Kate Silver
Contact: Email
She spent a decade flexing her dauber arm … er, pen in Las Vegas. Her work has appeared in People, Playboy and Spirit magazines, and she was on staff at Las Vegas Weekly and Las Vegas Life. Now Silver is a resident of Chicago, where recently accepted a (temporary) job with the U.S. Census Bureau, and her bureaucratic urban misadventures can be found on her blog, chicagocensusworker.wordpress.com.
Recent Articles
It’s Better to Give
From bell ringing, to gift wrapping, to Magical Forest gallivanting, there’s a volunteering opportunity for everyone this time of year
December 9th, 2010
It’s been another challenging year for Las Vegas, and nonprofit groups around town are in need of donations and volunteers. If you’re looking to match your skills to their needs but don’t know where to begin, check out VolunteerMatch.org. The site allows you to type in your ZIP code and then select from dozens of opportunities near you. Or if you prefer the brick-and-mortar volunteer approach, the following organizations are a great place to start.
Read More »
You Give Me Fever
How bad will flu season be this year? The scary part is no one really knows.
December 9th, 2010
Halloween has long passed, but a certain autumn monster is still lurking: flu season. Its fever-lined tendrils and coughing disposition have yet to grasp many Southern Nevada victims, so experts say now is the best time for a shot of the antidote, er, vaccine.
Read More »
Body Talk
In an image-conscious city, educators try to inject a little reality into the discussion
November 25th, 2010
Five years ago, Cortney Warren, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology, moved to Las Vegas to start a body image and eating disorder lab while teaching at UNLV. She was interested in the ways that body image and eating disorders are manifested in this image-conscious city. Not long after she settled in, Ann Marie Perone approached Warren.
Read More »
Holidays That Heal
A Nevada nonprofit group extends its reach beyond Christmas to help injured soldiers
November 25th, 2010
Although he’s only 24, Kevin Hardin has had more than 30 surgeries in the past two years. The frontline Army medic was driving a Humvee in Iraq in 2007 when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his vehicle, severely injuring his hands and arms. Shrapnel from the explosion still remains in his brain.
Read More »
Crazy for Four Loko
Crackdown on beverage results in stockpiling
November 25th, 2010
Strip Liquor, on Las Vegas Boulevard near Convention Center Drive, was bustling on the morning of Nov. 19 as patrons stocked up on beverages for the weekend. One of those beverages—Four Loko—has become particularly popular in recent days. The alcoholic energy drink, nicknamed “blackout in a can,” is on a publicity blitz following scrutiny this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It’s the eve of Prohibition for Four Loko.
Read More »
Let the Sunshine In
UNLV engineering team wins global Humanitarian Technology Challenge with solar-energy device
November 18th, 2010
Three engineering students from UNLV are determined to bring developing countries out of the dark. They’ve devised plans to create an affordable, solar-driven electrical system that can be used in remote rural areas. The blueprint for that device recently defeated more than 50 college teams around the world to win the Humanitarian Technology Challenge.
Read More »
Spiders in Love
Always wanted to see a tarantula in the desert? Now’s the time
November 18th, 2010
In the fall, a young tarantula’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. Or, at least, to female tarantulas.
And so that male tarantula wanders high and low in the desert, crossing Charleston Boulevard near Red Rock, skittering around Highway 160 and Pahrump, and sidestepping across Death Valley. The months of October and November are the best (or worst, if you hate spiders) times to see tarantulas around Southern Nevada and the surrounding region.
Read More »
Leaping Toward Education
High school dropout seeks to make UNLV a better school— one jump at a time
November 11th, 2010
Karla Washington has led an extreme kind of life. Back in her high school years, the now-41-year-old Las Vegas resident admits the extreme factor wasn’t always of the positive variety.
Read More »
On the Road Again
Local RV show is a sign that the economy is moving
November 4th, 2010
When the RV Super Show hit South Point hotel-casino Oct. 26-31, it was more than just a sales opportunity for some 200 new and used recreational vehicles. Sponsored by Camping World, the show was the company’s second in Las Vegas since February, following a two-year hiatus, an indication that the economy may be picking up speed. Recreational vehicles are a disposable-income splurge, the type of spending that’s the first to go and the last to recover in a recession.
Read More »
Dropping in on the Dropout Prevention Summit
If Las Vegas is really that dumb, would we even be talking about this?
November 4th, 2010
On Nov. 8, nearly 300 people from across the state will convene at UNLV for Nevada’s Statewide Dropout Prevention Summit. The conference, which is being held nearly two weeks after Las Vegas was designated the nation’s “dumbest” city by The Daily Beast, is the second of its kind. Organizers from the Nevada Public Education Foundation hope to bring public awareness to the issue of dropping out and involve community members in solving the problem. It is free and open to the public, but participants must register in advance at NVPEF.org.
Read More »