rakemag I found it very interesting that your July article was promoting Pat Awada for sainthood [“Is This Woman Ruining Our State?,” July], not mentioning any lasting effects about what her plan on reducing aid to the cities would do to the Metropolitan area. Your August article on the cuts to the Minneapolis fire department did … Read more
Minneapolis city officials certainly have a duty to provide adequate and effective fire protection service to their city, but it’s unfair to single out that one city and one department for criticism as The Rake does, when the true fault lies with the decisions imposed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Republican legislators. The governor and … Read more
As I read Craig Cox’s article, I couldn’t help but be impressed with his knowledge of the sometimes tough and always dangerous job firefighters perform twenty-four hours a day and 365 days a year. Still, the article does unfortunately gloss over the ax–wielding occurring across the river in St. Paul. Cox wonders how it is … Read more
It was cosmically appropriate that our review copy of The Handsome Family’s sixth disc, Singing Bones, arrived the day that Johnny Cash died. The New Mexico husband-and-wife duo of Brett and Rennie Sparks are true artistic children of the Man in Black, mixing traditional roots music with postmodern macabre about haunted all-night chain stores and … Read more
DIY? As a graphic designer for New York’s Roycroft Colony, Dard Hunter invented the concept. Hunter’s participation in the Arts and Crafts movement (which embraced an ideal of human craftsmanship over the machine-made) yielded impressive results. Hunter dabbled in a variety of media, including stained glass and metal, but his true legacy lies in his … Read more
Shutterbug buffs have a busy month ahead of them, with three diverse exhibits sure to help build a sense of camera-derie. Two are, more or less, single-artist retrospectives. At the MIA, it’s a look at the 22-year career of Swiss photojournalist Bischof, one of the leading lights of the Magnum agency. Best known for documenting … Read more
As a poet and host of a poetry reading series, I found William Waltz’s article “Does Poetry Matter?” [August] an outstanding insight into what is right and wrong with poetry today. Waltz does highlight the prominence and reach of Billy Collins who (like Mark Doty, Lucille Clifton, and others) understands both how to write excellent … Read more
We’ve known for a long time that Minnesotans practice a kind of karmically correct stoicism. But who knew that Minnesota Nice was just a variation on one of the world’s most ancient spiritual practices—Zen Buddhism? You’re really going to send that medium-rare steak back to the kitchen? You’ll carry the black cloud of unnecessary confrontation … Read more
It didn’t quite rival the fever-pitch anticipation of Order of the Phoenix, but fans of Chris Ware’s work (Jimmy Corrigan, Acme Novelty Library) have been waiting since the original release date of November 2002 for Quimby the Mouse. Quimby chronicles the life of a long-suffering mouse, drawn in the style of 1920s and 1930s comic … Read more
Kessler has a talent for finding singularly larger-than-life women to write about. She previously told the life story of fast-living lady stunt-pilot Pancho Barnes in the memorably titled Happy Bottom Riding Club. Clever Girl has an equally juicy story behind it: the tale of Elizabeth Bentley, a seemingly straitlaced Vassar grad who wound up converting … Read more