Wayne Moses Burke

I know – it sounds a little woo-woo (new agey, if you will), but listen for a minute. A dear friend of mine sent me a link to some audio files from the website of a couple of Buddhist teachers in New York City who did a series of teachings on this subject – and frankly, it’s fantastic. More on Spiritual Partnerships?

And so it goes. . . life, that is – ever evolving and changing.

This is perfectly descriptive of my current state of affairs. As you may know, I came to DC looking for work in the field of US foreign policy, but apparently that was not to be!

I have taken to jokingly saying that I’m no good at finding a job and so I’ve given up. The truth of the matter is that I’m much more comfortable being entrepreneurial than trying to convince someone to allow me to work towards their vision of how the world should be. Consequently, I’m setting off to do just that!

I’m in the process of forming a nonprofit organization and am terribly excited about it. The first project will solve both sides of a large problem in our country – communication between elected officials and their constituents. How will I do this, you may wonder? Stay tuned and it will all become clear.

See you in the back alleyways of the InterTubes!

What is this crazy thing called love?

No. Seriously. What is that about? We all talk about it and want it and chase after it, but what is it? What is it really? Bear with me, I’ve been working on this… More on Love.

This post is way past due. I know.

You see, on April 14th around 8pm, I was sick of job hunting for the previous year, a little depressed, and going through my email, when I was suddenly struck with an idea – a concept – a new direction! More on Genesis.

What is a boy to do — nay, what is a man to do given boyish characteristics and a fool’s heart of gold?

What is the value of this much-hyped interaction intended to get us ahead in our careers and social lives?

I have been pondering this question recently as I have been evaluating my success in finding the perfect job in Washington, DC — ie, I haven’t had much luck and wonder why. More on Networking.

I have been familiar with this bizarre sight from having wandered by it previously, but yesterday it struck me as particularly bizarre. You see, I had just left the House Committee on Foreign Relations meeting and was pondering the reason for such meetings — the seemingly strange way that both Congresspeople and the viewers act, and why the entire field of politics is viewed as unseemly by so many.

More on Detestable Politics?

Wow! Talk about exciting. I attended a full meeting of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday morning and got a good taste for how Congress runs. While there was plenty on the agenda for the meeting, it really all came down to discussion of saving the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Well, this was quite a thing, so it seems. You see the original plan was enacted in 2003 to provide $15 billion over five years to a select group of countries. More on House Committee on Foreign Affairs 2-26-2008.

Now here’s something worth writing about! I attended an event at the Brookings Institution yesterday entitled Weak and Failed States: What They Are, Why They Matter and What To Do About Them.

In addition to reflecting many of the sentiments that I long to hear more discussion of, they were announcing the release of the new Index of State Weakness in the Developing World — a policy tool to help policymakers understand the strengths and weaknesses of the 141 developing countries. More on Index of State Weakness.

I have been searching for a hat for about two and half years.

An exceptionally kind friend of mine (ha!) gave me a hat just over a year ago that was exactly what I was looking for. I have since worn it in winter and summer — even though it was really too warm and fashionably inappropriate for the no-white-until-labor-day crowd. Meanwhile, I continued my quest for a good summer hat. More on Hats. Hats. Hats.