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The mining fracas continues in MN-8
My recent post about Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District got some attention around the state. If you missed it, here it is. The short version: GOP Rep. Chip Cravaack is bludgeoning former DFL Rep. Rick Nolan on the northern Minnesota mining issue, something Nolan has to counteract if he hopes to win. Nonferrous mining is my…
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Tempest winds lean hard on the North Country’s MN-8 race
This week I listened to the new Bob Dylan album “Tempest” front to back, first time I’ve done that with any album in a long time. It’s a darker turn, playfully macabre with Dylan’s best pure music among his recent albums. “Tempest” is enchantingly foreboding — songs on aging past prime, a double murder-suicide, an…
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Ira Glass on creativity: work is the answer
As a public radio guy I look to Ira Glass of “This American Life” much the way one of the puppets on the “Sprout” network must look to Big Bird of “Sesame Street. Yeah, we’re in the same field. We even have the same parent organization (NPR/PBS). Yeah, we share some fundamental interests and skills.…
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Footage of Melin, Weber debate in Iron Range House seat
On Sept. 5, the Duluth News Tribune hosted legislative forums on the Iron Range. You can see several forums involving mismatched candidates from various races in SD3 and SD6 here. But I am sharing the only one-on-one comparison in that day’s activities: a debate between Rep. Carly Melin (DFL-Hibbing) and GOP challenger Roger Weber of…
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The evolution and anatomy of the North American graboid
Sometimes, when you really love a particular form of art, examples of that form from the time you found this love are elevated in your mind beyond any position this particular art deserves. So it is for the movie “Tremors” and me. In 1990 I was 10 and very much not allowed to see “Tremors.”…
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LIVE: Klobuchar, Bills debate for MN-SEN
Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race hasn’t drawn much attention this year. Incumbent U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has held large leads over Republican challenger State Rep. Kurt Bills in all major polls. While Klobuchar is indeed likely to prevail in this contest, this morning’s debate in Duluth — one of the few scheduled debates in this…
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"Tempest," other Bob Dylan album downloads for $5
Bob Dylan is out with his latest new album “Tempest.” The Duluth-born, Hibbing-raised poet-musician always draws a lot of attention with his work. The album has received generally strong reviews. My own impression is that “Tempest” seems a major achievement in music and songwriting — more so than even his other recent work — but…
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AUDIO: "Call Me Maybe," life theme songs & plight of frogs
So I went and did it. I downloaded “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jespen. Sure, I’m late to the party. The song peaked in popularity months ago with the downright literary refrain: “Hey, I just met youand this is crazy,but here’s my number,so call me maybe.” I actually listened to the Cookie Monster parody…
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Remembering the Mesabi Strike of 1907
One-hundred and five years ago this month the first major labor strike on the Mesabi Iron Range was busted by company strikebreakers. Finnish labor leaders were blacklisted from working in the mines. As a great-grandson of Finns (and Norwegians, Swedes and Cornish mining stock), I sit out here typing on a computer in the woods…
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I know raccoons have stripes, but this is ridiculous
A crew painting lines in Gnesen Township near Duluth painted over a dead raccoon. The DNT has the story and, of course, the photograph, which I will refrain from stealing. This is good because it lets everyone from the Mississippi River to the Apostle Islands talk about something other than the strife in the Middle…
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Something heard in a van down by the river: Joel Maturi is Matt Foley?
Iron Range native Joel Maturi’s stint as athletic director at the University of Minnesota got mixed reviews, but it was no small feat for a Chisholm kid from an area so devoted to athletics to rise to the pinnacle of the state’s most storied athletic program. Though Maturi has stepped down as athletic director, this…
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A movie house divided cannot stand
The movie event of the year, according to me: Steven Spielberg directs. The script is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s fantastic book “Team of Rivals.” The best method actor of our times, Daniel Day Lewis, plays Lincoln. I spotted at least three guys in the trailer who could have played Lincoln, too. Related posts: No…
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So much progress; so much repetition
I edited the Hibbing Daily Tribune during its last years as an afternoon newspaper in the early 2000s. We had been experimenting with ways to keep that format alive by running earlier deadlines so we could “be on the stands by lunch.” You know, so all the workers out on their breaks would pour quarters…
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Essar says construction will continue, taconite plant to open on time
An Essar Steel official has contacted me to clarify that work at the company’s new taconite plant near Nashwauk has not stopped. About 100 contractors remain on site in some capacity (I hear electricians and excavators), along with about 100 employees working on other aspects of the project. So Essar is not “shutting down” its…
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A big day for our boys
One of my biggest goals (and struggles) is balancing my desires to work, write and keep projects like this blog going with my need to be a good husband and dad. So excuse me if I take a moment to remark that after a week of limited kindergarten all three of my guys got on…