Review: "Just Keep Pedaling" by Connie Ness

Just Keep Pedaling by Connie Ness
Published 2023
★★★

In the 90s, Ness took a leap and joined the Peace Corps. Wanting somewhere tropical, she landed in Uruguay: Most of the land in the countryside around Brum was used for grazing sheep and cattle. The land was very flat, and there weren't many trees. The country roads were rocky and straight. Ironically, I had wanted tropical and instead I got North Dakota: flat, barren landscape with no trees. (42)

But she ran with it, because...that's what you do. Tasked with supporting small businesses, she quickly realized that she'd be starting with the basics, like how (and why) to track expenses and profits. Money is often a theme of Peace Corps memoirs, partly because volunteers may not be used to living on a (small by US standards but generally reasonably generous by local standards) stipend, and partly because of the gulf between standard of living for middle-class and up parts of the US and standard of living for often remote parts of developing countries. How writers talk about it varies; Peter Hessler talks about being determined to spend his whole stipend each month, because it went so far in China but saving it would amount to a pittance in the US, while Susana Herrera struggles to grasp that although by US standards she is by no means wealthy, her income as a single woman—not to mention resources outside her Peace Corps stipend—makes her seem wealthy, and white, to her community in Cameroon. Meanwhile, Ness falls somewhere in between: her stipend feels small initially, but, perhaps because she was in Uruguay to talk business, the numbers interested her, and she offers comparisons of how, e.g., she spent her stipend and how much somebody in the community could expect to earn. (Similarly, she confirms something I've always wondered...that the US credit card makes for a backup plan, at least when on holiday.)

It's not all money, of course, and it sounds like Ness made some strong connections—she was lucky to be paired with a local counterpart with whom she clicked, and who had his finger on the pulse of local life and needs. I imagine a lot has changed since Ness was there, but it was satisfying to read about a place and culture about which I know so little.