Fighting the Big Freeze

To the Editors:

The Big Freeze [Jan. 31] shows that nature has more clout than all the oil embargoes, politicians and man-made contrivances put together. If this small show of power doesn't drive home the importance of conservation over waste, we are truly a hopeless lot.

Steven Engle Cottage Grove, Wis.

What Big Freeze?

Kate Fuller Claremont, Calif.

It's so cold here in central New York State that for the first time since my 91-year-old grandfather began living with us, he won't talk about the weather.

Christopher Cowles Oriskany Falls, N. Y.

Rather than worrying so about Russian power, perhaps we had better allocate a portion of our defense budget to deal with our present invader--Mother Nature.

Kevin Kennedy Roselle Park, N.J.

Who will forget the winter of '77? Scarcely had the consumers' coffee boycott got off the grounds, so to speak, when along came Mr. Carter asking us to turn our thermostats down.

Please! I can cope with one or the other but not both.

Margaret Webb Royal Oak, Mich.

Where are the people who spearheaded campaigns against refineries on the East Coast?

Where are the people who spearheaded campaigns against oil companies drilling for oil and gas off the East Coast?

Where are the people who fought and delayed the Alaska pipeline? Where are the people who are fighting and delaying nuclear reactors for our electric power?

Let them freeze in the dark!

F.M. Vincent Silsbee, Texas

After the experiences of this winter, it should be obvious that the only solution to the natural-gas crisis is deregulation or at least a rise in price sufficient to alleviate the problem. It is time for the federal bureaucracy and Congress to listen to the natural-gas producers, who know the source of the problem and have offered a solution.

Henry Winecker Jr. Holiday, Fla.

For the natural-gas producers to call for deregulation in the face of privation, death and unemployment in the record-breaking cold wave is a disgrace.

Ward McCabe San Jose, Calif.

It Hurts

Feeling as I do that art in both its creation and criticism is largely an individual matter, I still find Richard Schickel's television review of Roots [Jan. 24] unacceptable.

Alex Haley's discovery of his roots is not a "whatzit"--it is historical drama. It is an unfolding of the Haley family as Alex Haley learned it. Should the idea of a happy African childhood be so unappealing? Should the idea that black men accepted themselves as proud and great warriors, should the idea that perhaps slavery was not necessarily good for blacks come through--that is to be applauded.

I do not see how Schickel can complain about the dialogue. The most monstrous dialogue is the American vernacular of Washington, Jefferson, and those we call the founding fathers, living off the labor of slaves while debating the God-given liberty of mankind.

To compare the dramatization of Roots with the British The Fight Against Slavery is a disservice to both. The BBC production is a slave master saying he is sorry; Roots is a slave saying it hurts. If Kunta Kinte is larger than life, so also are all those who have survived the monstrous circumstances of our existence. How diminishing it is to those who have profited and grown off our pain.

Nikki Giovanni Cincinnati

It is unfortunate for all of us that ABC's ambitious, admirably acted Roots had to be so biased, supposedly in favor of the blacks. I have white friends who refused to be seriously moved by the saga because of the totally racist portrait of white America.

I have black friends who say they wanted--and needed--to find something of their own roots in that filmed story, but who felt that the childish "black and white" approach reduced the credibility of the entire effort.

Alice Van Vleet Santa Ana, Calif.

I suggest that Mr. Schickel take a look at Middle America's history and social studies books. He will find they are oversimplified.

One would think after reading them that the Africans willingly jumped on those boats to come over and help the white man pick cotton.

Marilyn Simmons Reading, Mass.

I Love You

Anyone notice the unusual hand formation of President Carter's in the picture of his walk to the White House [Jan. 31]? You can be sure that all readers who are either deaf or who work with the deaf will recognize the very special and endearing sign that translates to "I love you."

Jim Predmore Honeoye Falls, N. Y.

Flag Flap

Back to the books, staff. The flag in your picture layout [Jan. 31] on the Inauguration is not a Confederate flag. It is the Georgia state flag. You'll have at least four more years to learn to recognize it.

Fleming Greene Vinson Charleston, S.C.

Dead or Alive?

To your question "Spirit of Helsinki, Where Are You?" [Jan. 24], there is only one answer: it is dead, killed by innumerable violations of the Helsinki agreement by the Soviet Union.

Any effort to resurrect this spirit at the forthcoming conference in Belgrade by appealing to the Soviet Union to stop violations and to comply with said agreement will be rejected with indignation by the Soviets.

In the Soviet view, to accuse the Soviet Union of violations of the Helsinki agreement represents in itself a violation of the Helsinki agreement.

Stefan Korbonski Washington, D.C.

Your article states that Communist Reformer Alexander Dubcek did not join his supporters in signing Charter 77, the protest by Czech liberals against their government's violation of human rights.

In October 1974 Dubcek addressed a lengthy protest to Czechoslovakia's Parliament against the system of absolute power ruling his country. "It is crucial," he wrote, "that the very concept behind this method of governing be destroyed theoretically, organizationally and politically."

Julie Smith Sunnyvale, Calif.

I Will Remember

I am a totally functional "graduate" of Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital Burn Unit.

Although I was sorry not to see my alma mater mentioned in your article on the treatment of burned patients [Jan. 24], as it was one of the pioneers in the field, I find the main thrust of the text eminently accurate. Despite all the technical advances, the one salient point is the constant, unceasing, personal care by so many dedicated people for each patient, care without which the unbelievable agony would be impossible to bear. For the rest of my life I will remember those people with a depth of feeling not possible even for a wife or mother.

Myron F. Topper Miami

I too was badly burned, when I was six, on the chest and neck. As the article said, I'm no Cinderella, but I do thank God for my life.

Cindy Sue Pollock Jacksonville, Ill.

Human Works of Art?

I have been a weight enthusiast for a number of years and have always been disgusted at the general public's attitude toward the sport of bodybuilding [Jan. 24]. Thousands of people travel thousands of miles each year to Rome and Greece to see the famous godlike statues of ancient men.

Yet these same people mock anyone who makes himself a living version of these ancient works of art.

Robert Gelzheiser Fairfield, Conn.

To Deny Reality

I found your article "Girding for a Bloody Anniversary" [Jan. 10] paternalistic, inexact and sensational. It seems to follow the suspicious tendency of creating a climate of crisis and tension with prewar-like characteristics between Peru and Chile, which in reality are maintaining normal and friendly relations. To consider Peru as a potential aggressor is to deny reality.

Carlos Garcia-Bedoya

Ambassador of Peru

Washington, D.C.

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