Decades ago, straight out of college, I moved to West Africa, intending to spend a year there to experience life abroad before deciding what sort of career to pursue back home in the United States. The fact that I am writing this column stems from decisions I made while traveling through the Sahel—and, in particular, from the existence then of a great and thriving U.S. newspaper, the Washington Post . As a student, I had had no intention of becoming a journalist. Yet I knew that I loved to read