-
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…
-
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.…
-
What losing freedom really means
As the United States struggles to balance freedom with religious and cultural nationalism, we might learn a lesson not just from history, but from the present struggles of those who support democracy around the world. That’s the subject of my latest essay for the Minnesota Reformer, “Lessons on freedom from the Russian opposition.” When I…
-
Rare success story for bird social services
Nature is tragedy. So it was the day an eastern phoebe nest fell 30 feet from the top of a security light on my father-in-law’s garage. Four chicks tumbled, three to their death. But one little bird stayed in the nest and survived the landing. My wife received an urgent call for us to come…
-
Why no Fourth of July schedule?
Longtime readers know that for the past several years I’ve prepared a concise listing of Iron Range Fourth of July parades, street dances and fireworks displays. It was routinely among the most popular posts I produced each year as thousands read and shared the schedule with friends and families. I’ve decided not to produce this…
-
Talking resource politics
Last week I spoke via Zoom to the Tamarack Water Alliance, an environmental group that formed recently in Aitkin County. As I explain in the introduction, I don’t take aggressive positions in these mining proposal debates because I’m trying to learn more and generate productive conversation. But this group asked me to speak and I…
-
I am lord of beans
Now that recreational marijuana is legal in Minnesota, will grow lights become less expensive or more expensive? My query has nothing to do with pot. Age 43 seems like a bad time to start doing pot. But it’s a great time to get really excited about growing beans, which is where I’m at these days.…
-
Sheet cake and handshakes; it’s grad party season
Is there anything quite like an American graduation party? A funeral, I suppose, but that hardly seems appropriate. After all, in one the subject ascends to bigger and better things. In the other, people ask, “What are your college plans?” over and over again. Like funerals, grad parties include elaborate photo displays, awkward mingling and…
-
To be someone, do something
Everybody wants to be somebody. That’s the premise behind shows like “American Idol” and most campaigns for the state legislature. This quest for “being” is a tough road, though. Once you are something, you realize you want to be something else. Then you get older and you used to be something. Eventually, you “were.” And…
-
Rural housing prices rise with changing times
Memorial Day weekend approaches, a time when residents of northern Minnesota welcome the residents of southern Minnesota for the long weekend. Perhaps before you log off to enjoy the next few days you might read my latest for the Minnesota Reformer, “The northland has its own housing crisis.” Summer custom dictates that visitors from the…
-
Eighteen years
Young parents know the phrases. “Don’t blink.” “It’ll be gone before you know it.” “Cherish these times.” Old people talk like this when they see your child screaming after two hours of sleep on a work night as you wash excrement off a teddy bear. Typically, the words fall flat. It’s baffling to imagine time…
-
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…
-
Curtain opens on new era of Iron Range performances
You may have seen my column from last weekend, “Final Goodman show marks new era on Iron Range.” I marked the end of an era with the closure of the Goodman Auditorium and the dedication of the new Rock Ridge school. On Tuesday, I appeared on Minnesota Public Radio’s “Minnesota Now” with Cathy Wurzer to…
-
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…
-
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…