Minnesota Brown

Growing up in a machine-oriented family in northern Minnesota, ATVs and later UTVs were always around. Four-wheelers were never my passion, but I got to operate them time to time. I get the appeal.  To some rural residents, owning one of these devices is almost as important as a septic system. Though you can get…

I’ve written a lot about the changing nature of work over the years, probably because I’ve always felt a little funny about how I’ve made a living. Untold generations of mechanics, tinkers, engineers and craftsmen built my family tree. Then I arrived with aptitude for writing and speaking.  Is this work? My family always accepted…

Longtime readers have watched my cliched descent into middle aged bird watching in cringeworthy real time. Ten years ago I would have made fun of birders, now I am one.  Today’s column touches on that amusing transition, but also expands a conversation I’ve been having with readers about forestry and resource management. The best management…

Today’s column is about stuff. The stuff in our house moves through a metaphorical digestive tract. We pay for stuff we like and savor it somewhere in our home, perhaps in the closet or the living room. Years later, the good stuff becomes old stuff. Usually it goes to the basement where a jumbled family…

My latest column explores new cellphone policies sweeping Minnesota high schools, many of them expanding limitations enacted last year. When we talk about limiting cellphones at school, we’re often trying to address distraction. Distracted students can’t learn. That’s an important problem that was improved significantly in schools that implemented phone limits last year.  But some…

Minnesota is home to the Post-Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO) program. Enacted 40 years ago, PSEO was replicated in other states, but never as robustly as envisioned by Minnesota Gov. Rudy Perpich in 1985. I didn’t use PSEO when I was in high school, but did take advantage of concurrent enrollment courses — college in the…

Today brings the last entry in my series of columns about mental health in the Minnesota Star Tribune. Shortly after I started at the Strib, I floated an idea for a column about mental health in an editorial meeting. My editor said that sounds more like a series than a column. Ramrod that I am,…

Late night television once dominated our bedtime routines, occupying space now held by doomscrolling and mindless videos.  Years ago, I wrote about my unique relationship with late night television when I was growing up. In particular, my teen years were anchored by daily viewing of the strange routines of comedy talk shows — Carson, Letterman,…

How much should we trust power? Most would say we should be very careful about trusting power. Then, they would trust the power they like. Liberals tend to be trusting of government. Conservatives tend to trust markets and corporations. Or at least that’s how it used to be. The old order is falling apart. Government,…