The Latest Thought
The Latest Thought
The Seduction of Thunder
Our intrepid émigré reports back from Seattle: What he misses about Vegas is the rain
March 10th, 2011
I live in Seattle, and I have lived in Las Vegas. Despite the various economic, social and geographic differences between the two cities, I can tell you that the residents of both have one thing in common: Las Vegans and Seattleites know that it’s pointless, even cliché, to complain about the weather. Las Vegas is searing hot and bone dry most of the year; Seattle is cool and wet most of the year. Sometimes these things get on top of us—like when Vegas has a streak of 110-degree-plus days or Seattle goes too long without a sun break—but for the most part, we take what nature gives us and we don’t discuss it much. Except when it rains. Read more »
The Latest Thought
The End of the Future?
A few short years ago, New Urbanism looked like the wave of tomorrow. Thanks for the memories.
March 3rd, 2011
A moment’s silence, please. We’ve come to bury the New Urbanism. The Valley’s most ambitious live/work/play project, Henderson’s Inspirada, was bum-rushed by the economic crisis and lingers as an unfulfilled promise of what might have been. The scaffolding of Summerlin Centre’s mall looms hard along the western reaches of Interstate 215 like some kind of postmodern concept art. The New Urbanist-inspired Town Square has faced the prospect of foreclosure for half a year. And last week The District at Green Valley Ranch, the $85 million signature New Urbanist project of the early 2000s, was auctioned off for $50 million after struggling to pay its debts. Read more »
The Latest Thought
Paging Dr. You
Social media has launched a free-for-all national conversation on our aches and pains. Feel better yet?
February 24th, 2011
Does your toe hurt? If it does, you have a number of options. You might think about taking an aspirin and ignoring it. You might go to the doctor. Or you might decide to enter the words, “Why does my toe hurt?” into the Google box on your personal computer. This question would yield 17,600 hits, one of which presents a forum on the fascinating query, “Why does my toe hurt my chest?” This question, in case you are wondering, generated a touchingly earnest exchange on the gamer website Giant Bomb, culminating with the reasonable advice, “Stop kicking yourself in the chest.” Yes, we truly live in an extraordinary age of democratic access to medical information, one where a motivated hypochondriac can swiftly educate himself on everything from shingles to scurvy. Read more »
The Latest Thought
The Carousing Cure
Or, how the young, hip and thirsty can lead us out of the economic doldrums
February 17th, 2011
It’s hard to get a read on the town these days. On one hand, there is the view out my front window: Foreclosed home, yellowed yard, folks who bolted so quickly they apparently forgot the cat. On the other hand, there is visible evidence that, in a town built on defiantly conspicuous consumption, those who can consume are doing so with great gusto. Read more »
The Latest Thought
The Power of Yesterday
Why preservation is essential to progress—even in Vegas
February 10th, 2011
I couldn’t help but think of my trip to the Neon Boneyard on one of my many visits to Las Vegas. I also couldn’t help but think of the iconic New Frontier neon sign, which should have wound up at the Neon Museum but never will. The New Frontier holds a special place in my heart; it was the first casino I’d set foot in that has since met the wrecking ball in the name of “progress.” I was distraught to learn about the sign’s fate. Read more »
The Latest Thought
Misadventures in the Republic of Letters
Confessions of a literary magazine editor
February 3rd, 2011
Being an editor at a literary magazine has some similarities to being a judge on American Idol: You have to wade through a lot of bad candidates in order to find the real stars. Imagine William Hung as a story, then take away his charming naïve confidence. This is what I read day-in and day-out for hours at a time. It’s made me somewhat sympathetic to Paula Abdul’s intense (albeit rumored) prescription drug habit. Terrible writing, like a fat-soluble vitamin, can stay with you. And being an editor often means you take in far more than the recommended daily allowance. Read more »
The Latest Thought
The Giving Season Continues
After the last Christmas tree is hauled away, the community’s needs endure
January 27th, 2011
Even a month into the new year, those of us who work at philanthropic nonprofits are still recovering from the elation of the holidays and the desolation that can follow. The holidays create this strange phenomenon in the nonprofit world—a rush of individuals seeking meaningful volunteer opportunities. We’re bombarded with calls from folks who want to help—four to five times what we get the rest of the year. Read more »
The Latest Thought
Ourspace
The age of shared spaces may soon be upon us. In Las Vegas, it all starts with parking.
January 20th, 2011
In Las Vegas, parking is at once the promise and peril of downtown redevelopment. On one hand, we’ve got a lot of it. Compared to other big cities, it’s freakishly easy here to find a parking spot on the street, in a metered lot, in a garage or even in a free lot (and don’t think I’ll tell you where those are). At most, you’re a block away from the Arts District or Fremont Street or anywhere in between. Read more »
The Latest Thought
The Las Vegas Ghost Guide
A salute to the places that shaped a generation … and then disappeared
January 13th, 2011
About a dozen years ago, I was bored enough to write a loose collection of reviews of various eateries, retail shops and general flunky hangouts in town. These were the scruffy-but-cherished places the established travel guides overlooked; maybe I already had the sense that I needed to capture them for posterity. In any case, I wound up with enough material to submit to a few publishers, and damn if one, Seattle’s JASI books, didn’t bite. Read more »
The Latest Thought
Empty Box Syndrome
Or, how I learned to stop worrying and let go of my old Rebel stuff
January 6th, 2011
In the beginning, it was a stack on my childhood toy shelf. Then it was a box in the garage. Then it was a box in a different garage. For 20 years I dragged that set of old UNLV basketball programs from town to town, from tiny California dorm room to soggy Seattle basement and finally back to my very own little patch of Vegas suburbia. The box began to decay. The packing tape went yellow. Occasionally I’d tear the box open and witness its riches. Read more »
