How exciting to own a brand new car. I mean, it’s a minivan, but still. Look at all the features on this thing! “Hello, I am your vehicle.” You talk? “Yes. I am here to help you fully enjoy your driving experience.” Great, well, how does this thing work? “It’s simple. Just enter the vehicle… Read More →
The affordability we can’t afford
September 23, 2023 by 1 Comment
Americans like to argue, but seem to agree that we don’t have enough money. The median household income in St. Louis County runs just below $58,000 a year, about $30,000 for individuals. Half make less, and these folks certainly know how hard it is to cover rising expenses. Nevertheless, candidates who support publicly funded health… Read More →
Offal, perhaps, but still good for something
September 16, 2023 by 1 Comment
Every fall I think about the time my phone dinged at an important work meeting. It was an e-mail from one of my son’s teachers asking for deer hearts. Though perhaps uncommon, my son’s teacher wasn’t the only one asking for the assorted viscera of recently deceased deer. I learned that other local schools run… Read More →
‘The Wolf’s Trail’ crosses our path
September 9, 2023 by 2 Comments
If a wolf could talk, what would it say? Would it have a religion? A folk tradition? What are the values of a wolf? And would they be any different than our own? Author Thomas Peacock aims to answer these questions in his novel, “The Wolf’s Trail” (Holy Cow! Press, 2020). Here we meet Zhi-shay,… Read More →
Rethinking labor as change accelerates
September 2, 2023 by 1 Comment
Like many from the Iron Range, I take pride in my family’s long history of hard work. My ancestors include mechanics, railroad engineers, truck drivers, underground miners and Old World wrench-turners. But isn’t this a cliche? No one says they come from seven generations of lazy grifters. Few family crests read, “It Is What It… Read More →
Billions ain’t what they used to be
August 26, 2023 by Leave a Comment
These last two weeks brought bittersweet poetry to business news. Relatives gathered around the bedside of our grandfather, U.S. Steel, after financial doctors warned he may not have much longer. Even his own board of directors said it might be time to pull the plug. Or perhaps you prefer mythology. The god Promethe-USX brought the… Read More →
Thus ends summer, crying over the sink
August 19, 2023 by Leave a Comment
The end of summer staggers into the house, sometimes drunk, sometimes just tired and sweaty. Summer drops its keys under the hook and doesn’t bother to pick them up. Maybe next year. It’s not fall yet. Fall is still upstairs trying on red, orange and yellow hoodies while the pumpkin spice coffee brews in the… Read More →
The old roads still taken
August 12, 2023 by 1 Comment
Travelers from Duluth to the Iron Range learn the rhythm of concrete on Highway 53. Staccato thumps mark time and distance between homes and cabins, town and country, and the consequential journey of small town patients to Duluth’s big hospitals. I’ve known this road all my life, and yet it is only one version of… Read More →
Local autonomous vehicles drive change
August 5, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Someone has to be the first. In 1922, a Paris tailor named Franz Reichelt jumped off the Eifel Tower with a homemade parachute suit. He died, of course, but this was part of a process. A century later, adventurers scream through canyons in sleek wing suits while recording YouTube videos from their helmets. Better material…. Read More →
Iron in the air, if we embrace renewables
July 29, 2023 by 3 Comments
More than a century ago, northeastern Minnesota emerged as a center for logging, iron mining and energy production. These three industries pollinated one another. Logs became the first commodity, shipped all over the country. Later, timber served as important infrastructure for the early iron ore mines while pulpwood became paper. Soon enough, the booming iron… Read More →
