The duFresne Murder

Actors joke about their wish to die from a sudden heart attack while performing onstage. They don’t want this happening until they are very old and desire, of course, to be performing marvelously. Tragically, it appears that Nicole duFresne, the actress recently murdered on the Lower East Side, may have indeed died onstage [“Actress Is Remembered as Having ‘a Good Deal of Cheek,’ ” Geoffrey Gray, New York, February 4, 2005].

From all accounts, she liked to play the tough customer. Like other women her age, duFresne imbibed a popular culture that encourages women to adopt this attitude. DuFresne’s reaction to the street muggers recalls Jennifer Lopez’s taunts of her husband in a recent revenge film; duFresne’s last words, “What are you going to do? Shoot us?” are almost a direct quote from the final scene of the movie “Witness.” Her facial expression in some of the photographs is the sullen hostility that mars the faces of actresses on countless movie posters.

Why women should be encouraged to imitate men at their worst is a puzzle for the historians, but it clearly is going on. I’m not blaming the victim here, and I think duFresne’s killer should get the maximum punishment available; but I do want to sound a note of warning to all who live and breathe the popular culture every day. We don’t have to be the people in the movies to be people, and we must remember that the faces around us are not an audience.

ROBERT BYRD
Manhattan

MoMA’s Dubious Documentary

Re: “MoMA Is Accused of Anti-Israel Tilt on Documentary Film Series,” Jacob Gershman, New York, January 31, 2005. Opposition to MoMA’s documentary exhibition is reminiscent of the brouhaha surrounding Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art in 1991 when it sponsored a Palestinian film festival. That event was ultimately canceled, but not before the vice president of the institute, Steven Grossman, resigned, reportedly to protest the exclusion of a pro-Israel view.

Is there a righteous staff person at MoMA?

JANET LEHR
Manhattan

Unpopular Opinion Also Valued

Re: “Mideast Parley Takes Ugly Turn At Columbia U.,” Sol Stern and Fred Siegel, Page 1, February 4, 2005. Political activism of all colors and hues has always been on campuses, though usually they have been represented more by the political left. Let’s honor Columbia for its tolerance of views that are unpopular, at least in New York.

J.DAVID ADLER
Columbia University, 1965
Manhattan

‘I Am David Duke’

I read the column saying that if David Duke were invited to speak at Hamilton College, it would rightly be opposed [“Hate Speech At Hamilton,” John P. Avlon, Opinion, February 1, 2005].

I am David Duke. When I was a student at LSU, I sat on the Student Speaker’s Committee and I voted for all kinds of people I opposed ideologically to come speak at my university, along with those I supported. Those who are suppressing freedom of speech at Hamilton should be interested to know that they are certainly more bigoted than the man they love to hate: David Duke.

DAVID DUKE
Mandeville, La.

Praising Father Rutler

I have written before to comment on the quality of Alicia Colon’s work.

I write today to express my pleasure at her words about Father George William Rutler [“This Priest’s Light Is Always On,” New York, February 4, 2005]. I am lucky enough to be in the parish of Our Saviour, and while I will not be able to attend the gala next week, I will be there in spirit, praying for the good of my parish and for this good and holy man, who preaches Catholic truths, not his whim of the moment. The liturgies are soul-stirring, the church building continues to increase in beauty, and I am happy to see Our Saviour receive deserved attention.

MARY PAVLOVICH
Manhattan

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