Promise or Payback?
Some of former President Gerald Ford's "shared" purpose with his Congress might help the current Democrats and Republicans produce a solution in Iraq ["One Last Chance," January 15]. It seems particularly ironic, however, that Editor Brian Duffy's words should also describe what is needed in Iraq: "But wouldn't it be so much finer if, at this time of critical change and challenge, our elected leaders could somehow ignore the long-ingrained penchant for payback and partisanship and find a way to set us on a more promising and responsible course." Perhaps the two countries are not so different.
RICHARD S. BLAKE
East Falmouth, Mass.
Let me see if I understand "One Last Chance." For more than a decade, the Republicans ran the show. And like a herd of wild elephants, they trampled over everything that got in their way, never once thinking about reaching out to the other side, let alone listening to opposing views. And now that the Democrats are in office, the first thing they should do is to throw a lifeline to the downtrodden Republicans? I'm for making amends with Republicans after impeachment and war crime trials.
LESLIE N. HERSCHLER
Garden Grove, Calif.
Young Cancer Spouses
Thank you for your article about young adult cancer ["Cancer's Orphan Generation," January 15]. It is an important subject that so many people know little about. I would like to draw attention to the devastation of the young spouses and children of the young adults with cancer. I was only 27 years old when my husband, Mark, was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma. Since he was otherwise young and fit, he was given a punishing chemotherapy regimen that was expected to get him into remission. During his treatment, I desperately searched for support groups. Like Heidi Adams in the story, either I found nothing, or I was surrounded by people my parents' and grandparents' ages. They could not identify with my fear that I would never have my husband's children, my struggles as the primary caregiver, or my fear that my 28-year-old husband would die. Mark died less than a year after diagnosis, leaving me devastated and exhausted. As a result of the dearth of appropriate support groups, I founded an online group for young cancer spouses: YoungCancerSpouses (www.youngcancerspouses.org), a nonprofit group dedicated to helping young cancer spouses feel less alone. Young spouses and children of cancer patients and victims are also devastated by the disease and must not be forgotten.
KAREN SCHLOWSKY-FISCHER
Hoboken, N.J.
Corrections:
Norwich University is located in Northfield, Vt., not Norwich as reported in "Vermont's War" [January 22].
"Making It Stick" [Executive Edition, January 29-February 5] should have reported that Robert Atkins died from complications of a head injury resulting from a fall, not from a heart attack.
The photo caption accompanying "The Birth of America" [January 29-February 5] on Page 48 should have identified the Jamestown Settlement as a living-history museum offering year-round historical interpretation of life in early 17th-century Virginia. This year's 400th anniversary will be commemorated with special events and programs at Jamestown Settlement and at Historic Jamestowne, the site of America's first permanent English settlement. James Fort, pictured on Page 52, is part of Historic Jamestowne. Photos on Pages 50, 54, and 55, used to illustrate themes, were taken at the Jamestown Settlement.
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