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With great technology comes great responsibility
The other day I sat in a fast food restaurant listening to the gentle din of humanity. At one booth, a young mother struggled with a toddler. The scene brought back somewhat recent memories for me and my wife. An older woman stopped at this woman’s table to give unsolicited advice. My eyes widened, however,…
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Good vibes only? To be determined
What, pray tell, are “vibes?” People talk about them. They fill the zeitgeist. Vibes dictate how we feel about everything. And yet we have precious little understanding of the highly emotional sentiments that influence our purchases, name our next government, and shape our state of mind today and tomorrow. My latest piece for the Minnesota…
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Steel wheels turn for iron mining future
Late last month, U.S. Steel announced a $150 million direct-reduced iron pellet production facility on the Mesabi Iron Range. The news made statewide television, radio and newspapers. Unions and elected officials lauded the development. As well they should. This project will stabilize our local iron ore industry, still the largest source of economic activity in…
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From naps to thrills, baseball provides
Last weekend I watched the most excruciating eight innings of major league baseball of my life. And then I saw the most thrilling ninth inning I’ve ever seen in person. Such is the way of our strange, so-called “national pastime,” a tradition that endures despite the waning attention span of the body politic. My family…
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The restless hunger of America
Who are we, fellow Americans? Are we words printed on sacred documents? Are we a melting pot or a tossed salad? Doubtless, we are new growth on a gash in the Earth. Now, as we revel in our annual celebration of independence, we would do well to consider what that word means. In 1863, John…
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Iron Range parades, street dances & fireworks for Independence Day 2022
My tradition of sharing a concise, convenient listing of Fourth of July weekend parades, street dances and fireworks displays in northern Minnesota’s Iron Range region continues in 2022. This is a small miracle. I was very close to throwing in the towel this year. One son’s travel baseball schedule demands a lot of time in…
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A summer update from the writer
I’m not sure how many of you remember the days when I would report 3-7 times a week with news from northern Minnesota politics, business and culture. It’s been a few years since I’ve tried to maintain that schedule. What you see here at MinnesotaBrown these days are my Mesabi Tribune newspaper columns and commentaries…
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The real value in recycling
Just the word “recycling” conjures a rapid eye movement flashback to countless hours of schoolroom filmstrips, TV commercials, mediocre class presentations, and low stakes political squabbles. You can see it now, can’t you? Yes, the logo spins circular arrows. The grinning planet Earth sprouts an anthropomorphic arm to flash a thumbs up. (No one asks…
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The persistent appeal of boondoggles
boon·dog·gle/ˈbo͞onˌdäɡəl/(1) work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value.(2) a public project of questionable merit that typically involves political patronage or graft.~ From the Oxford Languages dictionary When a debate boils down to “doing something useful” vs. “doing nothing,” politicians often reach compromise in “doing something useless.” This represents…
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Juneteenth: America’s freedom and future
Today is Juneteenth. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers informed enslaved people near Galveston, Texas, that they were now free. The date was colloquially referred to as Juneteenth. From that day forward, it became a celebrated holiday among these newly freed people. Within African-American communities, Juneteenth stood as America’s “Second Independence Day.” That’s a good way…
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Sun’s out, bugs out
Entomologists say the lives of mosquitoes consist of four distinct stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. But I posit that several additional stages of mosquito life have yet to be documented in scientific papers. Allow me to elaborate. It’s true; egg, larva and pupa stages take place in water. And yes, adult mosquitoes then emerge…
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When the storm comes
Every storm begins not with a gust of wind or a raindrop, but rather with a premonition of change. The air thickens. At once the songbirds fall silent. Busy squirrels disappear from the corner of the yard. Deer find shelter out of the wind despite their desperate instinctual desire to graze on freshly greened grass. …
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Talented couple dazzled Range baseball league in 1915
The belated, perhaps even aggressive arrival of spring this year draws attention to the sport of baseball. For me, baseball season means driving all over hell and back with our son’s travel team. But baseball was an even bigger deal a century ago. And in researching the past, I found a remarkable Iron Range story…
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Seeds of hope despite the odds
Well, it finally happened. I talked to the beans. Gardening does not come naturally to me. I was raised on my family’s junkyard where vegetation grew mostly out of spite, certainly without the aid of human hands. But in recent years I’ve taken over the role of household gardener from my wife after she classified…
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When profits pile costs on people
My latest column for the Minnesota Reformer is out today, this one tackling the rising cost of housing and health care that most affects working class people. The piece is called “Cost of living is our harshest tax.” Here’s a taste: We’ve all experienced economic inflation this past year. Consumer costs rise along with commodity…