Letters to the Editor

Wine fans respond

We were featured in summer 2008 issue of Marquette Magazine ... Karma Vista Vineyards. We are in southwest Michigan. About 3,500 cases sold annually. We will have our first vintage of Marquette wine this summer. The label will definitely pay some homage to the old warriors out there. I use the journalism major on our website, karmavista.com, and I use the philosophy minor every day. After two glasses of wine, it seems everyone becomes a philosopher!

Joe Herman, Jour ’77

We started out as home winemakers in the early 2000s as we were approaching retirement. We started out small and continue to remain so, adding more grapes to our repertoire of varietals. The name for our vineyard, Quailwatch, expresses our love of and interest in the California quail (the state bird). ... our goal is to craft wines that are fruit forward, young yet with character and easy on the palate.

Angela Kupps, Arts ’61

Enjoyed the wine spectator article. Have started a small pilot vineyard here in Omaha, Ark. Just planted my first 100 plants in April. If anyone can tell me what not to do or what to do, I would appreciate it.

Richard Holtkamp, Eng ’60

Hurray, Metcalfe

Kudos for including a picture of Marquette’s greatest runner, Ralph Metcalfe. In the 1932 and 1936 Olympics Games, Metcalfe earned: one gold, two silvers, and one bronze medal. In Berlin, one of those silver medals was for finishing 0.1 second behind Jesse Owens. During his career, he also tied the world record in the 100- and 200-yard events. Metcalfe graduated cum laude in 1936 and went on to lead a distinguished life of service as a veteran, businessman and public servant.

Kevin Lee, Arts ’95

Since I contribute to the Ralph Metcalfe Fund, I want to thank you for the wonderful photo from the archives of Ralph Metcalfe in the latest issue.

Bob Ackerman, Bus Ad ’63

Where’s basketball?

I understand that your mission is to cover all significant campus activities. Then why, in the spring issue, was not a word said about the success of the men’s basketball team? On a broader front, Marquette media should keep all Marquette sports successes in the local and national news whenever possible. The objective is to have potential students look at Marquette as their college of choice. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will carry five articles on the Wisconsin Badgers to one on Marquette. M J-S isn’t going to report on Marquette unless MU media gives them something to report on. The men’s basketball program now operates in the rarified air with the top programs in the country.

Patrick Baines, Eng ’59

J School focus

I have enjoyed getting Marquette Magazine for years and I truly look forward to staying in touch through your publication, however, the section on philanthropy and journalism caught my attention more than usual. Not withstanding the generous gift to the school I was troubled by the apparent new focus of the school of journalism. I was not aware that one of the goals of journalism is “social change” or to “solve social problems.” Dr. Bergen goes so far as to say journalism “can save lives” and FixesU is designed to do just that. It appears that FixesU will “fix” the world, and they will do so through partnering with The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The New York Times.

Whatever happened to journalistic integrity, reporting minus the axe to grind? I contend that despite the myriad of news sources available today, very few provide unvarnished news. Most everything is predigested for the viewer/reader resulting in a lazy public. Perhaps the students would be better served to think critically rather that come to a story with an agenda. It also says volumes that the school has decided to partner with two liberal sources rather than the likes of the Wall Street Journal. Is there a place for an editorial viewpoint? Absolutely, however, most 20-year-olds don’t have the worldview and background to be able to weigh different points of view, and for a university to attempt to steer them into activist journalism at that age is at best malpractice.

Dr. Peter Muehleis M.S., Dent ’79

Response from the Chair:

Thank you for your letter. It is important to point out that our focus is to work tirelessly with our students to instill the values of accuracy, fairness, completeness and social responsibility to ensure they are prepared to work side-by-side with the nation’s top journalists. We are not interested in advocating any particular solution, but rather exploring how community members are working to provide complex solutions to our community’s most trying problems. A great example is a recent in-depth series in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in which our students reported on Milwaukee County’s mental health system, emphasizing the need to focus more on continual care. We must move students in the direction of exploring stories that contribute to solving problems of humankind to more completely inform citizens about the world in which they live.
Karen Slattery, Chair
Department of Journalism and Media Studies

We welcome your feedback on the contents of Marquette Magazine. All letters considered for publication must include the sender’s first and last names. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and will print only letters that are thoughtful and relevant to the contents of the magazine.

Write us at:
Editor, Marquette Magazine
P.O. Box 1881
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881
Email us at: mumagazine@marquette.edu