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Britt History and Iron Range Future talk today
Join me later today in Britt, Minnesota for my keynote at the Britt Community Historical Society annual dinner! The event is at the Sandy Town Hall at 4 and there is a ticket cost. Either way, have a great summer Sunday afternoon. If you’re interested in the kinds of things I talk about at events…
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Jubilee fever hits Hibbing this weekend
Saturday brings the Hibbing Jubilee parade and street dance to the Iron Range calendar. This event is notable as one in which I’ve marched in the parade many times for various political candidates and in which I hit it off with my wife Christina at the street dance back in 1998. We are not street…
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What/where is Britt? Find that and more Sunday
I never signed up to be a historian (an historian? See, I don’t even know) but write a book that tangentially involves history and BAM you be one. The bar is low, but I aim high. That’s why I’ll be the keynote speaker at the Britt Community Historical Society Annual Dinner on Sunday, July 11…
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What was the word on the street?
We didn’t take in any of the Iron Range parades, street dances or fireworks this year. Little kids, including two with a shared birthday in the weekend mix, kept us busy with a different sort of fun — mostly involving family and barbecued meat products. What was the economic, political and social vibe and/or gossip…
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Why the Range 4th of July is so different
The folks make a big deal of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range Fourth of July rituals. In searching online about the topic I found this Ruth Olson interview with Mary Lou Nemanic, author of One Day for Democracy: Independence Day and the Americanization of Iron Range Immigrants (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2007). This is from…
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Art in the Park Thursday nights – Welcome to July!
Art in the Park Thursdays at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm roll onward tonight starting at 5 p.m. Free admission to the MDC (Ironworld, by another name) and a variety of live music in the pavilion. Join us Thursdays June 17 through September 2, 2010, from 5-9 p.m. for Art in the Park, a…
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As I lament the exurban wave
The political redistricting of 2012 is the elephant (or donkey, if you prefer) in the room for those involved. Politics in Minnesota’s Charlie Shaw interviewed me and a favorite former interview subject, state demographer Tom Gillaspy, for a story on how places like northern Minnesota’s Iron Range might be affected by population change and redistricting.…
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Parades, street dances and fireworks: an Iron Range party (for America)
This is an older listing. This year’s schedule is here. SCROLL DOWN FOR RANGE 4th of JULY SCHEDULE Fourth of July is a special time here on the Iron Range. Our immigrant ancestry and almost childlike adherence to the tenets of the American Dream make us a tad more nationalistic and militaristic than your average…
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COLUMN: Survival of the Finnish
This is my weekly column for the June 27, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece aired on the June 5, 2010 episode of “Between You and Me” on KAXE. Survival of the FinnishBy Aaron J. Brown As Independence Day approaches, thoughts turn to the survival of our republic. Survival…
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Grow faster!
I’ve been a little behind this week. You might have missed from last week’s Iron Range Resources board meeting that the contract economic development “developer” position held by David Richter, who I’ve interviewed for this blog, was given a sort of three month probation to show results. This all cropped up in a recent controversy…
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About my friend Tom Anzelc
My friend State Rep. Tom Anzelc, who I helped get elected as his campaign manager and strategist in 2006 and who, like me, lives out in Balsam Township, has been in the news these last two days. An ex-girlfriend slapped Anzelc with a restraining order full of salacious charges, pretty much the widest gamut of…
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COLUMN: Know your place
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, June 20, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune, referencing my visit to Chicago detailed earlier in the week. Know your placeBy Aaron J. Brown I don’t travel much. When you live in the place you want to live and do what you want to do, you…
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Weekly Range arts event in Chisholm aims to shake up local scene, bring out families
I let it pass without mentioning, but Ironworld, still operating as the Minnesota Discovery center, reopened a couple weeks ago. I met with the new CEO Paul Dwyer a few weeks ago and one of the things he was planning was a Thursday night arts program, free to the public, where local bands would play.…
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Snap, don’t clap, for this budget message
I’m posting this mostly for its literary significance. When was the last time you heard a beat poem about Minnesota’s budget crisis? That’s what I thought. Related posts: No related posts.
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Range job fails to produce jobs, say job-holders
Over my lost weekend at O’Hare I missed this Bill Hanna story (subscription only, sorry) from the Mesabi Daily News that was reprinted in other SPC papers, including my column’s benefactor the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Headline: “[Iron Range Resources] position directly led to no new jobs.” I almost did a spit take when I saw…