MinnesotaBrown, ‘Overburden’ on KARE 11 last night

Last night, KARE 11 in the Twin Cities ran a story by Boyd Huppert about how the bad economy is affecting the Iron Range. It’s a very interesting look at the culture of our boom and bust way of life. A recent column of mine and my book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” played a prominent part in the story. The video is up this morning. Thanks for reading and watching.

“Overburden” is my first book after several years as a columnist and radio essayist in northern Minnesota. It’s a collection of humorous, historical and topical essays about life on today’s Iron Range with an eye on this important region’s complex past and unknown future. Here’s a blurb from Minnesota Book Award winning author and former Duluth Poet Laureate Barton Sutter:

“The Iron Range has found its voice in Aaron Brown. The kid with Coke-bottle glasses who was raised in a trailer next to his parents’ junkyard has grown up to write a ferocious, loving anthem to his home region. Historical, political, deeply personal, “Overburden” is rich with details but sizzles with narrative drive. Oddly enough — or maybe not — Brown, as author, has all the qualities we look for in a great hockey player: guts and heart, vision, skills, and speed. Rangers will see themselves in this book. Outsiders will be stung by envy.”

Thanks to KARE 11, especially Boyd and photojournalist Jonathan Malat, for doing the interview. And for those interested in reading the full text of the column I was reading for the story, here it is: “Iron Rangers know recession is a time for defiance.”