Category: Letter

T.D. Mischke’s description of selfless acts, as described in his 9/11 comments [“Old-Fashioned Cutting-Edge Radio,” July], might also describe him on most days. When I was at a very low point in my life and had trouble coming up with the money to pay the rent (a story I shared on the air with Tommy), Mischke called upon his radio audience to donate what they could to help me out. His listeners contributed about three hundred dollars, Mischke called me at home and the money arrived shortly thereafter. Mischke is more than a radio host, he’s a good man, a selfless and kind man.

Rod Metzger
Minneapolis

Recently, I had rather a serendipitous experience with the Mischke Broadcast. While driving home at 10 p.m., on roads hazardous as a result of a particularly brutal March snowstorm, I tuned to the Mischke Broadcast and heard silence. Tommy finally spoke, however, from a pay phone at the intersection of Lexington and Grand. His car had broken down, and he warned his producer that if someone didn’t pick him up soon, there would be no show. Not wanting to fall prey to a Mischke radio stunt, I called his producer and asked, “Is he serious?” He assured me he was. “I’m on my way,” I promised, and sped to the intersection, where Tommy stood huddled over a pay phone, enduring brutal winter winds. I waved him into my truck and the magic began.

Tommy took an experience that would have derailed a typical host and turned it into an hour of unparalleled radio entertainment. It wasn’t enough that we drive straight to the station so he could resume the show from more hospitable environs; rather, the opportunity to broadcast an hour of his show from a careworn 1997 Ford Ranger was not a gift he was willing (or able) to take for granted. A regular young caller, Luke, sang songs to Mischke as we drove. We stopped at a McDonald’s drive-through window where Tommy peppered the staff with questions about the meaning of life. An over-the-road trucker, hearing our location, rendezvoused with us near the restaurant, and Tommy gleefully entered the cab of his tractor-trailer, playing with the CB radio like a bedazzled child. Finally, we arrived at the station. At the end of the ride Tommy thanked me, offered reimbursement (which I declined), then bounded happily into the studio. It was just business as usual on the Mischke Broadcast. Tommy Mischke may be an acquired taste, but like most of the finer things in life he’s well worth it. In a radio world teeming with pabulum, anger, or just plain banality, the Mischke Broadcast is a sorely needed oasis of originality.

Thomas Bonnett
Woodbury

Paul Harstad is quoted [Red-Handed, July], “Egypt is a very interesting place… but why on Earth would they spend all that time, energy, and resources to build monuments to dead people?” To which a Rake editor has appended the comment “They should have built more libraries!” As a librarian myself, I applaud the sentiment, but feel obligated to point out that Egyptians built the greatest library of the ancient world—the Great Library of Alexandria. Likely if they’d built more, they would subsequently have been burned by invaders and other more practical people, like the one at Alexandria. Stone pyramids at least have the advantage of being rather less inflammable.
Dennis Lien
Minneapolis

Stephanie writes:

Here is a pic of me reading my favorite local rag while on an Outward
Bound staff dogsledding/skiing/camping trip in Ely, MN near the Outward
Bound school on the edge of the BWCAW. The temps never fell below 20
degrees that week in Feb. and topped out around 50 degrees the day
before this was taken. Yay global warming! Can you see my tan? Thanks
for the quality reads.

(Now that it’s June, 50 degrees sounds really nice!)

Janice writes:

I took these pictures of my great nephews, Erik (8) and Joe (6) Brandt
from Uster, while in Switzerland visiting them on vacation. The
pictures were taken in Zurich.

We left the Rake Magazine with
our niece and nephew and family to read. The boys are Minnesota Twins
fans and were interested in the article on the Radkes. You publish some
excellent articles! We look forward to picking up your magazine each
month.

I enjoyed “Church and State” by Adam Minter. Especially because one of
his observations reveals a flaw in the progressive value of tolerance
and the point at which tolerance becomes irrelevant. “Johnson espouses
tolerance as a philosophy, but he has a difficult time extending it in
this instance,” Minter writes of Sen. Johnson’s dissatisfaction with
Chaplain Hall’s ministry. What Minter forgets to mention is that not
only are fundamentalist Christians intolerant, they openly mock the
ideal of tolerance even as they whine about liberals’ intolerance
toward them. To most liberals, the accusation of intolerance is
anathema and the only way to respond is to go on the defensive. Caught
in the trap of politically correct thinking, most liberals cannot bear
to define themselves as intolerant. But that has to change very soon if
there is to be any future for a progressive agenda. Tolerance is a
virtue that we should extend as far and wide as we possibly can. 
But the virtue of tolerance cannot be extended to groups of people who
are themselves intolerant, and liberals should stop making any further
pretense of doing so.  Fundamentalists of any creed are barbarians
who do not deserve the privilege of tolerance in a democratic, secular
society as long as they refuse to extend it to others. They shun
knowledge, promote ignorance, condone violence against women and
children and adhere to a social hierarchy that places a wealthy WASP
elite on the highest pedestal. Their concerns do not merit serious
consideration because they emanate not from a legitimate theological
context, but from a sense of self entitlement, false piety, and a
shameless will to power. Power is in fact, the only thing they worship.
Lest Minter give anyone the wrong idea: We have a duty to subvert and
dismantle intolerant groups in any legal way we can. Whatever hat he’s
wearing, Senator/Pastor/Brigadier General Johnson has my admiration and
respect for his ability to place the common good above his own personal
religious beliefs.
Justin Teerlinck
St. Paul

 [“The Worthlessness of Things,” June] was a great article with
deeply depressing content. The writing style made me feel like I was
walking through the man’s life myself.  The unsatisfying and
abrupt ending was perfect for the theme of an unfinished life.

Jim Larson
Minneapolis

I am a faithful reader of The Rake, and thoroughly enjoy your columns.
[Sex and the Married Man, June] caught my attention because it deals
with the issue of erectile dysfunction and the drug industry’s solution
to everything—pills. I think you are missing a key issue in this
article. It is proven that the absence of a male foreskin has
ramifications that America is only recently beginning to understand.
When you cut off over three feet of veins and arteries, as well as
twenty to fifty thousand nerve endings, you are going to have problems
with your penis. It was not meant to function properly without a
foreskin. While I do believe that psychological issues play a role
here, the key factor is that circumcision destroys, denudes, and
otherwise does great harm to male sexual function.

Nicholas Ferlazzo
Minneapolis

I appreciate your enlightening information [Sex and the Married Man,
March]. However, your idea about not abstaining is rather saddening. It
is not surprising that many people are dying from the dreaded disease
AIDS because of similar ignorance. I consider it unfortunate that there
are some like you who insist on having sex outside marriage, although
religiously speaking, the Bible advocates otherwise. I also appreciate
that we all have different religious backgrounds, and I do not know
yours. But if you are a Christian by religion, I think you need to
revisit your convictions from a clearer biblical perspective.  If
you are from another background, what would you advise those on a
continent like Africa where AIDS is sweeping millions away because of
careless indulgence in premarital sex? Have yourself a sexless day,
won’t you?

 Janet Wanjiru
Nairobi, Kenya

“Donny Highrise” is my new hero [The Rake’s Progress, June], but I feel
like I’ve seen him somewhere before. Is it possible that’s not his real
name? Is the man in the photograph some kind of cheap Donny Highrise
imposter, because Donny himself was too shy to pose for photos?

 Lisa Clifton
Minneapolis

Well, now, that’s a hard one to answer. Let’s just say this: That is
Donny Highrise, played by Eric Page. Page is a local comedian and
model, who can be seen with his entire troupe at the hilarious online
sketch-comedy site, Flapping Crane. Point your browser to
www.flappingcrane.com, but be forewarned that Donny Highrise is in big
demand these days.—Eds.