Before I get started,
let me preface this post with an explanation that I consider myself a very
proud Iron Ranger (although I may currently live out of the area). I grew up in Hibbing
and considered my of my Iron
Range identity to be a
badge of honor (thanks in part to my father who is a proud Iron Ranger
himself). This understanding deepened in
my adult life through returning to the area and working in education at a local
history museum.
There are many labels which I answer to such as librarian,
sister, daughter, intellectual, Catholic, rebel, idealist, and particularly for
the purposes of this blog post—Iron Ranger.
I specifically bring this label up because I’ve gotten a little feisty
in response to recent conversations both in-person and online that seem to
limit the Iron Range to a narrow stereotype of
itself. What do I mean? Please allow me to illustrate:
- Conversation with a co-worker here in Iowa who complimented me on an outfit I was wearing the other day:
Co-worker: That’s a great outfit.
Me: Thanks. I got it at my sister’s store. She owns a boutique up in northern Minnesota.
Co-worker: A boutique? On the Iron Range? Are you kidding?! I didn’t know they had
those up there.
- Conversation with a friend on vacation in the Twin Cities:
Friend: There
are two kinds of people from the Iron
Range, Jen: Iron Rangers
and People Who are From the Iron Range.
You are not an Iron Ranger. Trust
me.
- Conversation with a customer at my sister’s store:
[Customer comes out of dressing
room wearing a beautiful dress.]
Me: Wow. That looks fabulous on you.
Customer: Yeah, I love it. [Twirls around.] Too bad I don’t have
anywhere to wear it around here.
Honestly, all of these conversations remind me a bit of one
I had in college over 10 years ago when a classmate from southwestern Minnesota looked at me all wide-eyed once he had
discovered my Iron
Range status: “Wow,
you’re from there? I’ve thought about becoming a missionary there. Do you have running water?”
Now, admittedly that last conversation was a special one and
I have a heavy suspicion that gentleman may have been dropped on his head as a
child; yet, all conversations combined paints a rather one-sided and
frustrating picture of the Iron
Range I love.
What’s so upsetting about these conversations you ask? Are they completely false or misguided in
their characterization of the Iron
Range? Absolutely not, there is a significant amount
of truth behind these perceptions (again, with the exception of the last
conversation which I am chalking up to brain damage). Is the Iron Range
characterized by the mining industry and a rather rough culture that
accompanies it? Sure. On the Iron Range
is there more Carhartt than Cartier? Of course. However, what is most frustrating to me is
that the perceptions to fuel the above conversations serve to limit rather than
illuminate what it means to be an Iron Ranger.
It fails to recognize (and even hides in my opinion) the region’s
commitment to things like education and the pursuit of beauty.
Yes, I said it. Part
of the Iron Range and Iron Rangers is the idea of
pursuing and preserving beauty. Look at
our high schools, look at our village halls, and even libraries in certain
communities. Much conversation is had
about the saloons and bars that populate Range history and modern reality, but
often times these conversations take up so much room that people don’t see that
this history also includes things like opera houses and the current existence
of a growing orchestra program.
Finally, what frustrates me most about the aforementioned
attitudes is the implication that if one does not adhere to this narrow idea of
what it means to be an Iron Ranger (or a Hibbingite for that matter), one
somehow forfeits the label, which I wear with pride.
I refuse to believe that things like getting dressed up and
engaging in activities like going to the ballet or symphony make me any less of
an Iron Ranger; and I am willing to bet that there are more people than you
might expect that feel the same way.
 |
| Honestly, the idea that something like this is incompatible with my identity as an Iron Ranger is just ridiculous. |
So, what to do (besides write a rather passionate blog
post)?
Well, when the going gets tough, the tough get organized and
in this case “the tough” also wear a dress.
