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Finland’s whitetail deer have Iron Range roots
Finnish-Americans gave Northern Minnesota saunas, labor activism and light switches that are on the outside of the room for some reason. But few here know they also gave the “old country” more whitetail deer than they can shoot. Right now about 100,000 whitetail deer roam the Finnish countryside. In 1934, that number was a cold,…
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Boundless primary choices await Northern MN voters
Over the Fourth of July holiday political candidates marched in parades across Northern Minnesota. Each hoped to make valuable connections with voters during a tumultuous election cycle. But here on the Iron Range, this mushroomed into an ungainly number of candidates. This was particularly evident on the DFL side. With stacked primaries in Minnesota’s Eighth…
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The soft focus of nostalgia
If the internet was a forest and we were a sleek-coated American mink, the trap set for us would surely be one of those “Remember when” click bait articles. We can’t lay off ‘em. And it really doesn’t matter how old you are. Sure, senior citizens keep their Christmas tree candles burning for the 1950s,…
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Northern Lights brings Barber of Seville to Iron Range
Each summer the Northern Lights Music Festival brings a fully staged classical opera to stages across Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. This summer, festival founder Veda Zupancic and her company bring Rossini’s Italian comic opera “The Barber of Seville.” The festival also backs chamber orchestra, instrumental trios and kids programming across the region. Events kick off…
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Bovey seeks ‘Grace’ wherever it may be found
Not many states have an official state photograph, but here in Minnesota we do. Eric Enstrom took the picture “Grace” in 1918 at his studio in downtown Bovey, Minnesota. I wrote about the back story last year. This iconic image appears in homes and churches across the Christian world, so ubiquitous and replicated that people…
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Mosquito memory: the science of the swat
Everyone loves Mother Nature until they realize how many ways she extracts your blood involuntarily. We’ve evolved to be mindful of larger animals that can eat us whole. But while we’ve been worrying about bears and sharks, tiny little animals have been plotting to raid our sweat, blood and skin. It’s like Oceans 11, only…
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U rejects, rejoice! Rural Minnesota is probably fine
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that the University of Minnesota system is exploring strategies to build enrollment statewide. The main University of Minnesota campus in the Twin Cities remains popular, constituting 71 percent of the system’s enrollment. They even have to turn away students from elite programs. But to reach its goals, the Board…
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Build steel bridges, not steel cages
We’ve outlived our immigrant ancestors. Imprints of hungrier times remain etched on our communities, but they are easy to ignore. The fight for workplace safety and fair pay. The demand for free public education. The streets and amenities built to last beyond the mines on the edge of town. The shared humanity of the many…
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Hot times at the Great Northern Radio Show
We’ll be live with a summertime edition of the Great Northern Radio Show Saturday evening at 5 p.m. The show features music from the Holy Hootenanners and The Don’t Tell Darlings. Our all-star house band led by Katie Houg plans some great surprises. Beyond that, we do comedy and storytelling centered in Northern Minnesota but…
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German TV station explores Bob Dylan’s Hibbing roots
Last fall the German/French art network ARTE-TV visited Hibbing, Minnesota, as part of a “Bob Dylan’s America” series exploring the roots of the erstwhile Robert Zimmerman, Hibbing Class of 1959. Host Wolfgang Niedecken interviewed me for local color up at the former Hull Rust Mahoning Mine View in North Hibbing. You can view the episode…
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The Day After Duluth, comments about ‘trade policy’
A few days before U.S. Independence Day, our neighbors to the north hold their own national holiday, Canada Day. They throw a big party at the Canadian consulate in Minneapolis every year. I interviewed Canada’s governor-general in 2015, so they’re kind enough to send me invitations. Haven’t gone, but I half wonder how this year’s…
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Iron Range parades, street dances and fireworks
As a young kid I marched in the Keewatin Fourth of July parade as a patriotic penguin, Donald Duck, and other flag-festooned creatures. As an older kid I remember piling into a car with my friends, touring Range towns for street dances and fireworks. Before cell phones we would often try to anticipate where we…
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See all the trucks go by
Diesel fuel smells like home. It reminds me of the idling school bus and the pungent workshop at my family’s junkyard in 1986. Trucks leave deep treads on my memories. Big yellow mining trucks dot the landscape of the Mesabi Iron Range as they have for generations. I played with a Tonka Truck as a…
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Hear ‘Dig Deep’ drill into 2018 campaign
As I previewed a few days ago, we held a Dig Deep live event at KAXE studios in Grand Rapids this week. Moderator and producer Heidi Holtan led a conversation between conservative commentator Chuck Marohn and liberal commentator, yours truly. We analyzed Minnesota politics as it stands today. Specifically we explore the uncertain race for…
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Dig Deep goes live tonight to talk 2018 races
Tonight at 6 the podcast Dig Deep broadcasts a special live edition from KAXE studios in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Dig Deep features moderator Heidi Holtan, conservative commentator Chuck Marohn and myself, the liberal commentator. You can join us to watch the event or listen on the radio. The event will later be released as a…