Opinion: They tell you surprisingly little before sending you home from the hospital with… – by Aaron J. Brown (Hibbing Daily Tribune – February 9, 2019)

https://www.hibbingmn.com/

Like a lot of kids who grew up on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range during the economic crisis of the 1980s and ‘90s I saw plenty of reasons to leave. Many of my friends did. But I’m glad I found good reasons to stay. Many friends did that, too. That doesn’t mean, however, that our lives are easy or our fate resolved.

When I was in college, I saw the movie “October Sky.” This 1999 film tells the true story of a boy and his friends who, during the Cold War space race, launch their own rocket from a West Virginia coal mining town. They win the national science fair with help from the folks back home.

I also sought out the 1941 Best Picture winner “How Green Was My Valley.” This story follows a Welsh coal mining family over several years, beaten down by small town social mores, unsafe mining conditions, and the economic collapse of their town. And yet their valley was so green, you could even see it in black and white; the love and spirit endured.

Both were heartwarming, but bore a melancholy truth: the smart young protagonists leave their mining towns forever. And no one watching blames them one bit.

Since then I’ve been trying to figure out a riddle. If I stayed on the Range, could I find a way to help the places and people I loved so much thrive again, even as the mines shrink their workforce and local population dwindles?

For the rest of this article: https://www.hibbingmn.com/opinion/columnists/regenerating-hope-in-mining-s-wake/article_e0ead356-2b26-11e9-8103-7752c495c2c0.html