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The hard lessons behind those leases
The only proper response to a mistake is to learn from it. Last week, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recommended that Cleveland Cliffs receive state mineral leases once held by Mesabi Metallics, a group loosely connected to the investors behind Essar Steel. The iron ore in question lies outside Nashwauk near the former site…
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Final Goodman show marks new era on the Iron Range
This year, the Goodman Auditorium in Virginia, Minnesota, will become a memory. A new era arises. The merger of the Virginia and Eveleth-Gilbert districts produced Rock Ridge High School and its modern state-of-the-art auditorium. The new school replaces a lot of storied architecture in these towns, including one of the classic high school theaters built…
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Love birds, hate deer, fear bears
When I take on new interests, I dive in headfirst with minimal forethought. That’s how giant sunflowers took over my garden last year and why I found myself howling like a wolf out my living room window this spring, appearances be damned. To explain, when I began to feel affection for wild birds a few…
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All we have
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard some big wheel from the Iron Range tell a reporter that “mining is all we have in northeastern Minnesota.” It’s like when I hit my head on the corner of the freezer door while digging in the fridge: a sharp and familiar pain that occurs often enough…
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Minnesota can lead and prosper in e-recycling
The sprawling pits on the edge of Iron Range towns inspire many emotions. Some feel pride in the miners and steel that built a growing nation. Others see environmental damage or the pain of loss. But the facts are inarguable: these are holes where ore was removed forever. Our economy centers on consumption. We find…
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Well-crafted boats keep souls afloat
We are what we make. That’s been true of every culture that ever walked the earth. Think of the Sphinx of Giza, the heads on Easter Island or the arrowheads we sometimes find while sifting through the dirt of northern Minnesota. Each object grew from a ritual that brought people together to create something that…
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Rethinking small town goals on the Iron Range
Time to time, someone tells me that their Iron Range town is boring. Nothing much happens here. Everything is old. But, historically speaking, the towns of northern Minnesota’s Mesabi, Vermilion and Cuyuna ranges are young. Only about a century has passed since their creation. They were borne of cultural chaos and political intrigue that still…
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A season of rejuvenation and low expectations
Amazingly, I’ve managed to make it through most of March still believing it’s winter. This is a first for me. Usually I dupe myself into believing that spring will arrive early. Then, northern Minnesota’s most sadistic season again crushes my hopes. As the Buddhists say, desire is the root of all suffering. I’m learning. People…
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Pork: the other fight meat
Whenever I see classmates move to Florida or former co-workers relocated to Texas, they always go on about the weather. Isn’t it nice to be warm? And I suppose “warm” is better than 25 below, but at what cost? American author Truman Capote once said, “It’s a scientific fact that if you stay in California…
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Saving our energy for the future
The other day actor Will Ferrell appeared on my television screen to say that General Motors is going electric. You don’t have to be a business expert to realize that by the time a company hires Buddy the Elf to star in a Super Bowl ad, a large strategic move is already well underway. Within…
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Beaver dams inspire bad ideas
Setting off an explosion that floods your neighbors’ property sounds bad. I guess it is bad. But I see how it might happen. Last month in northern Michigan’s Montmorency County, a man shoved a large block of Tannerite into a beaver dam near his property. Tannerite is a kind of explosive used in firearm targets.…
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Rich town, poor town
A century ago, Iron Range communities like Hibbing, Virginia and Eveleth drew the ire of conservative business and political minds for their lavish spending on public works and education. Hibbing even boasted the nickname “the Richest Village on Earth” for its ability to levy enormous tax revenues off of the unfathomable wealth of nearby…
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In a beastly world, beauty is precious
I recently found myself in one of these modern hotel ballrooms, the Bougie kind of space that half the population never sees unless they are paid to clean it. Amid a roiling sea of business chatter I looked up at the ceiling the way a sailor might note the moon through a gap in storm…
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Get wise to the age
I tend not to subscribe to doom and gloom. Even as real world problems stack up, I know from history and experience that humans remain a crafty species, capable of adapting to all sorts of hardships. But there is one area where I think we struggle more than we know. As we humans grind through…
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Shoulda, coulda, woulda
It’s tempting to imagine alternate realities. We hear talk of the “multiverse,” a philosophical theory suggesting that infinite parallel universes exist, one for every imaginable outcome. The animated show “Rick and Morty” explores the multiverse with hilarious nihilism. But that’s not the only place we dabble in the multiverse. You don’t have to be well…