“Let everything be consumed by the fire in the hope that something of value may be left which can be riddled out of the ashes.”—Dag Hammarskj”ld, “Markings”

After 10 weeks of summer editorial brush fires which later gave way to lingering ashes, there have been a compendium of numerous avenues on which I had traveled to either enhance or annoy 22,000 plus Iowa State Daily readers.

For those who have chosen to be enlightened by my words each week, I thank you.

For those who found weekly irritation over whatever I said, there was no strict mandate to read me.

However, if you felt so uncomfortable with mine or someone else’s commentary, write a letter to the editor and get it off your mind.

It’s not good to internalize everything when something really bothers you.

You are here at Iowa State spending (at least) four years learning (and not learning, among other things) how to speak up under the First Amendment.

If you have failed to figure out the core meaning of that particular amendment before graduation, why spend time in school if you don’t want to be bothered with developing an independent opinion which will remain with you forever.

I still have to sort out the leftover ashes for newly valuable discoveries before calling this summer’s final editorial brush fire quits.

Religious Intolerance (part 1): Pursuing further legal action against Ames’ Muslim Community, those foolish folks from the Ross Road Neighborhood Association are now taking their so-called fight to “preserve” their purely Non-Muslim and White neighborhood norms by way of the Iowa Supreme Court for stoppage of an Islamic mosque that is currently under construction on Iowa Avenue.

Religious Intolerance (part 2): Burning a synagogue in Council Bluffs was wrong in thinking that no one else was even going to notice those faceless anti-Semites who caused this incredulous damage to relieve “boredom.”

Negative Library Accounting Practices: “Dean” Olivia Madison has recently developed a modernistic “money-saving” technique at the Parks Library by canceling subscriptions for all academic journals starting in September.

University Ice Creams: AE (Anderson and Erickson) introduced freshly specialized Ice Creams for Iowa State, University of Northern Iowa and University of Iowa as the newest marketing ploys for attracting more customers (besides Van and BonBon).

Bulls-Bound(?): Heading out for “Sweet Home Chicago” — ISU basketball coach Tim Floyd. Best of luck!

Wedding Bell Soundbites: Congratulations to Barbara Striesand and James Brolin on their recent nuptials with entertainment provided by heavy metal group White Zombie (via loudspeakers) for driving away curious paparazzi who camped out on her front lawn.

Equal Opportunity Offense: “Reverend” Reggie White of the Green Bay Packers for his “enlightened performance” by offending Asians, African-Americans, gays, Latinos/as and everyone else in the entire state of Wisconsin in a speech to the Wisconsin Legislature.

Time Out: Lisa Aherns for mediocre attainment as a student regent who didn’t care to think of her constituents (fellow Iowa university students) when voting in favor of tuition increases while crying over negative media criticisms by taking the next year off from ISU.

No Hail Mary Plays Here: Notre Dame University for having no holy reason to fire an Assistant Football coach because of his being “too old” for the job.

Welfare Wake-Up Call: A giant thank you goes to Alice Lukens of the Tribune for introducing the harsh realities of welfare in Ames with a five-part series which openly exposed the ineptitude of a community unwilling to directly confront social issues until they reach their highest crisis levels.

Party’s Over (part 1): The Ginkgo Festival for celebrating the wackiness of smelly trees and plenty of boredom.

Party’s Over (part 2): Veishea for its infamous failure to actually change with the times.

“Should I Stay or Should I Go?”: ISU Athletic Director Gene Smith should really quit deluding everyone that he’s “happy here” when it’s a fact that he’s not “happy here.”

Two-Minute Warning: Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr, there isn’t too much to say anymore, except to hurry it up with the “Bubbagates.”

Since everything valuable has at last been cleared, the summer’s editorial brush fire is now out.

Thanks again — I’m out of here.

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Adrian De Vore is a senior in hotel, restaurant and institution management from Newark, N.J.