19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

Sir:
Leave the editorializing to TIME.
DAVID Z.H. MARVEL
Ocean City, N.J.

Sir:
Stick to your knitting.
WILLIAM F. O'BRIEN
Cincinnati

TROOPING THE COLORS
Sir:
In his March 21 PERSPECTIVE, Frank Deford says, "Somebody told me once that Amherst was purple, but I wouldn't believe a thing like that for a minute." He also says, "I never saw a purple cow." I have seen a purple cow. It's right there on the top of my Williams College hat.

Williams' color is royal purple, and one of Amherst's is purple; the other is white.
JEFF HILDEBRAND
Penn Wynne, Pa.

Sir:
Deford challenges readers to name a color besides purple for which there is no rhyme. As an alumnus of the University of Florida, I say tell him to think orange.
JACK N. CAMP
Jacksonville

Sir:
The New York Yankees' uniforms aren't "black and white and yukky gray and black." Deford's "black" is actually a particularly dark shade of navy blue.
DAVID M. DONEY
Jacksonville

WIDEMAN'S BOOKS
Sir:
Your March 7 profile of John Edgar Wideman (LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER) and the excerpt in FIRST PERSON of his forthcoming book, Brothers and Keepers, bring well-deserved national attention to an outstanding man and outstanding writer. Readers who enjoyed the excerpt will be happy to know that he has published three books in the last two years which were not mentioned by name in your profile. Two of them were Hiding Place and Damballah, published in 1981, which The New York Times Book Review said "once again demonstrate that John Wideman is one of America's premier writers of fiction." The NYTBR also named Damballah, which like Hiding Place is now available in paperback, as one of the year's best works of fiction. The third is Sent For You Yesterday, which has just been published and is now hitting the bookstores.
ANN C. MCKEOWN
Publicity Manager
Avon Books
New York City