Billions ain’t what they used to be

These last two weeks brought bittersweet poetry to business news. Relatives gathered around the bedside of our grandfather, U.S. Steel, after financial doctors warned he may not have much longer. Even his own board of directors said it might be time to pull the plug. Or perhaps you prefer mythology. The god Promethe-USX brought the… Read More →

Thus ends summer, crying over the sink

The end of summer staggers into the house, sometimes drunk, sometimes just tired and sweaty. Summer drops its keys under the hook and doesn’t bother to pick them up. Maybe next year. It’s not fall yet. Fall is still upstairs trying on red, orange and yellow hoodies while the pumpkin spice coffee brews in the… Read More →

The old roads still taken

Travelers from Duluth to the Iron Range learn the rhythm of concrete on Highway 53. Staccato thumps mark time and distance between homes and cabins, town and country, and the consequential journey of small town patients to Duluth’s big hospitals. I’ve known this road all my life, and yet it is only one version of… Read More →

Local autonomous vehicles drive change

Someone has to be the first. In 1922, a Paris tailor named Franz Reichelt jumped off the Eifel Tower with a homemade parachute suit. He died, of course, but this was part of a process.  A century later, adventurers scream through canyons in sleek wing suits while recording YouTube videos from their helmets. Better material…. Read More →

Iron in the air, if we embrace renewables

More than a century ago, northeastern Minnesota emerged as a center for logging, iron mining and energy production. These three industries pollinated one another.  Logs became the first commodity, shipped all over the country. Later, timber served as important infrastructure for the early iron ore mines while pulpwood became paper. Soon enough, the booming iron… Read More →

Amid ‘disruption,’ the people deserve their share

Our language pulses with buzzwords, twists of phrase that sound substantial but can’t be defined. One such word is “disruption.” The last 10 years, it would seem, have been a time of disruption. Disruption, we are told, is really just an opportunity for the bold, the brilliant, and the worthy to seize success. LinkedIn, prosperity… Read More →

Spitting bile won’t bring economic success

Last week, the Mesabi Tribune reported that Huber Engineered Woods will build its next plant in Mississippi. Months ago they opted not to build that plant at Cohasset in northern Minnesota. Huber pulled out after a legal challenge from the neighboring Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe required them to submit more detailed environmental paperwork. The… Read More →

Finally, a prestige drama about millwrights

We’ve been watching “Silo” on Apple TV. This mysterious science fiction story depicts a 144-floor silo where people have been living so long that they can’t remember how they got there. It’s a good show, but what really caught my attention was the fact that the main character is a millwright. Most folks on the… Read More →

Raise the blue flags of summer

“I am an old woman,” sings John Prine in his classic song “Angel from Montgomery.” She’s full of desire but has no way to leave. “The years just flow by like a broken down dam.” John Prine songs always relate to specific people and feelings. And lately, I relate to the idea that the years… Read More →

A shapeless state

Like many Minnesotans, I’ve taken inordinate pride in the shape of my state. It’s a strange bird with an enormous beak that extends over Lake Superior and a club foot down by Mankato. The jaunty little Northwest Angle sticks out like a feather on its head, a symbol of our quirky personality and incompetent cartographers…. Read More →