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Grammy’s Bob Dylan photo exhibit coming to Hibbing
Here’s a stroke of great news amid a rough year for Bob Dylan fans in the music legend’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. The Grammy Museum exhibit “Daniel Kramer: Photographs of Bob Dylan” will be making its United States debut after stops in Paris and London. Not in New York. Not even in Minneapolis. The Kramer…
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Iron Range Pizza Hut zero hour
I’ve encountered a number of reports that Pizza Hut restaurants in Hibbing, Grand Rapids and other locations in the region have closed today. I don’t yet know how many Pizza Hut restaurants have closed and I have not yet confirmed why they are closing, or if the closings are permanent. One employee suggested a franchisee…
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Fargo TV show arrives; now in fictional Bemidji
I was in high school when Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Fargo” came out in theaters. Initially, I was excited to see a movie set in my home state, but quickly I was more mesmerized with the filmmaking. “Fargo” is grim and cold, probably the best way to describe winter in Minnesota. In fact, the movie…
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Hibbing VFW Post 8510 closes
The Hibbing Daily Tribune reports that Hibbing VWF Post 8510 Club has closed. This is the big bar and event hall visible from the main highway through town. The club had previously struggled with money, but had clawed its way out of the red. The reason for the closure is simply that the VFW post…
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On humans, machines and crows
I imagine that the animal world looks at we humans much the same way that we look at crows. We are not exactly beautiful, except to each other and especially ourselves. We are crafty, like crows; exploiting intelligence for what any other animal would call an unfair advantage (if those other stupid animals were smart…
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Jazz Hands
“Jazz Hands” is part of my 2014 winter/spring sanity project. I will post original cartoons about modern life in northern Minnesota every Friday until the snow melts. Related posts: No related posts.
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Entering the next generation of late night
When David Letterman announced his retirement last week, I wrote this note on social media: For about six years I watched Letterman every night. I don’t know what that means, or if the numbers matter, but it feels to me like this mattered a lot. I hope this doesn’t come across as silly, but when…
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‘Green Envy’ for Iron Range botanical garden
This Saturday, April 12, from 4:30-8 p.m., the Friends of the Greenhouse in Virginia, Minnesota, will hold its second annual “Green Envy” fundraiser for the Olcott Park Botanical Gardens. The greenhouse and gardens at Olcott Park are holdovers to a time when many Range towns poured effort into beautifying their public spaces. Virginia has held…
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Crows keep it real
Springtime in northern Minnesota means all kinds of migratory birds make their annual through-trip. No one migratory bird reminds me of spring, however; rather I look to a bird that hangs around all year to tell me about spring: the crow. Crows are starting to get busy this time of year. They’re louder, more insistent,…
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Education, broadband as economic development
Two items across the wires today illustrate the often unheralded spurts toward actual economic development and diversification in rural, post-industrial places like northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. First, the work of my colleague Ken Strukel at Hibbing Community College was featured in today’s Hibbing Daily Tribune. He’s developed a computer application design program at HCC, training…
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UPDATE: MN lawmakers reach deal on minimum wage
The Associated Press is reporting that Minnesota lawmakers are nearing a deal to increase the state’s minimum wage to $9.50. The deal does not include the more controversial indexing of the minimum wage to inflation, though that is still being negotiated. UPDATE: The deal is done, and there is a provision for indexing (see bottom…
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Hot webcam chicks at L&M Supply
The cold broke over the weekend here in northern Minnesota and we are again operating under the assumption that spring is here. Another sure sign: the chicks at L&M are rocking under the hot lights. Allow me to explain. “The chicks are here” is the phrase you’ll see on the marquee at L&M Supply stores…
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Ancient mysteries on Minnesota’s Iron Range
Cindy Kujala at the Hometown Focus includes a buffet of interesting mysteries and factoids about Iron Range history in her column this week. Most of it is reprinted from a project compiled by the Iron Range Historical Society and University of Minnesota at Duluth. My favorite excerpt: There is a place where the Embarrass River…
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The Old Fish and the Lake
Last month a Minnesota angler pulled a 52-pound lake trout through a 10-inch hole in the ice on Lac La Croix near Crane Lake. Because the fisherman was 100 feet over the Canadian border, he ran afoul of Ontario’s catch limits. His fish, likely a world record holder, was confiscated. Despite crushing the previous record…
