“At the newspaper, we’ve been passing around farewell cards for departing colleagues,” writes Santa Rosa Press Democrat columnist Susan Swartz (pictured). “I joked that we should each circulate cards with our names on them, just to see what our co-workers would say about us if they thought we were leaving. Kind of like an early peek at your obituary.” Swartz said she considered taking a buyout management was offering to newsroom staffers. “As it turned out, more people applied for the buyout than were needed and I’m still here. There will be no last-column column for awhile.”