Newsprint Limbo

Thank you, and Brian Lambert, for pointing out the inadequacies of our local newspapers. [See Lambert’s blog Lambert to the Slaughter, at www.rakemag.com.] Many of us have given up on the mainstream and instead look to your magazine and other free venues for intelligent, comprehensive, and well-written journalism, telling us what is going on in … Read more

Super Story on a Super Guy

I have had the pleasure of working with Dave St. Peter [“Marathon Man,” April] in the world of media with the Minnesota Twins. We are fortunate to have a man like Dave running the Twins. He is the consummate professional who always presented a positive outlook, even when the Twins were not world champions. He … Read more

Article Finally Reaches Outstate North Dakota

So what your article [“No. 1 Hard,” February 2006] tells me is that your intent is to steal North Dakota’s oil reserves. Has it occurred to you that we like it here? I’ve lived in California, Florida, Connecticut, Ohio, Washington, and Pennsylvania. After seeing these crime-filled, dirty places it was always my pleasure to come … Read more

Murder, Up Close

I pick up your magazine every month. The March cover [“Murder by Numbers”] seemed too much for me to bear. But then a friend told me there was an accounting of every murder that took place in Minneapolis last year. I went directly to victim number thirty-six, my son. His name was Pestelence V.D. El-Shabazz, … Read more

Texas

Hello – I have always enjoyed the red-handed pictures and blurb. We took two pictures and couldn’t decide which one you would like better: the classic Alamo or the Air Force Reserve Jet Car which goes 400 mph and runs on biodiesel. While the rest of us toiled away in below zero temps in early … Read more

Croatia

My friend Thomas and I were in Dubrovnik, Croatia, for two-weeks this past December. The town was getting ready for St. Nicholas Day–when the children receive chocolate in their stockings–and part of the celebration is a parade of the Dubrovnik Region Old-Timers Car Club. Well, it was quite a surprise for us as we sat … Read more

Semantics of the Unfamiliar

Thank you for the moving and chilling story about Fozia Mussa [“Country Girl,” April]. I am glad she, unlike so many others, is getting the opportunity to explore her potential and is doing so much with it. There certainly is more than enough racism and xenophobia in the world. However, many if not most of … Read more

Life, Friends, Is the Pits

Psychiatrist Kevin Turnquist gave an excellent response, conservative and correct, to important questions about “depression” and related issues [“The Doctor is In,” April]. I find that the word “depression” nowadays is loosely used and over-used by the general public. Where once we were “unhappy” or “down” or “moody” or “low,” now we are “depressed.” This … Read more

The Writing's on the Ground

In the April Rake [“Cuddly Kierkegaardians”], Dan Sinykin mused that “Søren Kierkegaard … wrote more than thirty books during his life (1813-1855) on topics ranging from faith to seduction. That’s a lot of ink for a man whose favorite thinkers, Socrates and Jesus, never penned a word.” I’d agree that Socrates and Jesus never saw … Read more

Dance Dance Contributions

I am writing in reference to the “Dance Dance Competition” article in the April issue. Although I appreciate any visibility that dance receives in this community, I do not feel this article speaks to the comprehensive nature of dance education available to my students at Summit School of Dance nor to the positive benefits gleaned … Read more