Death of a Sunday Ritual

As we enter the modern age of paperless-ness, there seems to be an increased hue and cry bemoaning the impending loss of the paper newspaper. I’m one of those people. What will I line my bird cage with, wrap my fish in, or spread across my floor as I paint my living room? Will newspapers … Read more

British Virgin Islands

The attached photo is of me and my wife Christine Homsey sailing a 52 foot Beneteau Oceanis 523 in the Sir Francis Drake Channel just South of the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. We are part of a group that every few years charters sailboats bareboat (we crew the boat ourselves) in … Read more

Panama

Margaret Lonergan in Panama Author(s) and Location: Margaret Lonergan, Minneapolis

Rio de Janeiro

Greetings from Carnival 2007 in Rio de Janeiro! Copacabana beach and Sugar Loaf are in the background. Having a great time. Wish you were here! Author(s) and Location: Dale Stenseth, St. Louis Park

St. Lucia

This avid and perhaps dangerously optimistic reader traveled to the island of St. Lucia in June with his wife in order to celebrate the couple’s tenth anniversary. “I got a good chuckle out of the ‘Beware Of Falling Coconuts’ signs on Jalousie Beach,” wrote Mark Ferry of Wayzata. “I never had one fall on me, … Read more

What the Hey?

The other day, sitting in a little pizza place with a friend, I thumbed through a copy of The Rake and found “And Now This: Breaking the Spirit of Your Newborn Child” [May]. I just couldn’t believe what I was reading, so I had to do my own research. Now, the publisher you cite exists, … Read more

Leave the Wild Cats to the Jungle

As the executive director of The Wildcat Sanctuary, the only accredited sanctuary in the Upper Midwest, I wanted to thank you for your insightful article “Cat Scratch Fever” [May]. The article helped raise awareness of the exotic pet trade in Minnesota and the United States. In one year alone, The Wildcat Sanctuary assisted authorities in … Read more

Newsprint Limbo

Thank you, and Brian Lambert, for pointing out the inadequacies of our local newspapers. [See Lambert’s blog Lambert to the Slaughter, at www.rakemag.com.] Many of us have given up on the mainstream and instead look to your magazine and other free venues for intelligent, comprehensive, and well-written journalism, telling us what is going on in … Read more

Super Story on a Super Guy

I have had the pleasure of working with Dave St. Peter [“Marathon Man,” April] in the world of media with the Minnesota Twins. We are fortunate to have a man like Dave running the Twins. He is the consummate professional who always presented a positive outlook, even when the Twins were not world champions. He … Read more

Article Finally Reaches Outstate North Dakota

So what your article [“No. 1 Hard,” February 2006] tells me is that your intent is to steal North Dakota’s oil reserves. Has it occurred to you that we like it here? I’ve lived in California, Florida, Connecticut, Ohio, Washington, and Pennsylvania. After seeing these crime-filled, dirty places it was always my pleasure to come … Read more