Happy belated Independence Day, Americans, and happy slightly-more-belated Canada Day, Canadians! With all the fireworks and celebrations going on in our international city, the urge to declare my own independence has overwhelmed me! But just for this week, I promise...

As you've probably noticed, there isn't a new paper this week. That's certainly not because of a lack of quality articles: Whyvillians have submitted over 200 articles in the past seven days! That's enough to fill out a whole paper every day.

To be honest, I've been swamped by all these submissions. Not to mention the fact that I just had to spend some time at home, enjoying this week of freedom! My fondest thoughts and blessings go to those whose efforts, in war and in peacetime, have given us so many opportunities and reasons to celebrate.

Now, if you're looking for something new to read, may I suggest the Times Archives? How many of you have read Etrnl *'s classic series, The Last Frontier? Start with the Sun, then continue on with Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and "The Rest"!

Another great series I must encourage you all to read is Auntie M's four columns on important women from the 20th Century: Dian Fossey, Margaret Mead, Isadora Duncan, and Hedy Lamarr. Do you know who these people are and what they did? You might be surprised.

Of course, if you haven't read all of Vanilla's articles yet, go do it now! I can hardly imagine Whyville without the words and spirits of such wonderful, thoughtful, opinionated people as Vanilla and our other Times Writers, like Bigfoot Bill, Giggler01, shelly1, and Sonner. I wish I could list every single great writer the Times has hosted -- from the ones who only sent us one piece to the most prolific forum writers around -- but then I might as well publish a new paper this week?? and that's hardly a vacation, now is it!?

Enjoy your rights. Enjoy your freedoms. And enjoy your responsibilities, too. I'll be getting back to mine next week. ;-)

Times Editor