-
Christmas count a good start for bird curious people
Longtime readers have watched my gradual transition from bird skeptic to avowed birder. Today’s column (gift link) tells you how you can follow this path, if you are ready. This year’s Audubon Christmas Bird Count was the first where I felt useful in identifying the birds we saw. Now, it was 25 below zero and…
-
Can we grow film industry in these north woods?
A film is something fake that feels real. The film industry, as I’ve observed it, could be described as fake until it becomes real. The line between fake and real is practically invisible until money changes hands. As today’s column shows (gift link), the film industry could be a potent cultural tool and economic driver…
-
On fear and autonomous vehicles
Today’s column (gift link), like much of my work, is about perceptions, reactions and implications of change in a specific place. In our modern media environment, we often feel that everything is happening everywhere all at once. This is literally true, of course, and always has been. But our human perception isn’t really able to…
-
Our world needs resilience, from climate to everything else
Climate change is real. This upsets some people because they know and are worried. It disturbs those whose politics prevents this acknowledgment, too. But the data is clear. It’s happening. Considerable effort has been expended to create a strange dynamic of denial, which only exists in nations with powerful oil interests. But I can observe…
-
Cold weather hits before federal funds are ready
About the rarest commodity left is human attention. We talk about rare earth minerals, rare beauty and rare courage, but it’s all noise without people paying attention. And people aren’t, or more accurately they can’t. The way we produce and consume media punishes focus. That might be the biggest failure of Democratic senators who voted…
-
To restore white pine we must restore the forest
Today’s column (gift link) is about the white pine, specifically how it towers over a big family of forest species in Minnesota. One family made a mission out of bringing back the white pine, and learning that it’s not just the white pine that makes for a successful forest. I also give some tips for…
-
The throughline on Trump, Mamdani explains our moment
Some might say that newspapers spill far too much ink on Zohran Mamdani, the new Mayor-elect of New York City. Why would a local leader in one place, albeit a big, important place, matter that much thousands of miles away in places like Minnesota. It’s a fair point that I am refuting in today’s column (gift…
-
Good neighbors, unnecessary conflict
Sometime around 1865, Francis “Frank” Browne crossed the Atlantic from St. Austell, Cornwall, England. He was part of a generation of young, skilled British tradesmen who left dying mining towns looking for work across the seas. These men had few prospects at home, but many abroad. Frank landed in Canada. Immigration was malleable then. To…
-
People, not place, at heart of rural policy issues
This week I interviewed I interviewed former Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota about the issues facing rural America. The pair are co-chairing the Brookings/AEI Commission on US Rural Prosperity, a bipartisan initiative to promote a more resilient rural economy. They’ll be in Minnesota on Thursday, Oct.…
-
Bittersweet inspiration on the road to Randall, Minn.
In a big world with big problems, we should not overlook small places. My writing has mostly focused on one such place: Minnesota’s Iron Range. It’s not that this one place explains everything about everywhere, but rather that taking the time to understand the many layers of a place helps you understand the composition of…
