Having moved back from Seattle 18 months ago, I completely relate to Jennifer Vogel’s struggle with homesickness [“Weed Whacked,” July 2002]. I enjoyed revisiting the old haunts mentioned in her article. Newfound friends drinking caffeine uppers and smoking Vancouver downers are charming but lack a certain something Minnesota brims over with. Is it the smell … Read more
Dear Rake Editors, Are you out of your alleged minds? Judy Garland is less famous than Josh Hartnett? Okay, maybe among twenty-somethings at this exact second, but the cover said "of all time." Let’s see if "Black Hawk Down" is an annual TV event 60 years from now. Let’s see if people can name the … Read more
Ever since your publication of “You Don’t Know Jack” [Gastronomer, June 2002], I’ve had trouble sleeping. What has been keeping me awake nights is the turmoil over whether or not to expose your “Gastronomer,” Joe Pastoor, as the fraud he is. I have made the decision to come clean. (And C.J., if you’re reading, please … Read more
Meleah Maynard’s article [“I Against I,” May] was well written, informative, and palpable. Maynard is right on point that just being “black” does not make one community. The Somalis and African Americans are going through the same integration problems that waves of immigrants have been experiencing for centuries—Italians versus the Irish at the turn of … Read more
Every year you conduct this moronic “Top Doctors” contest (Kildare, Dentons, Demento) and every year the imbeciles in your mail room miss the truly greats (Scholl’s, Death, Welby). Even though I’ve been a longstanding subscriber (Roboto, Casey, Doom), in fact a charter member, (Johnny Fever, Glass, Love), please cancel my subscription (Evil, Haushka, Phibes)! Deborah … Read more
God bless Fr. Thomas Buffer! We need more priests like him to question the accurancy of these reporters who will say anything to get a story. Judge not, lest you be judged. Have these people ever heard of the Ten Commandments? Shame on them. Keep up the good work, Father. I’m prayingfor you and every … Read more
Thanks for your article about this inspiring woman, Nellie Stone Johnson [Native Son, May]. For the past two weeks we here in Britain have been drowning in sycophantic tributes to “the Nation’s Favourite Granny”—the dear old Queen Mum, most of whose 101 pampered years were devoted to flitting between her five homes, backing racehorses, drinking … Read more
Somalis and African Americans have to end the misunderstanding that exists between them [“I Against I,” May]. Every girl and every boy has to try to talk to each other. They have to believe the reality, not just what they feel or guess. Also, African American and Somali parents and elders have to work to … Read more
Clinton Collins suggests that all the littering in North Minneapolis is done by young, male African Americans [Free the Jackson Five!, May]. How does he come to this, dare I say, startling conclusion? The people in front of his house were young and black. Therefore, we shall presume his situation is universal for citizens of … Read more
Father Thomas Buffer’s diary [“Father, Forgive Them,” May] comes off more as a bitter diatribe against the press and modernism than as any real answer as to what to do with priests who violate the trust of children. To imply that “homosexual priests have gotten sexually involved with boys under 18” due to societal acceptance … Read more