rakemag I want to give the Rake some enthusiastic and positive feedback on your columnists -Kruse, Collins and Ouellette. I imagine they each elicit some downright combustible flame-mail from some of the more touchy element out there, but I’ve much appreciated the topics these columnists have tackled and perspectives they’ve shared. Even if my perspective is … Read more
One of the problems with seeing films like Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, Talk To Her, is that it inspires a profound guilt for all the time we’ve wasted on the latest Hollywood drivel. It’s doubly regrettable that this marvelous film will make its way to town during the holiday release frenzy and will probably get lost … Read more
Everyone knows Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but did you know that it’s merely the best known among dozens of Victor-ian ghost stories traditionally told in the context of Christmas? Here, our old friend Steve Schroer—who gave up his gig as The Rake’s theater expert to get back up on the stage himself—and his Hardcover Theater … Read more
You hear it on the streets. On the news. In the halls of Congress. There’s no agreement on the issue, except this: “Iraq” is a problem. There are at least four common ways English speakers say the word “Iraq,” including “Ee-RACK,” “Ih-ROCK,” “Eye-ROCK,” and “Uh-RACK.” Which is correct? Technically, none. The Q at the end … Read more
I’ve been a waitress for seventeen years. That’s pre-pepper grinder, fusion cuisine, touch screen, and “Sparkling, still, or tap?” If you look me up on the chronology of food-service evolution, I’m right there close to the beginning, walking upright and sporting thumbs, but with a hump on my back and a heavy, weighted brow indicating … Read more
Thanks for the fine “Happy Anniversary” item last month [Good Intentions, September]. What an elegant expression of the mix of concern, anger, and hurt I live with as a result of the attacks, and the inadequacy, to put it mildly, of most of the public debate and actions that have followed. The juxtaposition of the … Read more
Despite your accusation [“The Puppetmaster at Rest,” October], I planned to vote for Wellstone from the get-go, and I never saw one of Hillsman’s famous ads. And I sure as hell didn’t vote for Jesse (The Numbskull) Ventura, a man more interested in holding asinine grudges than in actual governance. Paul Wellstone’s success in 1990 … Read more
Stephanie March asks why New York is called “the Big Apple” [Down the Hatch, October] and notes that “one theory is that the nickname was coined by jazz greats like Charlie Parker.” While this is a popular theory, it’s been disproven. I’m attaching a research note by Yale librarian Fred Shapiro: “The Random House Historical … Read more
I relocated to these barren wastes in April ’01, and spent my first year searching—mostly in vain—for anything remotely stimulating, or even interesting. Imagine my delight when, on my first anniversary, I stumbled across your magazine. (And imagine my disappointment when the very next issue featured that lame “Top 50” list [“Our Brightest Stars,” June]. … Read more
I hope the writer who penned the concert announcement for Paul McCartney’s appearance at the Xcel Energy Center [The Broken Clock, September] was able to attend the event. A rare opportunity was available for the writer to broaden his/her horizons. If the writer attended, s/he would have heard three songs from a new album written … Read more