The Placeholder Conversation: DC Edition
Restoring the Agency to Claim the Meaningful Work for Us
"๐ผ๐ก๐ก ๐ข๐๐ฃ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ช๐๐ก...๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ ๐ช๐ฃ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐ฉ๐จ...
๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ข ๐ค๐ ๐๐ค๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฃ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐ค๐ข๐๐จ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐ช๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ค๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐จ,
๐๐ฉ ๐๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐ค๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ก๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐ค๐ง ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐ค๐ก๐๐จ๐ ๐๐ฉ."
(Declaration of Independence, 1776)
Two weeks ago in DC, seeing this at the National Museum of African American History Museum, I felt deeply conflicted.
That sense of conflict was palpable in the public library at McLean, VA, where I held ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป on June 26, 2025. Teachers, nonprofit workers, and government agency workers who were affected by DOGE joined the conversation about creating their own meaningful work.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐. One former USAID staff said: "๐ ๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ ๐จ๐๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ง, ๐๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐ฉ'๐จ ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฌ..." The room felt silent.
๐ฆ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฑ, ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฒ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐น๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ "๐๐ข๐๐." As it was unfolding, it felt like a deja vu: the mass layoff in the tech industry between 2022 and 2024. ๐ข๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ด๐ญ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ณ๐๐น๐น ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐น๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ๐ณ for financial efficiency by small and big tech firms. In a way, this series of mass layoffs became a huge wake-up call for many people.
Nothing was constant and everything could change. They acknowledged they didn't want to keep doing what they were doing. Some of them had to face the reality that they were conflating their identities with their jobs. ๐ฆ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐.
Albeit so many political and systemic issues with DOGE, the lesson is clear once again: ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ท๐ผ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐น ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ณ๐๐น ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐น๐๐ฒ๐. ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐'๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ.
๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ณ๐ณ๐, ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐
๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ. If you know someone in your life affected by DOGE layoffs and they need help to navigate how to reset their career, please share this with them.
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ.