Author: rakemag

Amy Hartman’s tales of horror about the adult cabaret industry [Letters, July] have about as much relationship to reality as George Bush’s tales of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Randall Tigue
Minneapolis

Joe Pastoor’s fine article [“Beer Town!,” July] omitted one aspect of the new Grain Belt Beer: the taste. The original Grain Belt was the first beer I ever tasted. The enchanting, spicy bouquet from one bottle poured into a glass could fill the entire kitchen at home; a few pitchers could fill an entire tavern hall, intoxicating drinkers before they took their first sip. Ted Marti is an amazing brewer. He has kept his tiny family brewery open against all odds, but he is now faced with a dilemma. If he continues brewing the Grain Belt recipe that he inherited from Minnesota Brewing, he can hope to maintain the loyal customers who have become accustomed to the rather unremarkable taste of its St. Paul incarnation. But does he have enough customers to support this beer? I propose that Braumeister Marti brew a Grain Belt according to the original recipe. But what the market does not need is another “expensive microbrew-packaged” beer. Simply paste “Urtyp” on the original-recipe beer cases and see which beer the public likes. What we need is a beer like the original Grain Belt: simple package, great beer. Like the old Grain Belt ad said, “You be the judge. Try a case.”
Bjor Kenner
St. Paul

Thank you for your favorable review of Unplugged, my novel about depression and recovery [The Broken Clock, May]. I appreciate the attention your column brought to my performance and signing at Ruminator Books—and, more important, to the cause of suicide prevention. Your piece did, however, contain one error. I am not a “lifetime victim of depression,” having been spared until the age of 33. More to the point, I reject the label “victim,” preferring to call myself a depression survivor. Were I a “victim of depression,” I’d never have been able to write (and tirelessly tour on behalf of) a book of healing and hope that goes toe-to-toe with mood disorders and the stigma surrounding them. Indeed, given the way I’ve responded to my illness, it might be more accurate to say that depression is a victim of me!
Paul McComas
Evanston, IL

I loved the article on the Subaru Baja [“Dude, where’s my truck-like car thing?,” July]. The article mentioned the trouble all car manufacturers are having as they chase the Gen X, active-lifestyle, mountain-biking crowd. That crowd is not interested in most of these vehicles! Charlie Rassouli admits that older folks and “part-time gardeners” are buying the Baja. This is the same problem Honda is having selling its boxy lifestyle auto, the Element. The Element is selling to a much older demographic, mainly older dog owners who swear by the roomy cargo area. Not exactly what Honda was hoping would be stored back there. Pontiac has had the same problem with the Aztec—though that vehicle was hit so badly with the ugly stick the designers should have been arrested.
Steve Roth
St. Louis Park

Please spare me the kinder, gentler spin on Pat Awada [“Is This Woman Ruining Our State?,” July]. As state auditor, her responsibility is to oversee $17 billion in local government spending. As the previous owner of Capital Verification, a telecom industry oversight company, she failed consumers to the tune of $222,000 in her clients’ fines and complaints in seven states. She is hardly fit to be state auditor. “The industry is sleazy,” she tells us. “Every telecom has these problems,” she says. As auditor, would she accept similar excuses from any of the cities she audits? If Pat is the “Future of Minnesota,” then Minnesota is in for years of failed oversight from its state auditor, and possibly years of faulty leadership from its governor, senator, or whatever position the Republican Party anoints her to run for next.
Tom Madden
Minneapolis

The picture of one of my favorite officers of the state caught my eye as I eyeballed the magazine shelves at Barnes & Noble in Edina. There was Pat Awada next to a great question: “Is our spunky state auditor making a Republican out of you?” I hope the answer for the majority is a resounding “Yes!” I’m one of those “anti-tax” Republicans who lives across the freeway from the Awadas and found myself at odds with Pat, the mayor, when she was pushing the community center onto Eaganites, who had just approved her community pool a couple years before (though I didn’t object to the pool as much as I did the community center). But now that it’s built, I’m succumbing to the thought that perhaps it was a good idea. I’m actually an “Eagan ambassador” now, and I led tours through the center when it first opened. Pat has always been an aggressive, competitive, and forward-looking person who has a creative mind, which I hope she uses to expose the waste in the 4,300 units of local government she is overseeing. If she can save us taxpayers a mere 10 percent of the $17 billion, she will be worth her weight in gold.
Alice Kreitz
Eagan

I feel there was one essential fact missing from the article about Minnesota’s current state auditor: Her name is Pat Anderson Awada. It was good enough for the election ballot… I wonder why it isn’t good enough for the office’s letterhead. Ah! At this time, there is no need to manipulate the citizens of the state to get elected!
Chris Olson
St. Paul

Thanks for your article on Pat Awada. It was the first article I’ve seen in the local press that was free of total negativism. It read more like a good short-story characterization. I got a feel for who she is, perhaps for the very first time. She is controversial. So, apparently, am I. In fact, I’d be interested in what Pat has to say about an ad campaign we’ve been running for the City of Excelsior in your magazine (placed right at the end of her article). Some people are reading this as “anti-business,” but the opposite is true. Excelsior simply wants unique businesses that go against the grain. Kind of like Pat Awada. How you read her depends on what is written about her. Thanks for an article that allowed me to decide, instead of told me what to decide.
Chris Birt
Minneapolis