Several news outlets are reporting the annual weather predictions offered by the Farmer’s Almanac. In short, Minnesota is poised for another cold winter, much like the last one. One recalls that while few all-time-low temperature records were broken last winter, we smashed records for consecutive days below zero degrees Fahrenheit. It was a slog, an…

Push the power button. The icon appears. We have a few seconds. Sip coffee. Look out the window. Sunny now, but look to the west where clouds gather just above the trees. Did we check the weather last night? Power on. Here we go. First the notifications pour over the top of the screen. Then…

Humans prefer borders. We’re like squirrels that way, and screech just the same. We see our world in one place and that of others locked over there, across some line only we can see. Some borders stand arbitrary, penned on maps with compasses and rulers by a whiskey-breathing voyager of the old times. Some borders…

Slowly approaching a premature middle age I find myself firmly anchored in the woods of Northern Minnesota. Each occasional trip to our state’s Twin Cities metropolis is less a drive and more the unraveling of one life for the winding up of another. The rules change. People wear different stripes, gather in exponentially larger numbers.…

I remember once sitting at the kitchen table with my dad shortly after he turned 30. I was 8 or 9 and in the process of memorizing an encyclopedia on American Democracy. “Dad,” I said, “You’re old enough to run for the Senate!” I was busy imaging his campaign. (He’d need to wash off that…

Like many of my era, I was introduced to the “myth” of Sasquatch (aka “Bigfoot”) through the motion picture “Harry and the Hendersons.” In this movie, not only was Sasquatch real, his heart was bigger than his feet, thawing the stern countenance of John Lithgow, who was a pretend jerk in a lot of movies…

The ethos of Minnesota’s Iron Range is change even if its peoples’ reputation is one of stubbornness. The ups and downs of the mining industry and cultural melding trained a whole region to eye warily that which rolls around the bend, even though we know that water, minerals and even mountains can be moved, whether…

We all know that northern Minnesota’s summer was a little late this year. If you don’t recall the wailing and gnashing of teeth over that miserable second winter masquerading as spring, you’d only be blocking an important emotional crossroads we all faced together. As far as I’m concerned, no matter how hot this summer gets…

It was my freshman year of high school and I was running for re-election as class president. As a power-hungry nerd, you can imagine the stakes. I had come to school that day prepared to fend off challenges. I was ready for everything, except one thing: fate. As a joke, my friends decided to nominate…