Thanks, Sandy

The Oregonian's editor since 1993, Sandra Mims Rowe, announced her retirement yesterday. The publisher retired two months ago. The ad-sales director was fired in the spring. So the paper has undergone a wholesale turnover in the top three slots of the masthead this year alone. Which alone tells you everything you need to know about the state of our business these days.

I first met Sandy in 1982, when she was the wunderkind editor of The Virginian-Pilot, and I was the cub for UPI (in the converted janitor's closet near the printers' locker room). I was in awe of her then and was ever since, up to and including the moment five years ago when I walked into her office for my job interview.

I celebrate her liberation. She has earned it, with a long, honorable career.

Now if only the rest of us could figure out how to operate this crazy new thing ...