Today, I bring news for longtime readers of MinnesotaBrown.com. Starting next week, I join the Star Tribune as a contributing columnist. My columns will appear twice a month on the opinion page and StarTribune.com. This is a lifelong career goal I’ve been trying to manifest for at least 10 years. The Star Tribune is the… Read More →
Monster trucks mash hapless wrecks
August 6, 2024 by 1 Comment
French philosopher and novelist Victor Hugo once said “Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.” This might help us understand why only America, possibly the most prosperous nation in world history, could make monster trucks. Picture this. Someone knocks on your door and says, “excuse me ma’am” or “hello, sir,” before explaining they’re about to… Read More →
As flames rise, true progress beckons
August 5, 2024 by Leave a Comment
My latest essay for the Minnesota Reformer, “As flames rise, true progress beckons,” is out today. This column continues last week’s exploration of the natural world in an industrial landscape. Go back far enough and you realize that words don’t always mean what we think they do. Call someone a “nimrod” today and they’re likely… Read More →
Green clovers, blue ribbons and bright futures
August 3, 2024 by 1 Comment
Listen, I like prizes. Ribbons, trophies and medals; doesn’t matter. Winning is fun. Try the alternative, you’ll see. They tell you prizes aren’t everything, but that doesn’t feel true. Prizes are awesome. Whenever I toured the St. Louis County Fair as a kid, I’d look at all the entries and say to myself, “I could… Read More →
Welcome to the Iron Range Olympics
July 27, 2024 by 2 Comments
As we speak, the Summer Olympic Games are underway in Paris. This international exhibition of competition and sportsmanship also provides our quadrennial reminder of all the healthy choices in life we did not make. For many of us on the Iron Range, our reason for not competing at the Summer Games is simple: they don’t… Read More →
Children of the slash pile
July 25, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Today, my latest essay, “Children of the Slash Pile” ran in the Minnesota Reformer. Here’s an excerpt: Working people came in like aspens, regenerating what was destroyed, with no memory of what came before. Today, some of us enjoy the privilege of thinking we’ve always lived here. In realizing this, we might better understand the… Read More →
Now batting …
July 20, 2024 by 1 Comment
Green grass grows from Pipestone to Grand Marais. That means one thing: summer baseball in Minnesota. Town ball. Legion ball. VFW ball. Little League. Believe it or not, Minnesota’s summer baseball legacy dates back farther than our state’s obsession with hockey. Earlier this summer I volunteered as the public address announcer for a VFW baseball… Read More →
Talkin’ Iron Range blues on the ‘Mississippi Valley Traveler’ podcast
July 17, 2024 by Leave a Comment
A few weeks ago, I wrote a column featuring a new book about traveling along the Mississippi River by Dean Klinkenberg. A few weeks later, I appeared as a guest on Dean’s podcast to talk about the Iron Range. You can now listen to my interview on Dean’s podcast. It’s an hour-long talk, and we… Read More →
Replanting the seeds of public education
July 13, 2024 by 2 Comments
The tradition of Iron Range public education excellence once required no explanation. Most local kids attended grand, palatial high schools with theaters, pools, cutting-edge science labs and vocational training facilities. Range superintendents recruited the best college education graduates in the state to teach the sons and daughters of miners. The children learned about boundless opportunities… Read More →
Public talk to explore past, future of Iron Range schools
July 11, 2024 by 2 Comments
I know it’s summer vacation, but here’s the deal: I love school. I loved preschool. They had this crane that used magnets to pick up blocks. I loved kindergarten. I learned to read early, which felt like a superpower. This continued all the way through college. Sitting in lectures for classes my advisor put me… Read More →
