rakemag Ayelet Waldman is perhaps best known for having set off a bit of a moral brushfire when she announced in an essay in the New York Times that her love for her husband, the writer Michael Chabon, trumped her feelings for the couple’s children. While that strange business didn’t exactly paint the most attractive portrait … Read more
Literary magazines have long occupied a sort of members-only, marginal status in the world of publishing. Many of these things are butt-ugly, deadly earnest, and, where not subsidized by universities or literary organizations, marked for extinction from the get-go. What a marvel it is, then, to have Minneapolis-produced Conduit delivered to our door “when least … Read more
Jennifer Vogel’s piece on Eric Enstrom’s Grace photograph [“That Old-Time Religion,” December] provides thoughtful analysis of times when religion was “rooted in humility.” However, it neglects to note this image which captures Bovey, Minnesota’s “Christian background” is the official photograph for the state of Minnesota. I learned this a few years back when I (at … Read more
The January 2006 article “Seven Weeks on the Lean Streets” struck a chord when it pointed out the difference in availability of public facilities during one young man’s trek through the Twin Cities. I often hike through different neighborhoods; I, too, have long noticed the lack of public niceties in poor neighborhoods and the wealth … Read more
In the description of the Grace photo, The Rake refers to one of the items in the simple photo as a “book” without further explanation. I assume most of your readers assumed that this book is a Bible. But as I was told by a longtime Bovey resident and neighbor of the photographer that the … Read more
The cover of the January 2006 issue of The Rake asks, “ ‘The Sanctity of Marriage’ What are you doing to corrupt it?” In our opinion, the religious right has already corrupted marriage by discriminating against homosexuals, even for civil marriage (a violation of separation of church and state). Though we have been together for … Read more
This month, lots of short notes of support and opprobrium. We guess you’re busy working off those holiday pounds and credit card bills. Jeff S. writes from Hastings to say he recognized himself in last month’s western-wear fashion shoot, and could he please have an extra copy of the issue to keep for posterity? We … Read more
Along comes the smokin’ hot younger sister to Azia, the reigning diva of Eat Street. Though it’s housed inside Azia, Anemoni has its own distinctive lime-green vibe, as well as a deejay spinning seven nights a week. The stunning raw seafood offerings include traditional sushi and rolls, but that’s not why you go. You go … Read more
British playwright Caryl Churchill weighs in on the subject of human cloning with her deliciously absurdist and a-tad-bit feminist commentary on the great debate. Set in the near future, A Number is about a man suffering the loss of his wife and son. In his grief, he arranges to have his boy cloned–times three. But … Read more
At the top of a high hill on the north side of Amman, Jordan, a Baghdadi grocer tends his tiny store. In a ten- by twenty-foot space, he’s crammed just about anything a reasonable person could need: eggs and milk in an uncooled refrigerator, meat in tin cans, shampoos and soaps in faded, dusty bottles, … Read more