Change is in the air.

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN. SPRING IS a new start. It's a season of change. Change brings with it many questions. For instance, with the change in seasons I'm prompted to ask: will the bulbs that my wife planted last fall come to full flower this year? (I hope so.) Will ABC-TV's SportsNight be renewed for another season? (I really hope so.) Will the Yankees be in the 2000 World Series? (Probably!)

But why all this talk of spring, seeds, sitcoms, and sports? Because change occurs for a variety of reasons. Some changes are planned, others are a matter of course, and still others happen despite our best efforts.

In this month's cover story, "Middle class act," which starts on page 28, Senior Editor Sam Adler looks at a model of affordable senior campus living that is undergoing a change. One of the nation's largest and fastest-growing developers of continuing care retirement communities, Senior Campus Living is undergoing a name change. It is now going to be known as Erickson Retirement Communities. Chairman and CEO John Erickson wanted to set his company apart from the other company names that, in his estimation, all started to sound alike.

Another change comes in the form of yours truly. My name is Mark Zacharia and I'm the new Editor-in-Chief here at Contemporary. I'm looking forward to maintaining a rewarding dialogue with you through our editorial pages, supplements, and conventions. We'll continue to report on everything from legislation that affects reimbursement policy to practical solutions for your day-to-day business concerns.

Among the things that won't change is our annual Architecture and Interior Design Awards. See our call for entries on page 34, which details the guidelines you'll want to follow when submitting an entry to this, our 17th consecutive year of honoring long term care facilities that exemplify the best in architecture and interior design with our Order of Excellence.

Mark Zacharia

Editor-in-Chief