Minnesota Brown

Minnesota Brown: Modern Life on the Iron Range

Category: hibbing daily tribune

  • Iron Range year-enders start pouring in

    Iron Range year-enders start pouring in

    It’s that special time of year when media vacation schedules collide with a news vacuum to produce year-in-review specials! From my spot here in the North, here are a few good roundups I saw over the weekend: The Duluth News Tribune offered its top 10 stories of 2008 on Sunday which include a couple of…

  • After a wild year, 2009 could get wilder

    After a wild year, 2009 could get wilder

    UPDATE: The Christmas production schedule apparently led to my column not running in its usual Sunday spot again. Generally, I am the last to know in these situations. I expect the column will run during the week before the New Year. At least that’s usually how this goes. This is my weekly column for the…

  • Are we ready to survive again?

    Are we ready to survive again?

    Another notable clip from Sunday: The Hibbing Daily Tribune reports on Scot Harvey, an Iron Range man volunteering to help people laid off from their jobs in this bad economy. Having been laid off for a long stretch during the last bad spell in the early 2000s before retraining for a new career, Harvey counsels…

  • The meaning of lost

    The meaning of lost

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. This is based on another piece I recorded for KAXE this year. The meaning of lostBy Aaron J. Brown We modern folks tend to look at getting lost the way ancient folks looked at the universe. While we…

  • India and the Iron Range: the start of a beautiful friendship?

    India and the Iron Range: the start of a beautiful friendship?

    In the early days of the Iron Range immigrants from more than 50 countries came to area for mining, logging and support industries. India was not then among those countries. This past week India took center stage for a special regional conference and cultural program called “Focus on India” at Hibbing Community College. This comes…

  • Iron Rangers know recession is a time for defiance

    Iron Rangers know recession is a time for defiance

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Iron Rangers know recession is a time for defianceBy Aaron J. Brown These days I think more about the little houses I see along the train tracks at the edges of our Iron Range towns. Every time a…

  • The warm, yet difficult, business of friendship

    The warm, yet difficult, business of friendship

    This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. This was based, in part, on a radio essay I did for KAXE several weeks ago. The warm, yet difficult, business of friendshipBy Aaron J. Brown So I recently joined Facebook, a social networking Internet site where you connect with old…

  • 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.…

  • 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…

  • Thoughts and prayers to Mike

    My thoughts and prayers are with Mike Jennings, editor of the Hibbing Daily Tribune and one of the best working newspaper journalists on the Iron Range. He has been hospitalized with a heart condition and faces a difficult recovery. Tribune publisher Wanda Moeller tells the dramatic story in today’s edition. Join me in wishing Mike…

  • 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…

  • One retired miner represents the struggles of many

    One retired miner represents the struggles of many

    Today, the Hibbing Daily Tribune has a nice profile about John Flynn, the retired miner and Vietnam vet who was asked to introduce Hillary Clinton at Tuesday night’s Iron Range rally for Barack Obama. Flynn’s story, including lost health care, pension funds and a suspended retirement, is shared by many on the Iron Range. Last…

  • The unsexy issue that will turn this election

    The unsexy issue that will turn this election

    It’s not a sexy blog issue, but among the top three issues on the Iron Range right now is pension guarantees. Mike Jennings has this story from the Hibbing Daily Tribune and yesterday’s Grand Rapids Herald-Review. Pension security was, wisely, referenced often in Tuesday night’s DFL rally featuring Sen. Hillary Clinton and other Democratic leaders.…