Two men. Indeed, both as different as night and day. One loved hearing the sounds of certainty in his voice. The other wove a narration that threaded plenty of the Old West into our modern Golden West. Continue reading Town & Country
Solstice Serenades
Despite the mounting profusion of ads for Halloween, the bloom of summer remains fragrant. Besides, this was written in September. At least two weeks yet before Michael Myers, Freddie Krueger, and Jason Voorhees start invading screens for marathon gore sessions. Continue reading Solstice Serenades
Our Times
Saw a job listing on a professional networking site that intrigued. Thirty/35 years ago, I would’ve been all over it. Most astonishing thing about the job description? A former high school classmate generated this possibility.
Recalling him, he never struck as being particularly dynamic. He filled backgrounds in many scenes.
Yet two reasons have throttled any enthusiasm towards pursuing his offer. One, I’m 63 and along the glidepath into retirement. Two, I’d bring experience to the job. Continue reading Our Times
Some Found a Land of Dust and Disappointment
In Las Vegas, it’s easy to differentiate pensioners who retired from the main industry apart from those who flocked here thinking the city would be golden in their Golden Years. That also goes for locals who spent their lives here making livings in the region’s other professions.
Gray hairs who had spent lives bolstering our nation’s one-time industrial prominence and former service personnel who spent careers in the military predominate the second category.
A third bunch grew up in Las Vegas. They stayed, found careers here outside the neon, the noise, the notoriety. Through everyday satisfactions they were contented. Continue reading Some Found a Land of Dust and Disappointment
Sirius Hours
In our fractured age, do children still discover pleasure in chasing elusive fireflies and capturing them for display in jars? Continue reading Sirius Hours
Speed Kills … As It Should
In July, barreled down into Northwestern Arizona from Las Vegas. Dropped some coin in barren White Hills playing lottery that’ll help fund the Grand Canyon State’s educational system. Such donations would’ve been better spent here in Nevada. But thanks to the Nevada gaming industry’s dumb insistence lotto dollars will deduct from the Silver State’s games of chance and sports books, Nevadans do not benefit from such participations. Continue reading Speed Kills … As It Should
Baby Myopia
Not all life is precious. Americans prove that daily. Just look at the energy being expended on “what may be” in the womb. Children already born could use that same vigor. It could hone their direction. The attention would improve their lives immeasurably.
Instead, wrong-headed Americans focus on an organ just a little half of mankind contains. To the detriment and exclusion of the women nestling this vessel too many men have made it contentious. To them and a fair number of misguided women, their sisters should be sacrificed for what’s inside the womb. Or may someday occupy it. The hell with what is. Continue reading Baby Myopia
Disenchantment USA
The title of the movie escapes me. Or maybe several comprise memory. The remembered scenes issue from Nazi propaganda reels.
In any case, the rudely sinuous voice of Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda, narrates the black & white images. They were issued early during the Nazi reign. During the ascent. Continue reading Disenchantment USA
Brightened Horizon
Heard one of the sweetest sounds ever when I returned from work. The complex’ custodian was power-washing the courtyard pavement. Continue reading Brightened Horizon
Reemergence Maybe
Perhaps this last weekend of May 2022 is the one that finally returns the visiting hordes who once flooded Las Vegas. After all, Memorial Day, or as it should’ve remained, Decoration Day, is seen as the unofficial start of summer.
According to hopeful leisure industry analysts, Americans are busting with all sorts of pent-up desire to getaway. Two years of Covid conditions have made us stir crazy. Where better to let everything hang out and fly the freakiest freak flags than Las Vegas? A city where even if strangers knew your name, they’d be too involved in their own personal deviances to notice others.
Anyone working directly in the hospitality industry or its adjuncts is counting on such participants who contribute to Las Vegas’ “What happens here, stays here” tall tales.
No matter what sort of happy faces the tourist bureau sketches, the numbers just haven’t been there. It’s fine that conventions and spectacles have returned to the city, yet post-Covid attendance has been generally woeful. Continue reading Reemergence Maybe