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Local blog still breathing, feeling fine
For a community college instructor, the end of the school year is a wondrous time — but not particularly conducive to blog output. News, views and cultural tidbits swirl about as always, yet my keystrokes are needed elsewhere. Look for my Sunday column, followed by some new content next week that I think you’ll enjoy. I’ll be here if…
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The mighty power of the freshwater seas
In Northern Minnesota, one’s eyes simply adjust to seeing the Canadian flag alongside the Stars and Stripes. Whether it started as a diplomatic favor, or a ploy to pull in Canadian tourists, the practice shows no signs of changing. The pep bands learn “O, Canada” and it’s widely understood that we have a lot more…
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The Iron Range is dead; long live the Range
“The king is dead; long live the king.” This saying from the height of European monarchies meant when the person at a nation’s helm physically died, the title lived on with the next person in the royal line. Massive change could be seen as mere progression. This simple continuity kept order even at a time…
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On wilderness
This week the ice retreated from the lake. Hard-blowing southern winds warmed the jackets off our backs before knocking over the driveway basketball hoop just hours after we set it up. Colorful birds, fresh off winging 2,000 miles, flitted through our old trees, considered the scene, moved on. When you live in the woods of…
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Eat the exercise, drink the burn
If exercise were a food or drink, I would want more of it. It makes me feel great. It helps me function better around other people. My clothes fit more comfortably and I have more energy. But I can’t eat exercise, nor can I chug it from a brown paper sack. So when the time…
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Ma Peep and the way things are
“It ain’t easy being no Peep,” she said. She puffed a jelly bean flavored e-cigaratte on the porch of the large cardboard box her family has lived in since last March. “Things come harder for me, fo’ sho. I went up the doctor’s office, nurse says to me ‘I need a vein.’ I says I…
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Chaos Theory reigns in global iron ore war
I must admit, somewhat sheepishly, that I first learned about the mathematical concept of Chaos Theory not from exhaustive graduate study, but from Jeff Goldblum in the movie “Jurassic Park.” To quote his character, the wry Dr. Ian Malcam, always quick with a cynical retort amid encroaching dinosaurs, “A butterfly can flap it’s wings in…
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The forgotten dome city of Northern Minnesota
One of the most compelling aspects of studying history are the “what-ifs” of our past. In our personal lives “what-ifs” can drive us mad — “What if I?” “Why didn’t she? If only he” — but in the abstract “what-ifs” make for enjoyable party talk. Since I don’t go to parties (I have children) I’ll…
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Hear (and see!) latest Great Northern Radio Show
See the Great Northern Radio Show as broadcast on Channel 12 Public Access in the Northwestern Twin Cities suburbs: On Saturday, March 7, we broadcast my Great Northern Radio Show live from the stage of North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. It was our first broadcast from the Twin Cities metropolitan area and our first…
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The wheels on the bus go on your phone
Each morning, out on the dirt road by our house deep in the Northern Minnesota wilds, I wait for the bus with my elementary school-aged boys. It’s a special time for reflection, conversation and encouragement. We build the special bond between father and sons. I wouldn’t trade those first five minutes of the day for…
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Live to sauna; sauna to live
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines sauna as “a Finnish steam bath in which the steam is provided by water thrown on hot stones; also: a bathhouse or room used for such a bath.” Now research suggests that sauna might also be the ticket to a longer, healthier life. Back in 2013, I wrote about the traditional Nordic/Finnish sauna (pronounced “sow-na”) as a…
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Great Northern Radio Show airs live tonight!
Tonight from 5-7 p.m. the Great Northern Radio Show will broadcast live from the North Hennepin Community College theater in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. This is our first Twin Cities metro broadcast of the show I started on the Iron Range in the fall of 2011. We’ve done 13 unique programs from different locations around Northern…
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Another Range boy heads down highway for blood & spoils
Today I am on my way to the Twin Cities to prepare for tomorrow night’s Great Northern Radio Show in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. It’s our 14th program, the first show we’ve done in the metro area after almost four years of touring small towns and cities in Northern Minnesota. Growing up on the Iron Range — especially as…
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Minnesota will take you back
With the notable exception of Minnesota Lynx WNBA fans, most who follow our state’s professional sports teams survive on memories of competitive Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves and North Stars squads. They must, in order to tolerate those same franchises, or their grammatically incorrect replacements (I’m looking at you, “The Minnesota Wild”) today. Last year’s Minnesota Twins…
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Great Northern Radio Show metro debut
It’s no secret that more than half of the people who read this site aren’t located on the terra firma of the Mesabi Iron Range. A goodly segment of you, the ones who aren’t spambots, live in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Perhaps, and I might be dreaming here, you’ve seen me talk about my Great Northern Radio…