MinnesotaBrown: gym class

Friday, February 8, 2008

Brown on the Air: Gym Class

Tune in Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 KAXE to hear "Between You and Me." I contribute essays to the call-in and music show, which profiles a different cultural topic each week from a distinctly northern Minnesota point of view.

This week we're talking about gym class. That's a sore subject for a lot of people, especially public radio listeners. I talk a lot about dodge ball, something that usually conjures up memories for people who went to public high schools.

So tune in. It's Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 FM or streaming online at http://www.kaxe.org/.

What is the Iron Range?

By Aaron J. Brown

Iron Range: General term for a region in northeastern Minnesota including the Mesabi, Vermilion and Cuyuna iron ranges. Often the term implies only the Mesabi and Vermilion ranges since the Cuyana hasn’t seen mining activity since 1984. Positioned over once rich formations of natural iron ore and taconite the Iron Range has provided the largest domestic iron ore supply for the American steel industry since the late 1800s. Because of decades of geographic isolation, large influxes of European immigrants and a strong tradition of labor and political activism, the Iron Range also represents a distinct subculture within Minnesota and the Midwest in general. This subculture values a strong work ethic, votes a socially-conservative labor-friendly brand of Democratic, and remains deeply distrustful of outsiders, especially ones who dress well and drive foreign cars. The wild fluctuations in the steel industry and dependence on mining and logging as the dominant source of reliable jobs have created a boom or bust tradition on the Iron Range that continues today. Efforts to modernize and diversify have led to mixed results, though recent developments have been positive.

The Iron Range today owns a reputation as a rough place with a volatile economy, deeply-held ethnic and social traditions, easy access to bars, churches and the Great Outdoors, a unified but ill-disciplined political network, stock car racing, and an innate cultural fascination with guns, fire and alcohol. Public schools are the largest, most ornate and prized buildings on the Iron Range. About half those who graduate from these schools leave for Duluth, the Twin Cities or elsewhere. The other half stay to raise families and work jobs that, despite modern titles, remain indirectly tied to the fortunes of natural resource industries like mining and logging.I write for both groups, those who stay and those who left, and all who join us in body or spirit.

~ Early preview from "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range" due for release in October 2008 from Red Step Press. Copyright 2008 by Aaron J. Brown.

Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range

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Friday, February 8, 2008

Brown on the Air: Gym Class

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