GOING TO AFRICA
A bit of personal news. I'm going to Africa, specifically to Malawi, about the beginning of March. I plan to keep blogging, but with completely different content; not news links and political commentary, but a travelogue. All of a sudden my Washington DC life is melting away and will soon be gone, and I'll be in the midst of strange new adventures. How odd. I never thought of these last few months as a happy period in my life, and yet now that it's almost over I realize there are things I'll miss: the bookstores, the World Bank, reading Andrew Sullivan and blogging and following the news, the sense of being part of the political scene that you get just from being in the Beltway, the apartment, watching videos and reading books at leisure, the cushion of money and easy command of material comforts that comes with being an urban yuppie, as opposed to a student or a backpacker.

I'm turning 26 on Wednesday. 24 was the best age. 25 was lousy. Maybe 26 will be all right, we'll see. Reading recommendations about Africa are appreciated. I knew a lot about Russia before I went there, but I'll be coming to Africa pretty much like a blank slate.