Letters to the editor

Hope for stutterers

To the Editor:

As a PWS (person who stutters), I was inspired by the opinion article, "Standing up to stuttering," by Cheryl Chiu. I am glad that at such a young age she has made progress with the McGuire Program. I have known a few other people who have achieved great levels of fluency through the McGuire Program.

I would like to express an opinion to your readers. As someone who is a veteran of many speech therapy programs, I believe that speech therapy programs are subjective. What may work for one person may not work for the other. Unfortunately, most people who stutter experience a couple of failed programs in their lifetime.

When I address the parents of children who stutter, I make it clear that there is no "quick fix." I also recommend the Web site of The Stuttering Foundation (www.stutteringhelp.org) because it has an extensive national listing of qualified speech therapists who specialize in stuttering. I also recommend the books and DVDs that this nonprofit organization has for adults, children, parents and teachers. The Stuttering Foundation's toll-free hot line is 1-800-992-9392, and many materials are sent out free of charge.

It always strikes me as funny that every four years during a presidential campaign cycle that health care reform is always an issue. Of all the so-called health care reform plans launched in the last 16 years, not one of them has made any provisions whatsoever for speech therapy, not even the famed "Clinton Plan." Stuttering deserves the same amount of attention and funding as other disabilities and ailments.

Dat V. Tran

San Jose, Calif.

Aware of the Afghanistan war

To the Editor:

In response to last week's article "A war without direction or cause," the err in logic to assume that anyone not directly affected by the war is ignorant as to its happenings. I have a deep respect for those in the armed forces, but when you join, you go in understanding that you may be called to duty. I appreciate what your brother is doing and completely support him, but not necessarily the war, nor those who are sitting in Washington nor the media conglomerates who have made a business out of controlling and manipulating the truth. However, the idea of simply rebuilding these countries avoids the fact that unlike Germany and Japan, these Middle East countries were not industrialized before this war. Germany had one of the strongest economies in the world pre-World War II. It took Western society 300 years to accomplish what is expected to be done in the Middle East in only a decade. Your brother seems to make many assumptions and generalizations about an Islamic society that we are outsiders to.

This conversation has been ongoing for the past five years. Judgments and assumptions obscure any logical points being made. Each side refuses to believe the other. The one thing we can and should all agree on is that "we" are all over there. Do not be so hasty to say ignorance and its associate bliss have taken hold in everyone. Our soldiers need our support, and there are many ways one could become involved in making life better for our soldiers.

Matt Williams

Psychology '09

Big Sur camping trip not for drinking

This is an open letter to Santa Clara students. Unlike your loud-party-to-the-wee-hours fellow students that we had across from our family campsite last weekend, when you go to Big Sur most people are there for the magic and peace of the place. I am old and sage enough to realize I should not hold expectations of better behavior from Santa Clara students than a Fresno State or Chico State group.

So here is the deal, if you care. Don't use the F-word in every other sentence, take a science class where you realize moving the party inside the tent actually does nothing to dampen sound (I wish it did), don't camp next to young kids and take turns loudly singing about "diarrhea" and a singing contest for who can come up with the grossest lyrics, don't keep using that F-word and clean up the toilets when you puke in them and the glass where you dropped the bottles and they broke.

Do hike and swim the Gorge, the hill tails, sit your chair in the river and read, look at a rock or orchid and enjoy the intricacies of nature. Hike to an overlook of the Pacific and just enjoy the magic of that place. Go to the Henry Miller Library and expand you mind. But don't bring the party.

Charles Denley

Sunnyvale, Calif.