On joining the Minnesota Star Tribune editorial page

---

At last, I can share a really big update. This week, I joined the Minnesota Star Tribune as a full time columnist and member of the editorial board. I’ll be working remotely, based here at MinnesotaBrown World Headquarters in Balsam Township, with liberty to travel the state as necessary. In fact, I’ll be the first member of the Star Tribune editorial board to be based exclusively in northern Minnesota.

My columns will appear at least twice weekly and will cover the gamut of things I already write about along with new topics. My title is “general assignment columnist,” which means my subject matter is all of Minnesota. My first column is up now, and will run in the Thursday, March 13 edition.

I won’t just be writing, I’ll be part of the team talking through big issues and events to shape the newspaper’s opinion section. I’m joining a really talented group of people and am excited to work alongside some of the best writers in the state. It’s a far cry from the editorial team I had when I was building MinnesotaBrown, a squad comprised mostly of loud babies and a small, indifferent dog.

There are a lot of details I could mention, so I’ll just lay this out as a FAQ.

Are you leaving the area?

No. I’ll be working remotely from my rural home just a few miles north of the Mesabi Range. I’ll be visiting other parts of the state for columns and traveling to the office for big meetings, but mostly I’ll be right where I am now. I’ve already been writing a part-time column for the Minnesota Star Tribune. Now I’ll write more.

Are you leaving the college?

Yes, after finishing my current semester I will take a leave of absence from my faculty position at Minnesota North College. If the new job goes as well as everyone hopes, it will become a permanent departure. This was the hardest part of the decision. I love teaching and believe wholeheartedly in what we do at Minnesota North. For 21 years, I’ve been a regular part of students’ lives, helping *thousands* of people learn how to conquer their fears of public speaking and improve their personal and professional communication abilities. I see my former students in police uniforms and hospital scrubs, on television and in professional positions throughout northern Minnesota. The growth and achievement I’ve seen in my students inspires me and I will miss this vocation very much.

That said, 21 years is a long time to do anything. I once served on a committee that had to set a policy for setting policies. The policy policy included a policy review period. So, when we passed the policy policy, the policy policy had to go out for policy review. After receiving and synthesizing feedback, we officially implemented the policy policy. Then our college merged and we had to do it all over again, cognizant of the fact that many policy policies exist, none better than any other, each with so many pros and cons that must be considered in a thoughtful, inclusive fashion, mindful of the many stakeholders and the persistent danger of siloed information.

Anyway, every dog needs new sniffs. I can’t rule out returning to higher education someday, but it will be good to have a change of pace.

Newspaper? Are you nuts?

I mean, maybe? I can’t rule it out. In 2003, overworked and underpaid, I left print journalism for a career in higher education. But I didn’t really leave, did I? I kept writing a column and then a daily blog. Fact is, writing was always my passion, I just never figured out how to pay for a family of five on a local newspaper salary. I could have chased better media jobs around the country, but then I never would have achieved the same depth of knowledge about northern Minnesota that many of you seem to appreciate.

Here, I’ve closed the loop. My side hustle is now my main hustle. Because my kids are grown, I have the freedom to try something like this. After my mom’s stroke in 2022 and some things I’ve seen lately, I am going to do the work I want to do now, rather than hope I have a chance to do it later.

Will newspapers exist in 10 years? Will colleges? How about Diet Mountain Dew and hot showers? We could argue the probability, but none are 100 percent. That’s all the more reason to act with purpose right now.

Will I have to subscribe to the Star Tribune to read your columns?

To read all of them, yes. And I wish you would. Let me tell you my experience.

Like many of you, I got used to reading free newspaper articles on the internet back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As a small town newspaper editor, however, I know better than most what that does to newspaper revenue. Advertising, our biggest source of income, utterly collapsed. Subscriptions dropped, too.

The cuts hitting our little paper back in 2003 were jarring, and yet were tiny compared to the cuts yet to come. This meant fewer reporters writing about REAL information in our communities. It meant entire units of local government left unattended, shielded from public attention by lack of coverage.

Newspapers responded with subscription paywalls, something everyone hated.

“It was free! Now you charge? But I just want to read one article. Boo!”

For years, I jumped around different devices so I could read the limited number of “free” Star Tribune articles each month. My mother-in-law bought the paper at the gas station every day, so I skimmed off her paper recycling pile like a hobo. I wasn’t going to subscribe.

Then I was approached about writing for the Strib Voices feature of the opinion page last year. I figured, well, I better cut out my shenanigans. I paid FULL PRICE for a digital subscription, the CHUMP’S PRICE, and I have something to report.

It’s actually worth it. I can read as many articles as I want without running out. I can follow sports teams all over the state, including STATEWIDE high school sports. Um, online crossword puzzles! Yes, please. Breaking news. Almost a dozen local reporters based outside the metro area, including Duluth and Brainerd. I can read all the columns and editorials, even the ones I suspect might piss me off. Book reviews — every damn thing, and there’s a lot of it. It’s like being told that the hotel cookies are complimentary. Technically, you do pay for them. But it’s still nice.

Unlike almost all other newspapers, the Minnesota Star Tribune is investing in growth. That’s how I got this job. They’re serious about being an active regional newspaper, not just the Twin Cities rag that many Iron Rangers complained about in the past. They’re expanding into other forms of media, too. Subscribing won’t solve all the world’s problems, but it does two things. It connects you to a deep well of quality information; and it helps an organization dedicated to reporting news and views that matter to your community, wherever it may be located.

I’ll share links to my columns here at MinnesotaBrown. At some point you’ll be confronted with a subscription pop-up and I hope you’ll at least consider giving it a try.

What about MinnesotaBrown.com?

This website will remain active! I’ll share links to my columns instead of posting full text, much like I do with the columns I already write for the Strib. I’ll post updates about my book, occasional musings and perhaps more in-depth material once I’ve figured out my new workflow. Subscribing to my FREE e-mail list is still the best thing you could do. Occasional e-mails, no spam.

You will notice a site redesign soon as I transition to more simplified page. All of my previous material will remain archived and I’ll try to think of new ways to share golden oldies time to time.

What does this mean to you?

OK, I’m stretching the FAQ formula on this one. You may not care. But this is a particularly meaningful career move for me. Yes, of course, the Minnesota Star Tribune is the state’s largest and most-read newspaper, with the 7th largest circulation in the United States. This is the highest-profile landing spot a writer like me cares to find. But writers love symbolism, and there is some symbolism here.

My grandfather, Marvin Johnson, was a dedicated Minneapolis Star and Tribune reader for his whole adult life. He read it for the sports, mostly, but also for columnists like Jim Klobuchar, an Iron Ranger who made the big time. His six daughters, including my mother, delivered the paper in Keewatin as kids.

Grandpa was disabled in a mining accident before I was born. He spent the rest of his life in a lot of physical and emotional pain. He could be a hard man, and was not always pleasant to be around. But we had a special relationship. Once, near the end of his life, he told me that he wished he could go back and write for the Star Tribune, maybe patrol the sidelines of a Vikings game or tell people what’s what. He was always proud that I was a columnist who wrote about the Iron Range. He knew I wanted to write for the Star Tribune and I think he wanted that for me even more than I did.

Grandpa died almost six years ago. I can’t call him with this news, but I know he’d be proud. In fact, I’m sure he was pestering the forces of fate they way he used to ride the Keewatin cops for perceived oversights.

I also think about my senior year English teacher, Bob Haapala, and my mentor at UW-Superior, KUWS news director Mike Simonson, both gone.

Active voice. Cut the crap. Get to the point.

Nobody gets anywhere by themselves.