word yet.), or I might go back to college. A friend is going to wait out the winter working on a Quaker dairy farm in Costa Rica after finishing Peace Corps service in December; It’s another possibility.

My work here is going fine. I am taking part in a couple socioeconomic studies. I’m getting a chance to see what being a real practicing sociologist is all about. I don’t think it’s what I want to spend my whole life doing.

There is a large land reform project starting here and the landowners and businessmen don’t like it, are organizing against it, and are putting lots of anti-agrarian reform articles in the papers. The political situation is pretty tense, some people predict a coup. They need land reform here, there is such a gap between the big export farmers & the peasants, but the project will probably be mismanaged as has occurred with previous government projects. It’s hard to say what will happen.

I got the 2 rolls of film, thanks. I also got the picture of some strange people in overalls. I readily recognize Dad & Joyce, but Bruce, Tom & Carla change markedly from one picture I get to the next. I think Tom must have passed me in height by now! How was the fair {referring to the Adams County Fair}? Are Le Roy and Wilber {local farmers who showed cattle at the fair, and were bitter rivals} still battling it out for the champion {Holstein cow} as in years past?

I hope someone finds my “Scientific Americans” useful. I had intended to have them sent here until October, but I sent them notice in plenty of time, so they changed the address immediately upon receiving my letter, computers!

I’m suffering from diarrhea and stomach pains tonight. Every time I think I’m finally immune, I get another attack. What a drag! Tell Dad to take the $500 out of my Golden Passbook {bank savings account} (please). I don’t feel like starting a correspondence directly with the bank, so otherwise it will have to wait until December. I appreciate the gesture, but you know Peace Corps will give me $2,000 when I leave (if in December, more with another year {as a Volunteer}) so I won’t be indigent!

Love,

Dean