Tom Bartel The American legal system and the parents of a certain Breck School senior took a pounding in the press and on talk radio last week. For the few of you who missed it, here is the story: Andrew Stanoch, a high school senior at Breck, was caught with a small amount of marijuana during the … Read more
My son Matt, who is a freshman at Carleton College, called me early last Friday afternoon to tell me that he’d just heard that Paul Wellstone had been killed in a plane crash. He’d got the news right after getting out of his freshman political science class, the same class I’d taken at Carleton 32 … Read more
Fritz Mondale said Wednesday that the effect of the tragedy on those closest to Wellstone didn’t justify the tone of his memorial service, “But we’ve all made mistakes. Can’t we find it in our hearts to forgive?” I certainly hope so—for a couple of reasons. First, how do we blame Rick Kahn for an electorate … Read more
Smart people send their kids to private schools, right? Maybe not. Even as vouchers become a reality, and public school budgets get bodyslammed, your options may be growing. I am the product of a private high school. Not one of the toney schools that serve as the Ivy League of the Twin Cities, but what … Read more
Getting Into HarvardWhat does it take these days? Will graduating at the top of the class from a good Twin Cities private school get your child into Harvard? No, but it won’t necessarily hurt. According to the U.S. News and World Report compilation of college admissions information for 2001, 34 percent of the students admitted … Read more
I want to describe where we are trying to go with The Rake, and to beg your patience while we inevitably stumble on our way. Basically, we want to be storytellers. All the other stuff we’ll do will be to make room for more stories. I always envied my father’s ability to make up stories … Read more