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The true stories and lasting injustices of ‘the noble experiment’
United States history remembers the period between 1920 and 1933 as Prohibition. During these years the U.S. Constitution barred the production and sale of alcohol. Historically speaking, thirteen years is neither a short time nor a long time. It’s an aberrant generation, frozen in time. Prohibition became the only constitutional amendment to be repealed. This…
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Season of the long nights
I’ve been seeing a lot of cable television ads for motion-detecting LED lights. Apparently, we all desperately need to flood our yards with torrents of photons upon even the slightest provocation. Consider the homeowner’s greatest known threats, a garden-lusting rabbit or a bumbling potential thief (wearing a tight fitting knit cap so you KNOW he’s…
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Those fabulous electrical thinking machines
We know the philodendron as a pleasant, low-maintenance plant suitable for shady gardens and indoor display. But have you ever wondered what it could do with a machete? Now we don’t have to guess. Visual artist David Bowen recently rigged some sensors to read the natural electrical impulses of a plant, in this case our…
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This little light
Back in the 1960s, my grandfather deployed a simple fix for an old septic system prone to freezing during a particularly frigid northern Minnesota winter. Anyone who’s experienced a frozen septic system knows why this is important. It’s the difference between pouring coffee into a mug and pouring a chocolate milkshake onto the bathroom floor.…
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Deer find safety in my sights
The people of northern Minnesota spend most of the year trying not to hit deer. Our eyes carefully sweep the tall grass along country highways and wooded streets. Reflectors on mailboxes cause us to lay heavy on the brakes, fearful that deer eyes are staring back at us, ready to run out. Quite often the…
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The hard work of political change on the Iron Range
Last Tuesday brought to a close a long and fascinating chapter in the political history of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. A new era now begins. Amid the din of political punditry and the fan of my overused computer, a friend called to tell me that former State Sen. Doug Johnson died that morning at the…
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Soup and the elusive art of simplicity
The hallmark of modern life is complexity. How are you? Busy. What’s next week look like? Busy. When’s that going to change? Heart attack, dementia or death, I suppose. I could try yoga but I can’t account for what my digestive system will do if I stretch like that. I could meditate. That actually works.…
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Love of country
Love of country takes many forms. For some, it means flags and oaths, patriotic rites observed on hallowed occasions. Buy a star-spangled t-shirt to show others where you stand. Feel good wearing it. Retailing at $5.99, this shirt traveled farther than most of us will in a lifetime, but we will complain if it costs…
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A century later, Range towns seeks to regain energy independence
In old North Hibbing of 1913, the village hired a man to shoot spent horses before dumping the carcasses in a pen full of ravenous hogs. Nevertheless, the most controversial municipal function in the history of Hibbing might be its public utilities department. In recent decades, contention over the power plant arises from failing infrastructure…
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Community builds strength to save health facility
In building fitness, our greatest obstacle is often ourselves. That’s true in building community, too. Here on the Iron Range, people aren’t shy about what they want. On social media, people demand more chain restaurants. Sports complexes seem to beget calls for even more sports complexes. These are the desirable outcroppings of healthy communities, the…
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Life is a dangerous activity
They say that cars might one day drive themselves, but could they eat a sandwich at the same time? I don’t think so. We drive using mental patterns so engrained that some can do it half asleep or thinking about something else entirely. These memory grooves run so deep that, years later, wracked with dementia,…
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Ode to the minivan
I can always tell when new parents are about to say the thing they’ve dreaded their whole lives. They hesitate. The pause grows longer. The couple glances glumly at one another. “So …” he says, trailing off. “Yeah,” she adds, aimlessly. “We’ve been shopping for a new vehicle.” “We’re thinking about one of those three-row…
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The woman who lifted up those who were low
When I was 21 years old I was named the editor of the erstwhile Hibbing Daily Tribune, which has since merged into the Mesabi Tribune newspaper you read today. How does a 21-year old get to be a daily newspaper editor? That’s a good question that lots of people had at the time. After the…
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Snacks, dogs and rock ‘n’ roll
Music festivals are to the music-loving introvert what a seed catalogue is to the over-enthusiastic gardener. They seem like a good idea months in advance of what will actually become hard work. And, like any hard work, the results are worth it. (Though, usually, not until well after the fact). Last weekend, my wife Christina…
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Subterranean home septic system blues
Guess what, everyone? We put in a poo. That’s not a typo. Indeed, we did *not* install a heated in-ground pool. That is, unless you consider an underground reservoir where you should never, ever swim to be the same thing. No, we put in a new septic system. People like to use the term “adulting”…