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Northern Minnesota political series on the way
I’m still trying to find the right voice and posting frequency here on MinnesotaBrown. The blog will be an important part of some new radio/internet projects I’m exploring for 2011, but for now I’m still deciding the right mix of political commentary, regional news and my ramblings as a typical internet blather-lord. It’s a strange…
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Obligatory #RandyMoss post, with fish
This photo of Randy Moss on a fishing trip has been making the rounds today. Very Minnesota. Welcome back to the Vikings, Randy. I know some people are happy about the likely trade for Moss from the Patriots today. Others are upset. But keep in mind that real Middle Ages vikings would not judge a…
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Octobrrrrr baseball in Minnesota
October baseball in Minnesota means something new this year. Instead of the pulsing hot Metrodome crowd, the new open air Target Field offers Twins fans and the visiting New York Yankees a blast of cold fall air from the upper Midwest. Welcome to Minnesota! The American League Divisional Series opens Wednesday evening with Francisco Liriano…
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GUEST POST: Hard times, good times
Guest posts last week from Jeff Manual and Frank Haataja inspired Noah Hanson, another longtime member of this blog community, to opine about his time on the Iron Range. I’m enjoying these posts. It reminds those who live here that our homeland is not always as boring as we sometimes think, and that the things…
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Paper: known consultant working inside Range agency
The Mesabi Daily News is shocked, shocked (!) to learn that the commissioner of the Iron Range Resources agency might be making arrangements to become a private consultant after her term is up this winter. The article is full of the sort of dramatic attempts to solicit comments usually reserved for those convicted of unseemly…
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Jump the fence, peek over the tall ridge
Over the weekend I gave a lecture at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm. A small but kind crowd was there for my talk about Iron Range political history and I thank these folks for coming out on a a beautiful fall day. I took the “back way” home and what a day for a…
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COLUMN: Keep it interesting, Minnesota
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Oct. 3, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Keep it interesting, MinnesotaBy Aaron J. Brown I’ve been trying to quit, but it’s so hard. Temptation is all around and it’s only going to get worse. I wish I never started. I’m talking about politics, not pills.…
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Join me today in Chisholm
Join me today at 2 p.m. at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm for a new lecture on Iron Range politics. An open, probably lively discussion will no doubt ensue. Find out more at mndiscoverycenter.com. Related posts: No related posts.
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Broadband projects suggest great potential in northern Minnesota
Google Twin Ports, the group of interests trying to attract the internet giant’s experimental fiber project to Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, touts recent broadband developments as signs that the region might place high on Google’s list. Check out the message sent to the Google Twin Port’s e-mail list. One of the interesting thing about…
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Brown on the Air: LAUNDRY!
Tune in to “Between You and Me” on 91.7 KAXE this Saturday morning for a laundry list of … well, laundry. The topic is laundry. That’s what I am trying to say. Do I have laundry stories? Well, do I have clothes? Do I have access to staining agents? Indeed I do, and I just…
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Awesome lecture to be dropped like hot on Saturday
“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” ~Abraham Lincoln “The richest village in the world.”~Hibbing’s reputation during the tenure of 10-time village president Victor Power “The Iron Range will never, never, never be the same.”~Gov. Rudy Perpich, after the iron mining collapse of 1982. “Don’t call it a comeback.…
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I’m on to you, minivan advertisement
We’ve got a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country minivan. What’s funny about the Town and Country is that you tell people you bought the Town and Country and they go, “Ohhh, niiiiice,” as though this signifies some kind of class distinction. But really it’s a Dodge Caravan with a slightly different interior. We like ours…
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Iron ore + innovation = corvettes (also jobs?)
An Iron Range mining project has been featured in The Street, a Wall Street business publication. Here’s the lede: Keith Busse, the CEO and one of the founders of Steel Dynamics, owns the world’s second largest collection of corvettes. In fact, Busse set up his corvette garage, which contains 60 of the classic Chevrolet sports…
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Can Bob ditch after the White House gig? Yes he can.
I enjoyed this quote from the recent Rolling Stone interview with President Obama regarding the president’s one very brief interaction with Duluth native and Iron Range-raised American icon Bob Dylan: “Here’s what I love about Dylan: He was exactly as you’d expect he would be. He wouldn’t come to the rehearsal; usually, all these guys…
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Frankly speaking about food, faces and other F words on the Range
After I announced that Jeff Manuel would be writing some thoughtful, historically-minded guest posts for MinnesotaBrown, a UW-Superior classmate and fellow former Promethean editor wrote me. Frank Haataja is from the Cloquet area south of the Range, southwest of Duluth, and offers this, an entertaining and considerably less academic outside view of the Iron Range.…