Clear and Cold on the Iron Range

Cold is relative in the North Country. When the thermometer plunged a couple weeks ago, the record low temperatures were a major news story along the eastern seaboard of North America. The phenomenon was described as a "polar vortex." In Minnesota this kind of weather is called a "normal January." A friend once told me this is the price of five months of paradise. And black flies.

Temperature in farenheit (same as -31C) on Tuesday morning, January 21st.

Iron Rangers aren't especially tougher, just a different kind of acclimated. When I lived here more than one person told me they couldn't wait for the unbearable 80 degree days to relent...and for ice fishing. But there is justifiable pride in their own brand of hardiness, casual indifference to the Minneapolis climate--the "banana belt"--and respect for anywhere currently colder than home. In time, my new blood began to thicken too, and before long the winter jacket would open up like maple sap in March. The kids didn't know any different. Shortly after we moved to Ohio, a teacher chastised my son for not wearing his coat on a below-freezing winter day. "Why?" he replied. "It's not cold."

Broadway in Northern Minnesota

The Hibbing High School auditorium is Broadway in northern Minnesota. I lived on the Iron Range for several years, and there have been many times I've looked back and wished my boys had gone on to Hibbing High School. I still make a point to drive past it during every business trip. Besides being a throwback to the days of industrialist philanthropy, Hibbing boasts one of the consistently best academic public schools in the nation. The edifice itself is a tribute to the gilded age, if built a few years later in 1923. The same construction today (2014) would cost at least $55 million to build, and some of the artisinal skills are probably lost forever. But it's no surprise in this proud town of superlatives -- one of the largest open pit mines in the world and the home town of Bob Dylan -- where Paul Bunyan still echoes. We attended a few of the school's productions in the auditorium, and the setting could have been Broadway. No trip to northern Minnesota is complete without a walk through these halls.

Thanks to my friend David Oberstar for sharing this link on Facebook.