Minnesota Brown

When I went off to college in another state I remember the happy ceremony of my arrival on campus. Friendly resident assistants helped move my mini fridge up the three flights of stairs. Despite the folly of it, I actually brought a wooden bookshelf and about 40 of my favorite books. The good samaritans cheerfully…

  I remember in school when we read “The Trumpet of the Swan” by E.B. White. Like White’s other famous children’s novels, “Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little,” this story centers on an animal with many human abilities.  In this case, we meet Louis, the trumpeter swan who has no voice. A boy, Sam, forms a…

Tossing in bed on a dry winter night I wake to get a drink of water. After a sip I hear a strange gurgling from the toilet. Bubbles rise from the drain pipe.  Soon the water becomes more turbulent. A terrible groan emerges from the bowl. Like toothpaste from a tube, up comes an otter…

As another year draws to a close it’s time to look back at the words and phrases that marked 2021. The words we use often characterize the lives we lead, sometimes more accurately than a laundry list of news events. Changes in language tell us what we are talking about, what we are doing, and…

Yes, Virginia, Hibbing, and the broader Iron Range, I believe in Christmas magic. No, not of the Santa Claus variety or even the Hallmark hokum. And while I am open to the concept of religious miracles, I leave that to the theologians.  No, I believe in a very specific kind of Christmas magic. That is,…

Every day, we check the mail. In fact, when my wife and I drive home from work she will always say, “I wonder if we got any good mail,” about 0.4 miles from our mailbox. She’s as reliable as Google Maps. Maybe more so. The answer is typically, “no.” The mail is usually boring. Credit…

It’s Thanksgiving week, but you can hardly tell. Everyone’s so angry. Prices are up and there aren’t enough teenagers to work the lobby at our favorite fast food joint. The news provides near constant disappointment. Things don’t work, all because of the current president or the last one, according to our favorite talking internet person. …

As I pack for the hunting shack, I wonder if I have enough crossword puzzles. The stack I’ve been saving since last May has grown substantially. These are Star Tribune puzzles, too, so really there are two puzzles per folded page and a Sudoku puzzle thrown in for good measure. Yes, I probably have enough.…

Late autumn brings All Hallow’s Eve. The ancient Celts called it Samhain, the awakening of a new year when the worlds of the living and dead briefly overlapped.  Today, our modern holiday of Halloween has come to represent a cultural celebration of the taboo topics of death and the occult. It is a frightful night…