I was listening to PRI this morning and heard Ray Suarez talking about the need for more active and efficient US efforts in Public Diplomacy such as information and education abroad and the People to People Program run by the State Department at home. I have been involved in them for quite some time as Federal funds have dried up ( I am a kind of cheap date academic). For example, I volunteer for the International Visitors Program and bring guests to my home and tour them around Brooklyn. I am amazed at how well State Department employees here and abroad do with what they have. Researching and lecturing abroad, I have found the image of America at an all-time low, although there is hope for the Obama administration. One example of great effort was done some years ago by Larry Clamage at the Voice of America "The magic Bus". He did this piece essentially on his own (write, produce, video, edit, etc) and it is an amazingly accurate view of my piece of America. We tried to have it shown on WNET but VOA broadcasts are for foreign consumption only unless approval is obtained. I wonder how many other ordinary Americans like me have been doing their own Public Diplomacy. I have many of my own stories from Brooklyn to Beijing but would love to hear from others in this space, or elsewhere. Here's the VOA link which can be downloaded as a video as well as text and images. http://voa...N=62683556
