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Local paper: ‘Mayday’ for Range schools
The headline might be a little overly dramatic, but here is a sign that in all of our economic “hopin’” on the Iron Range we still have big problems. Since it would take at least five years for the economic development projects everyone is talking about (Essar’s Minnesota Steel plant, PolyMet, etc.) to manifest as…
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Behold … THE FUTURE!
Here’s an invite that I almost ignored, but now I’m going. My book will include a section on the future of the Iron Range so this gives me easy material. I get lazy when the deadlines start snarling at me. My notations are below as well. Have you ever wondered what Grand Rapids will be…
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Surviving the first salvo of the holiday season
I’m generally a positive, happy dude. But it’s hard for me to avoid cynicismduring the holiday consumerism assault. Every year we are treated to the false impressions that our economy relies on everyone buying plastic goods the day after Thanksgiving. We are told what toys are “hot” and what our rooftops should look like from…
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Brown on the Air: "Feminism in the Stand"
My radio essay for KAXE’s “Between You and Me” is special for this week’s topic, “Women Who Hunt.” I’ve written about hunting in the past, including my family’s hunting traditions and the local cultural significance of hunting. This time I focus on how the media likes to beat the heck out of stories like, well,…
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Black Friday observations
The family and I decided to go shopping today despite the many predictable frustrations that would occur on “the biggest shopping day of the year.” Things went fine, by and large, but it sure does raise the blood pressure. My Hibbing Daily Tribune column for this upcoming Sunday deals with the Christmas shopping concept, so…
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Those punks
During college, when other people were “hooking up” and “having fun,” I was editing my college newspaper. I like to tell myself this was a personal choice. Anyway, I just saw last week that my alma mater’s newspaper, the UW-Superior “Promethean” has changed its name to “The Stinger” this year. The Promethean drew its name…
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Happy Thanksgiving from the MinnesotaBrown blog
I’ll be taking a break from the blog on Thursday, mostly to eat and eat and eat. Happy Thanksgiving! Related posts: No related posts.
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More woes for community college football in northern Minnesota
Here’s the news from International Falls. My analysis is below. RRCC ends football program; Provost cites college’sloan default rate as reasonBy LISA KACZKE, International Falls Daily JournalThe football program at Rainy River Community College has been terminated. Provost Wayne Merrell said Monday that the termination is related to the fact that RRCC had the highest…
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Local publishing boom?
The Duluth News-Tribune had a story out Monday about a surge of new small publishing houses in the Duluth area. One of these new companies — Red Step Press — is set to publish my book “Red Dirt and Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” next fall. You can read Jane Brissett’s story in…
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The cycle continues
It’s funny how historic trends just keep on rolling on the Mesabi Iron Range. Bad times, then good times, then labor trouble, then pretty good times, then a crash, then bad times … repeat. We’re just about to hit good times, so here comes the labor trouble. Iron Range Steelworkers prepare for contract talksBy Lee…
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Maybe I’m in the wrong business
As a writer, I find an article like this to be troubling: Reading’s new chapter?A study paints a grim picture of U.S. reading habits, renewing the debate on literacy and learning in the digital age. By Sarah T. Williams, Star TribuneLast update: November 19, 2007 – 12:01 AMIs reading at risk? Or is there a…
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Highway 63 Revisited
They say the Iron Range is entering a modern age, a time of renaissance and progress and probably even fancier words that will be invented when the new noun factory opens just outside Buhl. I have seen proof that this is true but it has nothing to do with our impending new steel plant or…
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Brown on the Air: "The Books of Youth"
Saturday brings my weekly essay on KAXE’s “Between You and Me” with Heidi Holtan. The show runs as usual between 10 a.m. and noon at 91.7 FM and streaming online at www.kaxe.org. This week’s topic is our favorite books from childhood. I talk about how some of the books from my kid and teen years…
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High-Speed Rail: worthy goal for the Iron Range
My big goal in life is to participate in the modernization of the Iron Range. We’ve got a lot of work to do and I’ve often said that our current “economic development” funds should be spent on infrastructure and community enhancement rather than endless incentives for private companies. I’ve already written plenty about the need…
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Midweek flurry
I’m doing book interviews and a couple meetings today. I might only get an hour at my desk, so not much time for writing or blogging today after yesterday’s equally fruitless blog day. I’m still ticking away at the banana column for Sunday’s paper which may take a different turn before it’s done. Stay tuned…