The Rake Magazine

Author: rakemag

  • I've Seen That Guy Before

    “Donny Highrise” is my new hero [The Rake’s Progress, June], but I feel
    like I’ve seen him somewhere before. Is it possible that’s not his real
    name? Is the man in the photograph some kind of cheap Donny Highrise
    imposter, because Donny himself was too shy to pose for photos?

     Lisa Clifton
    Minneapolis

    Well, now, that’s a hard one to answer. Let’s just say this: That is
    Donny Highrise, played by Eric Page. Page is a local comedian and
    model, who can be seen with his entire troupe at the hilarious online
    sketch-comedy site, Flapping Crane. Point your browser to
    www.flappingcrane.com, but be forewarned that Donny Highrise is in big
    demand these days.—Eds. 

  • Kieran's Letter of the Month

    I rarely read The Rake because I get sick of the pinko rags that are
    many of the independent magazines in the Twin Cities. But my co-worker
    wanted me to read the article on god and politics [“Church and State,”
    June]. He’s a left-winger and I’m a die-hard Republican. I didn’t think
    it was going to be too pretty, because I assumed it was going to be
    another Christian-conservative bash fest. I want to commend writer Adam
    Minter for putting forward a really balanced and decent article. I
    didn’t get irate as I had expected and was pleased with how he
    portrayed Christian conservatives. We need more balanced writers like
    Minter around—maybe at the Star Tribune. Needless to say, I might start
    picking up The Rake more often. Thanks!

    Rebecca Lamont
    Burnsville

  • Good Question

    I appreciate it when people or organizations notice that
    we political moderates and liberals have strong Christian beliefs,
    too. I didn’t realize the depth of Senator Dean Johnson’s
    professional and personal commitments along these lines; I am in awe.
    On another point the article made: How can Chaplain Hall maintain his
    501(c)(3) tax-exempt status (which prohibits religious organizations
    from explicit political advocacy) when he “conducts ‘prayer tours’ of
    the Capitol for groups interested in praying at the usual tour stops,
    such as the Senate chambers” and is known as being the “the front
    guy if you’re pro-life, pro-marriage”?

     Jolene Hart
    Vadnais Heights

  • Pyramid Scheme


    Paul Harstad, his sister, and her partner (all South Minneapolis residents) accompanied his father (of Vadnais Heights) to the land of Pharoahs. Paul says, “Egypt is a very interesting place, and holds a prominent position in world history, but why on Earth would they spend all that time, energy, and resources to build monuments to dead people?” They should have built more libraries!

    Paul Harstad

  • Mailly de Chateau, France

    Took the Rake to France with me, just for giggles. Spent a week on the Yonne Canal floating on a barge with two other couples, drinking cases of cremant, (the local name for champagne) and speaking French very poorly. This photo was taken from a 16th Century bridge in a town called Mailly de Chateau. The barge came equipped with bicycles so I pedaled to it for the photo opportunity.

    Cindy Darling

  • Dead Sea, Israel

    Two pictures were taken at sea level on the decent to the Dead Sea in Israel. We thought it appropriate to read about conservative politics in The Rake while visiting the places where it all started. The other pictures are at the River Jordan where John the Baptist did his work. Note in particular the ghostly aura descending on my wife Leslie’s shoulders as she reads The Rake on the banks of the River Jordan. Is The Rake truly a heavenly publication?

    We enjoy you publication very much. It is particularly good to read on long trans-Atlantic flights. Keep up the good work!

    Mark Schuman

  • Gathered Here

    Your mission this coming Saturday afternoon: without upstaging the happy couple. It behooves you to be both fashionable and appropriate, because the mother of the bride might cast you a disapproving glance if you are anything less. So grab your pastel neckties, dust off some chic but not overly sexy footwear, and wiggle into those strapless gowns. Provided your dress is dazzling enough, even the bride¹s imminent mother-in-law can’t be too shocked at your tattoo.

  • Laax, Switzerland

    Jeff Wechter writes:

    These pictures were taken in Switzerland on March 10, 2005.

    The Crap Bar was at a ski area called Laax. Crap was everywhere.

    www.laax.com.

    The other was taken in a small town near Flims called Sogogn.

    Jeff Wechter

  • Amen

    I think a lot of people have been saying this lately: the moderates among us Christians have to step up and make our views preeminent over those radically conservative Christians who would take over, and in some cases have tken over, our government.

    We’ve received some unexpected praise here for our cover story this month–primarily because we wrote about Dean Johnson, a minister, for God’s sake, who doesn’t believe he has the exclusive insight into God’s will, and doesn’t try to wield government power as if it were God’s hammer.

    Thank God for Christians like him in our government, and for John Danforth, former senator from Missouri and Episcopal minister. His op-ed piece in the NY Times today is the most eloquent call to moderate Christians we’ve seen in a long time.

    Read it. And when you’re done, say “Amen.” The Revs Johnson and Danforth represent just the sort of Christians we need more of in our capitols–and in our churches, for that matter.

  • Yes, it's another Irish holiday

    joyce.jpg
    The devilish man himself

    Damn, until reminded a little while ago, I forgot today was Bloom’s Day. Have a fried kidney, walk around town, try to sell some ads, wander into an Irish pub, and think of Leopold Bloom, Stephen Daedalus and James Joyce and all the good books you could have read if you didn’t have a television.

    Stuff like this:
    I know them well who was the first person in the universe before there was anybody that made it all who ah that they dont know neither do I so there you are they might as well try to stop the sun from rising tomorrow the sun shines for you he said the day we were lying among the rhododendrons on Howth head in the grey tweed suit and his straw hat the day I got him to propose to me yes first I gave him the bit of seedcake out of my mouth and it was leapyear like now yes 16 years ago my God after that long kiss I near lost my breath yes he said was a flower of the mountain yes so we are flowers all a womans body yes that was one true thing he said in his life and the sun shines for you today yes that was why I liked him because I saw he understood or felt what a woman is and I knew I could always get round him and I gave him all the pleasure I could leading him on till he asked me to say yes and I wouldnt answer first only looked out over the sea and the sky I was thinking of so many things he didnt know of Mulvey and Mr Stanhope and Hester and father and old captain Groves and the sailors playing all birds fly and I say stoop and washing up dishes they called it on the pier and the sentry in front of the governors house with the thing round his white helmet poor devil half roasted and the Spanish girls laughing in their shawls and their tall combs and the auctions in the morning the Greeks and the jews and the Arabs and the devil knows who else from all the ends of Europe and Duke street and the fowl market all clucking outside Larby Sharans and the poor donkeys slipping half asleep and the vague fellows in the cloaks asleep in the shade on the steps and the big wheels of the carts of the bulls and the old castle thousands of years old yes and those handsome Moors all in white and turbans like kings asking you to sit down in their little bit of a shop and Ronda with the old windows of the posadas glancing eyes a lattice hid for her lover to kiss the iron and the wineshops half open at night and the castanets and the night we missed the boat at Algeciras the watchman going about serene with his lamp and O that awful deepdown torrent O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and pink and blue and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down Jo me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.

    Kind of gets your heart going, yes?