Green grass grows from Pipestone to Grand Marais. That means one thing: summer baseball in Minnesota. Town ball. Legion ball. VFW ball. Little League. Believe it or not, Minnesota’s summer baseball legacy dates back farther than our state’s obsession with hockey. Earlier this summer I volunteered as the public address announcer for a VFW baseball… Read More →
Replanting the seeds of public education
July 13, 2024 by 2 Comments
The tradition of Iron Range public education excellence once required no explanation. Most local kids attended grand, palatial high schools with theaters, pools, cutting-edge science labs and vocational training facilities. Range superintendents recruited the best college education graduates in the state to teach the sons and daughters of miners. The children learned about boundless opportunities… Read More →
Hate and hope on the Iron Range
July 6, 2024 by 2 Comments
A century ago, Iron Rangers cheered, fretted and fought the rise of the Ku Klux Klan across the Mesabi. The hate and hope of this time remain with us today. Word of the Klan arrived much earlier. A hit movie, “The Birth of a Nation,’ played in Duluth and Iron Range theaters in 1915 and… Read More →
The last days of the Republic
June 29, 2024 by Leave a Comment
People use the word “nostalgia” to describe fond remembrances of the past. But that’s not the real meaning. Nostalgia comes from the Greek words nóstos álgos, or “pain of homecoming,” or perhaps “pain from an old wound.” It referred to the specific psychological aching that comes from remembering something that is gone. We feel nostalgia… Read More →
Quiet craftsman builds things to last; so can we
June 22, 2024 by 1 Comment
Sad fact is, most of the expensive junk we buy won’t last any longer than us. My wallet is wearing out. I could use a new cell phone. In just the past few years, I’ve dumped an entertainment center, television and propane grill at the county waste station — each a valuable item in its… Read More →
Recent tests improve odds of big helium stake near Babbitt
June 15, 2024 by 2 Comments
In the early days of iron exploration on the Mesabi Range, the thrill of discovery was dampened somewhat by the slow process of assaying what they found. It’s a little like how we once had to wait for film to develop to see how pictures turned out. The Merritt Brothers’ carried around inspiration for years… Read More →
Our housing crisis is a very, very fine mess
June 8, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Get a job. Start a family. Buy a house. For many — even most — these simple-sounding goals become our life’s work. But jobs, families and housing have all changed significantly in recent years. It’s important to recognize those changes as we collectively seek “the pursuit of happiness” promised in the U.S. Constitution. Employment data… Read More →
‘The Wild Mississippi’ starts close to home
June 1, 2024 by Leave a Comment
“But I never saw the good side of a city, ‘til I hitched a ride on a river boat queen.” “Proud Mary,” by John Fogerty John Fogerty wrote “Proud Mary,” arguably the definitive song about the Mississippi River, for Creedence Clearwater Revival. But Fogerty isn’t from anywhere near the river. Rather, he was born and… Read More →
An emergency deferred
May 25, 2024 by 1 Comment
The 2024 session of the Minnesota Legislature provided all the overwrought drama and political resentments we’ve come to expect, but lawmakers managed to do one thing right. A new law passed with bipartisan support provides $24 million in short term emergency aid for rural emergency medical service (EMS) providers. The measure also funds an experimental… Read More →
Heart du coeur del corazón
May 18, 2024 by 1 Comment
Years ago, my wife and I experienced magical moments when we heard our babies’ heartbeats for the first time in the ultrasound room. Even though a flickering pulse sounds like an old dishwasher through a walkie-talkie, we were moved by the hopeful cadence of new life. However, when I sat in the same room almost… Read More →
