An Iron Ranger in a strange land

As readers of this blog know, I subsidize my blogging by begging readers to buy my book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” (available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble). Last week I took the “Overburden” road show to the Twin Cities for the first time. It was an exciting trip and I’m now able to share some highlights, including pictures and audio.

The primary reason for traveling to the Twin Cities in the middle of a winter storm was a speaking engagement at the University of Minnesota Bookstore at Coffman Memorial Union in Minneapolis on March 11. This is one of the hottest literary locales in the area. The picture at right (taken by my stepmom Julie) is me just after giving my talk to a crowd of mostly ex-Iron Rangers now living in the metro area.

One of the cool things about this presentation was that my talk was recorded and released as an official iTunes podcast by the U of M Bookstore (Go to the iTunes store and search Podcasts for “University of Minnesota Bookstore” to download to your iPod). You can also hear the podcast at the bookstore’s website. It’s a long podcast at about an hour and 40 minutes, but it’s a good representation of the readings I’ve been giving since the book came out. Also, the last half hour is a Q&A session that was the best I’ve ever had. Nothing I do is ever perfect, but this went better than average.

The next morning I visited friends at the State Capitol and was very generously allowed access to the House floor before the opening of the day’s session for a photo with House Majority Leader Tony Sertich (whose first campaign committee I served on), Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Rep. Tom Anzelc (whose campaigns I manage) and me. No, not every obscure Iron Ranger writer is granted this privilege, so I count my blessings and keep things in perspective. Political hack, you may call me. I prefer to believe that I am a multifaceted hack working across the spectrum. I’ll post that photo after it arrives in the mail.

After the Capitol I did a signing at the Eagan Barnes and Noble where I sold two books, one to Excelsior Energy’s Pat Micheletti, a Hibbing native. We had a long conversation about the merits of his company’s Mesaba Energy Project, which I have labeled a boondoggle, and — sufficed to say — we did not reach consensus. However, he did help me sell a second book to a unaffiliated customer and, therefore, receives a rare kudos in this post.

But that’s not all. On my way home I stopped off in Superior, Wis., across the bridge from Duluth to visit my old stomping grounds at 91.3 KUWS on the University of Wisconsin-Superior campus to be part of a recording of the journalism show “Final Edition.” The show aired March 13. The audio for that half-hour show about blogging and the media is currently posted at Business North and will be archived at the KUWS Final Edition page. The show is produced and hosted by Mike Simonson, who was my mentor and news director when I was a student working at KUWS. Simply put, he’s one of the greatest living journalists I know. This show, which also features Barrett Chase of PerfectDuluthDay.com and Beth Jett of Fox 21, turned into a great discussion on the future of online journalism and blogging in northern Minnesota.

Then I went home. I’ll be back in the Twin Cities on Thursday, June 4 with other events up north before then. Stay tuned.