Bruce Willis gave people who stutter real hope
South Bend, Ind.: It gave me deep sadness to read your article “Bruce Willis, wife dismissed early signs dementia due to childhood stutter” (Oct. 31) about Willis in the deteriorating stages of primary progressive aphasia frontotemporal dementia and how it first negatively affected his speech.
Willis has been both a hero and a role model to the worldwide stuttering community for 39 years since his days on “Moonlighting,” when he would speak publicly about his past stuttering. The website of The Stuttering Foundation (StutteringHelp.org) has a biographical article on Willis titled “Bruce Willis — Look Who’s Talking,” about his lifelong struggles with stuttering and how, at age 20, a combination of acting and speech therapy guided him to fluent speech.
What a tragedy that at the end of his life, he once again started to have disfluent speech. Willis’ situation is reminiscent of that other famous PWS (person who stutters): the Stuttering Foundation website also has a biographical article on Marilyn Monroe, who battled stuttering at various times in her life. In the final two weeks of her life, dealing with anxiety and substance abuse, she was under so much stress in her personal life that her stuttering returned. In her professional life, she had trouble giving her lines in her last movie, “Something’s Gotta Give,” from which she was fired and which was never finished.
Through his tragedy of dementia, it should be noted that Willis has always been a hero to so many people who stutter throughout the world. Juan Gardea
RIP, ‘Q’
Manhattan: Farewell, Quincy Jones (“Quincy Jones, music biz titan, dies at 91,” Nov. 5). Impresario, maestro, genius, musical icon, composer, jazz musician, producer, songwriter, arranger. Quincy Jones, so talented / Remembered for all his contributions today / He created the playbook of our lives / His legacy is here to stay. Phoebe Celentano
Not fair to fans
Queens Village: Today’s big-name music stars are all greedy and disgusting, charging their audiences hundreds and thousands of dollars just for one concert ticket. They can’t think much of their fans. It’s like they only want to perform for rich people. I thought artists were supposed to speak out against greed. Back in the 1980s, I could see a supergroup like the Rolling Stones for just $30! Harry Aydinian
Despite their records?
Spotswood, N.J.: Why do so many companies hire convicted criminals to be their spokespeople in commercials? Why give them your money? Why do networks hire criminals to be in children’s shows? Many have records for drugs, gang activity and crimes against women. Don’t do business with any of these companies. Tom Scott
Campaign cleanup
Great Neck, L.I.: Election Day has come and gone. It reminds me of “The Outer Limits,” a 1960s television show. With the end of ’round-the-clock commercials by politicians, political parties, political action groups and pay-for-play special interest groups, we now return control of your television back to you until the next election cycle. No more robocalls, text messages, candidate campaign mailings clogging mailboxes and weighing down our hard-working postal employees. Finally, some peace and quiet! Candidates who claimed they cared about the environment can now do their part. Winners and losers should have their paid campaign staff and volunteers pick up the thousands of campaign signs that litter our roads and highways. They could also use leftover campaign funds to hire homeless or unemployed people to collect this litter. If candidates refuse, the NYC Department of Transportation or your local department of highways should do the job and send them the bill. Larry Penner
Morally devoid
Brooklyn: I’m hoping that I can get through to the people who wear those silly red hats. Open your eyes and don’t be so blind. That goes for all the people who voted for Donald Trump, a man who is selling the Holy Bible. How low can one human being be? The man believes he’s above the law and can’t pay for all he’s done. Not even a president is above the law. Sunny Sierra
Vocal critics
Maspeth: So, Friday’s Voice of the People had 11 letters. Of them, six bashed Trump and/or his supporters in no uncertain terms. One was sorta indirectly Kamala Harris-negative. COVID, Aaron Judge, congestion pricing and onions rounded out the fair-and-balanced Voicers. If Trump wins, I can imagine the VOTP page exploding! J.C. Makowski
Exited with integrity
Howard Beach: Liz Cheney is an American hero. Those people who voted her out of office are not. When she is gone, their dishonor remains forever. Ernest Kienzle
Presidential limits
Manhattan: Even Voicer James Hyland ought to admit that, whatever game you are playing, you must use the board and pieces you are given. Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 was triggered by the near-meltdown of the Ukrainian government and its contested election — not what was going on in Syria, as Hyland insists. The new Ukrainian president condemned the annexation but did not resist it. Was Barack Obama supposed to send in the Marines on their own? As for Trump’s “maximum pressure” on Iran, it accomplished as much as getting Mexico to pay for a border wall, while ending any international constraints on Iran’s nuclear program. My shot at Trump’s shortsighted step is hardly cheap, but while I’m taking shots, I ought to remind your readers how little Trump did to restrain North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. Hyland, like Trump, assumes that the White House waves a wand and the world dances. It wasn’t that way even in 1945. Michael Barnhart
He deserved compassion
Brooklyn: I agree with Leonard Greene about the death of Jordan Neely (“He’s not a lesser human,” column, Nov. 3), an unnecessary death at the hands of a vigilante wannabe hero. Neely was a skinny, hungry, desperate young man in trouble. He just wanted to be seen, heard and cared for. Isn’t that what all of us want? Penny, a former Marine, and two other men overpowered him. Was a chokehold really necessary? They could have restrained him with no problem until the next stop 30 seconds away, and a cop could be called to the car. I can’t help but wonder if someone just offered Neely food, a bottle of water, a dollar or just looked at him and smiled, how differently it could have played out. Penny knew the risks of the maneuver. He seemed to get caught up in the moment, adrenaline rushing, people yelling. He was said to be disoriented afterward. Playing hero cost Neely his life. Susan Cassano
Unheroic approach
Bronx: To Voicer Krista Webdale: Re your missive glorifying Daniel Penny, would he have acted as he did in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely if Neely was white? We know the answer to this: a resounding no. Thanks to the media, Penny makes it known to the world that he’s an ex-Marine. In case you didn’t know, from the moment they enter boot camp, they’re brainwashed that they are better than everyone else and that they are heroes. If Penny is such a hero, why did he approach Neely from behind? Penny was reacting from his brainwashing and nothing else! Robert Adams
Gender disparity
Yonkers: I just read the 2024-25 college hoops preview section and found it extremely half-informative. The first 44 pages was your usual illuminating prose highlighting the best the men’s NCAA is offering this year. The last four pages, including a full-page photo and an advertisement, resulting in just two pages of previews, was for the women’s glimpse of their upcoming season. After Caitlin Clark’s electrifying senior year for the Iowa Hawkeyes, the publicity of her making headlines as the #1 pick of the WNBA, and the exciting year finals for their championship series, it boggles the mind that with women a slight majority of the population in this country and the women’s movement so much in the daily headlines, you would devote a mere 4% of your 2024 college hoops section to them! Alan Newman
Tiny text
Putnam Valley, N.Y.: If you’re trying to get more customers for the Daily News, forget it. You blew it. The print is too small. You’ve lost me as a customer. You had a good thing going with the print you had. C. Gardner
