Category: columns

  • Brown on the Air: Eyesores

    Brown on the Air: Eyesores

    I have converted my column from last Sunday (“Blight Me: the Unique Aesthetics of the Iron Range“) into a radio essay for tomorrow’s “Between You and Me” on 91.7 KAXE. The weekly talk and music program is exploring the topic of northern Minnesota eyesores. You can call in to share your perspective or just take…

  • Blight Me: the unique aesthetics of the Iron Range

    Blight Me: the unique aesthetics of the Iron Range

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, April 13, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. I archive my columns at my writing homepage. Blight Me: the unique aesthetics of the Iron RangeBy Aaron J. BrownIt’s spring on the Iron Range. I know this because last week we had to hire a guy with a loader to…

  • Pre-spring warm-up

    Pre-spring warm-up

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, April 6, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. Appropriately there is more than a half foot of wet, heavy snow on the ground in northern Minnesota this morning. Pre-spring warm-upBy Aaron J. Brown In northern Minnesota there’s a fifth season, one that doesn’t really have a name and that…

  • Weathering the economic storm, Range style

    Weathering the economic storm, Range style

    Here is my weekly Hibbing Daily Tribune column for Sunday, March 30, 2008. I archive my columns at my writing homepage if you’re interested in reading more. Weathering the economic storm, Range styleBy Aaron J. Brown, for the Hibbing Daily Tribune So we’re in a recession, or a correction, or some other kind of “…tion”…

  • Closing gender gap in Range leadership a worthy goal

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, March 23, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. My columns are archived at my writing page. Closing gender gap in Range leadership a worthy goalBy Aaron J. Brown Anyone familiar with the news these days knows that the issues of race and gender play a big…

  • I am a cooking fraud (the column)

    This is my weekly column for Sunday, March 16, 2008 published in the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I archive my columns at my writing page. I am a cooking fraud (and almost got away with it)By Aaron J. Brown If you missed it, I recently appeared on “WDSE Cooks” on Channel 8, northern Minnesota’s public television…

  • Small germs, big impact

    Small germs, big impact

    This is my weekly column for the March 9, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. I archive my columns at my writing homepage. Small germs, big impactBy Aaron J. Brown I could cite many credible news stories about the impact of the cold and flu this winter. I could quote a local doctor, read you a report…

  • Smoky theatrics at Minnesota bars

    Smoky theatrics at Minnesota bars

    This is my weekly Hibbing Daily Tribune column for March 2, 2008. My columns are archived at my homepage. Smoky theatrics at Minnesota barsBy Aaron J. BrownChange isn’t easy, especially when addictive drugs and thousands of billable lobbying hours are involved. That’s why last year’s “Freedom to Breathe Act” took so long to become law…

  • Brown on the Air: Souvenirs and ‘C is for Comfort Food’

    Brown on the Air: Souvenirs and ‘C is for Comfort Food’

    I am a triple media threat this weekend. Jump back! Old Media (TV): I will be baking fudge bars using a recipe from Bob Dylan’s mom’s personal file on “C is for Comfort Food” on WDSE Channel 8 in Northern Minnesota from 1-4:30 p.m. this Saturday, March 1. I promise to tell you the story…

  • Pardon me, my blog is showing

    Pardon me, my blog is showing

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Feb. 24, Hibbing Daily Tribune. I keep an archive of my columns at my homepage. Stay tuned for my book about modern life on the Iron Range due out next fall. Pardon me, my blog is showingBy Aaron J. Brown 02/22/08 09:44 a.m.This column is about blogs.…

  • How to date an Iron Ranger

    How to date an Iron Ranger

    This is my Hibbing Daily Tribune column for Sunday, Feb. 17. A version also ran as a radio essay on 91.7 KAXE Saturday, Feb. 16. We’ve passed Valentine’s Day, which means by now your mate has settled back into his or her comfortable ambivalence toward you and your relationship. Sorry about that. I’m sure the…

  • A toddler, a truck and the theory of relativity

    A toddler, a truck and the theory of relativity

    This is my Sunday, Feb. 10 column for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. So the other day our son Henry, who is two and a half, picked up a toy truck from the coffee table, examined it carefully and made a simple declaration. “I’ve had this truck a long time.” We offered the standard parent agreement,…

  • 250 MW of clean energy coming downstream

    250 MW of clean energy coming downstream

    Maybe some folks think I’m out to choke out the upper Midwest’s power supply after last week’s column in which I once again criticize the Mesaba Energy Project, that boondoggle coal gas power plant pushed by lobbyists here on the Iron Range. Not so, my business friends. In fact, my arguments fall squarely in line…

  • Iron Range stands at modern crossroads

    This is my weekly column for the Hibbing Daily Tribune published Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008. Iron Range stands at modern crossroadsBy Aaron J. BrownModern life hums with information and responsibilities, sometimes real and sometimes imagined. Every day I update the blog, prepare classes, and blaze a trail through the woods while connected wirelessly to the…

  • Brace yourselves: ‘super’ week awaits us

    Brace yourselves: ‘super’ week awaits us

    Will the team from New York prevail? Will 2008 be an historic year? Who will carry the pivotal state of Arizona? Are the TV ads the best part or just a distraction from what really matters? What am I talking about? See, that’s the thing. You’ll notice that these questions work for both the upcoming…