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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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).…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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The danger looming above Bovey
Local media have reported on the dangers surrounding the eroding Canisteo Mine Pit by Bovey, where water levels in the pit now rest several feet above portions of the city of Bovey. A rapidly eroding wall of earth is all that prevents a major flood that would destroy much of the town and wash out…
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Implicatons of a new era for Range mining industry
On Tuesday, the Iron Range Resources board held a special meeting to approve a new structure for a loan to the Minnesota Steel project as it enters the final stages of its purchase by India-based Essar Steel. (Today’s Mesabi Daily News details the deal). This is seen as the final hurdle in the private financing,…
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Time to ‘hunt’
I often tell people that, while I do not hunt, I come from a family with deep hunting traditions. This is my way of defraying the perplexed looks I get from my Iron Range/Northern Minnesota brethren who can’t understand a guy who lives here but doesn’t hunt OR fish. Really, I have nothing against hunting.…
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Welcome to MinnesotaBrown’s new blog location!
Welcome to the new home for the Minnesota Brown blog. I’m still operating my website at http://www.minnesotabrown.com/, where you’ll find my weekly columns, bio, and information on my upcoming book. I’m moving the blog feature here to blogspot.com to make posting and archiving easier. This also allows readers to make comments. The official rollover takes…
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About Aaron J. Brown
On a cold December 1979 night in the heart of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range one Aaron James Brown joined the rag-tag lot of babies born in the waning operation of the old Hibbing general hospital. The hospital would later be razed to become a senior living community where, one day, Brown hopes to expire in…
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Read what others say about "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range"
Aaron J. Brown’s “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” was a critical and commercial success as a debut book published by a new company, Red Step Press of Duluth, in November 2008. “Overburden” won a Northeastern Minnesota Book Award the next year and continues to shape the discussion and spur conversation in Minnesota and…
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MinnesotaBrown also does real things sometimes
Meet the Author This blog doesn’t pay the bills. What it does, however, is allow me to build support for my professional work as a teacher, writer, speaker and radio producer. I deliver keynote speeches, lectures and specialized presentations related to topics like the Iron Range, Minnesota politics and history, writing, blogging and the media.…