Minnesota Brown

Minnesota Brown: Modern Life on the Iron Range

Category: columns

  • Into the den of girl clothes

    Into the den of girl clothes

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I used a version of this story for my Saturday essay on KAXE. Into the den of girl clothesBy Aaron J. Brown Like others, I did many things for the first time during my freshman year of college.…

  • You win this round …

    You win this round …

    Dammit. On the same day the Hibbing Daily Tribune runs my column about hitting a deer with my Ford Focus station wagon, the Duluth News Tribune runs Janna Goerdt’s column about hitting a moose with her Subaru. Not only does she get the bigger, rarer and much more literary dead animal on which to pontificate,…

  • Fast cattle: the problem with deer

    Fast cattle: the problem with deer

    UPDATE: The column was lost during production at the paper, so this will actually run in the hard copy of the paper sometime this week. This is only relevant if you like to clip these and put them on your fridge, which even my mom stopped doing years ago. UPDATE 2: The column actually ran…

  • What a child sees, remains

    What a child sees, remains

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday Nov. 9, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. What a child sees, remainsBy Aaron J. Brown When I was a kid, maybe 4 or 5, I remember staying overnight at my grandparents’ house in Keewatin. I don’t remember why I was there, but for some reason my teenage aunt…

  • Era of awkward disagreement to end soon (we hope)

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. My new blog design allows you to look at past columns by clicking “Columns” on the menu bar. Era of awkward disagreement to end soon (we hope)By Aaron J. Brown Maybe you’re a Democrat. Maybe you’re a Republican. Maybe you’re an…

  • The scary season

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. The scary seasonBy Aaron J. Brown Halloween is coming. This is one of those holidays that grew from bizarre, pagan origins to cultural mainstay and then descended back into debauchery. What am I saying? “One of?” It’s pretty…

  • Sustainability: Iron Range style

    Sustainability: Iron Range style

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. A shorter version of this piece aired as an essay on KAXE’s “Between You and Me” last month. I will be reading a longer version of this piece for the Nov. 5 Northeast Higher Education District Sustainability Conference at Hibbing Community…

  • Big picture ignored in nursing home issue

    Big picture ignored in nursing home issue

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Oct. 12 Hibbing Daily Tribune. I archive my columns at my writing site. Big picture ignored in nursing home issueBy Aaron J. Brown Like many of you, I learned about the impending closure of Hibbing’s Golden Crest nursing home on the front page of the Hibbing Daily…

  • The season that shall not yet be named

    The season that shall not yet be named

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. This piece is based on an essay I read for KAXE’s “Between You and Me” a couple weeks ago. The season that shall not yet be namedBy Aaron J. Brown In the American folk song “Goodnight, Irene,” the narrator tells us…

  • COLUMN: A bad idea that got way too big

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I archive my columns at my writing site. My book, “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range,” is beginning to be available in Iron Range and Duluth book stores and will be available on the big online stores…

  • The stadium name game

    The stadium name game

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. I archive my columns at my writing page. The stadium name gameBy Aaron J. BrownBy now you’ve probably heard the name of the Minnesota Twins’ new baseball field slated to open for the 2010 season. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, site…

  • The Hay Days

    The Hay Days

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Sept. 14 Hibbing Daily Tribune. I archive my columns at my writing site and also write an original essay each week for KAXE, Northern Community Radio. Hay DaysBy Aaron J. Brown Hay! That’s what my wife and I say to each other when we pass hay bales…

  • Take two on the questions column

    My weekly column for Sunday’s Hibbing Daily Tribune is the one that was scheduled to run last week. It didn’t run, presumably because of a ninja attack or pirates. Read it here. It’s a piece about StoryCorps which is in Grand Rapids gathering interviews for the unique historical and cultural project involving NPR and the…

  • Questions spawn stories; stories are life

    Questions spawn stories; stories are life

    UPDATE: Apparently some kind of error occurred at the paper and an older column of mine ran Sunday. This column will appear in the hard edition of the newspaper at some point in the future. UPDATE 2: This will run on Sunday, Sept. 7 in the paper. You got a scoop here on the blog.…

  • Coupon quest

    Coupon quest

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. Coupon questBy Aaron J. Brown Economic woes introduce many people to the world of couponing. It’s not that our current economy is oppressively bad; no one is selling apples on street corners or loading family possessions into cars to go pick…