I wish I was arrogant enough to think I could plan a "F**k The Thing I Hate This Week Bar Tour" every week of the year. Luckily, I'm not.

You see, there are a lot of actions, statements, activities, gripes and guffaws in this world that really make me upset, but I don't have the time or the ignorance to think a sarcastic trip from watering hole to watering hole really is going to solve anything.

It makes me sad that there is so much "Me-ism" at Penn State. You would be amazed to hear how many calls I get every day from people who are upset about something The Daily Collegian did print, didn't print, messed up in print or should have printed but was too ignorant to print.

When a fraternity or sorority raises a ton of money for a philanthropy, we usually get a call the month before the event and every day through and past the event for a few weeks telling us we should "write something about it." I really wish we had the time and space to send a reporter to every event that every group sponsored on this campus. The reality is, we don't.

Unfortunately, I perceive the larger problem to be that many of the very people who consider themselves philanthropists really don't understand what philanthropy means. Philanthropy really means a desire to help mankind. Since when does it mean a desire to be recognized for helping mankind?

And to the sponsors of the famed "F**k The Collegian Bar Tour," the Penn State University Veterans Organization, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Not only did you violate University policy by posting fliers in areas improperly, but you expected (and continue to expect) this newspaper to print stories about everything your special interest group does. Instead of telling us what your problems are, you wasted time, money and resources in planning a joyous night of debauchery that is sophomoric and does nothing more than honor us.

I do not mind listening to your concerns about our coverage, but what I do mind is when you do not listen or try to understand just how this newspaper -- and most in this country -- really work. Yes, the material in our pages can seem arbitrarily placed or irrelevant at times, but remember that most of us in this newsroom are here to make judgements about the types of stories we cover and place on our pages. A judgement is a variation of an opinion. I like to think that our judgements are somewhat educated, and in turn that means that most of what we provide you is decent stuff.

I have tried so hard this year not to be self-righteous or self-congratulatory from the top of the mythic "Collegian Ivory Tower," but enough is enough. I run a staff of more than 150 student journalists who try to put out one of the best student-run papers in the country. We take a lot of abuse for it, and that is OK. What I will no longer allow to happen is for ignorant or uninformed charges to go unanswered.

Yes, we make mistakes. We have made grievous errors in the past. We have spelled things wrong, we have put ugly pages together, we have misidentified people. We have been sloppy sometimes too.

If we make mistakes in the future, I will do my best to make sure we learn from them and correct them. We never make mistakes on purpose, and I certainly won't make excuses when we do. If you call, I might try to explain why something ended up the way it did, but that is all.

I guess in many ways, working for the Collegian prevents us from saying mistakes are OK because we are human beings. I also like to think many of us accept that graciously.

Apparently those of you who are so quick to criticize us so often forget that we are human beings too. I am damn proud of my staff; they work hard, and they do it for little or no money and virtually no praise. We don't want praise.

Have fun on your f**king bar tour. It won't accomplish a f**king thing, except to relieve -- for one night -- your anger and fear.

And when you have sobered up, try working with us.