This is my Sunday column for the Sept. 30, 2012 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece aired Saturday on "Between You and Me" on KAXE/KBXE Northern Community Radio.

New game, no rules
By Aaron J. Brown

One spring morning a few years ago the residents of the Brooklyn neighborhood in Hibbing woke up to see the words “Your Mom Smokes the Pole” spray painted on the warming shack at the ice rink.

I don’t know much about hockey, but I have to assume this defacement was some sort of hockey reference. It’s really a shame how uneducated our youth are these days. Even I know the frame of a hockey goal is often referred to as “the pipe” not “the pole.” What the kids really should have written was “Your Mom Pucks the Pipe.” Kids, get it right!

OK, so I’m kidding. Terrible graffiti. Very inappropriate. But when life hands you inappropriate lemons, you make inappropriate lemonade. Some friends of our used to live right behind the Brooklyn ice rink and playground and this event occurred just prior to a large annual party they always held. Several of us went down to the field to play catch and noticed the vandalism.

Don’t ask me how it happened, but somehow a volleyball ended up down on the field with us. We began kicking the ball around before someone let loose a booming shot off the warming shack, reminding us all of the unseemly message posted on the side. Naturally, we all enjoyed a good laugh over this wanton act of civic disobedience, which I must stress is very inappropriate and should not be condoned under any circumstances. Somebody had a bottle of the famous Slovenian plum liquor called slivovitz at the party. That surely could not have helped.

And in this moment, white-hot ethnic beverage fueled energy created a blend of kickball, dodge ball and cricket that we named after the unfortunate message on the wall of the warming shack. (To preserve what little good taste I have we shall call it YMSTP Ball here on).

It works like this. YMSTP involves lots of people but has no teams. Each individual player gets a turn “at bat” and in that moment everyone else is out to get them. The pitcher rolls the ball and they kick it. After that only two outcomes are possible. Either they get to the warming shack untouched or they are beaned or tagged with the ball by any of the other players. Everyone takes turns and when it gets dark and/or when the slivovitz runs out whoever has the most points is, well, I guess “the winner,” or something.

By now most sports fans have rendered their opinion on a botched call by the replacement referees in the final seconds of the Sept. 24, Monday Night Football game between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers. The event was so catastrophic that it even got famous union-buster Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to demand that the NFL deal with their union referees in good faith. We were one late hit on Aaron Rodgers from seeing Walker out on the picket line shouting “No justice, no peace!”

But there is a reason an entire country can show outrage over a football game (when they are seemingly unable to sustain anger over cuts to schools or ... well, anything not related to football). The reason is that people by and large understand the rules.

In YMSTP Ball the rules are ever-changing. The concept -- kicking a ball and running -- is simple enough, but it’s hard to argue about minute sub-sections of the rule book when there is no rule book and anything from wind conditions to a passing police car can change the rules.

Rules are important. But sometimes the play is even more important than the rules.

Aaron J. Brown is an author and college instructor on the Iron Range. He writes MinnesotaBrown.com and hosts 91.7 KAXE's Great Northern Radio Show on public stations. The next live broadcast will be Saturday, Oct. 20, from Eveleth.

We can't change the present or the future. We can only change the past, and we do it all the time.

That's Bob Dylan from his recent (print edition only) interview in Rolling Stone. That quote floored me, and further still I read it in an ESPN/Grantland Fantasy Football column by Chuck Klosterman. What?! What is going on?

When you're a kid nothing matters more than games and when you're older nothing matters more than understanding your childhood. Ergo, games are a big deal, which is why people later turn life into a game -- one that can be fun, incredibly boring or even dangerous. But as Dylan says we control less about the outcome of a game than we do the interpretation of that event afterward.

This Saturday morning on KAXE's "Between You and Me" the topic is "Games Afield." They'll be talking about unusual games, sports and activities off the beaten path. I'll be sharing a story about the genesis of a game some friends and I created a few years ago, during the slivovitz era of my life, inspired by graffiti painted on the wall of an Iron Range ice rink warming shack. I think you'll enjoy it, if only for the words I intend to find out if you can say on the radio.

You can hear "Between You and Me" from 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 KAXE on the Iron Range, 90.5 KBXE Bemidji, and 105.5 Brainerd. You may stream the recording or access the archives at www.kaxe.org. My essay is often shared in the first 20 minutes or so, depending on calls. I'll also be running an extended version of this piece as my Sunday column, so stay tuned for that.

And in continuing my audio series sharing past essays I've done, today I offer one I wrote last summer for the show on Title IX in sports. This goes back to another childhood story about a girl on our little league team who wanted to be a pitcher.



If the player doesn't work for you (and I'm finding that it often doesn't in Firefox), download the file directly here.

Since news a couple weeks ago that Essar Steel was slowing construction at its Nashwauk taconite plant site the company has been working hard to convey the notion that the slowdown is only temporary.

Today, the company announced that its first piece of mining equipment, the pictured drill, has arrived on site.

Essar Steel Minnesota is pleased to announce the receipt of an Atlas Copco Pit Viper 351 drill. The drill is the first piece of new mining equipment to arrive at the project site in Nashwauk, MN. The drill was assembled as parts arrived from the factory over the last week. The drill is now fully assembled and undergoing field testing.

According to Chief Mine Engineer William Everett, “We are very excited to begin field testing our new production drill from Atlas Copco. Operator training has already begun and we will begin using the drill for mining later this year. The deployment of this state of the art drill marks a new era in drilling productivity on the Iron Range”

It's always nice to see these things when they're shiny and brightly colored. They don't stay that way.

I saw this DNR map showing autumn foliage levels this morning.



I live in that darkest red splotch in the North. Here's what this looks like out behind MinnesotaBrown.com World Headquaters in Itasca County:



If you're planning a foliage tour in Northern Minnesota, this is THE weekend. The next heavy wind is going to take everything down, leaving behind trees like bony death fingers until early May.

In an unexpected turn today the Minnesota Supreme Court has ordered the name of DFL-endorsed candidate Erik Simonson onto the Nov. 7 House 7B ballot. Simonson was running a write-in campaign after State Rep. Kerry Gauthier dropped out of the race amid a personal scandal.

This order removes much of the election day confusion that awaited voters in the district and political watchers wondering which party might control the state legislature next year. It also turns a scenario that might have been a gift GOP pick-up back into the safe DFL district it was before.

(h/t Sen. Roger Reinert)

The United Steelworkers, representing about 3,000 Iron Range taconite miners, are set to endorse Rick Nolan in his bid to unseat Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN8). The endorsement is expected to occur during a "major announcement" planned by the Nolan campaign at 3:30 Wednesday at the Mineview in the Sky south of Virginia, Minnesota. The Steelworkers also represent other trade workers in the district, including some nurses and most paper mill workers.

Though the Steelworkers have historically kept a close relationship with the DFL party there were some factors this year that threw this endorsement into question. This summer, a Steelworkers union vote at Mesabi Nugget failed. Meantime, Cravaack has made serious attempts to reach out to the Range mining community. In the end, however, Steelworker support for Nolan bore out in local union meetings and tomorrow the district union is expected to back the DFLer in this closely-watched congressional race.

Today Cravaack has released a series of press releases touting his criticism of the Environmental Protection Agency over perceived threats to the mining industry, indicating that he will continue to press Nolan on long established environmental law.

Both campaigns have made some effort to branch out into non-mining issues. Nolan attacked the former pilot Cravaack over aviation and transportation issues during a press event last Sunday at the Duluth air show. And Cravaack's team released an item attacking Nolan on gun control, another staple negative issue in MN-8.

Local news, however, has been dominated by the mining conversation. The Steelworkers endorsement will help Nolan on the Iron Range, where Cravaack had previously been making gains. As I pointed out in the primary, the Steelworker endorsement of Tarryl Clark earned her unexpected, measurable results in portions of the Iron Range. It's not just a talking point; the Steelworkers still have a reasonably well organized political operation.

This is blog is, in my heart anyway, a thought experiment wrapped in the cloak of local politics. Quite a thing, local politics. Ultimately and alternatingly more redemptive and more cruel than the national business. Jeff Winkler penned a post for The Awl yesterday entitled "My Sister the Candidate." In this, a small town newspaper reporter interviews his own 22-year-old sister who is running for Clerk in the small Arkansas town where his family ran an unsuccessful, muckraking weekly newspaper.

The deadpan interview style and responses only augment the loony details in this town, which is not so different from a lot of the towns I have covered. Here's a taste, but please read the whole thing.

From what I understand, the City Clerk position is currently vacant. The City Treasurer/Water Commission secretary, Kristie Drymon, had been serving in that position. But she quit after our dad filed some complaints of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) violations and she was one of those charged by the county prosecutor.

Yeah, there was an issue with her not being able to keep up with the FOIA information, so she resigned her spot. But they hired an outside person, Sarah Setzer, and she’s doing it now. Ms. Setzer actually asked me the other day if she could pay me to type up the minutes.

Pay you to type up the minutes?!

Yeah, because she has issues typing.

Were the charges against Drymon the only sort of controversy surrounding the city clerk position?

Well, the thing is, as far as anyone knew, a week up to the time that I decided to run, there was no one else running. But a few days later, once the word got out that I was running, turns out there was another person, Marsha Hungate, who got a bunch of signatures from people on the City Council and their family members.

I was actually able to receive a copy of her petition. I guess she had one of the people in the police department, Alana, going around getting signatures for her. All her signatures, she got in the last two days [before they had to be filed with the county clerk].

Doesn’t Hungate have some other connection with the local police department?

Her son was fired for indiscretion from the police department.

Sexual indiscretion, right?

Right, among other things.

On Sunday I was on the LeftMN Radio Hour with Aaron Klemz and Tony Petranglo on AM950 in the Twin Cities. The topic was politics in Minnesota's Eighth Congressional District and mining issues in northern Minnesota. You can listen to the show below or here. My segment is at about the 9:30 mark.

There are many "proposed" projects bandied about in Iron Range economic talk. There is Essar Steel, a major project under construction. But in terms of new production and new jobs, Grand Rapids-based Magnetation, Inc., has done the most new hiring and new shoveling in the past year.

Magnetation processes iron ore once discarded as waste into iron pellets for making steel. Magnetation has ambitions to expand their business in coming years, including long range plans to actually reopen mining on old ore beds.

You might find it interesting to see what Magnetation's operations look like:



Those with an excavator/dump truck fetish may need some alone time.

I've written about Magnetation before. They continue to determine where they want to locate their new processing plant.

Maybe you'd like to better understand the media landscape on the Iron Range as it relates to the ongoing debate between supporters and opponents of proposed copper-nickel mines in the region?

Last week, opponents of the mining projects announced that a group would canoe from the BWCA to St. Paul using various waterways to protest the environmental risk of this form of mining. This was event was lightly reported around the state, mostly drawing attention in environmental circles.

It was intially ignored by the Mesabi Daily News, the largest daily paper on the Range and home to a voraciously pro-mining editorial stance. But it finally got front-page treatment this morning.

Headline: "Anti-copper/nickel canoeist effort had to change plans to launch near the Polymet site"

Apparently a group of about 50 pro-mining people showed up to make sure the canoeists didn't step on private property.

“We showed what can happen when we work together and finally have the courage to publicly push back on these types of groups. We need more of that from across the Range and from our leaders in Minnesota and Washington,” Lislegard said.

I must stress, this is a quote by a supporter of large, multi-national mining companies in opposition to half a dozen people in canoes. Welcome to Iron Range 2012, not to be confused with Iron Range 1912.

This is my Sunday column for the Sept. 23, 2012 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece aired on "Between You and Me" this weekend on 91.7 KAXE.

Autumn news from the North Country
By Aaron J. Brown

There's a chipmunk near where I wait for my boys to get off the bus every night. He doesn't like me much. But he sounds like a ticker tape machine from an old time newspaper movie, the kind where everyone is drunk but there's one guy who's much, much drunker so everyone is able to justify what is obviously a terrible way to run a newspaper. Anyway, "chit chit chit" says the chipmunk. The autumnal news is coming across the wires.

Leaves across the landscape are falling after the Planet Earth announced it would make its annual axis tilt away from the glowing yellow dwarf star known to insiders as The Sun. Signs had been pointing toward a big leaf spill-off with more than 80 percent of all leaves turning color in the past two weeks.

In other news many local residents believe they are mowing their lawns for the last time. Your annoying neighbor, however advises caution.

"In reality everyone thinks this is the last time now but there is really one more time in October where you have to mow the lawn even though you think you might not need to, but then you think you've got the gas and it'll just go bad in the can over the winter anyway. So, anyway...," your neighbor continued.

Now to politics. Today a major debate between two longtime foes took place near the basswood tree in the back yard. Dog, at the base of the tree, criticized Squirrel for being high all the time. Squirrel parried by insinuating that Dog rolls around in its own excrement.

DOG (voice over by stoic female translator): "You are not ... clean. You are bad. You are squirrel. Furry squirrel like angry pillow. I want to bite."

SQUIRREL (translated in thick Russian accent): Dog is example of corrupt system in which some like Dog are fed delicious food for doing nothing while hard-working squirrel just wants to collect acorn for winter.

After the debate, Squirrel threw an acorn at Dog before Dog chased Squirrel through a hole in the fence. Nonpartisan observers say the event represented an historic breakdown of civility in the food chain. Meantime, instant polls taken after the debate show that Dog has a higher approval rating, but that voters trust Squirrel more to handle their nuts.

In traffic news, Canadian geese are backed up along the horizon. Migratory birds are preparing their journey to South America. And snowbirds are buying polyester shorts off the clearance rack at Kmart.

Wait, this just in. We are receiving reports that deep frost set in early this morning. The backyard garden has been hit hard. We have with us now a green tomato that turned kind of a weird scarlet color at the top but doesn't look quite right. Mr. Tomato, what is going on?

TOMATO: "We're cold, that's what. Why's it gotta end like this? Why can't she a' put a tarp out on us? We coulda' made it three more week, maybe four. Now me and my family gotta move to the compost heap cause we can't stay here no more."

We have learned from the annoying neighbor that a weed whacker works well in removing dead garden produce. He's got one. A two-stroke. He adds, quote, "It works real good. Pretty good find at the L&M. They got a lot there, ya know. You ever go there? Ya? I go there lots a times." End quote.

That's all for now. Our planet continues to turn away from the life-giving heat of the sun, plunging us into long nights and bitter cold. But at least it's not so hot anymore. Good sleeping weather.

Aaron J. Brown is an author and college instructor from the Iron Range. He writes MinnesotaBrown.com and hosts 91.7 KAXE’s Great Northern Radio Show on public stations.

My recent post about Minnesota's 8th Congressional District got some attention around the state. If you missed it, here it is. The short version: GOP Rep. Chip Cravaack is bludgeoning former DFL Rep. Rick Nolan on the northern Minnesota mining issue, something Nolan has to counteract if he hopes to win.

Nonferrous mining is my "Hamlet" issue. I see both arguments and am paralyzed by the fact that they're both right and they're both wrong and this whole wasted decade of arguing about it will be the poison-tipped death of us all.

Case in point, a conservative group has made a huge ad buy hitting Nolan about permit delays because of an inadequate EIS at Polymet. But left unsaid is that Polymet proposes just 300 jobs, a tiny fraction of those lost on the Range in the last decade. Nevertheless, because of the possibility that those jobs could lead to an unknowable about of unpredictable future jobs, we will quite likely commit to a regional political agenda based on the framework of this flawed debate.

Here's what I said in a comment on the previous post:

...the projects are held up by a lack of parity between state and federal regulatory processes (something that is not so easy to fix), related to the fact that this is, in fact, a new form of mining in this area. Also, companies don't actually have the financing in place yet (because of the lack of permits scaring off investors). The permits could be expedited (I'd even bet they could be guaranteed) if the companies gave more financial assurance of their technology -- but that takes money which requires investors.

If you want new mining in northern Minnesota what really needs to happen is to allow these companies to test their lofty "environmentally-friendly" claims with financial assurance that they'll pay for any damage. A pilot mine with a big insurance policy would do the trick, but that's something that both environmental groups and the mines oppose and that both Cravaack and Nolan have yet to touch (no votes there). This idea would take a couple years. But so, too, will the inevitable coming litigation. In my scenario there is some mining. In one millions are spent on a legal process that leads perhaps nowhere.

Delayed gratification is a tricky political agenda. Many officials on the eastern Mesabi and Vermilion want mining now and will ally with any federal candidate who offers them the words they want to hear.

For example, on Friday Ely Major Roger Skraba and St. Louis County Commissioner Mike Forsman both endorsed Cravaack. Both of them were supporting DFLer Jeff Anderson in the primary. Skraba is an independent and supported Cravaack two years ago. But Forsman is a longtime DFLer and Ely-area elected official. He says he's splitting his ticket on this race. That is a clue that Cravaack has carved out something special in his Range strategy. I doubt this will be the last round of Range endorsements for Cravaack who, bear in mind, can all but bank on the endorsements of the conservative-leaning editorial pages of the region's two biggest newspapers, the Duluth News Tribune and Mesabi Daily News.

It's been said here in the comments that the debates in this race are vitally important. Boy howdy, are they ever. When are they? Here you go.


Nolan is pushing for a fourth Oct. 25 debate on the Iron Range, something Cravaack has tentatively agreed to do. Nolan is hedging a bit on the DNT/Duluth Chamber debate because of what happened there last time. I expect we'll get four debates and every one of them should be must-watch for those who follow this race.

I'll be on Left MN Radio Hour at 2 p.m. Sunday on AM 950 in the Twin Cities talking about this race.

This week I listened to the new Bob Dylan album "Tempest" front to back, first time I've done that with any album in a long time. It's a darker turn, playfully macabre with Dylan's best pure music among his recent albums. "Tempest" is enchantingly foreboding -- songs on aging past prime, a double murder-suicide, an 14-minute epic, moving masterpiece about the sinking of the Titanic. In other words, it's a perfect soundtrack for the closing weeks of the MN-8 campaign in Dylan's native congressional district.

By now you know that U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN8) is one of the nation's featured congressional incumbents, facing a strong challenge from former U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, the DFLer who emerged from last month's long slog primary. Cravaack, a nimble campaigner who upset Jim Oberstar in the Tea Party wave of 2010, has awaited the end of a long but ultimately tepid Democratic primary won by Nolan with more than $1 million in his war chest, which Cravaack is only now beginning to deploy.

Nolan has been quietly raising money since the primary and has, thus, remained less visible. He was bolstered by some polling three weeks ago showing Nolan with a narrow lead over Cravaack. Now he's rolling out his November strategy, starting with this biographical ad:



Cravaack will surely have ads out soon, too, but so far both campaigns have been eclipsed by outside groups digitally carpet-bombing a blue collar population that is just now realizing they live in a swing district. $1.1 million has already poured into the Eighth District, much of it in ads in the Twin Cities market. Some of those ads are being criticized as misleading, but I imagine the worst of that is yet to come.

This may finally emphasize the fact that this district is a great deal different than the strongly Democratic one that sent Jim Oberstar to Congress for 36 years. In fact, Oberstar sat for for a decade on a ticking time bomb of demographic change that finally blew up in 2010. Half the district is in an area that orients itself around the metro area, while the traditional northern half still orients around Duluth. That southern half is very similar to Minnesota's Sixth District, home of conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann, while the northern half is still strongly, though no longer heavily, Democratic.

That's not to say that the northern base of Minnesota's Eighth District is being written off by either side. In fact, the real story of this race is the shadow campaign to dilute the deep blue electoral map of the Mesabi Iron Range. This will eventually involve paid TV ads in Duluth, but right now a complicated kabuki theater production is going on over Iron Range mining issues that will certainly influence the outcome of the race.

It's all about mining. Let there be no mistake, this is the northern front.

Both Nolan and Cravaack support new mining projects near the eastern Iron Range. But, just as with the DFL primary and in local primaries, a complex meta-argument exists below the surface. To what degree are you willing to pledge your support for mining? Are you willing to do absolutely anything these companies ask? Or are there exceptions? Nolan has identified exceptions related to scaling back federal environmental regulations too far and for labor issues, such as mine safety and pay. Cravaack is using this opportunity to say that we have every reason to trust the companies and that those exceptions could doom the projects.

Let's follow the timeline:

For months, Rep. Cravaack, along with other pro-mining forces, have been trying to advance a federal land exchange. The land exchange, moving acres out of the Superior National Forest into a different land designation, one with different regulations that would allow mining of lands in exchange for taxes paid into Minnesota school funds.

Cravaack has sent out a lot of press releases on this, many including this notable House floor debate related to Iron Range area mining:



If you ever wonder why I call this stuff shadow theater, watch how Cravaack asks planned questions of Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN5) and then starts rebutting the response before Ellison finishes answering. The debate would turn Cravaack's way when ...

Wednesday, Sept. 12: Rep. Cravaack announces the passage of the federal land exchange. Political win: Cravaack.

Thursday, Sept. 13: Cravaack's campaign assails Nolan for saying nothing about what happened yesterday, insinuating that "silence is worth a thousand words."

“For someone seeking a seat in Congress, surely Mr. Nolan should have a position on the BWCA land exchange bill currently awaiting action in the Senate.  Not only is he AWOL, but is he even aware of the issue?  Does he even understand it?  It is not clear whether Mr. Nolan supports a fix to this School Trust issue, or if he has indeed sworn his allegiance to the environmental special interest groups opposing progress,” said Michael Bars, Cravaack’s Press Secretary.

Friday, Sept. 14: Nolan releases statement saying that he supports the federal land exchange but faults Cravaack for supporting amendments to the bill that removed money for local counties involved to pay costs.

"Local taxpayers will suffer and it is directly due to Chip Cravaack’s actions," said Nolan, who added that provisions protecting hunting, fishing and recreational use of the federal land were not assured.

Later that day Cravaack's office refuted that claim, saying that the money to the counties would not be changed but that language in the bill that would be considered an "earmark" was removed. This hair splitting continued, with footnotes. Nevertheless, Nolan took the Cravaack bait and probably paid for it. That's why...

Monday, Sept. 17: Nolan holds a press conference with local legislative and union leaders along with former congressional candidate Jeff Anderson. You'll recall that Anderson ran hard on mining issues in his campaign and, though he did not win, he handily carried the Iron Range. Anderson had criticized Nolan in the primary but was here today to explain that Nolan does support mining and will represent the issue well if elected.

“Chip Cravaack has had two years to get something done and he’s proven he’s good at having meetings, but we need someone who can do more than just that," said Anderson. "Cravaack and his cronies are trying to take our eyes off the ball with these false and misleading attacks. Rick Nolan does support our mining industry and he’s going to work hard to make sure projects like PolyMet, Twin Metals and our taconite industries take place.”

Tuesday, Sept. 18: Cravaack releases a video of one of his trackers interviewing Nolan at an event. They try to paint Nolan as "clueless on a vital issue" but, objectively, it seems like a poorly worded leading question that simply got a delayed response and then got cut off.

Underlying this puffy, overwrought exchange (one that, practically speaking, favored Cravaack) are a few truths:

1. Nonferrous mining remains very popular among residents of Iron Range precincts. No, not universally beloved; certainly despised among a large group of mostly DFL voters. But lots of pro-mining votes exist in both parties and among independents. 
2. Recent political history has shown that in the debate's current structure ("Jobs" vs. "The Environment") the candidate perceived as being more for "Jobs" has won more votes on the Range than the one supporting environmental restraint, except for the DFL endorsement contest. 
3. This debate is a screaming, white-knuckled, veins-popping-out-of-your-neck waste of time. Since both candidates support the minimum threshold of what the companies need to advance their project, the real issue is the slow speed of the federal regulatory process (something both candidates want to "speed up") and the impending, potentially years-long litigation coming from affected local residents and Ojibwe tribes, who will cite some legitimate land use concerns. If at any point the price of the minerals drops too far, the project would be canceled anyway.
4. The sabre-rattling absolutism of mining politics forged in recent years by Iron Range DFL leaders and power brokers has created the very pathway -- indeed, the four-lane bridge -- that allows DFL voters to cross over to Cravaack in this election. Nolan now has to try to close that bridge by using language that will surely turn off many in his DFL base. This is no easy task.

I must stress, the chances of Polymet and Twin Metals happening are probably identical no matter who wins this election. And those chances are only middling to fair, so long as the debate is locked up in such tom-foolery. Both pro-mining and anti-mining forces now believe they can get everything they want and give up nothing. And so, true leadership will not come from focus-tested press releases, but from some realistic dialogue with everyone involved. And there's a reason "realistic dialogue with everyone involved" does not appear on Nolan or Cravaack signs. It's a shit-ton of work and gets you no votes.

Since MN-8 is so new to being a swing district, its behavior in tight, high-spending elections is not predictable. Cravaack is sticking to a pro-mining script straight out of the Range's 1912 Republican tradition. Nolan is trying to preserve the DFL's 1975 Range coalition with talk of wages and health care. When this is settled, we will know the meaning of 2012. One thing I'd be comfortable predicting, however, is that Cravaack will perform far better than Mitt Romney or Kurt Bills in the 8th District. If President Obama carries the 8th by a little, Nolan could still lose. If Obama wins by a few points, Nolan has a chance.

Cravaack will keep trying to capitalize on mining. He's already probably snatched some former DFL votes that way. There were initial fears he could nab Steelworker local endorsements, but so far those appear to be breaking for Nolan (he easily won the backing of the local at Minorca recently, among the more conservative locals). That's good for Nolan as it might stop the bleeding on the Range.

Nolan, on the other hand, will try to emphasize the national Democratic strategy of tying Cravaack to the slash-heavy Paul Ryan budget. He'll also gladly point out when Cravaack defends Romney's foolish "47 percent statement." Those efforts tie Nolan more closely to the slight DFL index of the 8th, requiring a lot of faith in turnout and ticket support.

And so Chip Cravaack, the very Aristotlean concept of a conservative Republican congressman from a blue collar region, meets Rick Nolan, an energetic but long-in-the-tooth rally cry from Range DFL tradition. Everyone says it will be close and it will be very close. The filthy scrum of PAC money and deliberately misleading ads will harden voter sentiment. As it stands today, I'd say Cravaack has advantages and is the slight favorite. But these men -- both talented, but flawed, candidates -- will feel the tempest winds of the national election blow, while the earth shakes beneath them over local issues. The surest-footed candidate will be in Washington next year.

As a public radio guy I look to Ira Glass of "This American Life" much the way one of the puppets on the "Sprout" network must look to Big Bird of "Sesame Street. Yeah, we're in the same field. We even have the same parent organization (NPR/PBS). Yeah, we share some fundamental interests and skills. But, really, how could I (nameless after-hours Sprout puppet) ever hope to match the achievement and consistency of Glass (Big Bird)?

Well, Glass has answered that question for us. I've read this quote before but with it laid out in graphic form with Glass's voice this is even better:



I very much agree. Was the first episode of my new radio show very, very good? NPR good? Not really. It was pretty good for a local show; choppy for a national one. Subsequent shows have gotten better. Maybe we're knocking on the door of being good. But the only way you cross the finish line is by continuing the work. I very much feel that way about my writing. I wrote a lot of crappy columns over the past 10 years (and sometimes still do), each of them necessary to write ones that are good.

Stephen King says something similar in "On Writing." Writers write. Write and write. When you think you've written something good, tear it apart and write some more. Because almost no one is naturally good. Only through work, as with farming and mechanics.

(h/t Aaron Klemz)

On Sept. 5, the Duluth News Tribune hosted legislative forums on the Iron Range. You can see several forums involving mismatched candidates from various races in SD3 and SD6 here. But I am sharing the only one-on-one comparison in that day's activities: a debate between Rep. Carly Melin (DFL-Hibbing) and GOP challenger Roger Weber of rural Nashwauk.



House District 6A includes much of the old central Range seat previously held by Tony Sertich, before his ascent to the IRRRB commissionership, and David Tomassoni and Jerry Janezich before they moved to the Senate, respectively. Melin won the 2011 special election to replace Sertich.

The primary difference this election is that district now includes a large section of Iron Range (and some distinctly non Iron Range) precincts from Itasca County represented until now by State. Rep. Tom Anzelc. Melin should carry most of these towns but has to reintroduce herself to new constituents to be sure. Weber is from this area and will seek the upset.

Anzelc, a friend of mine, is running for re-election is an even more dramatically recomposed district 5B based around Grand Rapids. I've avoided discussing this race much because I manage Tom's campaign. Sometime later I'll try to write this one up because it, too, is quite a story -- among the top legislative races to watch in Minnesota.

When I get footage of a forum with Jason Metsa and Jesse Colangelo in House 6B, Tom Rukavina's former seat, I'll share that, too, as it will also be an interesting test of Iron Range political indexes in a changing climate.

Sometimes, when you really love a particular form of art, examples of that form from the time you found this love are elevated in your mind beyond any position this particular art deserves.

So it is for the movie "Tremors" and me.

In 1990 I was 10 and very much not allowed to see "Tremors." But as an 11 or 12-year-old with access to a VCR, Tremors grew to be a major hit among my peer group.

So, get this. There's this little town in the American desert southwest. It's nestled in a canyon. And every hundred years or so giant underground sand worms hatch and feed on anything moving on land. I could parse the details, but that's what you need to know. One of the characters, before he is eaten, dubs the creatures "graboids" and so they are called graboids.

Part of the movie's appeal to me, then and now, is the portrayal of a survivalist, gun-hording, anti-government couple played by the dad from Family Ties, Michael Gross, and country singer Reba McEntire. Gross returned to the role in future, much less accomplished Tremors sequels. This first one, however, starred Kevin Bacon in one of the most important roles to the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game.

One of the appeals of life on the Iron Range, a hard rock wilderness on top of a massive granite shelf, is that graboids could never, ever reach here.

Or could they?

I could go on and on, but perhaps you would instead enjoy this utterly deadpan four-page scientific explanation of graboids from the Discovery Channel's "How Stuff Works" page. I sure did.

Minnesota's U.S. Senate race hasn't drawn much attention this year. Incumbent U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has held large leads over Republican challenger State Rep. Kurt Bills in all major polls.

While Klobuchar is indeed likely to prevail in this contest, this morning's debate in Duluth -- one of the few scheduled debates in this campaign -- ought to be worth a watch.

For one thing, Klobuchar has found herself on many watch lists as a 2016 presidential or vice presidential candidate. How is she handling the perilous gift of success? For another, Bills badly needs a change in this race's dynamic -- which means he might deploy an aggressive approach to this morning's debate.

Thanks to our friends at The Uptake, I'll be sharing their live stream of the debate here at MinnesotaBrown. It starts at 8 a.m. and will be archived after that.

Bob Dylan is out with his latest new album "Tempest." The Duluth-born, Hibbing-raised poet-musician always draws a lot of attention with his work. The album has received generally strong reviews. My own impression is that "Tempest" seems a major achievement in music and songwriting -- more so than even his other recent work -- but that Dylan's road-weary voice is completely different than it was just 10 years ago. You get more of a Tom Waits sound than the playful troubadour you hear on his superb 1960s and '70s albums.

One of the singles off Tempest is "Duquesne Whistle," which unless I'm mistaken was covered last Saturday by Garrison and gang on "A Prairie Home Companion," showing how quickly Dylan's work influences the music world.

"The Tempest," of course, was the name of Shakespeare's final play and many now speculate this was a playful way for Dylan to name his latest album. Is this is his last album? Or is Dylan merely estimating that he's 71 now and perhaps that's merely a statistical possibility? In any event Amazon is offering downloads of "Tempest" and most other Bob Dylan MP3 albums for $5. So you can get the new one or one of his earlier ones. Normally I don't "sell stuff" here (except for my book ... buy my book) but I thought this would be of interest to some of you.

The $5 Dylan albums deal is for a limited time, so IF this interests you toddle on over.

This is my Sunday column for the Sept. 16, 2012 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. This is revised from a version of this piece that ran on KAXE's "Between You and Me" in 2010.

Look at my teeth! I am happy!
By Aaron J. Brown

How much time do you spend pretending to be happy? I’d argue the degree to which your job involves physical labor directly affects your answer.

If you lubricate machines that crush things weighed in the tons, of if you toss around giant Super Mario pipes, no one minds if you sport a frowny face. Dopey smiles in these trades are distrusted and for good reason. Smiling always accompanies something bad, like layoffs or new policies directed toward you specifically.

For an increasing number of us, however, “work” is being replaced by “workshops.” You know, planning meetings, training and typing. In this bold new world scowls are not welcome. Sport enough frowns and they’ll say you’ve got an attitude problem. You’ll get written up as though you drove a forklift into a portable toilet at the warehouse.

I like to think I work hard, but that work involves keystrokes, handshakes and talking. I put more physical energy into shifting gears on my minivan. Oh, wait. Sometimes I stand up for a long time. There’s more to it, but I won’t bore you.

I now realize I spend most of my days smiling like a guy who sells vacuums to people who don’t leave their houses. What I’m talking about is *a* smile, but not my *actual* smile. My dad wore work boots and work clothes when I was a kid. I wear a work smile.

The work smile involves a *deliberate* contraction of cheek muscles. Instead of *feeling* a natural smile, because you’re so dang happy, this is really more a strategic deployment of teeth.

Sometimes I imagine there’s a catch up by my ear, sort of like what you see on gas pumps. You set the nozzle so you can squeegee your windshield while the pump runs. I lock the smile while people say hello, ask me questions and tell me stories. My work smile is pretty good, overall – highly believable. You just have to make sure you release the catch when someone changes the topic to the plight of an ailing relative or the horrors of a recent national tragedy. Pitwang! Work smile becomes empathy face. This may or may not accompany actual empathy.

Sometimes when I believe myself to be alone in my office I might make an involuntary scowl while reading something. Every once in a while one of the women down the hall calls out, “Don’t be frowning at your computer now, it’s not that bad!” Ha ha! I say. Work smile. You have a great smile, the dentist tells me. I give him my work smile. He gives me his work smile. This is how our economy operates.

I teach, write and do community work. Those who don’t understand “work smiles” often malign teachers, reporters and politicians. Throw in lawyers and car dealers for that matter. Yes, work smiles are artificial, indeed fake to their core. But work smiles are better to look at than frowns and they make people *seem* happy. Research shows that emotions are contagious. Happy looking people make those around them feel better and look happier, too. That all spreads.

Happy people get promotions. Happy people get jobs. Who cares if they’re actually happy? They look happy and that’s a start. Maybe they’ll get happy later? Who knows? It’s a goal.

Happiness is a state of mind. A smile is a deed. Good deeds bring about a better state of mind. Smiling is hard work these days. But it’s good work, if you can get it. [INSERT WORK SMILE HERE]

Aaron J. Brown is an author and college instructor from the Iron Range. He writes MinnesotaBrown.com and hosts 91.7 KAXE’s Great Northern Radio Show on public stations.

So I went and did it. I downloaded “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jespen.

Sure, I’m late to the party. The song peaked in popularity months ago with the downright literary refrain:

“Hey, I just met you
and this is crazy,
but here’s my number,
so call me maybe.” 

I actually listened to the Cookie Monster parody before I ever listened to the original all the way through. Both are equally good. I don't know what that means!

This song is a ear worm, an enduring tune that fixes to our brain’s desire for order and rhythm. It’s not the lyrics that make it appealing, it’s the package. Such is the nature of pop songs, the art of which are often overlooked because of how mind-numbingly stupid the lyrics usually are. And I have to give Jespen a lot of credit: her lyrics are tolerable. Those are the best pop songs, as Michael Jackson’s catalog would attest.

Anyway, I'm on with a contribution to "Between You and Me" this Saturday morning talking about how songs get in our head, motivate us and help mark moments in our life. My piece is about theme songs ... for life.

The show airs 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 KAXE (89.9 Brainerd) and 90.5 KBXE Bemidji in northern Minnesota and streaming worldwide at www.kaxe.org. My commentary is often in the first half hour.

And in keeping with my new occasional audio feature, you might enjoy this recent piece which I wrote for the show about "rescue stories." I've often told the story of the frogs that lived near the family-owned Iron Range junkyard where I grew up, in presentations and in my book, but now I've been experimenting with some new editing software and "This American Life"-style pacing.



If the player doesn't work for you, download the file directly here.

One-hundred and five years ago this month the first major labor strike on the Mesabi Iron Range was busted by company strikebreakers. Finnish labor leaders were blacklisted from working in the mines.

As a great-grandson of Finns (and Norwegians, Swedes and Cornish mining stock), I sit out here typing on a computer in the woods of a one-time Finnish enclave where the blacklisted miners farmed and logged their way through those dark years. One of the things I've been writing about is the labor talks that have led to miners keeping a pension, upper middle class wages and health care coverage.

So we've come a long way. Let's take a moment to remember those folks that were working without a net in 1907 and in the subsequent strikes and labor battles that would simmer throughout the 20th century.

A crew painting lines in Gnesen Township near Duluth painted over a dead raccoon. The DNT has the story and, of course, the photograph, which I will refrain from stealing.

This is good because it lets everyone from the Mississippi River to the Apostle Islands talk about something other than the strife in the Middle East or their feelings today. That raccoon did not die in vain.

Iron Range native Joel Maturi's stint as athletic director at the University of Minnesota got mixed reviews, but it was no small feat for a Chisholm kid from an area so devoted to athletics to rise to the pinnacle of the state's most storied athletic program. Though Maturi has stepped down as athletic director, this Rick Weegman story in yesterday's Duluth News Tribune revealed something I never knew.

Joel Maturi coached the late comedian Chris Farley when he was a nose tackle at a high school in Wisconsin. Farley based his famous motivational speaker character, Matt Foley, at least in part on Maturi.

You might have the iconic Matt Foley Saturday Night Live sketches in your mind, but here is something I found on YouTube. Farley, as Matt Foley, does a stint on an early episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien:



Yeah, I guess I can spot an element of Iron Range coaching style in ol' Matt Foley.

The movie event of the year, according to me:




Steven Spielberg directs. The script is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's fantastic book "Team of Rivals." The best method actor of our times, Daniel Day Lewis, plays Lincoln. I spotted at least three guys in the trailer who could have played Lincoln, too.

I edited the Hibbing Daily Tribune during its last years as an afternoon newspaper in the early 2000s. We had been experimenting with ways to keep that format alive by running earlier deadlines so we could "be on the stands by lunch." You know, so all the workers out on their breaks would pour quarters into the machines and people heading out to afternoon shift would have it before they left the house. I don't know what that proved. We also had to put our content online earlier and so people just read it there and cancelled their subscriptions.

But this is to introduce the fact that on Sept. 11, 2001 shortly after 8 a.m. CST we were almost done with the paper. I was in final edits on the front and jump pages while many other pages were already plated, waiting for the truck to the printing plant.

First plane hits the World Trade Center, redo a quarter of the front. Second plane, tear down the front. Third plane hits the Pentagon, tear down the paper, throw out the old plates. We'd be late. Fourth plane, where? Pittsburgh? Near Pittsburgh? Some field somewhere. Double printing. Wire photo. Wire photo. Wire photo. The radio blaring. No windows. No TV. We'd see the TV later, and how.

I've written about 9/11 before. I still believe what I said last year. I still think this about the killing of Osama bin Laden. Say a prayer for those hurting today. All you can do.

Today the Hibbing Daily Tribune is a morning paper. People read their papers in the morning. By lunch those papers are full of McMuffin fingerprints and, anyway, people read even more online than before. We're still in Afghanistan trying to fix the global mess that led to 9/11. The Onion has it best. So much progress. So much repetition. That's history in a nutshell.

An Essar Steel official has contacted me to clarify that work at the company's new taconite plant near Nashwauk has not stopped. About 100 contractors remain on site in some capacity (I hear electricians and excavators), along with about 100 employees working on other aspects of the project.

So Essar is not "shutting down" its project, it is "slowing down." The reasons are indeed related to the India-based global company's decision to redirect its capital funds around the world, but the company continues to maintain that it will be in production late next year.

My earlier assumption was based on the outflow of contractors from the area, some who had confided that they didn't know when they would be called back. That might be true, but Essar is saying they will be called back on some kind of schedule.

This Aug. 22 press release shows why news of a slow down was surprising:

Essar Steel Minnesota is pleased to announce that several significant project milestones have been achieved in recent weeks including:

• secured project financing of $1.1 billion for the initial capacity of 4.1 million tons per year of pellets
• invested over $600 million into the project
• Itasca County and City of Nashwauk achieved 100% completion of rail, gas, water, sewer and road improvements
• Minnesota Power and City of Nashwauk achieved 75% completion of power substationsinitiated the ESML branch of “Essar Foundation” to administer donations and provide other types of assistance to local non-profit organization

According to President and CEO, Mr. Madhu Vuppuluri…”we are very excited to have financing for the initial stage of production fully in hand with financing for the incremental increase in pelletizing capacity in the advanced stage. We are equally excited to be making an enormous contribution to the local economy with the project construction and to the communities surrounding the project by establishing the ESML branch of the Essar Foundation. I would like to thank all our partners in the project that include the IRR, DEED, Itasca County, NPUC, Minnesota Power, and Northern Natural Gas and most importantly the City of Nashwauk for hosting the project. With everyone’s continued focus and support, I am confident we can achieve our goals with great success!”

• reached 500,000 construction hours with excellent safety and environmental performance
• achieved 50% completion mark for the project engineering, procurement and construction
• reached 100 permanent and part-time employees
• completed the environmental permitting process to increase capacity to 7.0 million tons per year of pellets
• began receiving major pieces of equipment
• began erecting structural steel at the mining, crushing/concentrating and pelletizing areas

According to Chief of Projects, Steve Rutherford…“I am extremely proud of our Essar employees and Contractors for their continued efforts to “raise the bar” in safety, engineering, procurement, and construction practices. Together, we will make history by completing this project safely, on budget and on schedule.”

One of my biggest goals (and struggles) is balancing my desires to work, write and keep projects like this blog going with my need to be a good husband and dad. So excuse me if I take a moment to remark that after a week of limited kindergarten all three of my guys got on the bus this morning to go to school. The house is quiet, and I don't feel like talking about politics or mining any more today.

I am half tempted to finish the taconite plant Doug has been building out of LEGO blocks, though. He's a little farther along than some other notable projects.

(This photo is from last week on kindergarten orientation day).

I'll try to pass along news of northern Minnesota legislative forums as I see them. Unlike federal election debates, where candidates are usually fairly polished, legislative debates are often loads of madcap fun. Unfortunately almost no one sees them. They're like indy bands. Anyway, you should catch some of these and huzzah to anyone who can record them and get them online.

The Duluth News Tribune is hosting a series of Iron Range area debates on Wednesday. They'll take place in the Iroquois Room of the Mountain Iron Community Center, 8586 Enterprise Drive South, and the public is invited. Some of the candidates can't make it, so they're pairing their opponents in some sort of exhibition. Why not?

Here’s Wednesday’s lineup:

10 a.m. — From Senate District 6, Sen. Dave Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, and Republican Brandon Anderson of Chisholm; and from Senate District 3, Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Tower, and Republican Jennifer Havlick of Two Harbors

10:45 a.m. — From House District 3A, DFLer Jim Tuomala of Babbitt; and from House District 6B, DFLer Jason Metsa of Virginia

11:30 a.m. — From House District 6A, Rep. Carly Melin, DFL-Hibbing, and Republican Roger Weber of Nashwauk

I don't know if the DNT planned this but they've set this bill up exactly like a good prizefight, in order of which events will probably be the most interesting.

Jesse Colangelo, the Republican in 6B, and Rep. David Dill, the DFLer in 3A, can't be there because of conflicts. The first Metsa/Colangelo debate ought to be good. And I'll be passing along word of the SD5/HD5A and 5B debates here on the western Mesabi and Lakes Country. These three races are all highly competitive and feature quality candidates. (Disclosure: I manage one of the campaigns in this area, for State. Rep. Tom Anzelc of 5B).

This is my Sunday column for the Sept. 9, 2012 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune.

Conventional wisdom
By Aaron J. Brown

The two major parties just wrapped up their national conventions: the Republicans in Tampa, Florida; the Democrats in Charlotte, North Carolina. Now President Obama and Gov. Romney begin the sprint to Nov. 6, which is funny because it’s not really a sprint.

With the non-stop campaigning of our times Romney and Obama are really just gutting out the last mile of a marathon. Unlike a real marathon, however, in this scenario the runners are smiling and waving, while the audience is left glassy eyed, drenched in sweat, bleeding out our nipples because of chaffing.

But the conventions are a good reminder of the art of politics, the concrete skills that the best leaders have possessed throughout human history. Specifically, conventions are about speeches.

I’m biased because I teach and practice public speaking for a living, but there’s nothing more telling than a speech. You have to prepare, you have to adjust your preparations, and you have to deliver. Not everybody is good at it. Sometimes when you put a bunch of people together who are good at it, you realize that they’re really just good at modeling formulaic traits of good public speakers. Every once in a while you see a great speech. Some speakers are just naturally great.

This year was unusual in that both candidates were overshadowed by other speeches in their conventions: Obama by former President Bill Clinton and Romney by Clint Eastwood talking to a chair. That doesn’t normally happen.

But that brings me to the other thing I love about conventions. Even though they are highly scripted and orchestrated, speakers must contend with variables, not least of which are the several thousand delegates who each believe themselves to be very, very important.

I’ve actually been a delegate for a state party convention and have had friends serve as delegates for the other side. Republican or Democrat, certain elements always enter the picture. First of all, to be a delegate you have to spend several evenings or Saturdays attending local party gatherings, convincing the people around you that you believe the same things they do, only more. You have to scream a lot to be a delegate. That’s required.

After that you have to travel at your own expense to a place that was selected for the convention not because it is the most attractive, interesting place to hold a convention, but because the people who live near there are the most confused about how to vote. Perhaps 2,500 people wearing barbershop quartet hats will help them decide? Surely, it could not hurt.

Conventions used to be important political stories because they outcome was not assured. In fact, many U.S. party conventions have nominated candidates who had no idea they’d be running for president. President James Garfield, for instance, loudly begged delegates not to nominate him before being muzzled by nearby Republican bosses. Shortly after being elected he was shot in a train station. Point is, these things didn’t always end with balloons and Bruce Springsteen songs.

Today, as we saw these last two weeks, conventions are really more important as campaign marketing events. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t get rid of them or turn the cameras away. There’s a big difference between a 30-second TV ad and a 15-minute speech. Good speeches not only acknowledge the power of emotion in persuasion, they also inform. If you take time to watch or read the major convention speeches you will see the point of view from which candidates and parties emerge. In this, conventions remain historically significant.

Though it truly is high time for some better hats and less screaming. All those in favor, say aye.

Aaron J. Brown is an author and college instructor from the Iron Range. He writes MinnesotaBrown.com and hosts 91.7 KAXE's Great Northern Radio Show on public stations, with a live show Oct. 20 in Eveleth.

Duluth assistant fire chief Erik Simonson, who had a bad news week, nevertheless emerged with the DFL endorsement at today's convention in west Duluth. He narrowly achieved the 60 percent necessary to defeat Julene Boe in one ballot at the lightly-attended contest.

Simonson has already been organizing his write-in campaign to replace outgoing Rep. Kerry Gauthier (DFL-Duluth) who last month was ensnared in a sex scandal. Republican Travis Silvers is already on the ballot in this heavily DFL district, giving GOPers hopes of snaring an unexpected victory amid confusion over write-in votes. Duluth city councilor Jay Fosle is also running a write-in campaign as an independent.

Boe was a late entrant in the contest. Local activist Dan Fanning was also considered a strong candidate for the endorsement, but opted not to run.

Essar Steel is slowing construction of its new taconite plant north of Nashwauk on Minnesota's Iron Range. The India-based global industrial giant announced a two-week shut down related to global steel and taconite prices, according to company spokespeople in local media. Rumors of odd supply chain delays at the site were rampant around the area (I live very near this site).

The company says it will resume construction and stay on its production schedule of next year. The mayor of Nashwauk believes everything is fine. Nevertheless there are many odd red flags.

Just two weeks ago company officials held a tour of the construction site with local legislators and the media. No indication that anything was wrong was given, despite numerous pointed questions about the timeline. The company didn't ask for anything. Now, there are market-based delays and while a vast amount of dirt work and infrastructure are in place (paid for in the 2008 state bonding bill funds and some IRRRB loans), the walls of the plant are not yet built.

In October, about $6 million in IRRRB loans to Essar will come due. But if the company has frozen slowed the construction site, will they still pay on time? Many anxious Range leaders and a community desperate for new jobs hope so.

With the near completion of labor deals at the Range's existing six mines, deals that have largely satisfied the workers, an interesting game of international economics and wheeling-dealing seems afoot. American companies are trenching in for a long run at the global steel market, while Essar is exploring options all over the world. What's next for Essar's first American mine?

We'll see, perhaps in two weeks.

UPDATE: I've edited this post to clarify the headline. The project has "slowed down," not "shut down," according to Essar officials. The site is not frozen; rather some contractors are still working on electrical and excavation tasks. Here's an update.

ArcelorMittal and the United Steelworkers have reached a tentative contract agreement that applies to the workers at the Minorca Mine on the Mesabi Iron Range. Subject to member ratification, the deal appears to preserve most of what the union wanted.

Last week U.S. Steel settled with the Steelworkers and what I've heard so far is that the deal was favorable to new and long-serving employees.

The third major mining company on the Range, Cliffs Natural Resources, rescheduled talks with the union until early October, but with deals in place at other mines an quick agreement is likely.

Not all the mining news on the Range is good (more on that here), but this is an encouraging sign for the iron mines already in operation.

It's time to check in with the Minnesota House 7B race in West Duluth. For a time it seemed that the rest stop sex scandal that claimed the candidacy of the incumbent had abated. It was to be just another typical election. You know, an historically unprecedented multiple write-in candidate affair involving a Republican and the withdrawn DFLer on the printed ballot. Yawn, right?

Well, this week the Duluth News Tribune poured some gas on the embers with a bombshell interview with the adult daughter of one of the highest profile write-in candidates, DFLer and Duluth assistant fire chief Erik Simonson. Simonson's daughter from his first marriage said Simonson was not involved in her life, though he did pay child support. The story is littered with sad images of a broken family.

So people ask, was this story fair? Is this just a family issue spilled out into public life? Does this affect Simonson's candidacy?

I don't know. It's unknowable. This race is just stone cold crazy. Simonson had been establishing himself as the favorite of many DFLers to succeed Rep. Kerry Gauthier. The other high profile write-in candidate, Duluth city councilor Jay Fosle, has now identified himself as a pure independent. Fosle's alliance with conservatives on the Duluth council means that he will probably draw both DFL and GOP votes.

On Saturday the Duluth DFL will hold a convention to endorse a candidate. Simonson has announced that he will abide by this endorsement. So will another DFLer emerge from Simonson's terrible news week to snatch the endorsement? Maybe.

The top prospect seems to be Daniel Fanning, a former DFL congressional candidate, Iraq war veteran and former Al Franken staffer. Fanning told the DNT and others that he is considering a run, but has not made a decision. I would expect him to announce a decision prior to Saturday's convention.

Fanning would also be a star candidate, so long as he and Simonson both abide by the endorsement. The real variable is who shows up to the convention Saturday from among the previously elected delegates.

Waiting in the wings is Republican Travis Silvers. Silvers was to be an "also ran" in this race, but the 32-year-old is now sitting on a real opportunity to win amid the confusion here. I've only seem him through news reports on TV. My first impression is that he has yet to seize this opportunity.

I'll be watching. But I won't be predicting. Anyone who does is a fool.

Struggles at a Mt. Iron solar panel manufacturer have the attention of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I've heard that other media organizations are also sniffing around after Silicon Energy has missed two payments on its IRRRB loan. While solar energy is a good thing and jobs are a good thing, increasingly this deal is looking like not such a good thing, after all.

If the worst happens, this becomes yet another Iron Range economic development / political insider parable for what's wrong with our strategy in northern Minnesota. Get away from the pay to play nonsense and work on generating lasting strength in our communities.

We know that U.S. Steel and the Steelworkers have a labor deal. Cliffs Natural Resources and the Steelworkers have a temporary deal while they resolve final disagreements. These two companies control the largest mines on the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. But a deal between ArcelorMittal and the Steelworkers appears to be farther behind the others.

ArcelorMittal owns and operates the Minorca Mine north of Virginia (formerly Inland Steel). This is one of the smaller mines on the Range, but produces a taconite largely for the domestic steel market. The union has presented an offer and expects a response this morning during another negotiating session.

Yesterday, Steelworkers at Minorca held a "practice" picket, demonstrating their willingness to strike if a deal is not found.

A while back I stopped posting promos for my appearances on "Between You and Me." It was hard to make the sentiment "Listen to me! Take interest in my work!" compelling in the blog format, which already implies so much of that. But that doesn't mean I've stopped writing and producing for this unique public radio program. In fact, I'm having more fun with it than ever. So now I'm going to share past essays from Between You and Me and other KAXE programs here at MinnesotaBrown with this occasional audio feature.

Every once in a while I take the format of public radio commentary and turn it into an opportunity for a radio sketch. During a July 2012 program with the theme "superstitions," I ran with the premise of an overly exuberant owner of a shop that specializes in ladder rental and salt distribution recording a radio ad. What could go wrong?



If you don't have Flash, you can direct download or listen to the essay here.

You can hear me on "Between You and Me" most every Saturday morning. The show airs 10 a.m. to noon on Northern Community Radio, KAXE and KBXE. I also produce and host the seasonal Great Northern Radio Show with our next broadcast happening on Oct. 20 from Eveleth.

MPR reporters Stephanie Hemphill and Catherine Winter have produced a documentary telling the story of the first women who worked at the taconite plants of the Mesabi Iron Range. Though many have an impression of this story, aided in part by the Nikki Caro-directed film "North Country" starring Charlize Theron, the actual story has a deeper, more tragic and possibly more heroic quality to it.

The mines are now safe places for women to work, but by no means has the issue of gender equity and respect gone away on the Iron Range. Work continues, lead as always by courageous women, long the glue that holds together Range society (for less pay and, often, little fanfare).

A while back I had mentioned that a couple of young stars from our Great Northern Radio Show were competing in a big talent show at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids. Well, I'm happy to report that our two talents Sonny Johnson and Iris Kolodji did, in fact, win first and second prizes, respectively, in the show.

Sonny will open for Roy Clark at the Reif Center on Sept. 22.

Here's Sonny's winning song, "Round the Bend," which he debuted at our June show in Brainerd:



The Grand Rapids Herald-Review interviewed Sonny about his big win. Keep an eye on this guy, he's got real star power. He's at Bemidji State in his hometown this year but I don't think Bemidji can hold him for long. We hope to have him back on the show a few more times before he's in New York or L.A.

Meantime, Iris has already written some fun Iron Range-themed music for our Oct. 20 Great Northern Radio Show in Eveleth. She's studying to be a music teacher at the U of M, but she's another unique talent to watch from right here in northern Minnesota. We're live from the Broadman Theatre at Eveleth-Gilbert High School that Saturday evening. We've got both kinds of music in that show, Finnish and Slovenian.

OK, we have even more than that, too. Follow KAXE for news on the show.

U.S. Steel has a tentative agreement with leaders of the United Steelworkers. Local unions at U.S. Steel's MinnTac and Keewatin Taconite plants will have to ratify the three-year deal. Cliffs and ArcelorMittal have yet to settle with the Steelworkers, but the U.S. Steel deal suggests the others will follow with similar deals this week. Details of the contract will emerge once the locals get a look at the deal.

This is my Sunday column for the Sept. 2, 2012 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece aired on KAXE's "Between You and Me" a week ago.

And there goes the big yellow bus
By Aaron J. Brown

In a couple days all three of our boys will get on the school bus and ride off somewhere, presumably school, for an entire day, and the next, and the next, and they will return to us some version of what they will become in the future.

Every parent goes through something like this, but it’s a double whammy for us. Our youngest boys are twins. Their older brother is only two years older than them. We’ve been in the center of an intense, dull roar for just long enough to get used to it. Now we face the frightening prospect of a quiet house.

I work from home half time and Christina runs a home based business, so the lines between work and home are not lines so much as ingredients in a life soup that’s been simmering for half a decade. Friends from our past call or visit and we stare at them, like living snapshots, tell them we are fine because we are, or think we are. No, we have not seen any concerts or plays but we keep meaning to. We hope to. We plan to. And maybe we will, but we haven’t.

We relate to other parents, but they live in town and who has time for all that extra driving. Inviting people out makes the townies feel like they’re driving out to the Overlook from “The Shining.” Driving into town means having to leave early and dodge deer. We’ll deal with this when the kids know how to cook their own food. Without burning the house down. OK, so it could be awhile.

There were so many glue sticks in the house just now. Thirty-six? Maybe more. They were delivered to the school last week because glue sticks are required. We’ve dressed up the pencil boxes and the new kindergartners have their resting rugs ready to go. But are we ready?

My grandparents have run a school bus business on the Iron Range for most of my life. There is, thus, no magic in the image of a school bus for me. They are large, yellow bounce houses whose primary safety feature is being large, yellow and capable of destroying anything they happen to run into. The drivers have special licenses and spend more time with children than some of the educators at school, all while turning left at rush hour. The good ones avoid the mailboxes and maybe only hit one or two dogs during a career.

When I was a kid I lived a long way from school and today I still do. The bus was my bumpy study, my long cold think. Today it is where I send my boys. These mustard-colored haulers carry away childhood, unloading into ships headed for the future. We knew this day was coming and hold no illusions about the passage of time. The bus sweeps across the land, making stops but never stopping.

Listen for the engines. Another generation is on its way to school.

Aaron J. Brown is an author and college instructor from the Iron Range. He writes the blog MinnesotaBrown.com and hosts 91.7 KAXE’s Great Northern Radio Show on public stations.