This summer past 1 took a three-week vacation. It was the longest period without reading or writing anything serious I can recall. When I returned, I found my mind wandering a good deal. During one of those mental excursions, I realized that, when Perspectives is fifteen years old next August, I will have been its editor for eight years, more than half its existence and longer than all other editors together. Since I still think of myself as a temporary stand-in for my predecessor, "the real editor", this realization came like a thud on the roof. What ownership comes with such longevity? What responsibilities with ownership?

I have tried to keep Perspectives much as I found it. I have, I think. failed in only one way. Because I find it harder than rev predecessor to save room for the CSEP Director's "At the Center", several years have now elapsed since she last reported on Center activities. The Center has prospered; indeed, it promises to reach twenty in 1996 stronger in every, way than in 1986. But Perspectives' readers hear less and less about it. While I must apologize for this unintended change in format. I doubt I shall reform. 'file Director seems happy enough to do without the pulpit if only I let her go about her business; and seldom are contributors happy about even small cuts in what they write.

During my editorship, short by most historical measures, publishing has changed more than in most centuries. When I arrived at the Center in 1986, everyone there used a typewriter. Perspectives went to press on paper. Typesetters on the North Side transformed our typescripts into galleys using the human eye to reed and human fingers to put in what they read. Now computers outnumber typewriters at the Center. Perspectives goes to press on a disk. Copy comes back by fax. 'file typesetters of old have retired. We have begun to rethink our relationship to our printer. Once printers were primarily typesetters. Are they now primarily designers? How much of our publication can be done "in house" and how much, if any, should we send out? Can We Save money by skipping the printer altogether (as many other newsletters have already done)? Should We?

Over the next year or two, we will, I think, be experimenting with new ways to publish Perspectives. We will need help in evaluating the results. We will take silence as (at least mild) approval. So, if you notice something you don't like, feel free to write. Any innovation inspiring even a few angry letters will certainly be scrapped. Like all other publications, the income-earning as well as the free, Perspectives exists for its readers. We die a little whenever someone ceases to read us.