See ya, Sage

Welcome to this week's Reno News & Review.

Today's a sad day in the world of this newspaper. Sage Leehey is moving back down to the Las Vegas area. She's been with us since March 2013. She's been in charge of the Green section, and she's headed up all the special projects, like Summer and Winter Guides and all those family supplements.

I first met Sage four years ago next month. She was in my Journalism 107 class. Crazy how these kids grow up before your eyes. One second they're in a freshman journalism class and the next they're going back to Vegas to get a grown up job in a big city and help out with the family.

I've got certain favorites through the years, beginning journalists I worked with who went on to do bigger things than I'll ever do. I always know it when I'm working with them; they've just got something that makes them stand out. (And I've often been told I have an eye for talent.) Sage is one of these, and I'm going to miss her, both in these pages and in the office.

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It's Christmas. Many people think I'm a screwed up human being for many reasons, but man, I will never be able to get behind Christmas. For one, I'm not a Christian, except in American cultural ways. Second, I don't believe that conspicuous consumerism and waste should be celebrated. I'm forced by culture to change my life to adapt to the schedule foisted on us by the dominant religion in this country.

I understand a little bit why Fox's Bill O'Reilly feels there's a war on Christmas by the secular part of society. It's easy. It takes two to have a war, and O'Reilly is simply feeling his side's aggression toward the rest of us.

But on the other hand, Christmas is a great time for me. I really like to have time alone with my thoughts, and since everyone else is doing the Christmas thing, the time I get to do the things I can only do by myself is the best gift I get every year.

Regardless, I hope every day is a happy holiday for our readers.