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Joining the Star Tribune blog team
Today, I’ll be joining the state’s largest newspaper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, as a blogger. I’ll be posting on the Strib’s “Your Voices” blog once or twice a week with some of my greatest hits from here at MinnesotaBrown and occasional original pieces written for a statewide audience. I’ll have a standing blog page called the…
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Hot mess go time
Minnesota is not a place where the weather matches the arbitrary progression of the Roman Calendar. That’s why I am about to teach my first day of classes for the Fall Semester on a day where the heat index exceeds an average human’s IQ. Yesterday was the same. I mowed the lawn, which might not…
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MinnesotaBrown on the move
Flickr Creative Commons license, RBerteig It’s been quiet on the blog the last couple days for two reasons. One, the semester is about to start and I’m prepping classes for Monday. Two, perhaps more relevant to you, we are gearing up for a big change here at the blog this weekend. On Saturday, I’ll be…
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August prompts end-of-summer self-assessment
In random order, summer projects I’m officially giving up on: Landscaping (next year) Clearing weeds in the lake (next year) Getting a dock (see transmission, below) Staining the deck (fall maybe) Writing a novel (don’t worry, never even started) Summer projects I will complete: Paying for the transmission (Oh ya, dere’s all kinda metal shavings…
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With Reader’s demise, please re-subscribe to MinnesotaBrown.com
On Monday, July 1, Google will shut down its popular Google Reader service, an RSS reader that allowed you to read multiple blog feeds on one screen. This was the primary way that I and many other internet consumers read our favorite blogs every day. For years I’ve encouraged my readers to do the same…
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#springmapmadness wraps up with 45 states
This year’s Minnesota spring was a rough one, with record late ice-out on local lakes and a generally cold and snowy April. I got through it by requesting free maps and travel guides from all 50 states, allowing me to imagine warmer places, or at least gather the daily mail with excitement. After two months,…
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#springmapmadness gets me through this endless winter
Last week, weather madness reached its apex in northern Minnesota. A massive winter storm dumped another foot of snow on the Iron Range. The entire month of April felt like February. People were falling apart, myself not only included, but as Exhibit A. In a moment of madness, I personally requested free maps and travel…
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Weather coping with maps and travel guides
It’s snowing. As I sit here this evening we are being told up to nine inches of wet, heavy April snow for the Iron Range by Monday morning. I am depressed. I am not alone. In a move she probably regrets, my wife Christina — knowing my enthisiasm for maps — sent me this Hey…
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Boldly into the future for MinnesotaBrown.com
In the last year I’ve tried moving away from the day-to-day battles of politics to a wider view of life in northern Minnesota and my creative interests. We still do politics and news here; just done in a way that stands out from other blogs. This summer I am going to redesign the blog. It’s…
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Happy Easter! (Sorry about the yoga pants)
It occurs to me that this week I turned in a newspaper column about see-through yoga pants to run on Easter Sunday. Is that a bad thing? If the yoga pants were too much for your delicate sensibilities, try a couple of my Easter classics. The first is a rather funny piece about the creeping…
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Returning to the scene of my first login
Here’s me in the yearbook, editing the school newspaper. Note the references to a “dark room” and “chemicals.” Today I will return to my alma mater, Cherry High School. It occurs to me that it’s been about 12 years since I’ve even set foot in the school for my sister’s graduation. They’ve since torn down…
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Minnesota blogger’s family needs help
I heard from Audrey Helbling at Minnesota Prairie Roots last week. She is raising attention and assistance for a Minnesota blogger whose family is in crisis. The husband of Nina Hedin was badly hurt in a snowmobile accident. Nina writes the Adventures of Artsy Nina. Audrey explains at her blog. This family could use help.…
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Our century, the teenager
My Twitter thought on the new year and the state of our politics: Our century is a teenager now. These will be the hard years. #2013 #fb— Aaron Brown (@minnesotabrown) January 1, 2013 Nevertheless, teenagers often grow up. People will figure this out, in time. You can catch more gems like this, occasionally and with…
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Top MinnesotaBrown posts for 2012
Happy New Year from MinnesotaBrown.com! As we conclude 2012 and approach the bounty of 2013, enjoy my annual roundup of the year’s top posts. This is a comprehensive list of the most popular and my personal favorite writing from the year. Which post made #1? Which northern Minnesota politician owns the northern Minnesota internet? Is…
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This post is a living #humblebrag (I mean, shucks)
In my wildest dreams I could not imagine a story about me as kind as this one, or that such a thing would appear in a publication entitled “Wilderness News.” Aaron Brown could easily be dubbed the Garrison Keillor of the north. He possesses a keen eye for the attributes that make Minnesotans Minnesotan—specifically, Iron…