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The future is all thumbs
Arthur C. Clarke once wrote, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Before I go any further, let me ask you a question. How many thumbs would I need to have for you to think I was magic? One? No, that’s just a band saw accident. Two? (checks notes) Nope, that’s the regular amount.…
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Baby birds fly when they must; so do our children
We built our house the summer after our oldest son was born. Since then, generations of eastern phoebes raised their hatchlings in a nest constructed under our deck by one of their ancestors. You might know these fly-catching birds for their dark heads, fidgety tail pumps and their “fee-bee” call, which is how they got…
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Who’s driving the bus?
It’s back to school season! For me, this has always been a special time of year. I loved school as a kid. College, too. I covered education as a reporter and editor. Then I became a college instructor. As a parent, school meant something different: freedom, maybe, but also the growth and development of those…
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Clock ticking for Hibbing city hall restoration
One plot point in the 1985 movie classic “Back to the Future” involves the town’s clock tower. With the clock broken, preservationists raise funds to restore the timepiece and keep the building from being torn down. The situation in the Iron Range town of Hibbing bears some similarity. I mean, no, Hibbing’s city hall clock…
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First Strib Voices column begins in an Iron Range underground mine
If you missed the news, I’m joining the newly rebranded Minnesota Star Tribune as a contributing columnist. My first column publishes today at StarTribune.com and Monday, Aug. 19 in the print edition. Today’s column: “Old family photo reveals how much has changed on the Iron Range.” This first piece was inspired by an old photograph…
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Counting on sheep to reduce carbon hoof print
The dog days of August might seem a strange time to think about sweaters and stew, but I’ve been reading about sheep lately. Sheep seem like greatly underrated livestock. They give us wool and mutton (sweaters and stew). You can even turn a sheep’s hide into traditional southern Italian bagpipe called a zampogna. I’m not…
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Brown named contributing columnist for Minnesota Star Tribune
Today, I bring news for longtime readers of MinnesotaBrown.com. Starting next week, I join the Star Tribune as a contributing columnist. My columns will appear twice a month on the opinion page and StarTribune.com. This is a lifelong career goal I’ve been trying to manifest for at least 10 years. The Star Tribune is the…
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Monster trucks mash hapless wrecks
French philosopher and novelist Victor Hugo once said “Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.” This might help us understand why only America, possibly the most prosperous nation in world history, could make monster trucks. Picture this. Someone knocks on your door and says, “excuse me ma’am” or “hello, sir,” before explaining they’re about to…
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As flames rise, true progress beckons
My latest essay for the Minnesota Reformer, “As flames rise, true progress beckons,” is out today. This column continues last week’s exploration of the natural world in an industrial landscape. Go back far enough and you realize that words don’t always mean what we think they do. Call someone a “nimrod” today and they’re likely…
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Green clovers, blue ribbons and bright futures
Listen, I like prizes. Ribbons, trophies and medals; doesn’t matter. Winning is fun. Try the alternative, you’ll see. They tell you prizes aren’t everything, but that doesn’t feel true. Prizes are awesome. Whenever I toured the St. Louis County Fair as a kid, I’d look at all the entries and say to myself, “I could…
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Welcome to the Iron Range Olympics
As we speak, the Summer Olympic Games are underway in Paris. This international exhibition of competition and sportsmanship also provides our quadrennial reminder of all the healthy choices in life we did not make. For many of us on the Iron Range, our reason for not competing at the Summer Games is simple: they don’t…
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Children of the slash pile
Today, my latest essay, “Children of the Slash Pile” ran in the Minnesota Reformer. Here’s an excerpt: Working people came in like aspens, regenerating what was destroyed, with no memory of what came before. Today, some of us enjoy the privilege of thinking we’ve always lived here. In realizing this, we might better understand the…
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Now batting …
Green grass grows from Pipestone to Grand Marais. That means one thing: summer baseball in Minnesota. Town ball. Legion ball. VFW ball. Little League. Believe it or not, Minnesota’s summer baseball legacy dates back farther than our state’s obsession with hockey. Earlier this summer I volunteered as the public address announcer for a VFW baseball…
