Starting today, Friday, Feb. 14, and running through Sunday, Feb. 16, the Friends of the Sax-Zim Bog will be holding their 7th annual Sax-Zim Birding Festival, based out of Meadowlands, Minnesota. The Sax-Zim Bog is a mighty marshland found just south of the Mesabi Iron Range and north of Duluth. It was once the basin… Read More →
Down in the Boondocks: Author Kate Ingrid Paul
January 3, 2014 by 2 Comments
Kate Ingrid Paul is a fellow Sax-Zim Bog spawn who, like me, found the experience worth writing about. She’s got a new book out entitled “Memoirs from Down in the Boondocks: A Spiritual Journey through Poem and Short Story.” Paul was featured in last Sunday’s Hibbing Daily Tribune. Here’s an excerpt from her talk with Tony… Read More →
The Bobby Aro Story airs tonight on PBS North
December 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
UPDATE: I watched The Bobby Aro story on WDSE last night and it was well worth it. If you were a Bobby Aro fan in the day you’ll be amazed at the memories, but even if you’re younger, like me, you’ll hear a story about a radio star with a compelling personal story who did… Read More →
When it comes to recycling, yes we ‘can’
November 17, 2013 by 3 Comments
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… Read More →
The Big Year? Birder discombobulated in bog
October 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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… Read More →
Tamarack tinge to autumn’s last act
October 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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… Read More →
Enrollment surge fuels expansion at Cherry School
September 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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… Read More →
Celebrating midsummer night’s eve in the people’s park
June 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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… Read More →
Arts camp for kids at historic Iron Range park
June 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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… Read More →
Returning to the scene of my first login
January 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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… Read More →
