Dear Red-Handed, As a chronic over-packer, I was left with room in my carry-on for only one publication (excluding my copy of Anna Karenina, which took up half my bag). What did I choose to bring with me to Colombia, South America? Why, the Rake, of course! Of all the locations in Medellin to bring … Read more
Fernando & Becky at Magen’s Bay, St. Thomas US Virgin Islands, same place where they spent their honeymoon 20 years ago. Second photo: Well, that’s Dumbo reading the Rake at the comfort of his cabin in the Royal Caribbean Explorer Author(s) and Location: Fernando & Becky Torres
Bharati Acharya [Minneapolis] knew she would have a lot of time to read at Lago Atitlan, Guatemala. Among her other things, she packed a copy of the Rake in her luggage. The only way to get around the lake is on one of the dozen, or so, boat taxis that traverse the waters. But a … Read more
Clinton Collins, Jr., clearly defines the problem of the Star Tribune’s reader’s representative [Free the Jackson Five, June] when he concludes that “complaining to the Star Tribune is OK—if it is the right complaint, on the right issue … ” The irony here is that the Star Tribune did have a reader’s representative who was … Read more
The only positive thing about the very creepy Body Worlds exhibit at the Science Museum [The Rake’s Progress, June] is that it’s dead humans and not the usual dead animals that are being violated, disrespected, and exploited in the name of art. Author(s) and Location: Frank Erickson, Minneapolis
So to summarize your story [“No Way Home,” June]: Cambodia is hot. Cambodia sucks. Boy comes to the U.S. with his parents. Boy joins a gang, and never bothers to get citizenship, despite living here fifteen years. Finally, after being in fairly regular criminal trouble as a juvenile, he’s eighteen when charged with a felony … Read more
Dear Rake, I was too excited when I saw the cover of the February Rake [“Exposed”]! It was right before I left on my first vacation at a naturalist resort. The experience was great and the magazine was a big hit at the manager’s cocktail party, among the many Minnesotans who “bare it all” at … Read more
The U.S. Embassy in Yemen was only a stone’s throw from my snug, little brick house. Next door, in a smaller home made of mud, lived my landlady Saida, her four young children, and her mostly absentee husband. I was a twenty-four-year-old aid worker, eager to help in any way I could. Saida’s kids were … Read more
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, so I’ll put it off. I always find plenty to appreciate in The Rake. On picking up 17 Voices [April], I turned first to Robert Bly’s “The Book You Can’t Find,” and then pondered the coincidence of its being immediately followed by Oliver Nicholson’s “Halls of … Read more
Hosannas to the artist-designed initial caps and the stories/poems [17 Voices literary supplement, April] that followed, aimed at lovers of literature and libraries and books and life. Oliver Nicholson’s fragrant essay of ancient library information and memories reminds me to emphasize as well the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, located among the monks of St. John’s … Read more