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A better choice for TIME would have been John Chambers, president and CEO of the data-networking giant Cisco Systems. Cisco has created a business-to-business Internet model that other companies would love to achieve. Cisco is profitable and has reduced acquisition costs for its customers. PETER NABER Maple Glen, Pa.
Your choice was a disservice to independent booksellers. This holiday season, Amazon.com drove the final stake into the hearts of the smaller bookstores, which for years have been struggling against unfair competition from large chains and superstores. MIKE A. KAYLAN Bonita Springs, Fla.
Without working too hard, I could think of worthier recipients for the honor of Person of the Year. What about people like East Timorese guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao, for his successful efforts in creating a homeland for the Timorese people after years of attempting to do so, and Tony Blair and the others who worked with him to bring peace to Northern Ireland? These people would have been much more worthy of the title than a wealthy entrepreneur. STUART EDWARDS Melbourne, Australia
THE PHOTOGRAPH OF QUEEN NOOR
We appreciate the selection of her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan as one of those who made a difference in 1999 [PEOPLE WHO MATTERED, Dec. 27]. It is a fitting tribute for a unique lady. However, your choice of photograph was inappropriate. The picture you used was part of a photo shoot taken when King Hussein and Queen Noor were together in Washington en route to Jordan after the King had completed his cancer treatment. That was the last photo shoot the King participated in before he relapsed and passed away. While this is a beautiful photograph of Queen Noor, it was not fitting for a widow who is mourning the loss of her husband. I only wish the embassy had been contacted for a more appropriate photograph. MARWAN MUASHER, AMBASSADOR The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Washington
TEACHERS AND HIGH-STAKE TESTS
Your report on the pressure by school systems to improve student test scores [EDUCATION, Dec. 20] included the following statement about me: "And in Chicago, a high school English teacher was fired this year after he published six newly designed tests in an underground newspaper to protest high-stakes testing." I am the editor of the monthly investigative and analytical newspaper Substance, a second job I held in addition to being a Chicago high school English teacher. I have not been fired. I have been suspended without pay. At the time I made the decision to publish the five tests, which came from an anonymous source, the tests had already been given to the students. I published them not out of "protest" but to let the public see how Chicago's school system was wasting money on these dumb tests. GEORGE N. SCHMIDT, EDITOR Substance Chicago
COLUMBINE HIGH REVISITED
You should have named the events at Columbine High School as 1999's most disturbing and compelling news story [SPECIAL REPORT, Dec. 20]. Columbine was an important event because it exposed the heart of the American people. It encompassed our complacency, our arrogance, our shallowness, our lust for recognition, our lack of judgment, our resiliency, our determination and our endless hope for a better world for our children. The youngsters of Columbine belonged on your year-end cover for what they told us about ourselves. GUY LILLIAN New Orleans