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Our future’s half full glass
One particularly amusing online cartoon, though a bit crass, features three anthropomorphic drinking glasses sitting in a row. The first one, a happy fellow, says, “I’m half full.” The second slightly more dour chap says, “I’m half empty.” The third, in complete consternation, shouts, “I think this is p…!” Well, let’s just say it’s another…
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A higher angle of light
Al Sleet, the hippy-dippy weatherman portrayed by comedian George Carlin, once offered the only fully accurate forecast: “Dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning.” You can quibble about cold and warm, snow or rain, but you can’t argue with the rotation of the earth on its wobbly axis. Our dog Daisy knows…
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Gas prices in context
Politicians possess some of the longest memories I’ve ever encountered. As someone who’s written political opinions for more than 20 years, I sometimes meet political operators still mad about something I literally forgot writing. Politics is a grudge business, with loyalty a commodity to be traded like oil and stored in strategic reserves. And yet,…
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Old wars, new generations
My memory of the Cold War comes with a strange and oddly specific recollection. I was a kid when the Soviet Union broke up. Like most American kids, I was raised on a steady diet of patriotic fervor with a dose of casual fear that our Russian adversaries might infect us with their wicked worldview.…
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The final leg of the Cross-Range Expressway
Just over 100 years ago the Babcock Trunk Highway opened to motorists. In doing so, a network of bumpy local roads became a paved highway that united the towns of the Iron Range. It wasn’t like our highways today. The Babcock went through, rather than around, most towns. The locals rather insisted on that. But…
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Novak’s ‘Steel’ holds enormous weight
Good fiction tells truth that nonfiction struggles to spit out efficiently. As I’ve been toiling on a thick tome of Iron Range history, along comes a novel that cuts right to the point. The story of the Iron Range isn’t just mining and immigrants, unions and politics. It’s an untold trauma that lingers for generations,…
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Kindness, an art form we can all create
A few weeks ago my family got sick. Several of us had runny noses, sore throats and fevers. Given the times, we wondered exactly what we caught. Was this COVID-19 or something else? We went to the clinic to be tested. There we saw a nurse and a doctor. They administered a nasal swab, looked…
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‘Hockeyland’ comes home
Northern Minnesota’s obsessive relationship with hockey has endured since the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. For some, the hockey lifestyle defines an entire 20-30 year period of life, perhaps longer as new generations continue the tradition. Even those who don’t play hockey see their lives affected by the game. Classrooms empty during state tournaments. Local fast…
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Comfort food
One of the simplest American foods perhaps best reflects our culture: Macaroni and cheese. Though not all mac and cheese is the same, most people in our country are familiar with some version of it. Those differences also reflect the diversity of the United States. Why is mac and cheese such a good example of…
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January: The month that knows what it is
When I went off to college in another state I remember the happy ceremony of my arrival on campus. Friendly resident assistants helped move my mini fridge up the three flights of stairs. Despite the folly of it, I actually brought a wooden bookshelf and about 40 of my favorite books. The good samaritans cheerfully…
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Beyond the swan song
I remember in school when we read “The Trumpet of the Swan” by E.B. White. Like White’s other famous children’s novels, “Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little,” this story centers on an animal with many human abilities. In this case, we meet Louis, the trumpeter swan who has no voice. A boy, Sam, forms a…
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Oracle sees much to do in 2022
Tossing in bed on a dry winter night I wake to get a drink of water. After a sip I hear a strange gurgling from the toilet. Bubbles rise from the drain pipe. Soon the water becomes more turbulent. A terrible groan emerges from the bowl. Like toothpaste from a tube, up comes an otter…
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2021 top words not ‘cheugy’ yet, but will be soon
As another year draws to a close it’s time to look back at the words and phrases that marked 2021. The words we use often characterize the lives we lead, sometimes more accurately than a laundry list of news events. Changes in language tell us what we are talking about, what we are doing, and…
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Christmas: The Teen Years
Yes, Virginia, Hibbing, and the broader Iron Range, I believe in Christmas magic. No, not of the Santa Claus variety or even the Hallmark hokum. And while I am open to the concept of religious miracles, I leave that to the theologians. No, I believe in a very specific kind of Christmas magic. That is,…
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The bombs we carry
The police officers donned dark blue overcoats. Their bright brass buttons and badges glowed in the morning light. They gathered at the corner of Howard Street and Fifth Avenue. A captain barked orders, steam pouring from his mouth. Men stationed themselves at each exit of the luxurious new Androy Hotel. The town was Hibbing, Minnesota.…