john maddente | midwestern clarity

Published: Aug. 15, 2006 in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The first thing I noticed was the likeness of Reggie White and a crucifix in a half-page spread. Hundreds of miles from home, I found the prominent article about the late Green Bay Packer in a national newspaper a welcome sight. The second thing was the not-so-humble headline: "Reggie's (whole) story." Unsure how one can reveal the "whole" anything in one opinion article, I grabbed my hotel copy of the July 31 USA Today. The article was timely because White would be posthumously inducted into Pro Football's Hall of Fame that week. So what was the startling news, I wondered? Reading the first paragraph about White's "regrets" of preaching while in uniform, I began to anticipate some bombshell admission made just prior to his death. Maybe someone discovered a tape White recorded before his short life ended in 2004. I prepared to have the image of a man whom I admired not only fo...

On March 22nd, 2002 I published this letter on the Op-ed pages of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: " The recently announced blanket indictment of Arthur Andersen is not appropriate or beneficial for anyone. With the comprehensive nature of this indictment, the Department of Justice has chosen to imperil an 89-year-old institution and the livelihood it provides for tens of thousands of innocent Andersen employees, including around 650 Wisconsinites. How will former Enron Corp. employees receive "a bit of solace" - as the March 15 editorial "First blood in Enron debacle" put it - if other blameless people join their ranks? Two wrongs never make a right, and the indictment of the whole Andersen organization by the Department of Justice, for incidents that Andersen itself reported to the department, is already drawing suspicion in the court of public opinion. Stay tuned. " Post Script: On May 31st, 2005, the United States Supreme Court unanimously t...

Wikipedia photo I have fumed about this issue for years. It’s called phone etiquette.  When one calls someone else, one is invading their office, their home, or their peace. One is an invader, perhaps a friendly one, but nonetheless an invader in the strict sense of the word. Therefore, it’s incumbent upon the invader, to identify himself/herself first.  Key point: callers should identify themselves first. As a boy, I was raised to answer our home phone thus: “Maddentes’ residence, John speaking, may I ask who is calling please?" OK, I don’t answer the phone that way any longer; and I don’t ask my children to do that either, however, I still identify myself first whenever I am calling someone else. It is the minimum courtesy one ought to expect.  This issue applies to work or home life. My daughters get phone calls from school mates and as soon as I answer, the caller usually begins by saying something like “Hi is (insert name) ther...