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Power in the Wilderness podcast re-airs Mondays at 8a on KAXE
I’m nearing the finish line for my enormous book, “Power in the Wilderness,” about Victor Power and the action-packed world of early 20th Century Hibbing, Minnesota. It will be some time before the book is ready for you to read, however. Meantime you should check out the podcast of the same name that independent filmmaker…
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Novak’s ‘Steel’ holds enormous weight
Good fiction tells truth that nonfiction struggles to spit out efficiently. As I’ve been toiling on a thick tome of Iron Range history, along comes a novel that cuts right to the point. The story of the Iron Range isn’t just mining and immigrants, unions and politics. It’s an untold trauma that lingers for generations,…
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Canine namesake highlights Power story in Hibbing
This week, the Hibbing Police Department announced the winning entry from a contest to name its newest K-9 dog. The dog will be named Dottie, in honor of one of Hibbing’s pioneering entrepreneurs, Dottie Power. Gina Forti, of Hibbing, submitted the suggestion. Dottie Power was one of the most successful merchants in early Hibbing history…
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‘Hockeyland’ comes home
Northern Minnesota’s obsessive relationship with hockey has endured since the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. For some, the hockey lifestyle defines an entire 20-30 year period of life, perhaps longer as new generations continue the tradition. Even those who don’t play hockey see their lives affected by the game. Classrooms empty during state tournaments. Local fast…
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The bombs we carry
The police officers donned dark blue overcoats. Their bright brass buttons and badges glowed in the morning light. They gathered at the corner of Howard Street and Fifth Avenue. A captain barked orders, steam pouring from his mouth. Men stationed themselves at each exit of the luxurious new Androy Hotel. The town was Hibbing, Minnesota.…
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The poison in our standing water
Today, you can read my latest column for the Minnesota Reformer. The essay is entitled, “The poison in our standing water.” My work continues to transform as I ingest untold quantities of historical research for my book “Power in the Wilderness,” which I hope to finish quite soon. This piece analyzes Range history, Facebook’s power…
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Flirting with fads
In our consumeristic society this weekend becomes a sort of proving ground for material desires. We mark “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday,” not as official holidays, but as shared celebration of enormous corporations achieving their Q4 revenue expectations. The stuff we buy and sell, however, changes a little each year. I remember Tickle-Me-Elmo being…
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Elegy for the pack-sacker
In 1922, Claude Atkinson, editor of the erstwhile Hibbing Daily News and Mesaba Ore opined about a local pageant celebrating the mining history of the Mesabi Iron Range. Iron Range towns at that time seemed curiously young for such nostalgia. It would be the modern equivalent of a pageant celebrating a 30 year high school…
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The Hunt for Red October: Cherry Edition
When you’re from Cherry, Minnesota, you get used to certain conversations. For instance, “Where is Cherry?” (Just east of Hibbing). “Lotta hayfields out there.” (Ya). And of course, “Isn’t Gus Hall from Cherry?” (Yes, of course). In fact, I know that fact better than most. I was the last journalist to interview Hall before he…
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Free ideas for Iron Range future
People around local politics often like to “admire problems.” In short, people like to look at problems, complain about them, even lose sleep over them, but then take few steps to actually solve those issues. Sometimes I’m reminded that talking about economic diversification for the Iron Range or the broad concept of “change” isn’t enough.…
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Naming a legacy one noun at a time
Humans didn’t create the world, but we do get to name the things we find here. We name our kids for our dads and our dogs for 19th Century burlesque performers. Someone called it “phlegm” and then invented the spelling. The ancients named “steel” and “stone” with nice sturdy words, but also called some tiny…
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Power in the Wilderness podcast available on major platforms
Readers here have probably gotten used to the fact that I’m only posting my newspaper columns these days. I’ve been working on my book, “Power in the Wilderness.” This process grew complicated when I returned to campus for my full time teaching assignment. Months ago Karl Jacob and I promoted our podcast, also called “Power…
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When giants walked upon the earth: Latest Reformer column gets personal
In 2008, I turned out 800 blog posts a year, an insane output devoted almost entirely to my hyperactive political opinions. If you’ve been reading my site these last few years you know that I’ve slowed way down. Part of that is just the normal sort of time commitments that turn many “bloggers” into “ex-bloggers.”…
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Crime and entertainment
Lately I’ve been watching people walk by, wondering how many of them have bricks of cash strapped under their bellies. How many guns did they cram into those reusable tote bags? Oh, look, she’s buying a shovel. Must have thrown the last one in the lake after burying the guy who talked too much. Or…
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It’s supply and demand, not dystopia
These days some of us fall too easily into patterns of dystopian thinking. Hurry up and get to the end of the world! Maybe it will be better that way! Every day I hear from someone who tells me that they’re glad they’ll be dead before the worst of it. It’s kind of a downer. …