This week on “Between You and Me,” the 91.7 KAXE Saturday morning call-in and music program featuring the voices of northern Minnesota, the topic is “Brainerd.” That’s right, the central Minnesota town whose pronunciation accentuates the regional accent gets its own show. This was a special challenge for me, a writer and teacher from the Iron Range who has only been to Brainerd a couple of times. Rather than attempt to fake my way through, the way I usually handle these things, I used a life line.
My segment on the show this week will be an emergency phone call to Chuck Marohn, the planning adviser from Strong Towns who provides Republican commentary on the “Making Sausage” political segment on the KAXE morning show. He grew up in the Brainerd area and is now raising his family there. His relationship with the Brainerd Lakes region is very similar to the one I have with the Iron Range. I’m a big fan of his work and he’s one of my best Facebook friends. You know that means good radio.
Saturday 10 to noon on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota or streaming online at www.KAXE.org.
I enjoyed the show today. I was born in the old Miners Hospital in Crosby. My dad said he’d have worked in the mines if they hadn’t been winding down when he graduated from High School. It really is a challenge, how do you keep the old virtues and character while trying to have some economic vitality. I’m not sure we’ve done a terribly good job at either one.