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There are many different contributions psychiatry has made to understanding the difficulties people have in their relationships with others. We can go beyond what Grandmother and Grandfather intuitively knew (that people can drive one another crazy) and perhaps find tools to solve such difficulties as those experienced by couples, families, employers and employees, religious groups, gangs and even nations. The goal of solving these problems is worth the effort. SHELDON H. KARDENER, M.D. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry UCLA Los Angeles
Planet in Peril
Re your "Green Century" special issue [Special Report, Aug. 26]: I was born and raised in the tropical forests of Nigeria. I remember going to farm with my father during school vacations. How I loved the enchanting wildness of the forest--the giant trees that reached to the heavens; the antelopes, deer, pigs and monkeys; and especially the small waterfall that cascaded down through ancient rocks. It was as if all the birds of the earth went there to splash and drink fresh water. Some 15 years later, I went back to those roots. Alas! The land had been destroyed for slash-and-burn farming and lumber harvesting. Even my beautiful small waterfall was gone. I wondered where the birds had gone. Were they dead? I can only conclude that the Johannesburg 2002 summit on sustainable development will soon be nothing but a historical footnote, just like Stockholm 1982 and Rio 1992. VICTOR OSA-ASEMOTA Madrid
No Females on the Fairway?
As a fairly moderate, reasonable person, I was not at first insulted by the Augusta National Golf Club's decision not to admit women members. However, after reading "Getting Teed Off" [Business, Sept. 16], I changed my mind. The position of the club that gender diversity doesn't carry the same imperative as ethnic or racial diversity is despicable. How nice for the club to be the one to categorize which types of discrimination are acceptable and which are not. Its members display the ignorant beliefs of the white male establishment. They have never been on the other side of such demeaning treatment. STEFANY REEDY Cincinnati, Ohio
Old Stones Still Rock
The excerpt from your 1989 cover story on the Rolling Stones suggested that members of the rock group may have been past their prime 13 years ago when they went on their Steel Wheels tour [Notebook, Sept. 16]. I take issue with your implication that the Stones are even more over the hill now for their Licks tour. The word on the Stones' sold-out Boston concert was that they gave a terrific, high-energy show. They are still the world's greatest rock-'n'-roll band. DAVE VALLAR Marquette, Mich.