Recent articles [“Dealing From the Bottom,” September] and letters in The Rake compel corrections of the record. Disagreements about custody will occur; places for their resolution are required. Many are resolved privately by written agreements without attorneys involved. Mediation works for more. Collaborative law works for others. Only a few custody cases actually go to … Read more
You got one thing wrong in “Iron Will” [December]. You said Steger’s was the first dogsled team in Antarctica. It was actually the last, due to the Antarctic Treaty banning dogs for potential diseases affecting native species. Ever heard of a rabid leopard seal? Dogs were used there when Roald Amundsen first cruised to the … Read more
POPULAR CREEPS My hopes for the future include the following:1. That we finally see a real end to the war that officially “ended” last spring.2. That we finally see an end to makeover-decorating-themed TV shows. I can make over your rock ‘n’ roll crib, easy. Give me a pile of oily rags and a match.3. … Read more
Despite the overnight snowfall and a route through some of the metro’s most notorious traffic hot spots, I pulled into the well-salted parking lot almost fifteen minutes early for my appointment to look at the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s new Roseville compound. It’s a brushed aluminum affair, called the Water’s Edge building. Together with the … Read more
So what if you haven’t waxed the Lexus lately? Trend food is now in reach of the proletariat on the Tejas lunch menu. We once walked into the Southwest-style eatery at the spiritual (if not geographic) center of Edina and asked for a takeout menu and instead received a withering glance. Now, three years later, … Read more
It was the first Broadway musical to be commemorated by a postage stamp. It has earned dozens of accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize, an honorary Grammy, and two Academy Awards. It held the record for longest-running Broadway show for fifteen years, playing longer than any other brainchild of Roger and Hammerstein, including South Pacific, The … Read more
When it comes to art, we’re never quite sure where the line is between a reading, a recital, a performance, and an exhibition. After sixteen years, we’re beginning to realize that maybe we’re looking at it all wrong. What better way to prepare for the Walker’s imminent yearlong shutdown than by reminding yourself that they’re … Read more
One can hardly recall the name James McNeill Whistler without thinking that he was a bit of a mama’s boy. In a fate similar to that of Norman Bates, Whistler the Artist has almost been overshadowed by Whistler the Painting, popularly known as “Whistler’s Mother” but officially titled “Arrangement in Grey and Black.” Whistler rarely … Read more
I swear to heaven that it sounded like a good idea at the time. Hypnotized by HGTV, we took a perfectly good kitchen (if not our aesthetic ideal), ripped it out by the seams, and have for the last four months given a painful, bloody Lamaze-style birth to the placement of each pantry cupboard, each … Read more
If the Midwestern inferiority complex has a lot to do with our location in flyover country, imagine what it must be like to live in Poland, traditional butt of the “dumb” jokes of nations thousands of miles away. But there are other similiarities, too—the wide expanses of plains, for instance, or the starkly utilitarian architecture … Read more