Enjoy the last (and perhaps best) of the Blues Brothers videos in advance of Thursday night's HCC Theater Support Gala, 7:30 p.m. at the Hibbing High School Auditorium. This is another Facebook link. I'll post all of the videos tomorrow with open links to my server (no time tonight, no time).

It's happening on the east Range, too. After the Nashwauk-Keewatin/Greenway administrative merger last week, Mt. Iron and Virginia schools are also moving in the direction of more sharing and the seeds of administrative consolidation. Note that they are also inviting Eveleth-Gilbert to the table as well. This group of schools has the potential of creating a strong district in a nest of closely packed classic Iron Range towns.

I took a stand on the issue of Iron Range schools and weakening K-12 curriculum in my most recent newspaper column, which has spurred a most interesting and frenzied comments thread.

Everyone is retreating to their familiar political environs this evening on today's announcement of the Minnesota Supreme Court decision declaring Al Franken our next U.S. Senator. Very happy! Very angry! Very indifferent! (Though, to be fair, indifferent people seldom use exclamation points).

I'm a progressive-minded writer type so I like Al and voted for him. Most of my family didn't. Thus, I can see both sides of the equation here. In a way this long process of the recount and legal challenge has ensured one thing: Al Franken will have a lot to prove from day one. That's good for Al and that's good for Minnesota. No nonsense, just a strong need for results on important issues like health care reform, energy and the economy. If he screws up he's cooked and everyone knows it. If only all politicians entered office under such circumstances! Then again, if all politicians entered office under these specific circumstances mass suicides would be a concern.

Good luck, Al! Minnesota is counting on you.

Some positive news on the HCC Theater story. Hibbing Community College has announced a resumed search for a full time theater director to be hired on a temporary basis. This will allow the theater community to reorganize and adopt a model that includes outside fundraising to fill in where the budget cuts have hit the college.

The first step in this process -- the step that involves YOU -- is Thursday night's HCC Theater Support Gala featuring the reunion of the Blues Brothers and several other successful HCC productions. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Hibbing High School Auditorium, one of the architectural gems of northern Minnesota. Come on down! If you can't make it, consider a donation to HCC Theater instead. There's a pretty specific financial target that needs to be hit for this to work.

Over the weekend I posted the first video of Elwood Blues in Santa Monica. Today I plan to post the second video of Joliet Jake Blues in an undisclosed location. You Tube is sassing us, so here is the link to the Facebook video. You need to be a Facebook member to see it but that's easy to do.

Fox News reported on the debate over nonferrous mineral mining on the Iron Range near the Boundary Waters. The online story is boilerplate "jobs vs. environment" chatter, but the video is good fun regardless of your opinion of Fox News. Megyn Kelly mispronounces Ely and references "taking a crack at that zinc and so on." To cap it off, Kelly points out that there are 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. "Maybe people will have to go to a different one this summer."

Ha ha! Anyway, good Fox News fun with a local twist.

Here's a seemingly benign story about the delay of a land sale deal from Itasca County to Essar Steel, the company that has backed a proposed iron mining and steel-making operation on Minnesota's Iron Range.

What is really going on here is that there is question about the true intent of Essar Steel in operating a true iron-to-steel operation or just a taconite plant that feeds a steel plant owned by Essar in Ontario. What's the difference? Hundreds of jobs and the future of the Iron Range as envisioned by the developers of this project.

The small "end of the road" town of Ely continues to make hay out of its bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. This northern Minnesota hamlet is best known as the gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe area. A local company is also holding a contest to create a mascot for the Ely bid. It's nice to see a town commit to a creative idea and have some fun while making money. See, Iron Range. It's possible. It really is.

Ely 2016

Ely Greenstone (mascot contest)

A first step. Nashwauk-Keewatin Schools and Greenway Schools will be sharing a superintendent. Iron Range districts from Grand Rapids to Ely will have to explore more collaboration and consolidation in coming months and years.

After reading an AP story (link from WCCO) I wrote this column in one sitting. This is my weekly column for the Sunday, June 28, 2009 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I'm posting it on publication day because I want the conversation to begin Monday morning across the Iron Range.

No band, no music, no art, no future: Unless
By Aaron J. Brown

A June 22 statewide AP education story published in this newspaper reads as follows:

“ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- There's no band anymore at Nashwauk-Keewatin Schools. Art and music classes are history, too. Almost a quarter of the teachers were laid off to fix a deficit.”

The shear alarm of these facts going on in our backyard is part of the reason I've been critical of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s style and philosophy in fixing the state's budget problems through unallotment and funding shifts. (My fervor has profoundly angered some frequent commenters on my blog). But there are further hard truths. No school district that fails to offer at least two of the three in band, music and art should even bother operating. Immediate consolidation should be sought under any such circumstance, and Range districts – not just N-K – are notoriously slow and parochial on these matters. The loss of advanced and cultural curriculum will just keep happening until they do.

What a pathetic state of affairs in the Iron Range education community, and I mean that in the literal Greek – an emotional experience of suffering. A lot of people I talk to are sad and resigned. That's not helpful. A lot of other people I talk to are angry and don't know where to direct that anger. Also unhelpful. The easy answer would be to attack the governor, but he's not running for re-election. The 2010 governor's race is vitally important but too far off to solve our current problems. I would contend that the best place to spend anger is in organizing for a common cause.

Now is the time for a Range-wide K-12 educational plan that sees to it that our schools are as cost-efficient as possible and that no child is deprived of the arts, advanced courses and important life skill training that nurtured four previous generations of Iron Rangers. Consolidate, pair and share, whatever it takes. What are our values for education? What are the things that no child should go without learning or experiencing? These things are so much more important than buildings or institutions.

Once we've established a way of doing this, once we've innovated, Iron Range schools can better protect themselves from the rebuke of suburban conservative ideologues that hold the Iron Range in such contempt. We will stand on stronger footing to argue for a better funding structure in the 2011-12 biennium. Remember the standard handed down to us from generations of Iron Rangers: No matter your name, your ethnicity, your part of town, your parent’s job, you deserve a world class education and the opportunity to reach the highest rungs in our society ... if you work hard and innovate.

The funding many of us wanted for education has been denied to us. We will suffer as a result and cannot maintain all of excellent programs and courses that students deserve. But we don't have to suffer further through inaction. Now is the time for educators, administrators, leaders and citizens to plan for fewer schools and better curriculum in the short term. Immediately. Not just one district, but all of them.

Fewer districts, fewer buildings, more teachers, more courses. If you are a school board member, administrator or parent, take heed and take action. You don't have to. But this continuing decay of our children's future will proceed regardless.

Unless.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Contact him or read more at his blog MinnesotaBrown.com. His book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range.”

One night only, the fabulous Blues Brothers show band and review, will play to save the Hibbing Community College Theater program threatened by MNSCU budget cuts. Thursday, July 2, 2009 at the historic Hibbing High School Auditorium. It's a big, beautiful barn and we must fill it to save the program. This is a hilarious short video they've put together.

Things are quiet on the Iron Range. Too quiet. What's going on that I'm not writing about?

Coming tomorrow: My big education column. Next week: An entertaining series of posts about the big HCC Theater Support Gala on Thursday, July 2 at the Hibbing High School Auditorium. One night only, featuring the fabulous Blues Brothers show band and review from HCC's hit 2004 production.

This week's edition of "Between You and Me," KAXE's Saturday morning music and conversation program, deals with the topic of "summer camp." Did you go to camp? What are your memories? Any stories. "And when they got home, they found a hook hanging off the back bumper." Any of that?

Well, I never went to camp and my weekly contribution to the show deals with what I did instead. Tune into this fun, fascinating and funny show that tells about Northern Minnesota the way it is. 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 FM in the region or streaming online at www.kaxe.org anywhere in the world.

A small victory in the HCC Theater debate, with a price.

Hibbing Community College Theatre Director Mike Ricci has announced a major HCC Theatre Support Gala, featuring the return of the original Blues Brothers who performed on the HCC Theatre stage in 2004. This event will be held at Hibbing High School Auditorium on Thursday, July 2 at 7:30 p.m. All proceeds go to funding assistance for the HCC Theatre program, which has been hit hard with the recent budget cuts from MNSCU.

In the wake of Mike Ricci’s announcement that he will be leaving HCC to pursue another opportunity down in the Twin Cities, the budget crisis has forced the college to make some difficult decisions. Amidst cutbacks in several areas, the search for a new theatre teacher and director had been suspended. However, with the help of a dedicated task force made up of community and college members, a workable solution has been agreed upon that will allow the college to hire a qualified candidate to take over the program. Since the current budget may still be hit with more cuts, the decision was made to make fundraising a part of this solution, thereby providing some outside revenues should the college not have the necessary funds to cover the theatre program.

”I am happy to see the community come together to arrive at an equitable solution to this crisis,” said Ricci. “The support from people up and down the Iron Range has been amazing. Doing this benefit is our way of showing our thanks, while also allowing people to help out in a tangible way.”

The show will be divided into two acts, with the first half featuring highlights from past HCC Theatre productions, including live performances from the recent hits The Pirates of Penzance, Beauty and the Beast, Phantom, Born Yesterday, and others. The second half will be a concert featuring the entire Blues Brothers Band, and the return of Jake and Elwood Blues, played by Jason Scorich and Jaime Tintor, who will be reprising their roles from the original production. Tintor will be flying in from Los Angeles, where he currently lives and works, to do the show, and both he and Jason are excited about the prospect of doing the show and being re-united on stage once again. When first produced at HCC Theatre in 2004, The Blues Brothers played to sold-out audiences every night, and it was even taken to the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, where it sold out as well. “This is an opportunity to re-live that magic, and to be part of what makes live theatre so special,” said Ricci.

Tickets to this special event are $20 for adults, and $10 for children, students with ID’s and seniors. There will be a goodwill box for donations available at the benefit as well. Tickets can be purchased at The Howard Street Booksellers in downtown Hibbing, Reed Drugs in Grand Rapids and Schmitt Music in downtown Virginia, or they can be reserved through the HCC Theatre Box Office by calling 218-262-7377. If you or anyone else would like to contribute to the Theater program’s fundraising efforts but cannot attend the performance, please consider sending a donation to:

HCC Theater Program
c/o Mike Ricci
1515 East 25th Street
Hibbing, MN 55746

For more information, contact Mike Ricci at (218) 262-7377. Help keep quality live theater alive during these tough times! Thank you.

Those who've been following the saga of the cutbacks to the storied HCC Theater program should know that this is probably the best possible outcome we could get. That means that people need to get to Hibbing and see this show. I will have more on the exciting reunion of the Blues Brothers next week. This will be a LOT of fun. I know it's a holiday weekend, so if you have a conflict please send in as much money as you can afford. A quarter of Iron Rangers are out of work or on layoff right now so outside help is also appreciated. This is our chance to demonstrate the level of support for HCC Theater. The future of the local arts community hangs in the balance.

Oh, and why the high school auditorium? If you didn't know the Hibbing H.S. Auditorium is a special place on the Iron Range. The college theater seats just over 300 and the high school seats 1,800. I'm told we need to sell or receive equivalent donations for 1,000 seats for this to work.

Yes, there are many Blues Brothers comparisons to make here and you'll hear more about that next week.

I'm thinking of making some changes to the blog to make it more user friendly. I would like to change or add to the sidebar content and improve the load speed. Any suggestions from my longtime readers for things you'd like to see in a possible redesign?

I need to clarify something about how I've been reporting the status of the race for the DFL gubernatorial endorsement. I have been reminded that candidate Matt Entenza would honor the endorsement if everyone else does. Former Sen. Mark Dayton has announced that he will bypass the endorsement and enter directly into the primary, thus leading to the assumption everyone has been making that Dayton and Entenza are going to the primary. However, there is a key difference in that Entenza plans to aggressively seek the endorsement and it was not my intention to indicate that he didn't have the same chance as all the other candidates in that boat in my latest post about John Marty.

And, as an item of interest, I am in talks with the campaigns of Susan Gaertner and Steve Kelley about setting up interviews with those candidates. After that I think I'll have burned through the collection of announced candidates and will be left with the "oh, ya, pretty sure" candidates. There are 56 of them. Just kidding. Not really. I think I started this endeavor to ensure that I had met and conversed with the gubernatorial nominee before they were the nominee. I now concede the possibility that the sheer number of candidates might prevent me from remembering anything about the eventual winner. Fortunately there will be a written record.

Unemployment on northern Minnesota's Iron Range is at 15 percent but that doesn't include the miners who are laid off but have an expectation of being called back at some point. Nor does it include those working part time after having been laid off from a full time job. It "feels" like unemployment is much worse here right now, even as joblessness stabilizes in other parts of the state. (Duluth News Tribune, June 22)

Elanne Palcich of Chisholm has offered me this guest post and I'm passing it along for discussion.

LANDMARKS

I can remember trips to Duluth when I was young, before the Miller Hill Mall days, when you actually went shopping downtown. It was always an awesome journey to Duluth, waiting for that view of Lake Superior. But the young people today, immersed in traffic and stop lights, would rather spend their time shopping the bargain stores that spread along the highway.

I can also remember Grand Rapids and the great pines along Pokegama Avenue. They were the highlight of the destination. But the young people growing up today don’t know about the pines, because they were cut down to make room for Walmart.

The next of the landmarks to go will be the pines along Highway 169 before Tower, to put in new and bigger power lines. Highway 169 to Tower and Ely was always meandering, winding between hills and trees. It slowed a person down, giving you time to unwind before entering a wilderness experience. While the rest of the world sped up and stressed out, the road north was a gateway to inner peace.

I believe that somewhere along the way we have confused progress with materialism. When we destroy our unique landmarks, we become Any City, USA. We get lost in the super Walmarts and highway sprawl. We surround our children with plastic and gadgetry that we ourselves can’t keep up with. We value our purchasing power more than our personal power.

I am not against change. It just seems to me that we need some kind of broader vision. I am for defining our values and our goals. I am for examining what is comfort and what is excess. I am for considering what kind of legacy we want to leave for our children. The crossroad to the future is now. What landmarks will be left for the children—pine trees or power lines?

~Elanne Palcich

The answer, it would seem today, is power lines. What confounds me is why small towns are sprawling just like suburbs even as they lose population. Discuss.

Virginia, the only Iron Range city named for the British monarchy, is nicknamed the "Queen City." The water tower reads (verbatim): VIRGINIA "QUEEN CITY"

Seeing this water tower is a little like seeing a gun hanging on the wall in a Chekhov play. You know that at one point the gun must fire, or in this case that a sweaty teenager struggling with his latent homosexuality will shimmy up the tower and vandalize it in an oh-too-obvious way (from today's Mesabi Daily News).

Vandalism is bad and this sure isn't a ringing sign of social tolerance on the Iron Range, but can I point out one amusing detail about this story? No one knows when this was done. It might have been up there for a couple days. Look up, everyone!

Today I continue my semi-regular series of posts featuring candidates for Minnesota Governor with a look at State Sen. John Marty. This is the first post written after Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced he wouldn't seek re-election and, if anything, the field on both sides is even more chaotic than before. Starting about a year ago I've talked to Tom Bakk, Paul Thissen, Mark Dayton and Matt Entenza -- all DFL candidates. Conversations with at least half a dozen more are forthcoming. I'm not averse to talking to candidates from other parties, but given my personal affiliation with DFL I'll probably wait until those candidates are endorsed or nominated by their parties. Last week I spoke with Marty, a long serving DFL legislator from Roseville who was the party's nominee for governor in 1994.

The interview

John Marty begins his campaign narrative with an observation that's become pronounced and nearly universal among DFL candidates.

"I got into the race because as a society we've been afraid to tackle our problems," said Marty. "We went from in 1970 being called 'the state that works' to one that is dysfunctional. As a nation it’s kind of the same thing. In the 1940s we were coming out of a depression, we were a poor country, but we were called upon to enter a world war against powerful, brutal regimes trying to take over the world and we answered. People were called to sacrifice and we did and we defeated fascism.

"From then on through the 1960s the whole concept was that the next generation would have a better life, a better quality of life, continued Marty. "But the first signs of trouble were when we declared war on poverty and then we surrendered. We are now the only industrialized country where our next generation will have a lower educational quality than the last."

Marty, like the other candidates, has a solution. Tops on his list: single-payer health care. It's a cause that Marty has championed in the State Senate, becoming in recent years the loudest voice for universal, single-payer health care in the legislature. In this he is unabashed, unrepentant and dismissive of plans that would combine public and private options. Like conservative critics, he thinks they will be too expensive and less effective. Unlike conservatives, he believes that a single-payer health care system will provide necessary care for all and drive down out-of-pocket costs for patients and relieve struggling employers of a major economic burden. The proposal would cost money, but Marty contends that what people pay for health care now combined with existing public spending costs more than his plan.

"The governor ranted about the unsustainable public health care costs," said Marty. "I agree that we can't sustain that rate of spending, but we’re not dealing with the problems. Because we don’t tackle problems they get worse, not better. Expenses go up. If we just treated health care like police and fire where everyone pays in and we just cover it, we could solve the problem. We can’t sustain the growth in our problems that cause our spending."

In economic policy, Marty is pragmatic but rejects the notion that the federal and state tax cuts of the past eight years have been good policy.

"The dispute I would have with a lot of other people – Democrats and Republicans – is over the idea that the solution to having a better business climate is to lower taxes. The Chamber of Commerce believes that. Well, of the Chamber of Commerce and Pawlenty had their way we'd be modeling Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. We don't want to live in a state like that. The people there are poorer and more unemployed. We are slipping toward that. If we lower taxes, our schools, health care and infrastructure all get cut back."

Marty points to a study showing that people living in the five states with the highest taxes per capita have the most money left after taxes per capita. Employment rates and wages are better, suggesting that there's something more to the equation than just tax rates.

This blog tells the story of the Iron Range and all governor candidates have been asked about their job creation philosophy related to the Iron Range, where the struggling steel sector has shuttered our mines and sapped the region's already troubled economy.

"There's no magic bullet," said Marty. "I have a couple of thoughts. Diversifying the economy is critically important to start. One area that will remain strong is tourism, people coming to visit because it’s a beautiful part of the state. That’s one reason we have to preserve and protect the environment. On jobs, well, somebody comes in and promises jobs and [leaders] have thrown money at [developers]. I strongly resent that."

Marty pointed out examples from across the state where private companies were benefiting from public money without much regard for the number or kind of jobs those companies planned to create. He pointed out his support for a bill sponsored by Range lawmakers Rep. Tom Rukavina and Sen. David Tomassoni that partially subsidized the wages for companies that created new living wage jobs, calling that a better approach.

"The people of the Iron Range are eager to solve the jobless problem," said Marty. "The worst thing we can do is just hand people money."

This blog has been critical of the way startup company Excelsior Energy was handed millions of grants and loans for a coal gasification power plant that still hasn't found permits or a customer. Marty is the first candidate to directly echo some of these concerns. Separately, Marty pointed out his fight against CAPCO schemes in last year's legislative session. Venture capitalists were enlisting public dollars for what essentially proved to be retail projects that protected developers at the expense of taxpayers. Other states bit on the idea and, Marty says, regret doing so.

"Our government can't afford snake oil salespeople," said Marty. "We need to be thoughtful. We need an educated, well trained workforce. We're just not doing a good enough job of that."

That means investments in education and higher ed.

"We have to make our education system succeed," said Marty. "There's a lot of truth in the saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The more we can help kids grow up healthy and educated, the less we have to spend on remedial education and social problems."

So, why Marty, according to Marty?

"My message is different," he said. "My Minnesota Health Plan covers everyone including dental, health care and prescriptions. President Obama won't consider a single payer plan, says it's not political realistic. The insurance lobby has a lot of clout and give out a lot of campaign donations. I don't take PAC donations because money talks in politics. It's not that politicians or donors are crooked, but why do those guys from Excelsior Energy or the insurance agency always seem to win at the end of the session? Campaign donations.

"Political naysayers say [my goals] are not realistic," Marty continues. "It wasn't politically realistic for men to give suffrage to women, or whites to give the vote to blacks, but those things happened eventually. I don't want our state to be fighting to just cover a few more people because we cut them last year. I want to cover everyone."

"People want a state that works," said Marty. We cannot afford to avoid tackling our problems and that means standing up to the special interests [blocking reform]. It's not rocket science. Getting a man to the moon was rocket science and we did that."

For more on Marty's biography, positions and politics, visit his official campaign site.

My analysis

My favorite movie is "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Something about John Marty reminds of what the character of Sen. Jefferson Smith might have been like had he gone on to serve in the Senate for 20 more years. Still passionate, still righteous, but the "Boy Ranger" tag no longer applies and he is no longer a novelty. Marty is considered something of a gadfly by even some DFL colleagues and a boy scout for his refusal to accept PAC and lobbyist campaign contributions, something most legislators of both parties do. His dogged devotion to an ideal, robust government is admirable, but any observer knows our political system seldom delivers an "ideal" anything.

Marty's response about Iron Range economic development probably won't please some members of the local political caste, but it's my favorite of the responses I've heard so far. The next governor needs to have a strong and substantive commitment to Iron Range economic development, but also the wisdom to know that not all dollars spent are spent wisely.

Unlike candidates like Bakk, Entenza, Dayton and Thissen, Marty has been the DFL nominee. And DFLers know that he lost badly. However, 1994 was a long time ago and the guy who thumped him then, Arne Carlson, was a genuinely popular incumbent moderate Republican, a species that, to my knowledge, has since gone extinct in this state. Marty is who he is and doesn't have to prove himself on his campaign narrative. Marty is honoring the DFL endorsement, but we also know that the endorsed candidate could face Dayton in the primary and possibly Entenza under another scenario. The question with Marty becomes more about the DFL delegates and especially primary voters. What are they willing to do? Are they willing to test the state's blue trend with a pure progressive? Will funders support him with their dollars? They would have to because he's not taking PAC and lobbyist dollars.

Marty to the DFL base, thus, represents a "true believer" candidacy in which factors like the GOP and IP nominee and the state's political mood next November will matter a great deal. Though it occurs to me now that I've said that about virtually all the other candidates, too.

Summary: John Marty turned his 1994 defeat into a career as a legislative reformer who angers pols on both sides. His signature issue -- single-payer health care -- remains his alone and that could position him well among the DFL loyalists who determine the party endorsement. He's an unabashed liberal who's fighting to get out of the second division of this large pool of candidates. Beyond that, Marty's chances -- like everyone else's -- remain tied up in the unknown political mood of Autumn, 2010. A Wellstonian surge favors him. A moderate or conservative wave would quickly sink his chances.

UPDATE: This post has been modified to clarify the DFL endorsement situation.

Read this lede from yesterday's statewide AP story about education funding (Story link from WCCO). I read this in the Hibbing Daily Tribune.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- There's no band anymore at Nashwauk-Keewatin Schools. Art and music are history, too. Almost a quarter of the teachers were laid off to fix a deficit.

This state of affairs has prompted the topic of my column for this week. I will take some of the ideas about education funding, innovation and school consolidation I often discuss here and put them in front of the paper and ink readers of the newspaper. I'll be taking some chances with the local political structure. Tune in Sunday for more.

I'll be posting my interview and campaign analysis for DFL gubernatorial candidate John Marty at noon on Tuesday. I interviewed Sen. Marty last Wednesday but my crazy life has slowed the writing of the story. And then it dawned on me that I wasn't being paid for any of this. Anyway, my conversation with Marty was compelling and I'll have some interesting observations in this post. Tuesday at noon.

Mesabi Misadventures has a great take on the downsizing of the Hibbing Community College Theater program, offering the much needed perspective of someone from the community who has enjoyed the fantastic work done on the HCC stage these last few years. It's so easy for these discussions to become personal when administrators, staff and students are arguing with each other over jobs and budgets. It's further easy for political camps to scream at each other like they usually do. The truth, she explains, is hard. There isn't a magical solution to the budget situation that has put the college in this position but the implications of this debate in the Iron Range culture and community are deep.

Hey, I missed this. Apparently today Greenland begins limited self-governance, having been granted partial independence from Denmark. Find out more. Check out their cool new flag. Call the flag store, City of Chisholm.

(h/t TYWKIWDBI)

This is my column for today's edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. It would appear that a major family announcement for the Gosselins is slated for Monday, so this ended up being pretty topical.

The good life isn’t always cute
By Aaron J. Brown

Our twin boys are hitting age 2 soon and one thing is certain. Nobody asks us about “Jon and Kate Plus Eight” anymore. For the uninitiated, that’s the TLC show that follows around a family with a set of twins and sextuplets (get it … eight). If you weren’t familiar with the show before, you probably hear plenty now about the couple’s marital woes and family drama in the tabloids and entertainment shows.

A little more than a year ago I wrote about “Jon and Kate” in the context of our life with multiples. Back then I remarked on how so many people were always asking us if we watched the show.

“Oh, goodness gracious, can you imagine having eight of these little guys?” “They sure have their hands full,” “Oh, for cute,” and so on and so on. The comments rolled in from all manner of passers-by, each more insufferably well-intentioned than the last. Our busy family of three young boys reminded them of something they had seen on television, which is the conversation starter of our times.

Now, not so much. No one wants to say, “I was watching a dysfunctional family on some cable show the other day that totally reminded us of you guys.” Jon and Kate Gosselin are clearly going through some hard times that most people wouldn’t want to experience in front of millions of viewers. To tell the truth, this “season” I’ve been feeling guilty about watching the show at all, like it was surveillance footage of my angry neighbors as they approach a legal separation (NOTE: My actual neighbors are doing fine, are not angry and I do not spy on them). Increasingly the program seems dependent on contrived situations that involve several semi-famous people standing in between Jon and Kate, preventing any sort of unpleasant communication.

During the “Jon and Kate Plus Eight” heyday of, um, last year I guess, the show represented a sort of utopian vision of how modern life with a big family could be. The parents would be interesting and find ways to remain connected. The kids would be adorable and content. The stress would be bearable and nothing bad would ever really happen. To top it off, each year the family’s home would get bigger and their finances more secure even as no one ever went to a job outside the home. That, my friends, was a concept worthy of any major political campaign.

I’m not here to pile on the mounting criticism of Jon and Kate the couple, Jon and Kate as individuals, the show, the network or society. I feel like, in all that, I gave at the office. Or in my case, at the house. It’s stressful having a large young family. This has been true since the cavemen figured out how to keep those pink squiggly critters alive through infancy. These kids have needs. You have to feed them. You have to teach them how to be functional humans, or at least you should.

Then, as the modern age marches on there are just more and more things to worry about. Now it’s not enough to keep them alive and functional. They’ve got to be witty, too. Witty in an urbane sort of “Prairie Home Companion” way. You know, subtle. And also smart. And with large motor skills. And the hockey camps, swimming lessons and also your relationship must grow with changes.

That’s not easy for anyone, especially if you live life in the public eye. In that way TV is like Midas’ drunken, unstable brother Midos, whose touch poisons instead of turning to gold.

When I started this column I had intended for it to be cute. This isn’t very cute. But hey, life can still be good, even if not cute. Ours is.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Contact him or read more at his blog MinnesotaBrown.com. His book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” is out now.

The moves have been made and N-K and Greenway schools will be sharing a superintendent next year. Both of these Iron Range districts face massive long term debt and budget issues and this is just one part of what the ultimate solution might look like.

The Mesaba Co-op Park near Cherry holds its 80th annual Midsummer Festival starting tonight and running through this weekend.

My weekly essay on KAXE's Saturday morning call-in and music show "Between You and Me" will deal with the program's rotating topic of "swimming." Tune in between 10 a.m. and noon for one of northern Minnesota's most interesting cultural phenomena. My piece, which usually airs between 10:15 and 10:45, will focus on my inability to swim. Rather, I flail. As usual I spin this into a bit of wit and witticism worthy of any edition of Readers Digest.

You can tune in between 10 a.m. and noon Saturday on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota or stream the broadcast live anywhere in the world at www.kaxe.org.

Catherine Conlan of MinnPost offers this piece exploring the downsizing of the Hibbing Community College theater program. The story is a fair analysis of the factors at play here. This is the winnowing of Minnesota culture, especially greater Minnesota culture, caused by the state budget situation.

I work at HCC (to repeat, my blog is unaffiliated) and, as such, I'll just let outgoing director Mike Ricci's statement from the story say what I'm thinking:

"It's not always math and science that fills people's souls."

Lots of madcap antics on the East Range in today's Mesabi Daily News. A police car drove through the newspaper's lawn in pursuit of a suspect. Meantime, in Aurora, a reckless driver crashed his truck (on purpose) into a gas pump at the Lucky Seven. These things always happen in threes. I wonder what's next.

Minnesota's Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force is meeting in Grand Rapids today for a public forum about rural high speed internet. Stop by the Sawmill from 3-5 to share your thoughts.

And, for the record, "Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force" is the coolest committee name I've seen in awhile.

This (Thursday) morning I'll be appearing on a special panel discussion on the 91.7 KAXE Morning Show to discuss new media, journalism and bias in 21st century reporting. I'll be representing bias.

Ha Ha! Just kidding! (sort of)

Seriously though, northern Minnesota business reporter (and former newspaper editor colleague of mine) Beth Bily will be on the same panel as will the star blogger for MinnPost, David Brauer.

The segment is scheduled to begin at 8:10 a.m. and last a good long while. That's 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota or streaming online all over the world at www.kaxe.org. They have archives there as well if you miss it.

KAXE's parent organization, Northern Community Radio, started the Northern Community Internet project this year and has been a leader in new media development for northern Minnesota, indeed in all of rural America.

UPDATE: Thanks for all those who listened. David Brauer wasn't able to make the conversation, but Beth, Scott and I had an entertaining chat. You can hear it in the KAXE archives.

Word is that Thursday is going to be "Official Minnesota Supreme Court Decision Day" for our state's long enduring U.S. Senate recount battle.

I have an inside source who tells me the winner of our Senate seat will be ... Amelia Earhart.

NOOOOOOO!

OK, I still haven't decided if that's funny, but Politics and Minnesota says this is the RSS feed that would carry the decision up-to-the-minute.

Unallotment has come.

Yesterday, in a fiery press conference Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced his unilateral solution to the budget debate he was unwilling to negotiate during the legislative session. Yay, executive power! Good luck in '12, bub. But the outcome is devastating and the governor and his allies are unwilling to admit the role they've played in trying to turn Minnesota into a cold weather Mississippi.

“In just one day, Governor Pawlenty has done more damage to Minnesota than he has throughout his entire career,” said [House Speaker Margaret] Kelliher, a possible candidate for governor. “The deep cuts he proposes are one more rejection of the balanced approach of both cuts and revenue preferred by Minnesotans and passed by the Legislature.” (From MinnPost)

The governor is a pleasant fellow. I've met him and, on paper, I can follow his policy goals from point A to point B. But his perspective on the role of government is from another universe, a closed universe that doesn't reflect the Minnesota than most voters have supported over the last several decades.

Yes, since Gov. Pawlenty took office his policies have been rejected in three consecutive legislative elections. He got back into office with a slim plurality in 2006, but that's hardly a ringing endorsement of a strict interpretation of ultra-conservative fiscal policy when you balance it with the dozens of House seats lost by Republicans during the same period.

What Minnesotans seemed to be suggesting in their last three electoral choices is balance. Needed services funded. Efficiencies and budget cuts sought. Taxes made as fair as possible for all Minnesotans. What have we got? A governor unwilling to compromise with a democratically elected legislature, seemingly to advance his own narrow definition of the role of government. He's entitled to his opinion. I know some people who agree with him. I know more who don't. The governor is responsible for all Minnesotans -- including that majority that didn't vote for him or his policies in any of the last three elections.

Tuesday, friends of mine rallied on the Iron Range for the theater program at Hibbing Community College. (Photo: Hibbing Daily Tribune). The program's full time director is leaving and the college, because of unallotment cuts that are worse than the cuts they had already planned for, is not replacing him. This theater program might sound like a throw-away thing to many who live where there are plenty of theater options, but for the Iron Range HCC's theater represented a flagship of quality artistic expression. And it -- like advanced courses in most of our schools, care for our elderly and more -- are out the door not through negotiation, but through a decree.

For me and the many others who are trying to promote a better quality of life for the people of the Iron Range (or the people of any other forgotten corner of the diverse geography of Minnesota) these cuts aren't just bean counting, they seem personal. They will damage our communities for decades and possibly longer. They will retard our growth and prosperity while the wealthy parts of the state get another pass, again.

Minnesota is one state, where the shared fate of all our people unite us for a common, universal good. Or at least it was, and could be again.

It bears mentioning that Tony Sutton, the new Minnesota Republican Party chair, is originally from Hibbing, right in the heart of the Iron Range DFL bastion. The Hibbing Daily Tribune reminded me of this today. I'm embarrassed I didn't recall that detail on my own.

Though the Iron Range reliably produces 2-1 DFL majorities, it's not the uniformly DFL area that frustrated Republicans like to complain about. There are active Republican party units and a community of conservatives that have endured minority status for several generations. I think the real reason the Iron Range frustrates Republicans so much is that, demographically, it resembles what would otherwise be a swing district. Poor white males and older retirees represent huge constituencies and, in other parts of the state, they vote GOP much more often.

From the start of the "modern" Range in the 1890s until the 1930s the Iron Range was a Republican stronghold, heavily dominated by the mine bosses and businesspeople. Newspaper stories through the 1900s, '10s and '20s read like chamber of commerce talking points. When federal laws and increasing union strength started preventing "monitored" polling places at worksites the area began flipping over to the Farmer-Laborites and eventually the DFL. Since the end of "nonpartisan" legislature in the 1970s the core portions of the Iron Range have not elected a Republican lawmaker.

A while back I wrote a post about Iron Range politics that I later cleaned up and put in my book "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range." Meantime, congratulations to former Ranger Tony Sutton on his election to the chair of the opposition. He might be subject to rebuke here in the future, but not today. Or at least not before noon.

In the next week I'll be featuring more interviews with DFL Minnesota gubernatorial candidates. Today I'll be talking to State Sen. John Marty. That interview synopsis and analysis will be posted in a few days. In the next week or so I hope to be in touch with Susan Gaertner. I've done four interviews already -- Tom Bakk, Paul Thissen, Mark Dayton, Matt Entenza -- and yet I still haven't completed half of the potential field. What's that story about the guy with the rock, pushing the rock up the hill, but, like, it never gets there? Yeah. That one.

My format is only quasi-journalistic. The first portion of my post is a straight-forward profile in the words of the candidate. The second is a piece of analysis where I apply my own opinions, though delicately, offering my best take of where these candidates stand for the Iron Range and the state as a whole.

Because my blog is generally positioned as a center-left publication I haven't interviewed any Republicans yet, but would if they wanted to talk to me.

This is a great update and background piece on the rising waters of the Canisteo Mine Pit near the Iron Range town of Bovey. These waters have been rising since they stopped mining there in 1985 causing an increasingly unsafe and obviously wetter situation there. This story comes from Margaret A. Happoja and the Northern Community Internet project, a new media endeavor for which I have consulted and written. Officials are still wrangling over the details of how to mitigate the flood risk and release some of the water.

Two unrelated sources tell me some significant staff movements are occurring in Greenway Schools that will expedite the shared administration plan with Nashwauk-Keewatin Schools. Apparently, Greenway's superintendent and high school principal are leaving to take jobs in the nearby Grand Rapids School District. The N-K Board meets tonight and could make some important decisions that would share a superintendent and other administration between the two cash-strapped Iron Range districts. It's not a consolidation, at least not yet, but it is a step in the right direction for trimming administrative costs to save programs and courses for students.

My "confession" essay for last week's "Between You and Me" on 91.7 KAXE has been shared on the independent public station's website. If you missed the show, you can find out just why I can't go back to Burnsville, Minnesota. I'll be up with a new essay for this upcoming Saturday morning's "Between You and Me," this one about "swimming." I should have quite a spellwinder as I am a very weak swimmer and am bringing my four-year-old son to swim lessons this week. (Don't worry, it's not a "parents in the pool" class ... they have professionals on hand).

The online news site MinnPost is hosting a Twitter contest for alternative new names for the Minnesota Discovery Center (until last week, Ironworld). Tweet for honor. Tweet for prizes. Tweet to balance what I expect will be a healthy contingent of people making socialism jokes.

The Hibbing Daily Tribune published a final profile of my friend Mike Ricci today. Ricci is leaving the helm of the Hibbing Community College Theater program for North Hennepin Community College. HCC plans to continue doing theater in some form, but a group of students and community members are deeply disappointed that the full time director position is being eliminated. The long term implications for the area's theater community could be great.

This is my weekly column published yesterday in the Hibbing Daily Tribune. You'll recognize some of this from blog posts I've done in the past. In fact, as my column goes this is among the hodge-podgiest I've done in some time.

Minnesota: Still different or same dif? A big, big question
By Aaron J. Brown

Both Newsweek and Time made hay from a recent controversial quote by Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintour. In justifying a story about the perils of obesity in the fashion mag, Wintour said, “I’d just been on a trip to Minnesota, where I can only kindly describe most of the people I saw as little houses.”

I reacted to this quote the way a lot of Minnesotans probably would. I guffawed in anger. Then I went over to the mirror, looked away, sucked in my gut and looked back. “Well, what kind of house was she talking about, anyway? Maybe she meant small phone booths … like you used to see at airports.”

OK, so maybe Minnesotans aren’t as thin as the fashionable folks wandering the respectable streets of Manhattan or Paris. I am still left wondering which part of Minnesota was she looking at? There’s a big difference peering into the windows of an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant and an all-you-can-exercise gym. And all this got me thinking about what it means to be a Minnesotan. I am a Minnesotan, but I am also an Iron Ranger. I’m proud to be an American, but there are parts of America I view more like a foreign country – OK to visit but, geez, to live there? Uff-da. So what is it that makes up our identity?

I always think this way when I go on one of my rare excursions to the Twin Cities like I did last week. Ninety-nine percent of the time I am physically located on the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. However, much of that time is spent writing and doing work on the Internet, communicating with people on the Range but just as often with people from all over the country and sometimes the other side of the world. Because of this lifestyle, I feel heighted awareness of the outside world coupled with physical isolation from that world.

I drive the same section of 169 every day. Not much changes most of the time and yet the blinking warnings from my computer news updates accurately predicted the idling of Keewatin Taconite. This I notice on each drive, as the billows of steam from KeeTac remain furloughed. Yes, this grim reality remains. The Iron Range is separate, different from the rest.

Many of my fellow Rangers don’t have this problem because widespread Internet use has still only penetrated into about half the population here. This is a comfortable problem – no news is good news – but this fact also troubles me as we enter a new century that relies on new media.

Oh, but there’s already so much seriousness in the world. Here are some lighter observations from my Twin Cities trip presented in Q/A format:

How many beers does it take two co-workers sitting in front of us at the Twins game to start sweating a stinky 3.2 solution and bragging about who's better at whatever vague corporate thing they do? ANSWER: Five Bud Light Limes apiece (at $6.75 a pop!)

Where is Asia's Finest Restaurant? ANSWER: Until now I'd have said probably in Asia, but it's actually in a strip mall in White Bear Lake. That's right, it's real name is "Asia's Finest Restaurant." That's a specificity fail wrapped in a location fail.

Do they allow rummage sales on ritzy Summit Avenue in St. Paul? ANSWER: Apparently yes, but only if the goods are placed on by-God doilies. Our biggest regret on the trip was not stopping to see the prices. I wonder if the Pawlentys will have a sale of the mansion furniture as part of next year's budget solution?

Is Cities 97 still a good station to listen to? ANSWER: It's OK, but they now take their name very seriously. Most of what we heard on Cities 97 was also played in 1997. This was one of the first times we've ever gone FROM the Range TO the Cities and thought that we were going back in time. Clothes shopping yielded a similar sensation.

As time marches on, the differences between Rangers and Twin Cities residents fades ever so slightly. Our populations mingle and sometimes even mate. We are all united in one common feature. That fancy Vogue lady thinks we are all very, very fat.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Contact him or read more at MinnesotaBrown.com. His book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” is out now.

This Jon Tevlin column in the Sunday Star Tribune explains the effect of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's unallotment and Local Government Aid cuts on Pawlenty's hometown of South St. Paul. I have new affection for South St. Paul since my dad moved there. I've visited several times now and I always remark on how this working class inner ring suburb reminds me of the Iron Range. How strange it is then that Pawlenty -- a South St. Paulite -- and the Iron Range would develop such an antagonistic relationship. Well, Tevlin's column puts expresses this separation in numbers.

The city now has 20,000 fewer residents than it once did, meaning a shrinking tax base. Officials like to call the city's housing "affordable," which in South St. Paul's case means relatively old and cheap. Because the property tax base is so small, raising those taxes 1 percent would only bring an extra $65,000 for the city. To make up for the millions already lost and the cuts to come, the city would have to impose an eye-popping property tax increase.

Substitute "Iron Range cities" for "South St. Paul" and the same math applies to us up north. On paper Pawlenty's politics make sense. Put local governments in total control of their taxation and scale back the state's role. Fantastic. Except that local governments are not equal in their property value and only the state can use big picture models to properly and equally fund communities. The state bolstered rural and working class communities through the late 20th century ensuring that people like Gov. Pawlenty and myself got great local educations in welcoming blue collar communities. And today one of us -- the one of us who is governor -- is tearing down that system and telling places like South St. Paul, the Iron Range, farm country and more to just die. Just die already. Oh, and by the way, he wants to be President.

There are words used on the Iron Range to describe such people and tactics. These same words are probably used in South St. Paul. These words are not proper, but I shall imply them.

I'll be offering Iron Range commentary at 7:20 Monday morning on the 91.7 KAXE Morning Show. There seems to be a lot going on in our neck of the woods that matters to more than just the woodsfolk. Scott Hall previews the segment at the KAXE Blog.

Another fine post from Mesabi Misadventures. She writes personally and well about what it's like being a young professional working in an out-of-the-way place like the Iron Range. This week's topic: unemployment.

Many of you might know that I make light of how often the power supply to Iron Range towns, especially Hibbing, seems to be disrupted by squirrels vaporizing themselves in the transformers. Well, the west coast bureau of MinnesotaBrown has sent word of a similar squirrel-induced power outage in Los Angeles as reported by the L.A. Times.

My former neighbor Jack Lynch has a great column in today's Hibbing Daily Tribune. He's the only writer I know whose official byline reads "curmudgeon." I mentioned Jack briefly in my book. He's one of those timeless characters in Iron Range journalism. He even manages to drop a Billy Martin joke in this column about Ironworld's new name. I'm still warming up to the name Minnesota Discovery Center but I must admit that it's drawn its share of ink in local and state papers.

And if you enjoy highly rarified folksyness scroll over to today's Mesabi Daily News for an editorial backing downtown sandwich boards.

I'll be reporting on an important Iron Range economic indicator today: Keewatin citywide yard sales.

If a guy drives up on an ATV looking for furniture for his woodstove: good times.

If grandmas start fighting over onesies: bad times.

Both: normal.

The Iron Range's largest newspaper, perhaps not surprisingly, has reviewed the gubernatorial campaign strategy of State Sen. Tom Bakk(DFL-Cook) and likes what they see.

A couple of compelling letters to the editor ran in today's Hibbing Daily Tribune and relate to recent posts here. The first, penned by former Tribune editor Al Zdon, takes on Ironworld's new name. (My post on the topic). The second, arguing for the preservation of HCC Theater, is signed by several local theater people. (Again, my post). Both are worth a read.

Amid a 15 percent budget cut due to Gov. Tim Pawlenty's unilateral state budget unallotment, Hibbing Community College has announced plans to downsize its celebrated theater department. Because I work for HCC (in the communication department no less) I am dangerously close to the politics of this. As such I won't comment much on this specific issue on this, my non-work-related blog. It's up to the citizens of the Iron Range to fight for the arts and I hope they do.

I will say this. The budget situation is similarly bad at all of the community colleges in northern Minnesota even though enrollment has in many cases been rising by fairly significant margins (though not in all cases). Dislocated workers are pouring in the doors but the colleges are being told that they will have to do "more with less" -- the mantra of the Pawlentyites -- which just means less. "Why weren't you just born in a property tax wealthy community like us? Why'd you have to be rural? Why did your parents have to be poor and work with their hands?" And yes I know that Tim Pawlenty grew up in a working class family. That just makes his decision to embrace this unallotment catastrophe all the more disturbing. He put his political future ahead of thousands of students just like him when he was young.

Schools and colleges that do not prepare students to think beyond their vocational training are inadvertently training their students to be subject to the control of outside forces. The Iron Range has had enough of that, thank you.

And, please note, these are the views of me, the writer and political operative, and not those of any of my employers.

Tune in this Saturday morning for 91.7 KAXE's "Between You and Me," a call-in and music show featuring the voices and spirit of Northern Minnesota. As usual, I'll have an audio contribution. Each week features a new topic and Saturday's is among the more tantalizing: confessions. What are your secrets? Anonymous confessions will be accepted at talkback@kaxe.org or you can call in and share your confession ... you know, "between you and me."

The show airs Saturday between 10 a.m. and noon on 91.7 FM in the region or streaming online at www.kaxe.org all over the world. My essay explain why I am no longer welcome in Burnsville, Minnesota. My piece usually airs in the first half hour.

Tune in Saturday for "Between You and Me" with host Heidi Holtan and the people of Northern Minnesota.

Ironworld, the Iron Range's museum, historical library and event center, has changed its name to the Minnesota Discovery Center. While it's a foregone conclusion that resident Iron Rangers will continue to call it Ironworld until they are two weeks dead what are your thoughts about this name? The premise is they are trying to broaden their appeal to a wider network of members, visitors and events.

Oh, and by the by, your friendly neighborhood writerman was asked to pen the Range History synopsis for the new website. But that's the whole of my involvement in this.

Thoughts on the name?