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How to be right for the holidays
Across America divided politics rule our lives like no time in recent memory. We comb social media and cable news for evidence supporting our cause. Strong opinions stake out the limits of friendships and family ties. With Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching, gathering loved ones may share views you find abhorrent. But don’t worry. You’re right…
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How to unite a divided Iron Range
For the first time since Herbert Hoover in 1928, a Republican presidential candidate won the Iron Range city of Hibbing. Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by seven votes in a town that typically boasts a 30-point advantage for Democrats. In 2004, before targeted campaigns were in vogue, Democrats urged a citywide Election Day door knock…
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Portable joy at Great Northern Radio Show in Duluth
This has been a hard week for a lot of Americans. Even if you were happy with how the election turned out it’s pretty evident the divisions in our country will endure long past balloting. Of course, slightly more people in this country are horrified with how the election turned out. So that’s how that goes. I’ve…
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In America today, who speaks for the many?
Human history traces one simple question, “Who speaks for the many?” Centuries show examples of brute leaders, disjointed committees and fragile democracies. Populist gadflies become heroes or villains. Hungry people rise to greatness, then fade into the mist. On the Mesabi Iron Range, the smart and powerful bought the land, but the workers paid the…
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Great Northern Radio Show in Duluth
Come celebrate the 10 year anniversary of MinnesotaBrown.com with the Duluth debut of my Great Northern Radio Show on Saturday, Nov. 12. In 2011, the Great Northern Radio Show gave me the creative outlet I needed to be able to continue mining the depths of Northern Minnesota politics and economics here at the site. I…
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Baseball’s Halloween fright: end of the world is nigh
This time of year brings many attempts to frighten the innocents. And no, I’m not talking about the election. I’m not even talking about creepy clowns (to the degree there is a difference). No, it’s Halloween — All Hallow’s Eve, a holiday dedicated to the ghoulish exorcism of October, the month mystics have long tied…
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Footprints of the giant Mesabi
Once, a few years ago, I was overcome with the urge to climb a roadside berm at an Iron Range taconite mine. I drove by this spot all the time, but couldn’t picture what was on the other side. So I did it. (Don’t try this at home kids). I scrambled up the side to…
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The quarterlife crisis of the Information Age
Like most “kids these days” I keep my cell phone with me at all times. I post etherial tidbits to social media and turn to Google to find the lyrics to a song or the location of a restaurant. I’m writing this column in the “cloud.” Nevertheless, I’m conscious of the fact that I taught…
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Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize for Literature
Bob Dylan, born in Duluth and raised in the Mesabi Iron Range mining town of Hibbing, Minnesota, has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature. Though Dylan made several short lists for the prize in recent years, few thought the most prestigious writing award in the world would go to an artist whose primary medium was songwriting. This…
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Sunny outlook for Northern Minnesota … too sunny
Who doesn’t love the sun? The sun lights the world, warms the atmosphere, and keeps Earth from hurtling into the cold vacuum of space. It’s neither the biggest star in the universe, nor the most interesting. The sun is just a working class star that keeps the gas burning 24/7. Sure, the sun can cause…
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Grandpa has something to tell Grandma
Gray skies hang low over the idled Keewatin Taconite plant. I meet my grandpa, Marv Johnson, at the very busy Sinclair gas station. We’re on a secret mission. “Too crowded,” he says. I peek around the corner at the gas station’s only table and chairs. Several townsfolk stare back like whitetail deer. Grandpa’s already back…
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Bob Dylan’s ironwork built to last
Bob Dylan is only a few years younger than my Grandpa Brown. In fact, Robert Zimmerman grew up just down the street from Pops in Hibbing, Minnesota. Pops would have been one of the tough kids revving engines past the Zimmerman place on 25th Street, perhaps prompting young Bobby to look down from his bedroom…
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The Power of Tower on the Great Northern Radio Show
See if you can connect the following: What could all this have in common? This weekend, I’ll head up to Tower, Minnesota, for the next installment of my Great Northern Radio Show on Northern Community Radio. We’ll be broadcasting two one-hour episodes back to back starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24.…
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On Swedish (American) Egg Coffee
If you spend enough time around older Scandinavian-Americans in Minnesota they eventually tell you about Swedish Egg Coffee. Then they make you drink it. They will not let you leave or change the subject until you agree that it is better than “regular” coffee. What is Swedish Egg Coffee? Don’t overthink it. It’s coffee brewed…
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Great Northern Radio Show to broadcast from Tower
On Saturday, Sept. 24, I’ll bring my Great Northern Radio Show to Fortune Bay Resort and Casino near Tower, Minnesota. It’s exciting to start another new season (our sixth!) and to announce some changes. The Great Northern will remain a music and comedy variety show featuring the same talents as before. Instead of broadcasting one live…