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When it comes to recycling, yes we ‘can’
I’ve always had an intimate relationship with scrap metal, having been raised on a salvage yard out in Zim, a swampy lowland scrub-brush township just off northern Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. My family indexed junk into piles of refuse so large as to function as my childhood landscape. Some people remember seeing the mountains as…
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The Big Year? Birder discombobulated in bog
In the 2011 film “The Big Year,” Owen Wilson, Steve Martin and Jack Black star as birders (!) trying to break the record for most birds seen in one year. I’ve talked about this film before because it mentions the Sax-Zim Bog a few times, known internationally as a major bird-watching mecca. As I mentioned…
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Tamarack tinge to autumn’s last act
I don’t know why, but every year I briefly forget the way tamarack trees change color in the fall. “Oh, wait. That’s right!” Tamaracks are larches, one of the few coniferous trees which change color and shed their needles every year. Perhaps that’s why it’s always a surprise when the tamarack’s dark green needles turn…
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Enrollment surge fuels expansion at Cherry School
Enrollment at the Cherry School on the Mesabi Iron Range, my alma mater, has increased by 45 percent since a controversial reorganization plan by the St. Louis County school district. Enrollment this year checked in at 453, up from 312 in the 2009-2010 school year. The Cherry School is small, granted, but this is a…
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Celebrating midsummer night’s eve in the people’s park
I’ve written before about Mesaba Co-op Park near Cherry, the cooperative recreational facility built by Iron Range workers in the 1920s. Mesaba Park holds its annual midsummer festival this weekend. Cindy Kujala of the Hometown Focus in Virginia, Minnesota, compiled a historical column on Mesaba Park in a recent edition. You should read the whole…
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Arts camp for kids at historic Iron Range park
The 19th Annual Northstar Arts Camp will be held at the Iron Range’s famous Mesaba Park near Hibbing next week from June 17-20, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The camp, which costs $90, “offers children ages 8-13 an opportunity to experience dance, music, theater and puppet making, as well as nature activities.” Mesaba…
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Returning to the scene of my first login
Here’s me in the yearbook, editing the school newspaper. Note the references to a “dark room” and “chemicals.” Today I will return to my alma mater, Cherry High School. It occurs to me that it’s been about 12 years since I’ve even set foot in the school for my sister’s graduation. They’ve since torn down…
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You can never go home again
Offered without commentary: @minnesotabrown will be visiting Cherry tomorrow to talk politics and social media— Kristen Cooper (@cherrytech) January 29, 2013 @cherrytech Before return to alma mater, I demand amnesty on matters pertaining to the beaver cartoon published in the school paper in 1997.— Aaron Brown (@minnesotabrown) January 29, 2013 @minnesotabrown @cherryprincipal Mr. Carey will…
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Hey! Hey! Hands off my hay!
This morning, NPR aired this story about hay thefts on the Great Plains. With drought across much of the country, hay is a precious commodity these days, commanding double the normal price. This has prompted hay rustling, which is funny when you think about the size and highly visible location of most hay bales. I…
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Mesaba Park holds midsummer event June 22-23
One of the quirky throwbacks to the Iron Range’s labor tradition is the Mesaba Co-op Park on the edge of Hibbing. It is a cooperative recreational park where labor organizers and early socialists once met, sometimes under the watchful eye of labor spies and the FBI. Built largely by the Finns who settled the Cherry…
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Cherry Tigers are state softball champs!
Congratulations to the girls from my alma mater, Cherry High School, for their state championship victory today. Cherry is a tiny school. I graduated from a class of 38 and it’s much smaller now. Their only other team championship prior to this was the 1997 baseball title won when I went to school there (and…
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MPR: When your high school is torn down, progress seems like a mixed blessing
I’ve got the feature commentary at Minnesota Public Radio today. This is a longer piece about my feelings seeing a picture of the old Cherry School being torn down and replaced. I mentioned this last week, with the picture. Read and recommend the essay over at MPR. It helps! Related posts: No related posts.
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The old Cherry School is gone
I attended Cherry High School, graduating in 1998. Cherry is a township at the edge of Hibbing’s rural eastern borders on the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. On Tuesday the old part of the school, built in 1928, was torn down to make way for a major renovation. I’ve written more on the topic to…
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Mesaba Co-op to hold annual youth arts camp
Mesaba Co-op Park is seeking applicants for its summer youth arts camp. The Co-op enjoys a lengthy political and historical tradition on the west side of Cherry Township, but often overlooked is its tradition as a social gathering place. The 17th annual Northstar Arts Camp will be held June 20-23 at Mesaba Co-op Park near…
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My Range alma mater now has just 24 graduating seniors, and other tales of woe
Some statistics from a recent regional high school graduation story in the Hibbing Daily Tribune:Cherry School: 24 seniorsNashwauk-Keewatin High School: 52 seniorsChisholm High School: 44 seniorsHibbing High School: 146 seniorsThe headline for the story was “Graduates abound” and these stats were included with information such as class colors, motto and song. For instance, Nashwauk-Keewatin’s senior…