Aaron J. Brown

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Minnesota Brown: Modern Life on the Iron Range

  • Steel plant, mining study make statewide news

    Steel plant, mining study make statewide news

    A couple of items discussed this week made Saturday appearances in non-Range papers. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a story today (“Iron Range steel mill fires up region’s hopes”) about the Essar Global Minnesota Steel plant in Nashwauk. This is the first major positive news about something on the Range to hit the Star Tribune in…

    October 27, 2007
  • Brown on the air: Oct. 27

    Brown on the air: Oct. 27

    I’m on the air Saturday with another original essay for Heidi Holtan’s “Between You and Me” radio program on 91.7 KAXE. The show’s topic this week is “junk drawers.” Every week the show explores some seemingly random and sometimes timely topic to offer a glimpse into the culture and heart of Northern Minnesota. Music, interviews,…

    October 26, 2007
  • The missing voice

    The missing voice

    There are plenty of memorials for Paul Wellstone in today’s papers and in the blogosphere. I did one back in 2004 and I feel the same today. I just can’t let the anniversary of Wellstone’s untimely passing go by without commenting. People who met Paul Wellstone liked him, even when they didn’t agree with him.…

    October 26, 2007
  • IRR project season off to fast start

    IRR project season off to fast start

    The Iron Range Resources Board met Thursday. (Iron Range Resources is the unique state agency dedicated to diversifying and strengthening our volatile Range economy, supporting public works and infrastructure across the region while repairing the damage from a century of mining. Some call the agency a form of socialism; others call it the shining hope…

    October 26, 2007
  • Health carnage system

    Health carnage system

    What really gets me about the health care debate in this country is that so many people are willing to continue tolerating or even supporting a system that almost everyone believes is broken and unsustainable. At the federal level, President Bush and the Republican minority caucuses in the House and Senate are holding the line…

    October 25, 2007
  • Another sad announcement

    Another sad announcement

    There was a car accident on Highway 169 this week that resulted in the death of Lester Tangedahl from Chisholm. When I was 16 I decided to volunteer for the local DFL party because I had decided that Paul Wellstone needed to get re-elected to the U.S. Senate. I marched into the local campaign office…

    October 25, 2007
  • Passing of an Iron Range legend

    Passing of an Iron Range legend

    If the Iron Range was a book, Mary Anderson would have been one of the most important characters. Anderson passed away yesterday. I never had the chance to meet her, but she remains one of the great figures in Range history. She’ll always be most remembered for leading the city of Kinney’s secession from the…

    October 25, 2007
  • Duluth mayoral prediction 2007

    Duluth mayoral prediction 2007

    I’ve mentioned this before, but in the odd years I like to place inordinate attention on off-year elections that have only tangential influence on my life. Such is the life of a political junky. As such I have been following the Duluth mayoral race somewhat closely. Everyone outside of northeastern Minnesota might think that Duluth…

    October 24, 2007
  • Please don’t talk about your children on your phone in the men’s room stall

    Please don’t talk about your children on your phone in the men’s room stall

    I’ve seen this one other time in my life but this time seemed more disturbing. I went in the men’s room and heard a guy talking. This is rare in itself. Men usually have a code of silence in public bathrooms. (Note that the Sen. Craig scandal, sordid as it may have been, did not…

    October 24, 2007
  • Oy! The Range is on the BBC

    Oy! The Range is on the BBC

    That little news ticker on the side of this blog is already paying off. Check out this Lucy Ash story from the BBC about how Chinese demand for steel has re-energized the Iron Range steel industry. But when you go to your next public meeting, or talk to community leaders, or go to vote, remember…

    October 23, 2007
  • Chain of Command opens Thursday, Oct. 25 for two weekends

    Chain of Command opens Thursday, Oct. 25 for two weekends

    My friend Mike Ricci, director of the Hibbing Community College Theatre, is opening an original show this week. You should always come to Hibbing to see Mike’s shows, but this one especially. A Minneapolis playwright worked with Mike and his cast to write an original play speaking to the human element of the Iraq war.…

    October 23, 2007
  • Essar buys Minnesota Steel: Project is for real

    Essar buys Minnesota Steel: Project is for real

    The headline may seem redundant to a business section editor, but on the Iron Range we are so used to getting burned on big economic projects that we don’t start popping bottle tops until the ink is dry. (Or is it that we don’t STOP popping bottle tops until the ink is dry; maybe both).…

    October 23, 2007
  • Long weekend segues to busy week

    Long weekend segues to busy week

    The week is off to a fast start after a very fun weekend. My friends Joe and Krysten were married Saturday and I was best man. The whole wedding weekend was flawlessly executed. It was a very classy and yet very fun affair. I drank only enough to do the “Wild Wild West” dance without…

    October 22, 2007
  • Got gourds?

    Got gourds?

    “Sure, there are other fall traditions. Raking leaves. Watching “foo-ball” on “teevee.” But none of these photograph as well as picking out a pumpkin and petting goats so domesticated they know how to TiVo stuff. I don’t mean to diminish the very real and very fun time we had; but I had to chuckle when…

    October 21, 2007
  • MEA Weekend

    MEA Weekend

    Teachers and students from Minnesota know what I’m talking about. I’m enjoying the first day of the long MEA weekend. In Minnesota, schools and colleges take off two days for the state teacher’s union convention. Most teachers don’t actually go to the convention, so it’s something of a holiday. I’ve got a busy MEA weekend…

    October 18, 2007
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