response to ed. hoagland

i enjoyed Hoagland's piece very much. i felt like i could read more of his work if the opportunity arose. anyway, i do know a few people who stutter and i could empathize with what he was saying. i loved the line in the beginning about people who think they can calm someone down in order to stop the stuttering. in some cases this is true, but it would only be temporary and it doesn't help everyone. it was also pretty funny/strange that he's a genius because one of the people who stuttered graduated from my high school a year ahead of me was also brilliant and also went to an "ivy league" school. hoagland is eloquent on paper, and i'm quite sure he is in person, just like my older friend. even with a stutter, the high schooler would stand up and speak in a crowd & he always had great insight on whatever topic we were discussing. i'm not saying that all people who stutter are insanely smart or not, i'm just reemphasizng the fact that a stutter is exactly what is it and nothing more: a stutter. it potentially has no effect on the well-being of a students academic career, or his/her ability to get a job. even though on the other side of that, you can be the smartest in the world, but there are still peope who judge by those standards, and therefore, there is no guarantee that you will get the job, but neither is anyone else technically speaking....this could go on for a while.....