A Thing of Beauty

To the Editors:

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever." Your Rauschenberg issue [Nov. 29] was exactly that.

John Pozza Tontitown, Ark.

To imply that a collection of colored smears and slobberings and pieces of a pack-rat nest is art and its creator Robert Rauschenberg is an artist is akin to saying that what Jack the Ripper did was surgery and he was a surgeon.

Fred W. Webster Providence

Ugh.

Carol Kerley Worland, Wyo.

I laugh at the irony of your headline "The Joy of Art." The American public already has an image of the artist as an easygoing image maker working a few hours a week in between parties, and I doubt that your story will help to dispel the falsehood.

As an art student who wonders every day why in hell I'm in this racket, I must tell you that joy is a very bad choice. Try despair.

Patrick King Philadelphia

Prisoners of Fear

Your article "The Elderly: Prisoners of Fear" [Nov. 29] presents a disturbing commentary on our times.

To think that in a country like ours, with its many affluent families and law-abiding citizens, such conditions are allowed to exist! Our elderly citizens, innocent victims of inflation and the growing decadence of society, are being continuously subjected to abuse.

Decent American citizens should undertake a nationwide campaign (similar to a war effort) on behalf of our senior citizens.

Helen Y. Trupp Greenville, N.C.

In this land of government of the rich, for the rich and by the rich--would a solution darn well be found if it were the privileged senior citizens who were being terrorized?

Ruth Ernst Shrewsbury, Mo.

My work day is spent knocking on the doors of the aging. As I wait for an elderly woman to move the boxes and chair which block the door before she can remove the chain and turn the two locks on her too thin door, I pray that the fire trap in which she and many others live will not burst into flames.

E.M. Brookbank Spokane, Wash.

Where is our pride? We export technology. Why can't we import ways to make streets safe? We spend billions to protect ourselves from the Russians, but it is the street gangs in America who frighten me. It's law-and-order and freedom from fear that allow a nation to survive, and I say no money for New York and other cities until they restore safety to the streets. I'm mad, sick at heart and disgusted with weak Government officials.

William D. Brown Hanover, Pa.

Where are the children of those old people? In the not so "civilized" countries, you don't see many old people walking the streets alone. Their daughters, nieces and friends take turns taking them places.

If we don't care for our own elders, why should a hoodlum? If psychiatrists and advice columnists refer to old parents as a plague to keep at a distance and call men who love their mothers sick, how can we persuade the young to respect them?

Vera Harding Corvallis, Ore.

Investigating Koreagate

When Watergate raised questions about the integrity of the Executive Branch, Congress appointed an independent prosecutor to pry out all the facts. Congress owes it to the American people to follow an analogous procedure for Koreagate [Nov. 29] because we all know it is unrealistic to expect Congress to investigate itself.

Ann F. Becker Encino, Calif.

I think the bureaucrats who accept money and gifts from foreign entities ought to turn the gifts over to the CIA and explain why they received them. If they don't, then they should be charged with espionage against our country.

Who the hell do they think they are, anyway?

Stan Johnson Great Falls, Mont.

Publicity like "Koreagate on Capitol Hill" is focusing on the bribery aspects of the activities of Tongsun Park and the Korean KCIA. Yet there seems to me an even more serious issue, namely, that the Korean business interests being promoted by these activities are not bringing prosperity to a nation. They are piling up fortunes for the few while the many work long hours, at all ages, and under conditions akin to those in the days of Dickens, just to keep alive.

I spent 18 years in South Korea and I know from friends that little has changed since I left except that the government is more restrictive, the wealthy wealthier and the poor poorer.

Beatrice S. Braun, M.D. Larchmont, N. Y.

Anguish in Mashpee

As selectmen, we read with interest your article concerning the town of Mashpee [Nov. 15] and the suit brought by the Wampanoag tribal council.

We have no dispute with the plaintiffs legal right to bring suit; however, our citizens, plaintiff and defendant alike, are suffering unjustified financial hardships and mental anguish. It is unconscionable for individual citizens to be forced to assume the liabilities for acts of our state and federal governments 200 years ago. No present resident of Mashpee was here then to violate anyone's rights. If, in fact, there was any wrong committed, it is those governmental bodies that must step forth now and assume their responsibilities.

George A. Benway Jr.

Kevin D. O'Connell

Mashpee, Mass.

Holy Greek Hogwash

"Death of a Fraternity Pledge" [Nov. 22] brought up the subject of hazing at universities. It makes my stomach turn to think that people will create this needless suffering for anybody else, for any reason, and particularly in the name of some holy Greek hogwash. Sheryle Bowles Dallas

As a former president of a social fraternity I must report that our fraternity was based on the notion of brotherhood and friendship through sports, parties, sometimes schoolwork, and not through hazing activities.

Richard J. Rosenberg Jr. Dallas

"Death of a Fraternity Pledge" presented a biased and unrealistic view of the college fraternity system. While isolated cases of physical hazing and abuses are reported, most national fraternities specifically forbid hazing, and noncompliance with this rule can cause a chapter to lose its charter and be suspended indefinitely.

The image of the collegiate fraternity you produced was one that faded in the 1960s; the modern fraternity is a group of men working as a close group to benefit both themselves and the community in which they live.

Stuart Simon, Sigma Alpha Mu

Tulane University

New Orleans

TIME'S analysis of university hazing reveals a naivete about American social life. Why search for a rationale among the vestiges of "ancient tribal customs"? Proving oneself is considered basic in our society. Why not regard hazing as a ritualization of that social fact?

George Elliott Knoxville, Tenn.

Man of the Year

Men of the Year: the two Americans killed on the Korean truce line, Lieut. Mark Barrett and Major Arthur Bonifas.

H.H. Hamer New York City

Dr. Mildred Jefferson, Protestant, black, woman, surgeon, president of the National Right to Life Committee, is my nominee for Woman of the Year.

Her courageous stand in defense of the civil rights of the unborn, defective, weak and oppressed of our nation is an inspiration.

Neil B. Masterson Jr. Keene, N.H.

Gerald Ford--who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by his slippery tongue.

Arthur E. Punit Dharwar, India

For extraordinary talent given most generously to the joy of many thousands, a warmth and zest for living, an ability to surmount personal tragedy, and for being the personification of the gifted woman--I urge you to consider Beverly Sills as Woman of the Year.

Mrs. Robert L. Johnson Needham, Mass.

I nominate someone who has never caused a drop of blood to be spilled and has brought pleasure to hundreds of millions all over the world on both sides of every fence that our foolish species has erected. Nadia Comaneci perfectly suits Person of the Year.

Patrick G. Fitzpatrick Hamilton, New Zealand

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