Nadia: What Price Perfection?

To the Editors:

I've always heard "nobody's perfect." Maybe Nadia Comaneci has disproved that [Aug. 2].

Teresa Thomason Madison, III.

She's too perfect! Not once did Nadia cry or giggle or show emotion.

Anita Gonzalez Houston

To find one who is so young, and who has achieved so much, seemingly unable to glory in her accomplishments is tragic.

Paula Dover San Francisco

You can have that "perfect" robot.

I prefer the more emotional, fragile and human Olga.

No perfect score can ever light up a stadium like the smile of Olga Korbut.

Janice Chlopowicz Tucson, Ariz.

I suggest that an honorary gold medal be awarded to Japanese Gymnast Fujimoto for his performance with a broken leg.

Les Murphy Nashville, Mich.

It has been a great experience to witness our great American athletes in the Olympics.

Their coaches were great; their performances were great. Now if our great sportscasters could only muster and master a second adjective.

Frank Grady Fort Kent, Me.

Bravo to Jim McKay and his cohort!

Mark Francis

Indianapolis

Re: Shirley Babashoff: any young American who wins four silver medals (or even competes) in the premier sports event in the world is certainly not a "loser."

TIME is the loser for perpetuating

the winning-is-everything philosophy.

William H. Tannewitz

Reseda, Calif.

Pet-Rock Paradise

Mars: a pet-rock lover's paradise [Aug. 2]!

Scott J. Lyford Bloomington, Ind.

Have we become so blase that we can shove one of the most sensational events in our millennium into a tiny corner of TIME'S cover?

Maybelle Van Winkler

Ruth Martin

Warrensburg, Mo.

All we need do is discover life on Mars, and we will be sending them foreign aid.

Mark Mears Yarmouthport, Mass.

Tahd of Cot-tuh

You failed to list tahd, as in "Ahm

tahd of reading abht Cot-tuh [Aug. 2]."

Karl Goerdel

King sport, Tenn.

My comments on the limitations of the written word were nicely illustrated by the article on Southern speech.

Carter's speech from the platform is usually cultivated and unpretentious. He pronounces both the b and the h in humble. In relaxed conversation, however, he probably does use might could, done dead, ain 't, multiple negatives and more than a few other folk forms of vocabulary, morphology and syntax.

Lee Pederson

Emory University

Atlanta

I am insulted by the implication that the majority of Southerners speak in terms of done did and might could.

Paula A. Corwin Marietta, Ga.

Tah-ky and cawh-ny.

Mrs. Linda Chalkley Birmingham

Danger: Jody

Your article [Aug. 2] convinces me that if Jody Powell is given the power he could well become another H.R. Haldeman--no less dangerous in being "genuinely good company."

Stanley O. Hoerr Jr.

Fort Washington, Pa.

Deserving Each Other

John Connally and Gerald Ford certainly deserve each other [Aug. 2].

Art Kelly Houston

Connally who?

Laura Elizabeth Smith Birmingham

Connally was the best Secretary of the Treasury we ever had. Besides his speaking up for his country, Connally's devaluation gave us a shot in the arm.

Arthur Spitzer Los Angeles

Resign from My Race

The "good" people of Chicago [Aug. 2] have given the rest of the nation an idea of what is in store for them. It is truly a sad day when in 1976 there can still be found photographs of American youths smiling stupidly under a sign bearing a swastika and the message NIGGERS BEWARE. If this is what being white has become, then I resign from my race.

Gray don J. Forrer Grand Blanc, Mich.

Why is it that the North seems to think it is above associating with blacks when we have been doing so peacefully, after the initial adjustment period?

Lisa McCoy Jackson, Miss.

Unstinting State

Your article, "Power of Personal Diplomacy" [June 7], presented a distorted and incomplete description of the factors behind the release of Steven Campbell and James Harrell by the Eritrean Popular Liberation Forces in Ethiopia.

While Mr. Campbell's frustration over his son's abduction and prolonged detention is understandable, his statement that "I never thought the Department of State would do anything" is totally unwarranted. Without the efforts of Ambassador Brewer and his staff in Khartoum, as well as those in the Department of State who worked unstintingly on the case for almost a year, it is doubtful that the safe release of Steven Campbell and James Harrell would have been accomplished.

Robert A. Feary, Coordinator for

Combating Terrorism

Department of State

Washington, D.C.

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