Rake Over

Yesterday, with little notice outside of Minnesota, The Rake died as a print publication. And that’s a pity.

My association with the nearly six-year-old Minneapolis-based publication dates back to its fourth issue. It was a proud and supportive relationship, and though I haven’t been much of a contributor over the last couple of years, I’ve always valued its pages as an outlet for my writing – including, my writing from China. I can’t emphasize this enough: it is the rare regional magazine that will support – much less, finance expenses – for deeply researched feature-length stories from Asia. The Rake not only did that, but they did it without asking many questions beyond, “When will we see the copy?”

The Rake’s publisher, Tom Bartel, plans to continue operating the online side of the publication, with an emphasis on blogs. And he’s not coy about what that means: “No long, thoughtful stories.” I’m in no position to question the business decision made here; I have no doubt that the print advertising environment in the US is tough, and getting worse. And goodness knows, Tom – by his own admission – has been taking a bath on the magazine for the last couple of years. What could have been, what might have been, what should have been – I’ll leave those discussions to people who know much better than I do. So, for now, my very best and sincere wishes to the very good people, the very good friends, who are now in search of print media jobs in a shrinking market. These are awfully fine and talented people, and I hope that another publication has the sense to pick them up. Julie Caniglia, Christy DeSmith, and Brad Zellar are singular talents.

Most of the people who read this blog will have never picked up a copy of The Rake, so – for you – let me suggest a few of the articles that made the publication so special over the course of this weird decade. Just off the top of my head, I feel obligated to suggest Jennifer Vogel’s, Can the Public Library (and Democracy) Survive?; Hans Eisenbeis’s essay on Tom Friedman, A Man of His Times; Neal Karlen’s wonderful profile of Ray Dandridge, complete with a Willie Mays meltdown, Stranded on Third; my friend Christy DeSmith’s notorious investigation of, ah, certain consequences of abrasive fabrics, in Let Them Bleed; and, if I may, my own Church and State, an account of the “separation wars” at the Minnesota capitol.

I can’t help but notice that more and more publishers are deciding that feature-length journalism (a uniquely American art, if you ask me) is no longer an affordable proposition. I hope that’s not the case. As someone who blogs, and who also writes feature length stories, I can tell you that there is a big difference. To be sure, I do my best with Shanghai Scrap, but there’s just no compensating for a good editor and a relentless fact-checker. Institutions make for better journalism; blogs make for – I don’t know – quicker commentary. If forced to choose, I know what I’d read.