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Autumn brings change, offline and on
Yesterday delivered a beautiful Labor Day in northern Minnesota. Forecasters predict a sunny, temperate early Fall week ahead. Today I waited with our oldest son as the bus came to take him to first grade. He’s first on the route out here in the woods. I saw him pause at the first seat where he…
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Once you Gogebic, you never go back
It’s interesting to see how Wisconsin officials are traveling to Minnesota’s Iron Range Tuesday for guidance on mine regulatory issues surrounding the proposed Gogebic Taconite mine in northern Wisconsin. It’s also interesting to see how the comments section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel can so quickly resemble the back-and-forth of any northern Minnesota open forum…
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Happy Farmer Labor Day from the Iron Range
At 10:30 this morning they’ll hold the 100th Farmer’s Day Parade on the freshly repaved streets of Bovey, Minnesota. Bovey was bypassed in 2007 by the never-ending, never-complete expansion of the Cross-Range Expressway. City leaders have responded by installing a brickwork strip down the center of Old 169. Today they’ll break in that street with…
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COLUMN: My cougar town script is a cat-astrophy
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I hinted at elements of this column in a recent radio essay, but this is markedly different from what I broadcast. My cougar town script is a cat-astrophy By Aaron J. Brown On June 11, 2011 a mountain lion…
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Iron Range student engineers post big win
After an emotionally taxing week discussing Iron Range political and economic development failures it helps to go into the long weekend with some good news. Lee Bloomquist at the IRRRB “Rangeviews” blog highlights the success of two Iron Range Engineering students who won the Minnesota Cup student engineering prize for their generator that runs on…
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Report: Northlanders die faster, more spectacularly than most
This Duluth News Tribune headline caught my eye: “Risk of dying is greater in the Northland.” If you live in northern Minnesota your chances of dying this year are apparently greater than in other parts of the state. Your risk of dying in your lifetime, however, holds with the state average, which is 100 percent.…
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Brown on the Air: RESORTING TO THIS!
I’ll be on the air with a new essay on 91.7 KAXE‘s Saturday morning program “Between You and Me,” this time joining the show’s theme of northern Minnesota resorts as they close up the summer season. My diatribe veers deeply into the fleeting nature of life, the aging process, the coming winter and, of course,…
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‘Art in the Park’ series ends tonight with live Range music
Tonight brings the final “Art in the Park” free live music show on the stage of the Minnesota Discovery Center amphitheater in Chisholm, Minnesota. All summer long the former Ironworld has been offering free shows, museum access and a live venue for local bands producing original music. Give it a shot if you haven’t tried…
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Range boondoggle now poses test of character, leadership
The implications of Peter Passi’s Duluth News Tribune groundbreaking investigation into the squandering of $41 million in public money by Excelsior Energy on the Iron Range continue to unfold. The story now appears to be the biggest fiscal disaster in Iron Range economic development history, but there’s more yet to explore. Karl Bremer at Ripple…
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Coming Oct. 15, the Great Northern Radio Show!
Times are neither good nor bad nor normal here on the Iron Range. We seem to be going through a transition that no one fully understands. And it occurs to me that the rest of the country, even the world, might be doing the same. So I could double down on my concerned missives on…
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COLUMN: School days are here again (Whoopee!)
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. School days are here again (Whoopee!)By Aaron J. Brown I’m a teacher by trade so I’m always revved up for the school year. A new school year means new students, new opportunities and a fresh new chance to…
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I (heart) Hibbing
A friend of this blog Jennifer Rian is writing a blog called “I (heart) Hibbing,” the ideas of a Range transplant looking back at her hometown. She has some good ideas and good taste in baked goods. You should check out her blog, too. As with all things Iron Range, I have to add for…
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Amendment debate spurs excellent series, "Growing Up Gay in Northern Minnesota"
Tony Sterle at A Little Bit of Liberal has written a fascinating series entitled Growing Up Gay in Northern Minnesota (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). He’s done a nice job of writing about the issue as an advocate, but with honest journalistic consideration of both sides in the debate. Really, Tony is a great…
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Company may move to Duluth if job fair goes well
This is a curious press release. A company is considering relocating to Duluth in the old Northwest Airlines maintenance facility by the airport. One factor in their decision will be the outcome of a job fair this upcoming Monday and Tuesday at the DECC. Don’t screw this up, unemployed people. If Job Fair Takes Off,…
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Brown on the Air: ASK A STAG is BACK!
The topic for this Saturday morning’s edition of “Between You and Me” on 91.7 KAXE is “advice.” What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten? What’s your philosophy about giving advice? Have you ever written to an advice columnist? My contribution will be a reprisal of one of my favorite “Between You and Me” bits, an…