Desert Companion - October 2023

SPIT AND SHERSTY TWO ANTI-RACIST SKINHEADS, MURDERED IN THE DESERT

TOP DENTISTS A GUIDE TO THE VALLEY’S BEST SMILE DOCTORS

CULTURE fa l l guide

Art to see, music to hear, festivals to revel in, and more ways to enjoy the city’s best season!

MAKE ROOM FOR ALL OF YOU

PERFORMANCE. ART.

Dramatic and reductive, with clean flowing lines and flush surfaces, the Range Rover Velar is designed to fit the contours of your modern life. Inside, cutting-edge technology meets with a suite of contemporary finishing materials to make the Velar an avant-garde masterpiece in every sense.

Land Rover Las Vegas

6425 Roy Horn Way, Las Vegas, NV 89118 702.579.0400

lrlv.com

Vehicle shown: 2023 Range Rover Velar. © 2023 Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC

In the desert, monsoon season thrills, and then it’s gone By

Meg Bernhard

The humble mesquite tree sustains us with more than shade By Sarah

Calvo

Where

BY Scott Lien

Editor’s Note

CULTURE STOCK

Local event recommendations are in our DNA. The first magazines that Nevada Public Radio published were the 2003-2007 Cultural Guides, with covers featuring such headlines as “Right on Q! Las Vegas is poised to steal Broadway’s spotlight,” and “Las Vegas Brushes With Greatness” (over a photo of artist Sush Machida). Based on the success of these volumes, then-president and general manager Lamar Marchese tapped freelance editor Phil Hagen to launch Desert Companion in 2007 as a seasonal city-regional magazine, focused on — you guessed it — arts, culture, and recreation.

I moved here in 2004, which means I’ve never known a Las Vegas without either some iteration of Desert Companion or enough arts and culture activities to keep me busy all year. That may be why I’ve always found complaints of the city’s lack of cultural options a bit annoying. Do I wish we had a large-scale metropolitan art museum? Of course. Do I wish local millionaires were as onboard with that project as they are with sports stadiums? Absolutely. Do I have trouble getting tickets to the author talks, independent cinema screenings, and black-box plays I love going to? Nope. If locals supported fine art with the same enthusiasm we showed for the Knights’ pursuit of the Stanley Cup, then we’d have a 100,000-square-foot public art museum by 2030, I bet.

In this sense, to me, our fall culture guide (p. 63) — along with all the other artists and happenings covered throughout this issue — is more than just a useful preview of the concerts, exhibitions, performances, and festivals being produced over the next few months. It’s an invitation to show up, to vote with your presence for endeavors that comprise the kind of community where you want to live. It’s a list of the options that we do have to invest in Las Vegas as an arts town.

And perhaps most important, it’s 75-plus ways for us to connect with each other over a common love of creative expression. Here’s hoping you’ll take us up on a few of them. If you see me there, say hello.

Artfully yours, Heidi

Stephanie Forté is a Las Vegas-based writer covering women’s issues and outdoor recreation. Her articles and essays have appeared in national magazines such as Climbing and Prevention. Decades before #vanlife, she lived on the road rock climbing. She’s working on a memoir.

Tracy Fuentes was born and raised in Las Vegas, where she recently graduated from UNLV. She serves as co-chief editor of Kindergarten Mag, an online publication she cofounded. She is currently a master’s degree candidate in NYU’s English program.

Award-winning journalist and filmmaker Pj Perez cut his teeth as a reporter and editor in Las Vegas, where he worked for nearly 25 years. He is currently producing a documentary about the 1998 murders of two anti-racist activists that inspired his article in this issue.

PRESIDENT & CEO Mark Vogelzang

COO Favian Perez

EDITOR Heidi Kyser

ART DIRECTOR Scott Lien

ASSISTANT EDITOR Anne Davis

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Ryan Vellinga

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Allison Hall, Markus Van’t Hul, Britt Quintana

REVENUE SYSTEMS SPECIALIST  Marlies Vaitiekus

WEB COORDINATOR Stanley Kan

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Josh Bell, Meg Bernhard, Richard Boland, Soni Brown, Sarah Rose Cadorette, Sarah Calvo, Morrigan DeVito, Scott Dickensheets, Eric Duran-Valle, Gary Dymski, Stephanie Forté, Tracy Fuentes, Jason Harris, *CoCojenkins, Reannon Muth, Pj Perez, Mike Prevatt, Luke Runyon, Lissa Townsend Rodgers, Kaya Williams

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

David Anderson, Brent Holmes, Olga Minkevich, Jeff Scheid, Danijel Zezelj

CONTACT

EDITORIAL: Heidi Kyser (702) 259-7855 heidi@desertcompanion.com

ART: Scott Lien (702) 258-9895 scott@desertcompanion.com

ADVERTISING: Favian Perez (702) 259-7813 favian@desertcompanion.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Marlies Vaitiekus (702) 259-7822 marlies@desertcompanion.com

WEBSITE: www.desertcompanion.com

Desert Companion is published bimonthly by Nevada Public Radio, 1289 S. Torrey Pines Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89146. It is available by subscription at desertcompanion.vegas, or as part of Nevada Public Radio membership. It is also distributed free at select locations in the Las Vegas Valley. All photos, artwork, and ad designs printed are the sole property of Desert Companion and may not be duplicated or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. The views

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS

DON HAMRICK chair

Chapman Automotive Group

RICHARD I. DREITZER, ESQ. vice chair Fennemore

ROBERT C. GLASER treasurer

BNY Mellon Wealth Management

MARK VOGELZANG secretary

Nevada Public Radio DIRECTORS

NEHME E. ABOUZEID

Madison Square Garden Entertainment

STEPHANIE CAPELLAS Carma/Connected

CYNTHIA A. DREIBELBIS

Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, Schreck

WILLIAM GROUNDS

Burraneer Capital Advisors

GAVIN ISAACS Consultant

FRED J. KEETON

Keeton Iconoclast Consulting, LLC

EDWIN C. KINGSLEY, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers

AMANDA MOORE-SAUNDERS Live Nation

DERIONNE POLLARD, PH.D Nevada State College

ERNEST STOVALL

Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino

DIRECTORS EMERITI

CYNTHIA ALEXANDER

Dickinson, Wright, PLLC

DAVE CABRAL Business Finance Corp.

LOUIS CASTLE

Amazon Games Seattle

PATRICK N. CHAPIN, ESQ. Patrick N. Chapin, Ltd.

ELIZABETH FRETWELL

C4WARD Strategies

CHRIS MURRAY

Avissa Corporation

JERRY NADAL

WILLIAM J. “BILL” NOONAN

KATHLEEN M. NYLEN Retired

ANTHONY J. PEARL

MARK RICCIARDI, ESQ. Fisher & Phillips, LLP

MICKEY ROEMER

Roemer Gaming

TIM WONG

Arcata Associates

LAMAR MARCHESE president emeritus

UPCOMING EVENTS

SPOOKY MOVIES ON THE GREEN

OCTOBER SATURDAYS | 7 PM

FALL FITNESS ON THE GREEN

OCTOBER SUNDAYS | 10 AM

FARMERS MARKET

THURSDAYS | 9 AM

POWER OF PINK FASHION SHOW

OCTOBER 6 | 5:30 PM

SHOPFEST COLLECTIVE MARKET

OCTOBER 14 & NOVEMBER 11 | 11 AM

MAKERS HIVE MARKET

OCTOBER 21 & NOVEMBER 4 | 11 AM

MARKET IN THE ALLEY

OCTOBER 29 & NOVEMBER 26 | 11 AM

GHOST WALK

OCTOBER 31 | 5 PM

ANNUAL TREE LIGHTING

NOVEMBER 18 | 5 PM

HOLIDAY MOVIE ON THE GREEN

NOVEMBER 18 | 7 PM

LEARN MORE

ALL THINGS

IDEAS, CULTURE, FOOD, AND OTHER WAYS TO USE THIS CITY

ENVIRONMENT

Five Feet in History

NV Energy’s Greenlink West Project rankles conservationists with a shortcut through Tule Springs

BY Gary Dymski

One might expect an NV Energy project designed to distribute clean energy to be greeted with praise by conservationists. Instead, some of these groups say the utility’s route for a renewable transmission line is paved with poor intentions.

NV Energy’s Greenlink West project entails a 472-mile transmission line, connecting Reno and Las Vegas, that would facilitate renewable energy development in seven counties. As it winds toward Las Vegas, the line as proposed runs through a portion of the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, a route opponents say disturbs the monument, as well as land that at least three Indigenous tribes hold sacred.

Environmental groups believe the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the federal agency leading the project’s permitting process, has been too quick to discard alternate pathways for Greenlink West. They ask, why cut through a national monument? “We’re saying there are two other alternatives that seem to be viable,” says Las Vegas resident Sherri Grotheer, who directs Protectors of Tule Springs, a citizens group supporting the national monument (also known as TUSK).

The BLM held three public meetings to present elements of the project and is drafting an environmental impact statement that must be approved by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Revisions to the impact statement are expected by March, and a decision on the project two months later.

The bureau’s position is that one alternative pathway, which would veer south to Pahrump, adds $73 million to the $2.5 billion project, and the other, which would loop north following part of the 215 Beltway, adds more than $50 million. The bureau’s preferred plan is to tuck 11 high-voltage electric poles, each 100 feet tall, just inside the monument’s border off Moccasin Road, which runs parallel to U.S. 95 just northwest of Las Vegas.

The BLM did not grant repeated requests for an interview. But in a July 11 public meeting at the Aliante hotel-casino, Greg Helseth, renewable energy branch chief for the bureau’s Nevada office, said running the line five feet inside the monument boundary was the “best alternative.”

Helseth said his office was following BLM, BIA, and TUSK permitting processes and had done all the required environmental surveys. “We’re not destroying Tule Springs. We’re five feet into it,” he said. “We’re talking about 11 transmission poles that are not sited on any of the resources.”

But some critics say the same bureau responsible for protecting public land is also tasked with generating money off it. “The BLM wants to make the land pay,” Grotheer says. “It grants land leases to private enterprises and utilities. And some land is perfectly appropriate for that.”

Kevin Emmerich, a Beatty rancher, former National Park Service employee and co-founder of conservation nonprofit Basin Range and

Watch, spoke at the July 11 meeting. “I think they are rejecting those alternate routes based only on economic feasibility,” Emmerich said.

Jeff Ruch, director of the western arm of the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a watchdog for public interest, agrees. He also says the projected push through Tule Springs suggests a lawsuit. “Bullying” its way through the monument violates the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916 and the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act 2009, according to Ruch.

“The BLM admits they would likely destroy fossils, and they’ve presented no mitigation plan,” he says.

In an email, NV Energy referred all interview requests to the BLM, saying the federal agency’s state office “is leading the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) public permitting and siting process ... coordinating all comments and concerns with interested and affected parties, including tribes, other federal agencies, cities, counties, etc.”

None of the three tribes that reportedly regard the land as sacred — the Timbisha Shoshone, Walker River Paiute, and Las Vegas Paiute Tribes — responded to Desert Companion ’s emails or telephone calls seeking comment.

In its statement, NV Energy said Greenlink West would “carry electricity from enormous solar farms planned in the Nevada desert between Las Vegas and Reno” and that the Greenlink project “is critical to the switch to renewable energy in the western U.S., delivering gigawatts of power in the coming years to meet ever-increasing demand.” The company is also proposing Greenlink North, which includes a 232-mile transmission line through five counties, from Ely to Yerington.

Grotheer says, “I understand that we’re in a climate crisis ... but there can be another way.”✦

COMMUNITY

Seconds to Spare

Supporters of Nevada’s new safe gun storage law say it can make the difference between life and death

BY Anne Davis

Warning: This story contains discussion of violence and suicide.

Tom Cruz still remembers the moment he took his wife hostage like it was yesterday. “I snapped,” he recalls, referring to the split-second decision he made to kill his spouse, and then himself, in November 2010. “The only reason I’m alive and she’s alive,” he says, “was her ability to read the situation, listen to things that were being said, and talk me out of it.”

Cruz, a military veteran and father of seven, now recognizes not only the role that mental health played in this episode, but also the dangers of his unsecured firearm, which he used to hold his wife at gunpoint. This is why he now advocates for safe gun storage and is a spokesperson for End Family Fire, a collaboration between the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Ad Council that seeks to educate Americans on the dangers of unsafely stored firearms. With September being National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, this time

trailblazer. FREE TO BE

of year brings renewed attention to suicide and the uniquely American role that guns often play in self-inflicted fatalities.

According to Brady, each year an average of 24,569 Americans of all ages, including 732 children under the age of 18, die from gun suicide. This translates to 67 people dying each day. Equally as disturbing, studies show that attempts in which a gun is chosen as the suicide method are successful 90 percent of the time. Other research indicates that easy firearm access can triple the probability that someone will attempt to commit suicide.

These national numbers provided part of the rationale for legislative action close to home. Nevada, which has the 12th-highest firearm suicide rate in the nation, saw SB 294 passed in this year’s legislature. Dubbed the “Safe Firearm Storage Act,” the law makes it a misdemeanor to know that an unsecured firearm is present and accessible to a minor. Signed into law by Governor Joe Lombardo on June 14, it went into effect on July 1.

Although the bill was drafted mainly to prevent school shootings, its primary sponsor, Senator Fabian Doñate, says it potentially prevents suicide, too. Doñate says, “This can be a commonsense deterrent to buy just a few more seconds” as the person accesses their gun from a safe or removes a lock — time during which self-harming emotions can subside.

Critics of the bill say that such laws do not deter violence, but only serve to hamper responsible gun owners from accessing their firearms in an emergency. Yet, Cruz believes this type of legislation might be what saves a life or prevents a suicide. “(In my case) there was no time and space,” he says. “(The gun) was sitting right there next to me. So, there was no time for my wife to be able to leave, there was no time to call anybody … I may have come out of whatever was wrong with me just trying to go to where the firearm was.” ✦

If you or a loved one are having thoughts of suicide, you can reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988.

Higher Education, Lower Wages

Nevada’s graduate assistants are blowing the whistle about exploitative pay. So, why did Governor Joe Lombardo just veto a bill that would’ve improved it?

BY Sarah Rose Cadorette

Higher Education (NSHE), Tkacz says their “classification is intentionally vague. … Being an employee is really useful when it comes to working overtime,” he says. “But when it comes to asking for benefits and unionizing, we’re students.”

Despite intermittent increases in the past decade (the most recent being in 2018), UNLV masters students are reportedly paid only about $11,250 per program year, while doctoral students receive up to $20,750 during the same time frame. Adding insult to injury, the process for addressing wage grievances requires students to complain to the same instructors who determine their access to classes.

“

It’s really strange,” says Carlos Tkacz about Governor Joe Lombardo’s recent veto of AB224, a bill that would have granted employees of state institutions the right to collectively bargain.

Tkacz, a UNLV graduate student, is president of the Nevada Graduate Student Workers, a group that has been organizing in support of the bill. Although students at state universities are employed by the Nevada System of

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but his letter vetoing the bill cites the existing ability of NSHE’s Board of Regents to collectively bargain, adding that AB224 would “undermine” the “management dynamics” of the Board.

Now organizers are hoping to work directly with UNLV’s administration and the public to negotiate for better pay and working conditions.

“The reason all of us are doing what we do is because we believe in the project of education, and what it does for society,” Tkacz says. “I believe in people.” ✦

Check Out These Fun Fall Events at Your Library!

The History & Business of Hip Hop for Teens

Thursdays at 5 p.m. | Oct. 5, 12, 26, Nov. 2, 9, 30 | East Las Vegas Library

Rick Arroyo & The Latin Percussion Ensemble

Fri., Oct. 6 at 6:30 p.m. | Windmill Library

Summerlin Library Outdoor Fall Festival

Sat., Oct. 7 from 10a.m. – 2p.m. | Summerlin Library

Las Vegas Classical Guitar Ensemble in Concert

Sun., Oct. 8 at 3 p.m. | West Charleston Library

Sofia Talvik in Concert

Tue., Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. | Clark County Library

Wed., Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. | Windmill Library

The Dollheads Teen Punk Band in Concert

Thu., Oct. 12 at 5:30 p.m. | Windmill Library

2023 Las Vegas Writes

Thu., Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. | Clark County Library

The Wonderful World of Was — A Musical Dramedy

Thu., Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m. | Windmill Library

Fri., Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. | Clark County Library

Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet

Fri., Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. & Sat., Nov. 4, 3 p.m. | Windmill Library

Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival

Sat., Nov. 4 from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. | Clark County Library

Dia De Los Muertos

Sat., Nov. 4 from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. | East Las Vegas Library

Native American Flute, Dance & Stories with Shelley Morningsong & Fabian Fontenelle

Fri., Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. | Windmill Library

Sat., Nov. 18 at 12 p.m. | Whitney Library

Sat., Nov. 18 at 4 p.m. | West Charleston Library

Sun., Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. | Summerlin Library

Teen animeFest

Sat., Nov. 18 from 10:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. | Sahara West Library

Home Buying Made Simple

Sun., Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. | Sunrise Library

Fall Band Camp Strum Along!

Tue., Nov. 21 at 6 p.m. | Sahara West Library

Learn to Hula

Sat., Nov. 25 at 10:30 a.m. | Enterprise Library

Native American Dance & Music with Derrick Suwaima Davis & Ryon Polyquaptewa

Tue., Nov. 28 at 1 p.m. | Clark County Library

Tue., Nov. 28 at 6 p.m. | Windmill Library

Wed., Nov. 29 at 12 p.m. | Centennial Hills Library

Wed., Nov. 29 at 6 p.m. | Enterprise Library

Thu., Nov. 30 at 4 p.m. | Moapa Town Library

For details on these events, or to see many more events, scan the QR Code or go to TheLibraryDistrict.org.

A Month of Scary-fun Events Just For Teens In Grades 6-12!

Creator Space

Oct. 5, 12, 19 at 2 p.m.

Moapa Valley Library

TeenTober Thursday

Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26 at 4 p.m.

Sahara West Library

TeenTober

Crafternoon

Oct. 5, 12, 17, 24 at 4 p.m.

Meadows Library

TeenTober Art Show

Oct. 6 at 2 p.m.

Sunrise Library

TeenTober Crafts!

Oct. 6 at 4 p.m.

Blue Diamond Library

Teen VIP

TeenTober Edition

Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28 at 3 p.m.

Spring Valley Library

TeenTober Movie

Monday

Oct. 9, 16, 23, 30 at 3 p.m.

Whitney Library

In the Teen Zone: Paper Doll Witches

Oct. 11 at 3 p.m.

Whitney Library

TeenTober: 3D

Pumpkins

Oct. 12 at 3 p.m.

Windmill Library

Glow in the Dark Party

Oct. 12 at 4 p.m.

West Las Vegas Library

TeenTober Horror

Video Game Hour

Oct. 8, 15, 22, 29 at 3 p.m.

East Las Vegas Library

Sunrise Anime Club

TeenTober Edition

Oct. 17 at 5 p.m.

Sunrise Library

TeenTober Haunted House

Oct. 18 at 4 p.m.

Whitney Library

Locked in the Library

Oct. 20 at 3 p.m.

Goodsprings Library

TeenTober Lock-in

Oct. 20 at 5:45 p.m.

Moapa Valley Library

Escape Room: Five Nights at Freddy’s

Oct. 21 at 2 p.m.

Rainbow Library

Dark Academia

Aesthetic Crafting

Oct. 24 at 4 p.m.

Rainbow Library

International Horror

Sketch Party

Oct. 24 at 5 p.m.

Sunrise Library

10+ Robotics Club: TeenTober Edition

Oct. 25 at 4:30 p.m.

Summerlin Library

TeenTober: Karaoke

Oct. 26 at 3 p.m.

Windmill Library

Costume Sewing Clinic

Oct. 26 at 4 p.m.

Rainbow Library

SCAN FOR EVEN MORE EVENTS FOR TEENS!

Contempo Casual

Being comfortable in her own skin is artist Nancy Good’s style

BY Anne Davis

Nancy Good’s style is encapsulated on one of her favorite T-shirts: “No preconceived notions.” It reminds the actress, model, musician, and owner of Core Contemporary art gallery in Las Vegas to always look at things in a fresh way. As a gallerist, she prioritizes creativity and authenticity in her personal style, while also taking inspiration from her environment.

HEAR MORE Good discusses the Commercial Center on “KNPR’s State of Nevada.”

Oftentimes, that means keeping things simple at work: a T-shirt, pair of jeans, and comfortable shoes. “I’m on my feet in my studio, up and down ladders,” Good says. “So, I have to think about what I can wear safely.

What’s going to keep me from falling from a ladder, or not going to have me rubbing my feet and soaking in Epsom salts?” Her non-negotiable style element is equally accessible: “I like to wear kindness … being compassionate to the people that come into the gallery.” Here’s more, in her own words.

BRACELET

“MENSWEAR” JACKET ($50) by International Concepts for Macy’s I love versatile clothing that I can layer in creative ways. This unstructured “menswear” jacket can be dressed up or down as I like.

BUTTON DOWN SHIRT ($60) by Calvin Klein

I’m a big fan of the CK brand due to its unfailing fit and quality! This particular shirt also is a fave because of the leopard print layering that adds some extra oomph.

WOMEN’S STEAMPUNK WAISTCOAT VEST ($30) by Grace Karin

Another key wardrobe item I love is a vest.

BELT by Express

I’ve had this accessory for so long (probably 20 years), that I can’t recall the cost. I have two, black and brown.

JEANS (about $40) by International Concepts for Macy’s I live in jeans! As a working artist, they are a “uniform” of sorts, but even when they are covered in paint, I love to style them up like this.

ANKLE BOOTIES ($160) by Sorel

The most expensive thing I’m wearing here, besides my wedding ring. I love the fit and quality of Sorel boots and have several pairs in different colors that I’ve worn for years.

RIGHT-HAND RING

For information on the current exhibition at Good’s gallery, visit corecontemporary.com.

($70) My favorite Mexican Silver ring, purchased nearly 20 years ago at a Marshall’s store in Nashville.

Silver and leather picked up at an art fair years ago.

The Spectacle Arrives

Is a place ever your own when it’s built to attract visitors?

You could say the relationship between Las Vegas and Formula 1 is meant to be. You could even say this without noting that the central plot line for the 1964 Elvis Presley movie Viva Las Vegas was a fictional Grand Prix race in the city. Yet, as the world gears up for the speed and the spectacle, Las Vegas locals face a conundrum: While business leaders increasingly tailor the city to lavish events, the inhabitants who support the tourism industry that make such events possible stand to lose the affordable cost of living that drew them here to begin with.

THE IMPENDING ARRIVAL of the inaugural Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix in November signifies a shift for the city. According to business advisory firm Applied Analysis, it’s Las Vegas’ first mega event meant to generate up to $1.3 billion

in spending, double what’s expected when Las Vegas hosts the 2024 Super Bowl.

B ringing the race to Las Vegas seems like a veritable win-win. Liberty Media, the owner of Formula 1, is banking on the city’s reputation as an uber entertainment, gambling, and all-night revelry destination to increase its fan base. Local leaders expect the community to get a financial boost from hospitality-related spending. This promise of an economic windfall caused by Formula 1 and other mega-events to come sounds suspiciously like trickle-down economics.

Alt hough the plan for the Grand Prix has been in motion since 2019, it feels very much like a recent event meant to serve corporate hotel operators. As of this writing, the price of a three-day race ticket in the Bellagio Fountain Club area is $11,247 per person — something none of my friends in the city could afford — and that’s just one piece of a larger puzzle.

As the countdown to the race begins, local social media accounts including @LasVegasLocally on X (formerly Twitter) and VegasStarfish on TikTok document road closures and tree removals. The impacts — economic, environmental, and social — are becoming increasingly clear. The allure of Las Vegas to potential residents has much to do with the promise of cheap and easy living, and abundant employment opportunities and sunshine. It’s what got me to pack up my Volvo and leave New York for good. Formula 1 threatens to upset the delicate balance that has kept Las Vegas both accessible and entertaining.

Can the city keep its old way of life, while embracing and meeting the demands of another professional sport?

WHEN I WAS a teenager, I spent every weekend during Grand Prix racing season glued to the television watching the races in far-away places. What I admired about the drivers wasn’t so much their ability to fly around corners defying gravity, nor their winning strategies; it was their ability to zip around a track for 50 laps, making slight changes each time, perfecting timing and coordination while keeping a constant watch on competitors … and the finish line.

Being a city that meets the current and future wants of its residents requires a similar skill. Las Vegas is that near-mythical metropolis with the ability to quickly build the infrastructure needed to attract and host international events. The world is watching as Las Vegas prepares for Formula 1; local leaders are betting on it. But what is the finish line?

Local leaders should ask themselves this and understand that residents are also watching, flabbergasted at the ostentatious display that’s out of reach for many of the people who will be cleaning up the tinsel and garbage left behind. As a Formula 1 racing fan, I never thought about the reality of life in circuit locations after the race leaves town. If residents bear the unintended consequence of sudden price inflation or increased trash headed to landfills or overcrowding emergency rooms, then boosters and organizers must deem it a small price to pay compared with the benefit of hosting. It’s temporary, right?

Maybe not. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is working to attract more mega-events (the Super Bowl on Feb. 11 and the Final Four for March Madness in 2028), meaning a packed Strip every few weeks or months will become the norm. How will the congestion affect Strip workers? Or the conventions that have been a constant economic staple in the region since the ’80s?

Formula 1 takes place the week before Thanksgiving, a traditionally slower time for tourism. Hotels in and around the Strip are already sold out. Room rates are expected to be significantly higher than the usual price, meaning smaller meetings and off-season visitors may stay away. MGM Resorts is calling the Grand Prix an “all-time record casino event,” while Wynn Resorts claims it’s tailor-made for high rollers. But who’s analyzing the hidden costs of luring those big spenders?

Consider the kerfuffle between Formula 1 and some Strip venues. The New York Post

B Y Soni Brown

reported that Formula 1 threatened to block the views of establishments overlooking the 3.8-mile circuit unless these businesses coughed up a licensing fee of $1,500 per person based on full capacity. Other accusations, according to the Post, included race organizers’ plan to shine lights toward unlicensed venues, blinding guests who wanted a peek at the nighttime race, and to obstruct views with barriers and stands. Strip establishments pushed back until Formula 1 relented. Following deliberations, race organizers settled on a flat rate of $50,000 for each venue’s licensing fee.

A mbitious tasks are bound to take a long time. The substantial street-paving of Koval Lane to Sands Avenue and then south on Las Vegas Boulevard to Harmon Avenue started in the spring. The project has disrupted traffic on the Strip and nearby roads ever since. Resort guests and casino employees have something to contend with in a city not known for its navigability: gridlock and construction dust. Most of the construction for the Las Vegas circuit is expected to be completed in the last two weeks before race day. Although Liberty Media has been pouring money into race prep, half of the $80 million road cost is coming from public coffers. Meanwhile, on social media, locals repost news reports on F1 preparations, attaching comments about how much it’s tacking onto their commutes, childcare costs, and more.

One possible solution to all this lies in responsible urban development. As Las Vegas expands to accommodate the demands of the Grand Prix and other major events, it must also invest in other valley-wide infrastructure needed to ensure residents can move around the city easily. The development of an efficient public transportation system, affordable housing initiatives, and community-focused development projects would help to preserve the essence of Las Vegas for its residents.

In the end, the challenge for Las Vegas is to strike a balance between being a global entertainment and sporting destination, and a place with high quality of life for its residents. The arrival of the Grand Prix is a testament to the city’s event-hosting prowess; it should also serve as a reminder that the heart of Las Vegas lies not just in the bright lights of the Strip, but also in the diverse and hard-working people that call it home. Balancing economic growth with resident needs will help ensure that Las Vegas remains a competitive city, but also continues to attract the workers who keep it that way. ✦

Avian Paradise

The Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve is a sanctuary for people, too

BY Morrigan DeVito

Not far from the bustle of Boulder Highway, a Marsh Wren trills from the reeds, and a family of Gambel’s Quail dashes away from a roadrunner, clucking and chittering as they scurry through desert scrub. I share this moment with these birds and some 270 other species at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. The sanctuary has nine ponds fed by treated wastewater from the Henderson Water Reclamation Facility and provides critical habitat for migratory and resident birds seeking respite from the city’s many challenges. Since its opening in 1998, the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve has become a refuge for people too, a place to connect with the rhythms of nature, as birds move through this urban desert. ✦

American Avocet: Far left, swishing their bills back and forth in the water to pluck out small invertebrates, American Avocets are just one of the migratory shorebirds that depend on the preserve’s shallow ponds to refuel on their way to and from breeding and wintering grounds.

White-crowned Sparrow: Opposite page, bottom, White-crowned Sparrows are a chorus of cold weather, arriving in the fall and staying throughout the winter, buzzing and whistling from saltbushes to claim their territory and defend the seeds they gorge on.

Yellow Warbler: Left, is that a bird or a blossom? Yellow Warblers, far-flung

travelers who stop at the preserve on their thousand-mile journeys, emerge from acacias’ and palo verdes’ golden flowers in the springtime.

Northern Shoveler: Below left, congregating by the hundreds across the preserve’s nine ponds, Northern Shovelers swim together in dense circles, dipping their heads and stirring up sediment for insects and plants in a communal feast.

Verdin:

Below right, these tough year-round residents are always busy hopping around thorny acacias and mesquites, gleaning all the water they need from the insects they snag — just one of the ways they survive the sweltering heat.

Awe of the River

This Colorado River artist is demystifying the West’s water problems

BY Kaya Williams

With his eyes squinted, hand out to the horizon, painter Patrick Kikut surveyed the scene, to translate what he saw onto paper.

Surrounded by forest greens and rusty, rocky reds, Kikut stood in a high mountain valley about a one-hour drive from Aspen, Colorado. The outstretched arm was a measurement tool — a way to make sure those little trees in the distance were just the right size compared to the glassy water of Ruedi Reservoir before him.

And Kikut, who spends a lot of time these days embedded deep in river canyons, savored the summer day under his straw hat.

“I kind of come alive with more space,” Kikut says. The reservoir overlook was the site of his field drawing workshop for about a dozen people with sketchbooks. The horizon was wide, and the sky was open above him. “It allows me to catch my breath, and breathe and kind of soar a little bit.”

Kikut has been painting and drawing the landscapes of the West for decades. He traveled the region with his family as a kid and had a creative awakening in college. He found inspiration in Thomas Moran, a 19th-century artist whose paintings of Yellowstone motivated people to create America’s first national park.

“Art definitely has an important role in engaging a wider public,” Kikut said in an interview after the workshop. He looks at sites like “Artist Point,” a scenic viewing spot in Yellowstone, and sees the name as a call

to action, rather than a location marker.

“I always have that in the back of my mind, ‘What is it that’s important, and what am I doing as an artist to point to things that I feel deserve some attention?’” Kikut says.

Kikut has spent most of his career painting lonely highways and arid deserts, treating those wide and often dry empty spaces with the same reverence that Moran gave to Yellowstone.

“I’ve been documenting this drought that’s (lasted) over 20 years for — well, since it started,” Kikut said.

For most of those two decades though, water was just incidental to his subject matter. Many of those lonely highways run parallel to rivers; some of his older sketches have small puddles in them, but they’re not the focus of the piece.

Then, a few years ago, Kikut joined a team of researchers and other artists on a trip down the Green and Colorado rivers — the “original highway,” as Kikut calls it.

The journey was called the “Sesquicentennial Colorado River Exploring Expedition,” or SCREE, and it followed the same route down the Green River and Colorado River that John Wesley Powell took in 1869.

But this group’s trip, 150 years later, was shaped by major infrastructure like dams

and reservoirs — and by increasingly fraught conversations about the difference between water supply and demand in the basin.

Kikut documented the trip in drawings from the field, which he turned into larger-scale paintings later on.

But 2019 was a good water year. He returned last year, as reservoirs reached record lows. Now, some of his pieces inspired by the 2019 trip — as well as the return a few years later — are on display at the Basalt Regional Library in the Roaring Fork Valley, near a major tributary to the Colorado River.

His paintings are high up on the walls, so you have to crane your neck to see them, almost like you’re in the bottom of a canyon yourself. Dams, reservoirs, and rivers come in shades of warm brown and pale blue — conveying the aridity of the southwest’s landscapes.

“Looking at them was like, a little bit of an emotional reaction in the sense that you could really tell that he captured a moment in time,” says Christina Medved at the exhibition opening in early July. “You can almost feel how hot it was, or sense that there’s sand under his feet.”

Medved runs community outreach for the Roaring Fork Conservancy, a nonprofit that organized the field drawing workshop and collaborated with the Basalt Regional

HEAR MORE about Kikut’s work from the Mountain West News Bureau.

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT Artist Patrick Kikut, left, showcases some of his sketches to a field drawing workshop participant at Ruedi Reservoir in July.

Library on this show. The paintings are on display through January.

The conservancy brings in speakers all the time to speak about water and river issues, often from the perspective of scientists, water managers, and reporters. Earlier this year, they screened the documentary A River Out of Time about the SCREE trip, and coordinated an event with the expedition leader, Tom Minckley of the University of Wyoming.

But Medved says artists are a key part of the conversation too, especially as people try to grasp the impact of water issues that can often be complex and difficult to understand.

“We still need to be capturing these places, both for historical reasons, but also because of what they can do with drawing out the emotions and the beauty,” Medved says.

Cathy Click agrees. She used to run community engagement for the Basalt library, and this partnership was partly her idea — inspired by that screening of A River Out of Time in the spring.

The laws that govern our region’s rivers and reservoirs can be tough to comprehend, but Click believes art can provide an entry point.

“I mean, that’s why people make it, view it, see it, buy it — because it engages you in a completely visual way, which engages your brain to think about bigger picture things,” Click says at the exhibition opening.

Making art has the same effect, Kikut says. Painting and sketching the river helped him develop a sense of place and grasp what that place means in a larger context.

“The persistence of water, I think, is an amazing thing that allows me to think of this planet on a deeper and kind of broader scale than I have before,” Kikut says.

So now, after an extra snowy winter and rainy spring brought lots of water to the Colorado River Basin, Kikut is again thinking about how it’s changing — and using his pencil and brush to depict the high water marks while they’re here.

“My images have expressed the drought and the lack of water,” Kikut says. “And it is important for me to maybe step back and think about things a little bit different. That’s as important as the next thing that’s going to come, too.” ✦

Editor’s note: This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by Aspen Public Radio, distributed by KUNC, and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. Patrick Kikut works throughout the Colorado River Basin. He’s been based in Wyoming for most of the last two decades.

NATIVE DISPATCH

Paradise … But at What Cost?

The Maui fires are a case study in the harm that climate change, resource extraction, and crisis exploitation inflict on Indigenous Peoples

BY Richard Boland

Ihave no idea what it’s like to watch your world burn. But when I hear the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) describe the conditions that allowed the Maui fires to explode, I recognize their anguish and concern for the future. Indigenous People understand their pain and frustration through our shared experience with settler colonialism. For those of us who continue to live on our lands, and to share it with tourists, the indignities shown to us are amplified during times of conflict and crisis.

I will not tell the Kanaka Maoli’s story. They have plenty of people who are capable of doing so. A good place to start is Kaniela Ing’s August 17 essay for Time magazine. What these accounts detail in Lahaina is an accelerated version of the harm that unbridled climate change, resource extraction, and crisis exploitation inflict on Indigenous People.

In Maui, the effects of climate change have been exacerbated by plantation practices that push out native plant species and divert

water for commercial use. In the West, we see similar effects from mining, ranching, and restrictions against incorporating Indigenous management principles into public land use policy. The onslaught of mining that started during the Gold Rush era continues to devastate our environment at an astonishing rate in the Global South. Moreover, the consequences of climate change-induced drought are intensified in areas previously deforested by mining. In the Great Basin, for example, our beloved pine trees are being ravaged by beetle infestations that threaten to decimate an already meager source of sustenance.

A further insult, once plantations and mines are no longer commercially viable, municipal and regional managers convert them to other uses — such as tourism. Consider my home, in Death Valley National Park. The Pacific Coast Borax Company, perhaps best known for its 20-mule team and the Death Valley Days TV show, created the Death Valley Hotel Company that continues to operate under a new name

LAHAINA: RICK BOWMER/AP PHOTO; DEATH VALLEY: JOHN LOCHER/AP PHOTO

COLLATERAL

and owners: the Oasis at Death Valley and Xanterra Travel Collection. Such resorts usually have superior water rights, which is why, as Naomi Klein and Kapua’ala Sproat wrote in their August 17 article for The Guardian, there was no water to fight Maui’s fire. The resorts use the water to fill pools and maintain golf courses, sustaining the allure of lush developments.

Mineral rights go even further — the General Mining Act of 1872 allowed miners to retain ownership of lands after their claims were played out. It’s gruesomely fitting that mining developments would morph into commercial enterprises, which University of Antwerp fellow Vijay Kolinjivadi refers to as “extractive tourism” businesses. Kolinjivadi explains, “Like a gold rush to the latest discovery of untapped ores, a panoply of hotel chains, foreign tour operators, online booking agencies, airlines, real estate speculators, and multinational construction companies quickly rush to capitalize on any curiosity that a visitor might have toward any site of historical or natural value.”

Attraction sites such as Lahaina and many of our national parks provide examples of what Kolinjivadi describes as extractive tourism’s “mining pits.” Once tourism takes hold of these places, gentrification pushes out residents who are unable to withstand the financial pressure. Those who stay must deal with the demands required to sustain this new industry.

The story of the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and the Pai ’Ohana illustrates this theory. In the 1990s, the Timbisha and the Pai ’Ohana both feared they were being forced off their ancestral lands — in what the U.S. has designated, respectively, as Death Valley National Park in California

and Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park in the Kona region of Hawaii. To resist dispossession, they formed the Alliance to Protect Native Rights in National Parks and began organizing other Indigenous People with similar concerns. Following almost a decade of work, President Bill Clinton signed the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act into law, formally recognizing the tribe’s right to remain on their lands. Unfortunately, the Pai ’Ohana were forced off land they had occupied since well before the king of Hawaii relinquished his throne. A plantation owner sold the land out from under them, for $60 million, to create the national park — which is dedicated to the interpretation of Native Hawaiian culture.

Such dispossession can also result from what Naomi Klein calls “disaster capitalism,” when private interests descend on a region in the wake of a major destabilizing event and displace local residents. Disaster capitalism is an extension of Dutch writer and professor Arjen Boin’s notion of crisis exploitation — when entities capitalize on the disruption of governance as usual by emergencies and disturbances. This is what the Kanaka Maoli now fear in the aftermath of the Maui fires: that their aloha ’aina (ties and responsibilities to homeland) will be severed in the rush to “clean up” after the Maui fires.

As I mentioned in a previous article, Indigenous People claim the climate “crisis” is being used to justify actions that harm them and their homelands. The evidence they point to includes the framing of global warming in a way that deems specific minerals as critical, thus granting billons of dollars in tax credits and loans to their extractors. Interestingly, mining is responsible for between four and seven percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and tourism produced eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions between 2009 and 2013.

There is one glimmer in all of this. In 2022, the White House released guidance to recognize and include Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge in research, policy, and decision making across federal agencies. This new directive is folded into the federal tribal consultation process. Still, tribal consultation holds less meaning than the international human rights standard of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. I’ll cover the issue of tribal consultation in a future article. In the meantime, please join me in sending aloha to the people of Maui and in ensuring their worst fears do not materialize. ✦

DAMAGE

Left, Lahaina after the devastating wildfire. Above, tourism draws visitors to Death Valley National Park.

A CELEBRATION OF SPAIN FROM CHEF JOSÉ ANDRÉS

NOW HEAR THIS

Two Vegas music-lovers riff on their favorite local acts and albums of the moment

BY Eric Duran-Valle and *CoCojenkins

POST-NC

CHOICE TRACK: “EGRESS”

One mark of a really good band is when you can tell all the musicians are individually talented, but they never outshine each other. And I really feel that with Post-NC. So, they’re a real joy to see live. And they usually have this fun bit where they have this one guy just stand behind them for the whole performance, and he just doesn’t do anything. He just stands there like a statue. It’s quite something to see. – EDV

KINGJARED

CHOICE TRACK: “HOOLIGAN”

You’ll hear him rapping about his whole Vegas experience — all sides of the spectrum — when it comes to King JaRED. And he actually graduated from Las Vegas Academy and rocks with a band called The Noir Movement, who are all also amazing musicians that came out of LVA. – CJ

PURESPORT

CHOICE TRACK: “PIZZA TIME”

Their whole shtick is that they’re doing a corporate satire thing: They perform live wearing suits and ties. They have this really good old-school type of punk sound. I first saw them (last) October — it was a completely random concert at Eagle Airie Hall in Henderson. And it was just one of the most wild, energetic live performances that I’ve ever seen. So, I’ve been a bit of an evangelist for them ever since! –

EDV

ARRLO

THEDOLLHEADS

CHOICE TRACK: “MICROPHONE”

(The bandmembers are) actually teenagers, three siblings: two sisters and one brother, and they’re just really good at capturing that teen age angst sound — there’s a real authenticity to it. They got their start doing covers of (rock bands), which now are kind of considered classics. (Now their own music) harkens back to that old-school emo-punk sound. – EDV

CHOICE TRACK: “CAVITIES” I first got to see (Arrlo) at the SunCan Festival at Ferguson’s, which was really interesting because Arrlo was one of the main organizers of (it), with Black Sheep Booking. I really like them as music community members because they’re really looking to uplift and promote a lot of their colleagues in the music scene. Of emo punk nostalgia, Arrlo’s kind of the lighter side, and I feel that sound is really making a comeback. – EDV

EMO

AKASHAA

CHOICE TRACK: “FLOW” (FEAT. TREE HILL)

I actually have the pleasure of being great friends with this artist, as I feel like I am with a lot of the artists on this lineup. I’m sure I saw (AKASHAA) for the first time out at First Friday or at Cork and Thorn — she used to perform there a lot — or at The Usual Place. She even just performed at The Space on the same lineup as the Dollheads for the competition to (perform at) Life is Beautiful. – CJ

BOOKS

Future Fight

Hammer of the Dogs brings the dystopia home

BY Anne Davis

Post-apocalyptic Las Vegas must seem a natural setting for dystopian fiction, given the number of times it’s been used as such. Post-pandemic, with the city’s economic recovery still lagging, it’s even more believable. Take that hopeless atmosphere, add crumbling infrastructure and roving bands of displaced civilians, and you have the scene of Jarret Keene’s latest novel, Hammer of the Dogs. Out since September 12, the book is the latest in Keene’s line of Vegas-themed works, following poetry and short story anthologies, and a travel guide.

For Hammer of the Dogs, Keene has chosen a similar central conflict as many previous young adult (YA) books: An independent, jaded young woman named Lash is accustomed to a life of discomfort, but she’s presented with an opportunity to improve her lot at the expense of those she’s closest to — or so we think.

However, characterizing the book as YA purely based on its common YA tropes (notably the perennially popular “enemies-to-lovers” subplot) would be inaccurate, as it’s also thoroughly mature. Its portrait of post-apocalyptic Vegas is gritty and disturbing; the cult serving as a central character is rich in warped religious symbolism; and the graphic violence and adult themes are not for the faint of (or young at) heart.

Masterfully capturing the anxiety of younger generations faced with inheriting (and fixing) a world they might not even want, the novel is relatable for Gen Z’ers like me, who are staring down the barrel of a future that feels increasingly desperate. Does Lash live up to Keene’s promise of being a “kickass heroine for the 21st century”? If that entails protecting loved ones, fighting for justice, and growing through trauma, then yes. And, as my generation knows, she’s long overdue. ✦

by Jarret Keene  210 pages, $21  University of Nevada Press

Hammer of the Dogs

HEAR MORE Samples and discussion of selected tracks

“Stunning!

PHOTO BY

FOOD+DRINK

Food With Heart

At BS Taqueria, Ray Garcia will dig even deeper into his heritage

BY Jason Harris

“Big, bright, bold flavors,” is how Ray Garcia describes his food at BS Taqueria. “We don’t really pull punches.” The famed eatery, which shuttered in Los Angeles and has now found a new home in Las Vegas, showcases plates that are confident and aggressive — like its chef.

Garcia is a native Angeleno who grew up in a Mexican-American community, but he didn’t start experimenting with the food of his heritage until well into his career. Classically trained, he worked his way through some of the best restaurants in L.A., including the Peninsula Hotel, Cyrus, and Fig, before digging deeper into his culture.

Las Vegas restaurateur James Trees — of Esther’s Kitchen, Al Solito Posto, and Ada’s Food + Wine — was Garcia’s sous chef at Fig and has fond memories of working with him. Trees believes that it was clear where Garcia was going early on. “(Fig) is kind of where the original ethos of Broken Spanish (and BS Taqueria) came from — his time not just being raised in L.A. but being at Fig and seeing that people really loved those flavors.”

Trees has been so inspired by Garcia that he is currently devising a pizza called the Green-Eyed Monster based on his former boss’s green chorizo and rice taco. He says, “I miss that chorizo so much … It was such a cool thing that I had never seen before.”

That’s the type of impact that Garcia’s food will need to have if BS Taqueria is to survive — and thrive — in The Sundry, the busy new food hall at Uncommons, featuring a bevy of quick-eat options along with two sit-down restaurants: the Japanese spot, Mizunara, and BS Taqueria.

Garcia says he’s up for the challenge. “High tide raises all boats,” he says. “If, collectively, we’re putting up great food in a fun atmosphere and we’re gaining momentum, (then) we become part of an exciting collection of restaurants and operators that people love to visit.”

Amber Lancaster, the corporate culinary director of Table One Hospitality, the group helming The Sundry, has confidence in Garcia. “We feel The Sundry is a perfect home for a modern taqueria, and we’re excited to take risks with a menu that we wouldn’t normally take on the Strip. And

we could not think of anyone we’d rather work with more than Chef Ray.”

Garcia has already gained ground in Las Vegas with Viva! This Resorts World restaurant features his twists on dishes such as camarones a la diabla served over fideo and asada in a pineapple.

At BS Taqueria, Garcia takes his twists even further with memorable items such as heirloom corn tortillas, lamb neck birria, and bone-in carnitas, plates that define where Garcia is now, where he’s been, and likely where he’s going. He says they come from “a special time in

my life, a special place, a special member of my family. I felt like I could dig a little bit deeper into those dishes and explore them and also, kind of, change them in my mind. If I could go back to my childhood and make a dish that I didn’t love amazing or use that same amount of heart and soul that my mother or grandmother put into their dishes but with the access to resources that I now have — how could I do that?”

He seems to have figured it out, and now, Las Vegas has another place to enjoy the results. ✦

Mesquites of the Mojave

Look more closely at our native trees, and you’ll see nourishment in all its forms

BY Sarah Calvo

Amesquite tree sprawls wildly in the center of my backyard — triple the size it was when we moved in three years ago. Its unruly limbs seem to grow overnight, stretching to sway in strong desert winds. The year we bought our house, there had been zero inches of rainfall for 240 straight days, and the drip system had been off just as long. During those dry months, the mesquite was quietly sending its long, persistent roots in search of hidden water.

One summer afternoon last year, my kids and I cleaned up thousands of the mesquite’s seedpods that radiated from the center of the trunk in a creamy blanket. Lush branches formed a canopy of reprieve from the relentless summer heat. When my son asked if we could eat the pods, I assured him that if he could wait, I would do some research.

Mesquites are everywhere here. They line our walking paths, shade our favorite park benches, and decorate the city. As a phreatophyte, a plant that has evolved to thrive despite long dry periods, mesquites can go months without water. Their roots defy drought, twisting and extending up to 200 feet below ground. They provide shade, fast-growing fuel, sturdy wood, and nutritious food.

Our yard, adjacent to Sunset Park, lies in the middle of what used to be an ancient mesquite bosque. Bosques exist in the arid Southwest, near streams or rivers. Here in Las Vegas, water once moved invisibly under the sandy surface. It coursed for miles in vast groundwater causeways, like veins underneath skin, bubbling from springs and extending for miles, nourishing all kinds of desert flora and fauna. While the springs are now dry, mesquites are still here, and the one in my yard must have produced thousands of pods for a reason — certainly not to die wasted, inside a trash bag in my garage.

Early Virgin River Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloan), Patayan, and Southern Paiute lived in this area and ate foods from mesquite trees, prickly pear cactus, and other plants. The Southern Paiute still live here, practicing their traditional lifeways.

Some Las Vegas residents are educating other desert dwellers about the use of native plants. In a neighborhood off Charleston Boulevard, resident Victoria Flores works in her backyard community garden and front-yard food pantry. She is the founder of Solidarity Fridge, an Indigenous-led group that focuses on making healthy food more accessible and healing body and soul through connection with the land. Flores is Nahua Otomi, an Indigenous People of Mexico, and for her, growing and harvesting desert foods means reviving practices that colonization tried to destroy.

“Harvesting is a sacred and communal act in which we can localize and re-create the food systems that always nourished communities,” she says. “Mesquite and other native trees don’t just provide shade, landscaping, or food for animals; they feed people. In our garden, nothing goes to waste. We learn from each other and also from the plants.”

Doing similar work is Ian Ford-Terry, a horticulturist and paleoethnobotany graduate student at UNLV. Drawn to Las Vegas to play poker, Ford-Terry didn’t discover his interest in horticulture until he began working with incarcerated youth in gardening classes. Now, he works alongside Indigenous friends to create food sovereignty for regional Native tribes.

Ford-Terry’s interest is in reviving ancestral agriculture techniques to use plants that still exist in this landscape. Asked if he eats mesquite pods, he replied without skipping a beat: “Of course! I eat all kinds of wild foods, but mesquite pods are some of the best. They’re very nutritious, and you can just pick one off the stem.”

(Nevertheless, it turns out, my kids and I would need to throw away the mesquite pods we collected. They must be picked from the tree — never from the ground, because mold from heat and moisture can cause toxins to form on fallen pods.)

Ford-Terry works on permaculture designs suited for drought. For one project he’s growing three native plants: mesquite, agave, and Indian ricegrass, which, when planted together, enrich one another and provide a nutritious harvest.

“In our megadrought and rapid climate change, the multifunctional nature of these plants is culturally important and concretely beneficial,” Ford-Terry says. “Mesquite roots even host rhizobia that enrich the otherwise nitrogen-weak desert soil, thereby helping other plants nearby.”

The honey mesquite in my yard, or pro -

sopis glandulosa, and its sisters, the velvet and screwbean mesquite, produce seed pods, but each is unique. The pods my kids and I picked up were creamy with purple brush strokes and about the length of my hand, but the velvet mesquite has larger, reddish black pods of velvet texture that stand out against the ground. The screwbean produces just what you would think: twisted legumes that look like curled ribbons strewn across the desert.

Desert Harvesters, a group in Tucson, Arizona, has a cookbook and nonprofit that aim to “ ... remind us of where we live and how to live with dignity and delectability.” They write that mesquite pods can be ground up whole, husk and all, after being picked straight from the tree and dried. You can make a low-glycemic, protein-rich, fiber-filled, gluten-free flour — a powerhouse wheat alternative with the potential to start a fast trend on socials, but it’s always been a staple food.

People used to grind up the pods and make small cakes or turn them into porridge they flavored with other ingredients such as saguaro and barrel cactus seeds. When the flour is cooked, it releases its nutty, cinnamon scent and heightens the pods’ sweetness. Calcium, magnesium, protein, fiber, iron, zinc, and the amino acid lysine are among mesquite flour’s benefits, and it can be used in recipes ranging from waffles to drinks.

In addition to providing sustainable food, these trees are also a part of a beautiful desert landscape, one that some people are trying to help the population fall in love with again.

Often, people plant magnolias or ivy in the desert, expressing a yearning for landscapes that are unnatural here. Joey Lynn Watt, Star Nursery’s ISA certified arborist, makes house calls to people’s yards to help them care better for their plants. She was born and raised here and has seen this city evolve from a small ’70s town into a massive suburbia.

“What we have here doesn’t please the eyes of newcomers,” Watt says. “We’ve planted and designed this city to satisfy desires for lush lawns, English gardens, and nostalgia for a climate that doesn’t exist here. Unlearning these habits is what we must do, and it’s urgent.”

She calls learning to adapt a “privilege,” adding that now’s the time to do it. “What we do can be generationally unforgivable, or life-giving,” Watt insists. “It can start small in our own yards.” ✦

CHARCUTERIE AT LA STREGA

DESCRIBING THE SEAcharcuterie plate at her flagship Italian restaurant, chef Gina Marinelli says, “It’s all very oceanic, and it ties into what we are and what we stand for at La Strega.” As with any good charcuterie board, this one features a mix of curated specialty items, but it also showcases Marinelli’s personal flair. Many of the ingredients come from Sogno Toscano, a company that specializes in high-end Italian fare, including cured fish from Sardinia. Among them are an octopus salami, a traditionally dry-aged swordfish, and an air-cured tuna bresaola.   Marinelli adds house-made anchovy crostini and egg salad made with Worcestershire sauce, parsley, and pickled onions — a nod to the chef’s visit to San Sebastián, Spain. Grilled ciabatta provides the perfect vessel for the restaurant’s rich uni shoyu crema. All of this is served with lime and seasonal vegetables courtesy of The Intuitive Forager. Taken together, it makes for a creative charcuterie board that wows at first sight … and first taste.

On my way to the National Weather Service office in Las Vegas, my Uber driver told me he’d received a flash flood warning on his phone. The sky was bright, with a cluster of clouds building to the south. Eric worked part-time as a high school basketball coach, part time as an Uber driver, and today was his granddaughter’s first day of school. I asked if he’d take off early. He shook his head. “I don’t stop driving. I know where the dips are.” The worst, he said, was the Linq parking garage, which was built on top of a wash that drained into Lake Mead. During floods, the lot turns into a river.

The night before, the Strip itself was a river. I saw the usual videos: casino ceilings leaking, tiles falling, and roofs caving in, water rushing down the gutters of Las Vegas Boulevard. Older videos surfaced, too: A man playing slots, nonplussed as water cascaded in front of his face; cars leaving wakes in flood water, as though they were speed boats. People sprinting barefoot through fast-flowing urban streams, trying to skim the surface. I’d spent the evening at a friend’s house, recruiting others to stand outside with me in the downpour and watch lightning stitch across the purple sky.

Monsoon season is my favorite time here. I love the smell of creosote after rain, its petrol sweetness mixing with the humid musk of damp dirt. I love witnessing the earth’s sudden transformation from brown to green. Dormant springs fill with cool water. Cacti swell. Evening light shifts, the dimming sun refracting off clouds and throwing distant showers into relief. I can spend hours sitting on my patio, watching the sky darken. The anticipation of rain is a delight in itself. For people like me who grew up in the Southwest’s megadrought, or who’ve spent the last twenty years here, rain is a rare and precious event, a scarcity that reminds us of our region’s uncertain future. During monsoon season in Las Vegas, rain falls hard and fast. Then it’s gone. Anxiety returns. We don’t know when it will rain again.

Monsoon season is also extremely dangerous. Six inches of moving water can knock down an adult. One foot can displace a car. For the city’s storm drain dwellers, monsoons are deadly. At least one person, presumably unhoused, had died in a flooded ditch as of August 29. These storms are vital to the Southwest, providing needed water to delicate and parched ecosystems, but in recent years, the seasons have been erratic. Last year saw one of Las Vegas’ wettest monsoon seasons in decades; for

WRITER IN RESIDENCE

When the Rain Comes

Relishing monsoon season in a land of persistent drought

BY Meg Bernhard

years before that, hardly any rain fell in the summer. This year, the monsoon season was off to a late start, recording below-average rainfall. Experts attribute the extremes, in part, to climate change.

By the end of the week, the damage was evident. Tropical storm Hilary washed out roads on Mt. Charleston, and, as of this writing, residents still didn’t have access to potable water. All roads in the Mojave National Preserve were closed. Death Valley logged its rainiest day ever.

I WANTED TO learn about the people who tracked monsoons for the public, the people responsible for sending warnings and alerting the airport, whose predictions stopped others from hiking and driving, and probably saved lives. I’d started following the National Weather Service on Twitter about the time I moved here, two years ago. They posted frequent updates about storms, photos and typologies of clouds, and

occasional meteorological jokes. I asked, twice, if I could shadow the forecasters during the much-anticipated Hurricane Hilary, but their media guy wouldn’t allow it. “We’re not very used to working with tropical storm systems down here,” he told me, and the results could be catastrophic. I’d have to settle for the next-best thing: Normal monsoon operations.

When I arrived at the office, on a quiet road dotted with business parks, a gym, and a Goodwill, five men were hunched around their computers, topographical maps and colorful pixelated storm systems open on dozens of screens. Phones and computers beeped with notifications; occasionally, someone would call the office to ask a question. Las Vegas police often wanted to know the temperature in certain parts of town, usually because a child or dog was left in a hot car, Clay, a senior weather forecaster with a slight Southern drawl, told me, frowning.

During that afternoon’s rotation, Sam, the newest guy of the group, was on radar, issuing flash flood warnings such as the one my Uber driver received. Chris was on social media, monitoring information and posting updates. Clay was backup on radar, checking to see if the pentagons Sam had drawn around flash flood areas seemed accurate. Marc was in charge of alerting the airports to weather changes; they had a direct line to Harry Reid. Stan would launch the weather balloon later in the afternoon, then take over for Marc.

“We’re starting to pick up a little today, but nothing too major going on,” Stan said, pointing to a radar screen showing a cluster of green, yellow, and orange masses hovering in the Sandy Valley area, where Sam had issued a flash flood warning until 4:30 that afternoon. Stan had been at the National Weather Service in Las Vegas for 20 years and used to fly through the eyes of hurricanes in Florida. He first became interested in forecasting during his childhood in Pennsylvania. In 1985, when he was in high school, Tropical Storm Gloria ripped through the mid-Atlantic. “I was walking home from school that day and came across floodwaters and thought, oh, this isn’t good,” he said. When he arrived home, his house was inundated. “The first floor down had to be entirely replaced.”

His phone chirped. “I think it was just a thank you,” Stan said after reading a message. “I chatted about that cell up over at Lee Canyon earlier, that there might be lightning strike or two, but I don’t think there ended up being any. There’s another cell going up northwest to Red Rock.”

“Sam’s on that,” Clay said.

‘What’s a cell?” I asked.

“A storm,” Stan said.

“Sorry, we speak fluent jargon around here,” Clay said. He’d been in the business for 30 years. The thing about the weather, he told me, is that it affects every single person on the planet in one way or another. That’s why he liked the job. He grew up in Louisiana and had worked across the country, though “nothing will ever beat Action Jackson, Mississippi,”

he said, recalling a time when the city saw a tornado and snowfall within days of each other.

Over the course of the afternoon, Clay and Stan showed me many digital maps. Maps of the region’s streams and washes, which link the basins, drawn with squiggly blue lines, a code to understanding the hydrology of Las Vegas. Maps of temperature, wind, total rainfall. Maps predicting storms over the next week. Storms are dynamic, and can shift in direction and intensity quickly, I learned when Stan and I briefly left the office to fill up the weather balloon. I took a photo of dark clouds roiling around Summerlin, and gaped as the balloon grew to the size of a golf cart. Ten minutes later, a new storm was brewing to the south.

“If you can stay long enough, we might have an opportunity to look at something here in the valley,” Clay said, directing my attention to a map of the Jean Dry Lakebed. The question was whether the storm would strengthen as it crested a ridgeline; if so, it’d likely hit Henderson with heavy rain, and then, Las Vegas.

This is what I was here for: To see forecasters in action as a storm unfolded. Mine was a Hollywood image of their work: men rushing around, alarm bells ringing, adrenaline high, a geekier version of reporters during a breaking news event. I was projecting my own childlike excitement onto the office. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved rain and lightning and wind, any ripple in the air a contrast to the blue skies in my home of Southern California. The electricity of the atmosphere always seemed to burrow in my own body, delivering new energy to me. “It’s why we get into the business,” the media guy had told me when I begged him to let me visit during the hurricane.

In reality, the office was calm, and the forecasters spoke in low tones, with their weather jargon and encyclopedic knowledge of the valley’s infrastructure, about what areas were most likely to flood. In a measured voice, Stan asked Clay to stick around an hour longer, to monitor what might happen in Las Vegas.

“Rain gauge is up to .55,” Sam said, referring to a measuring device near Jean, where the storm was developing.

“Not bad, not bad at all,” Clay said. “How long did that take?”

“Within the last 30 minutes,” Sam said.

“What I’m looking for is heavy rain, maybe a half an inch or more, and it comes fast,” Clay told me. Of course, it depended where the rain fell. Water would spread out across a dry lakebed with little damage, but would inundate a place like the Strip, where rain slips over asphalt and concrete, cornered by curbs and buildings. Drought, too, had made desert soils hard and compact, causing rainwater to slide off the surface.

I had a flight out of Harry Reid in two hours, so I was particularly interested in the storm’s development. Stan called the airport to warn of strong winds. “Is that the call that’s going to delay my flight?” I asked.

THE NUMBERS TICKED up. Point 63 in 30 minutes. Point 67. Sam debated putting out a flash flood warning for Henderson. “There are a lot of areas in Old Henderson that don’t drain especially well,” Clay said. They looked at other storms, another one moving north. Clay walked to the parking lot to roll his windows up, and I was so fixated on the screens that I didn’t notice the storm outside. Rain lashed. Trees whipped in the wind. “I can verify thunder at the office,” Clay said, grinning.

A familiar sensation of relief welled within me: Rain, finally. I felt the urge to dart outside like I used to as a kid, when I’d play hide and seek under dripping leaves. It had been an unusually wet year, and Nevada was no longer in a state of extreme drought. But July was the hottest July in Las Vegas history. It was the hottest July globally. I knew the relief wouldn’t last.

I wanted to stay longer, to see out the storm, but my departure time was approaching, and as far as I knew, my flight wasn’t canceled. I bid the forecasters goodbye and left the office. Outside, the asphalt was slick, and trees were bending. I sprinted through heavy rain, into the monsoon. ✦

During monsoon season in Las Vegas, rain falls hard and fast. Then it’s gone. Anxiety returns. We don’t know when it will rain again.

TURNING OFF THE GAS

Medical gaslighting is real — and destructive. Does hope for change lie in our medical schools?

By Stephanie Forté

After eating, Kim Treviño’s stomach would become so distended that she looked six months pregnant. Her periods had always been excruciating, but severe abdominal pain had become constant. “It’s something you’re eating,” her doctor said. She tried an elimination diet and digestive enzymes. They didn’t help. Irritable bowel syndrome and colon cancer screenings were clear. For two years, as her pain worsened, she was continually tested for STDs she didn’t have. During ovulation, the pain became so intense that she’d be bedridden. It’s just period cramps, she was told.

After months of exhaustively researching her symptoms, Treviño, who is 37 and the associate development director at UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute, asked her gynecologist, “Could I have endometriosis?” Well, maybe.

Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue that lines the uterus, usually shed during menstruation, migrates to other parts of the pelvis. It causes pain, inflammation, scarring — even organs “sticking” together. The 10 percent of reproductive-aged U.S. women with endometriosis wait about a decade to be diagnosed via a laparoscopic procedure also used to treat the condition. Like Treviño, about 90 percent have had their symptoms dismissed That procedure should’ve ended Treviño’s ordeal. Instead, it unleashed a nightmarish and all-too-common occurrence for women with unresolved pain — medical gaslighting.

An age-old problem with a new name, medical gaslighting is when a doctor repeatedly dismisses a patient’s health concerns as not real, insignificant, or psychological. It’s born out of our medical culture’s rampant disregard for the pain of women and other marginalized groups of people, which has other big consequences as well: dangerous lag times for diagnosing many diseases, blame-shifting, and data disparities in research.

But there’s some hope for change in Las Vegas, where medical school leaders are working on a course correction. They’re drilling down on factors driving medical

gaslighting with the hope of teaching future generations of doctors how to really listen to — and understand — their patients.

WHEN TREVIÑO’S ENDOMETRIOSIS surgery didn’t curtail her pain, she spent the following year being examined by seven gynecologists, who performed more than 30 pelvic exams, where she cried out in agony. It was excruciating for her to sit or walk for more than a short period. She was told:  Most women feel better by this time. Maybe you’re just sensitive. How about an antidepressant? It’s probably anxiety.

Doctors are gatekeepers to care, so when

they don’t believe a patient who actually is in pain, it prolongs the patient’s suffering. Patients say medical gaslighting is also maddening, which makes sense since gaslighting is a form of abuse that leaves people questioning their perceptions. British novelist and playwright Patrick Hamilton coined the term in his 1938 play, Gas Light, in which a man tricks his wife into thinking she’s going insane so that he can steal from her.

Treviño was finally vindicated another year later, when an out-of-state specialist did a second surgery, confirming that endometriosis was still present throughout her abdomen, and she’d likely had it for more than a decade. But five years of having her pain dismissed has been hard to shake off. “It made me not trust my body,” Treviño says. “It made me doubt my sanity.”

Since 2017, more than 1,000 news articles have addressed medical gaslighting, in publications ranging from The New York Times to Cosmopolitan magazine. On TikTok, #medicalgaslighting has more than 250 million views. But it’s not some new social fad.

For eons, women have been considered unreliable narrators of their pain, incapable of distinguishing physical from emotional distress. Unresolved pain often gets women labeled as too sensitive, emotional, or — the age-old favorite — hysterical , from the Greek word hysteria , which means “uterus.” The ancient Greeks reasoned that women’s pain was because of uterus-related phenomena such as virginity, not having birthed a child, and even being unmarried. In the 19th and 20th centuries, men stumped by the female reproductive system fabricated convenient truths.

“It seems ridiculous now to imagine physicians once believed that a woman’s nerves were too highly strung for them to receive an education and that their ovaries would become inflamed if they read too much,” writes feminist historian Elinor Cleghorn, in her 2021 book, Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World

More outrageous is how it still affects women today.

THE SUSTAINED NEGLECT of women’s suffering signals a profound problem: We’ve accepted pain and medical gaslighting as a part of a woman’s experience. This is because of a complex system of legal, medical, and social practices that reinforce the status quo.

Women don’t have recourse when they’re not listened to, in part, because it’s not illegal to ignore them. In Nevada, even when medical gaslighting results in irreversible

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damage, patients are unlikely to secure a civil settlement to cover costs such as additional healthcare and lost wages.

Keep Our Doctors in Nevada (KODIN) was legislation passed in 2004 that created additional layers of protection for doctors, making it more difficult to file a medical malpractice suit. KODIN was supposed to improve healthcare by halting a mass exodus of physicians through lowered malpractice insurance costs. But by most measures, local healthcare has yet to improve. One thing KODIN did accomplish? Shortening the window to file a suit to one year. Because of this, some women who spoke to Desert Companion reported that their gaslighting appeared to be a tactic to avoid a lawsuit for a surgery gone wrong.

Medical gaslighting also strips women of agency and creates a sense of trepidation. A survey  by Athenahealth found that 67 percent of millennials and more than half of women of all ages have opted to withhold health concerns from their doctors for fear of being branded as a problem patient.

“My doctor littered my medical records with comments that make me out to be aggressive and difficult,” says Mary Riddel, UNLV economics professor emerita. After a hip replacement surgery, Riddel’s pain worsened. For months, her surgeon insisted the implant had been installed perfectly — she was the problem. The remarks in her records made it hard for her to get care in Las Vegas. It turned out a standard implant wasn’t a good fit for her body. A Los Angeles surgeon addressed the issue, but, because of the delay, today, the longtime outdoor athlete limps and experiences pain walking long distances.

Doctors refer to women as “complaining” about a symptom rather than “experiencing” it. And Black women are more likely to be described by negative descriptors such as “uncooperative” or “noncompliant,” which can affect treatment and outcomes.

Gender and racial bias also create blind spots for doctors. In a 2023 survey by fertility technology company Mira, 72 percent of millennial women reported having their symptoms ignored by physicians. And nearly 65 percent of the women surveyed said physicians had linked their health concerns to anxiety. According to various studies, middle-aged women with symptoms of heart disease are two times more likely than men to be diagnosed with mental illness; women under 55 are seven times more likely to be sent home while having a heart attack; and compared to men with identical symptoms

in the emergency room, women with chest pain wait 23 percent longer to be seen by a physician, while those with abdominal pain wait 33 percent longer.

IT WASN’T UNTIL 1993 that Congress passed a law requiring women and minorities to be included in clinical research. And yet, since then, the data gap has grown, because it has not been enforced. When women are included in studies, researchers often don’t disaggregate the data, so health outcomes by sex and gender aren’t reported, according to a 2012 study by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Medicine. The scales remain tipped in men’s favor.

Because of the lack of female representation in drug studies, women’s intolerance of a medication or side effects from it may not be discovered until it hits the market. For instance, two decades after the sleep aid Ambien  was approved, it was found that it had been causing an increased risk for accidents the morning after taking the medication in women. The FDA’s response? Cut the woman’s dosage in half. Even drugs specifically for women are sometimes tested on mostly men. The  2015 trial for Addyi, a female version of Viagra, included 92 percent men.

THE FALLOUT FROM these systemic problems is far-reaching. Broadly, routine dismissal of pain has set a second-rate standard of care for women. After an orthopedic surgeon burned the median nerve at the brachial plexus during a surgery on my right shoulder, I endured months of relentless nerve pain, a sensation like being electrocuted. Several fingers were basically paralyzed. Before an out-of-state nerve surgeon confirmed I had a severe nerve injury, local healthcare providers had said my experience was no big deal. I was told that, rather than complain, I should be grateful I wasn’t dead, didn’t have cancer, and, because I couldn’t continue rock climbing, had avoided some future (hypothetical) climbing accident.

Other patients also reported developing a distrust of doctors. Marya Shegog is a Las Vegas-based public health expert who walks into doctors’ appointments like a military advisor prepped for the Situation Room. In graduate school, her cervical cancer diagnosis was delayed when she was gaslit by a white male gynecologist, a university department head. Shegog, who is Black, says, “To this day, I have a hard copy of all of my medical records, especially my OB-GYN records, that I take to every doctor.”

And she should. Minority women, especially Black women, suffer greater consequences and have worse health outcomes than white women. Black women are three times more likely to die from  pregnancy-related complications. And, while Black women are less likely to develop breast cancer, they are more likely to die from it.

In his book Masters of Health: Racial Science and Slavery in U.S. Medical Schools, UNLV professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies Christopher Willoughby writes, “As medicine created socially and culturally powerful institutions of education, physicians also embraced racist ideas about the nature of humanity and health.”

For example, a 2022 JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) study reported, “Physician implicit bias has been associated with false beliefs that Black patients have greater pain tolerance, thicker skin, and feel less pain than white patients.”

Victim-blaming may be the most pernicious effect of medical gaslighting. It can be seen in consumer articles instructing patients, “Know the signs of medical gaslighting!” and “Be your own advocate” placing the onus of fair treatment on patients who are in pain, rather than the institutions charged with their well-being. There are also assumptions of privilege in this ask — as if every patient has the knowledge, resources, and time to advocate on their own behalf.

For more than 20 years, medical researchers exploring gender bias have proposed another solution: See that medical schools integrate gender and sex differences into their curricula to address implicit bias.

“ACADEMIC MEDICINE, APART from being toxic, is racist, sexist, xenophobic, (and) elitist,” says Dr. Pedro “Joe” Greer, founding dean of Roseman University of Heath Sciences in Las Vegas. Roseman’s leadership is diverse — Greer is Latino — which is rare in medical academia. A 2019 study by the American Board of Family Medicine indicated that minorities accounted for 11 percent of deans, and women comprised 18 percent, in U.S. medical schools.

But that’s only part of the problem, according to Corrin Sullivan, assistant dean for curriculum at UNLV’s Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine. “A lot of people, unfortunately, get confused that this might be a social justice issue instead of patient-centered care,” Sullivan says. The school’s founding dean, Barbara Atkinson, wanted to train clinicians and make them aware of implicit bias — so that they could be better doctors.

“ I heard it on NPR. ”

Students typically take UNLV’s Analytics in Medicine course in year one. Like most schools, UNLV emphasizes epidemiology, but it also pairs that with ethics. Students unpack controversial issues around race and gender in medicine. “Many medical schools try to steer away from some of the controversy. We dig right in,” Sullivan says.

Another problem: Most medical schools don’t integrate sex- and gender-based medicine. When it is done at all, Invisible Women author Criado Perez writes, “it’s minimal and haphazard.” A 2016 survey at the Yale School of Medicine revealed that only 25 percent of medical students felt prepared to manage sex and gender differences in healthcare. UNLV’s Sullivan attributes this, in part, to guidelines from governing bodies being too broad. This means subjects such as bias can be left to the third year, when, she says, it’s too late for students to really absorb.

UNLV incorporates sex and gender differences in clinical cases and addresses how societal roles and wage disparities affect health outcomes. “If something doesn’t

work after 15 weeks, we’re so small that we can easily adapt it and change it for the next semester,” she says.

Among the so-called “soft skills” being pushed in Southern Nevada’s medical schools is an emphasis on emotional intelligence. “(Traditional medical academia) also lacks the virtues of humility, empathy, and compassion,” Greer says. He adds that it’s why, when medical schools test students’ empathy after the third year, rates plummet.

Greer and Sullivan share the view that, in a city where the best healthcare has been “at the airport,” as the cliché goes, new medical schools can be a place to begin undoing contributing factors, such as medical gaslighting.

Roseman’s Genesis program is a fusion of medical, public health, and social service care for vulnerable families. Medical students commit to caring for a household for four years and work as a team, visiting patients alongside nurses, pharmacists, and social workers. Through the experience, “they learn the real realities of life,” Greer says.

Genesis is modeled after a program at Florida International University (FIU)

Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in Miami, where Greer previously was a professor and associate dean for community engagement. At FIU, the program was shown to increase empathy. (UNLV offers students a similar experience through Nevada Community Service.)

UNLV’s medical students conduct walkability studies of Las Vegas neighborhoods to get a more holistic view of factors that affect people’s health outcomes. They evaluate transportation, food access, air quality, and amenities, identifying gaps and devising plans to address issues. Students have spoken about their experiences at legislative sessions about inequities in healthcare.

This all sounds promising, but eventually, medical school ends.  There’s more work to be done in residency programs, where practicing physicians model behavior for recent graduates. ✦

READ MORE For the

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rest of the story, including one Touro graduate’s first-hand encounter with medical gaslighting in the field, see the full version online.

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Roseman University of Health Sciences

Congratulates

DR. ALICE CHEN

on being named one of

Southern Nevada’s Top Dentists

Dr. Seuss had it right when he said, “To the world you may be just one person, but to one person, you may be the world.”

Thank you for your selfless and enduring service, and exceptional clinical care of our community’s children.

| @rosemanuhs

DENTAL P R O FILES

DR. MARK EDINGTON

Las Vegas native Dr. Mark Edington aka @thesmiledaddy is known for his life changing smile makeovers, but did you know he also owns Pucks Cookies & Treats, a Las Vegas hockey inspired bakery and dessert shop? So, when he is not transforming smiles as the #1 Invisalign dentist in Nevada, you may find him slinging cookies with his amazing wife Jenny Lynne and two hockey-loving boys. He likes to joke that a dentist opening a cookie shop is like a drug dealer opening a rehab center.

As an honored Fellow in the Academy of General Dentistry, Dr. Edington is proud to be counted among the top 5% of dentists in the country that have committed to being a leader in the field of dentistry.

Dr. Edington supports Las Vegas charities including The Shine a Light Foundation which is helping hundreds of people living in underground flood channels of Las Vegas. His private practice has committed to offer at least one smile makeover each year to an individual in need referred from this organization. Dr. Edington also offers a scholarship to Las Vegas and Henderson high school students interested in careers in the field of dentistry.

Awarded as a Top Dentist in Las Vegas by topDentists, Dr. Edington’s talents have been recognized by his peers and community. He is the top-rated dentist in the south Las Vegas area with hundreds of 5-star reviews on Google. It appears that his education at Brigham Young University and the prestigious Creighton University School of Dentistry has not gone to waste. He is fluent in Spanish language thanks to his two years as a missionary promoting the ideals of service, kindness, and making healthy choices while engaging with the beautiful people of the Dominican Republic.

When he is not helping our patients smile, Dr. Edington likes to clear his mind with a long swim. He has completed the insane Henderson Masters Swimming 100×100 swim challenge twice. That is about 6 miles! He also promotes beautification of Henderson and Southern Nevada through “Henderson Tree Huggers” Instagram page.

His sincerity and compassion in dentistry are matched with excellence in providing natural, precise results. Dr. Edington has advanced training and certification in providing Anxiety Free Dentistry using D.O.C.S. (Dental Organization for Conscious Sedation) protocols.

For appointments at Dr. Edington’s private dental office Modern Dental Care, go to moderndentallv.com or call/ text 702-372-4039.

DR. ALICE CHEN

Dr. Alice Chen joined Roseman’s College of Dental Medicine in 2022 as a board-certified Pediatric Dentist at Roseman’s clinics in Henderson and Summerlin, NV. With a warm smile, kind face and gentle way, it is obvious that she has a gift for connecting with children. Dr. Chen knew from a young age that she wanted to be a healthcare provider and use her hands in her profession. Shadowing a dentist in high school, she connected quickly with dentistry. Still, she had no particular interest in treating children, yet she found that her passion for pediatric dentistry grew while in her second year of dental school in Boston. In dental school, Dr. Chen worked alongside caring, compassionate faculty who took a great interest in mentoring her. Born to parents who guided her not to a specific profession or interest, but toward an ethos, “be helpful and take care of others,” Dr. Chen has followed this guidance. After a decade in private practice, in 2021, Dr. Chen decided to focus more time on the practice of pediatric dentistry and to let go of some of the administrative and business tasks associated with running a practice. When the opportunity arose at Roseman Dental & Orthodontics, it seemed like a perfect fit. “The opportunity at Roseman allowed me to focus more on doing what I love most— treating children. I couldn’t be happier about the opportunity to work in both of Roseman’s clinics. The entrée into academia offered her the chance to return the goodwill provided to her by faculty when she was a student. In her role, Dr. Chen has the chance to shape and inspire future providers.

Dr. Chen practices at Roseman Dental & Orthodontics in Henderson and at Roseman Dental – Summerlin, Roseman’s pediatric

dental clinic focused on treating medically compromised children in need of specialized dental care. Dr. Chen works alongside Dr. Matthew Thacker, Clinic Director, to treat patients of Roseman’s partner organization, Cure 4 The Kids (C4K). C4K treats children with cancers, blood diseases, and other life-threatening diseases. These children often put their dental needs aside, in need of a dental home with dentists who work alongside their physicians to deliver what is often specialized care.

Dr. Chen received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from UCLA with an emphasis on developmental psychology, graduated cum laude from Boston University, and pursued her specialty degree in pediatric dentistry at Temple University Hospital.

DR. PATRICIA PRADA

Dr. Patricia Prada has been affiliated with Absolute Dental for over 19 years. She is a board-certified pediatric specialist who is adored by many of her younger patients.

Dr. Prada studied at NYU College of Dentistry and Mount Sinai Hospital. She completed her general practice residency there, where she learned advanced oral procedures and emergency dentistry. She was also an assistant professor at NYU and worked with children with HIV for the Ryan White Children Foundation.

Upon arriving in Las Vegas, Dr. Prada decided to specialize in pediatric dentistry due to her deep concern for children. Her care is very special, as she understands the fears and obstacles that affect young people when they visit a dentist. Dr. Prada is kind, patient and understanding, which has made her a favorite of the children she treats.

Absolute Dental is a great fit for Dr. Prada as she is able to focus on patient care without worrying about managing her business. And since she is surrounded by so many other great dentists, she is able to spend quality time with her family without being “on call” all the time.

Dr. Prada always goes the extra mile. It is not unusual to find her treating a young patient and also offering them advice about their educational decisions. She explains the basics of oral health to her patients and puts them at ease.

Dr. Prada is an example of the exceptional roster of dentists that Absolute Dental has built. She is a wonderful part of the Absolute Dental family, and we are thrilled to have her. When she first told us that she chose this profession because “I like looking at beautiful smiles,” we knew she was the perfect addition to our team.

She is fluent in Spanish for our Latinx patients. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Prada, contact our patient line at (844) 8-SMILE-NOW (844-876-4536)

How the Top Dentists Were Chosen

This list is excerpted from the 2023 topDentists™ list, a database which includes listings for more than 140 dentists and specialists in the Las Vegas metro area. This list is based on hundreds of detailed evaluations of dentists and professionals by their peers. The complete database is available at www.usatopdentists.com. For more information call 706-364-0853; write PO Box 970, Augusta, GA 30903; email help@usatopdentists.com or visit www.usatopdentists.com.

SELECTION PROCESS

"If you had a patient in need of a dentist, which dentist would you refer them to?"

This is the question we've asked thousands of dentists to help us determine who the topDentists should be. Dentists and specialists are asked to take into consideration years of experience, continuing education, manner with patients, use of new techniques and technologies and of course physical results.

The nomination pool of dentists consists of dentists listed online through the American Dental Association, as well as all dentists listed online with their local dental societies, thus allowing virtually every dentist the opportunity to participate. Dentists are also given the opportunity to nominate other dentists that they feel should be included in our list. Respondents are asked to put aside any personal bias or political motivations and to use only their knowledge of their peer's work

when evaluating the other nominees. Voters are asked to individually evaluate the practitioners on their ballot whose work they are familiar with. Once the balloting is completed, the scores are compiled and then averaged. The numerical average required for inclusion varies depending on the average for all the nominees within the specialty and the geographic area. Borderline cases are given careful consideration by the editors. Voting characteristics and comments are taken into consideration while making decisions. Past awards a dentist has received and status in various dental academies can play a factor in our decision.

Once the decisions have been finalized, the included dentists are checked against state dental boards for disciplinary actions to make sure they have an active license and are in good standing with the board. Then letters of congratulations are sent to all the listed dentists.

Of-course there are many fine dentists who are not included in this representative list. It is intended as a sampling of the great body of talent in the field of dentistry in Nevada. A dentist’s inclusion on our list is based on the subjective judgments of his or her fellow dentists. While it is true that the lists may at times disproportionately reward visibility or popularity, we remain confident that our polling methodology largely corrects for any biases and that these lists continue to represent the most reliable, accurate, and useful list of dentists available anywhere.

DISCLAIMER This list is excerpted from the 2023 topDentists™ list, which includes listings of more than 140 dentists and specialists in Southern Nevada. For more information call: 706-364-0853 or email: help@usatopdentists.com or visit: www.usatopdentists.com

topDentists has used its best efforts in assembling material for this list but does not warrant that the information contained herein is complete or accurate, and does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions herein whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. Copyright 2011-2023 by topDentists, LLC, Augusta, GA. All rights reserved. This list, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission. No commercial use of the information in this list may be made without permission of topDentists. No fees may be charged, directly or indirectly, for the use of the information in this list without permission.

Christine C. Ancajas

UNLV School of Dental Medicine, 1001 Shadow Lane, Las Vegas, NV, 702-212-5889, christine. ancajas@unlv.edu, unlv.edu

Specialty: General Dentistry

David A. Arpin Desert Dental Specialists, 7520 W Sahara Blvd., Suite 1, Las Vegas, NV, 702-384-7200, dds@lvcoxmail.com, dds-lv.com

Specialty: Periodontics Cosmetic Dentistry

Stanley S. Askew Island Dental Center, 9750 Covington Cross Drive, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-341-7979, islanddentalcenter@yahoo.com, islanddentalcenter.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Steven A. Avena 3117 W Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas, NV, 702-384-1210, avenadr@yahoo.com, stevenavenadds.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Stacie Baalbaky Elite Family Dental 7835 S Rainbow Blvd., Suite 28, Las Vegas, NV, 702-898-8448, elitefamilydental@gmail. com, elitefamilydental.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Will Baalbaky Elite Family Dental

7835 S Rainbow Blvd., Suite 28, Las Vegas, NV, 702-898-8448, elitefamilydental@gmail. com, elitefamilydental.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Todd J. Baggaley Dr. B’s Dentistry for Children, 5705 Centennial Center Blvd., Suite 140, Las Vegas, NV, 702-998-7100, contact@surfingsmiles. com, centennialhillspediatricdentist.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Peter S. Balle Vegas Choice Dental, 2801 W Charleston Blvd., Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-710-9252, balledds@aol.com, vegaschoicedental.com

Specialty:

General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Benjamin J. Barborka Las Vegas Endodontics, 6655 W Sahara Ave., Suite A-106, Las Vegas, NV, 702-876-5800, lvendo3@gmail.com, lvendo.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Kristen Beling Sunset Endodontics, 54 N Pecos Road, Suite B, Henderson, NV, 702-436-4300, sunsetendo.com

Specialty: Endodontics

W. Scott Biggs Micro Endodontics of Las Vegas, 7120 Smoke Ranch Road, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-463-5000, wsbiggs@hotmail.com, lasvegasendo.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Laurie S. Bloch-Johnson Exceptional Dentistry 1140 N Town Center Drive, Suite 170, Las Vegas, NV, 702-463-8600, lauriedmd@gmail.com, drlauriesmiles.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Gary Braun UNLV School of Dental Medicine, 1001 Shadow Lane, Las Vegas, NV, 702-774-5134, gary.braun@unlv.edu

Specialty: Prosthodontics

Derryl R. Brian Nevada Trails Dental, 7575 S Rainbow Blvd., Suite 101, Las Vegas, NV, 702-367-3700, ntdalisha@gmail.com, nevadatrailsdental.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

William D. Brizzee

Las Vegas Endodontics, 6655 W Sahara Ave., Suite A-106, Las Vegas, NV, 702-876-5800, lvendo10@gmail.com, lvendo.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Bryan Q. Bui Cavitybusters, 6910 S Rainbow Blvd., Suite 104, Las Vegas, NV, 702-362-5437, cavitybusters@aol.com, cavitybusters.org

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Ryan S. Bybee

The Kid’s Dentist, 375 N Stephanie St., Suite 211, Henderson, NV, 702-454-1008, bybeedds@gmail.com, kidsdentistofhenderson.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Pamela G. Caggiano

Excellence In Dentistry

321 N Pecos Road, Suite 100, Henderson, NV, 702-732-7878, info@pamelacaggianodds.com, pamelacaggianodds.com

Specialty:

General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Colin M. Campbell St. Rose Family & Cosmetic Dentistry, 780 Coronado Center Drive, Suite 110, Henderson, NV, 702-387-5900, info@strosedental.com, strosedental.com

Specialty:

General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Brian Chamberlain Super Smile Orthodontics, 7090 N Durango Drive, Suite 120, Las Vegas, NV, 702-645-5100, rachelle@ supersmilevegas.com, supersmilevegas.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

Sandra Chan Moore Family Dentistry, 10624 S Eastern Ave., Suite N, Henderson, NV, 702-407-6700, sgchandds@gmail.com, lvsmiles.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Alice P. Chen Roseman Dental, 4 Sunset Way, Building B, Henderson, NV, 702-968-5222, alpChen@gmail.com, rosemandental.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Evangeline Chen

Greater Las Vegas Dental, 8867 W Flamingo Road, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-880-5858, greaterlasvegasdental@gmail.com, greaterlasvegasdental.com

Specialty: Prosthodontics

Victoria Chen

Significance Orthodontics, 6018 S Fort Apache Road, Las Vegas, NV, 702-213-9247, info@significanceorthodontics.com, significanceorthodontics.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

David A. Chenin

Chenin Orthodontic Group 10730 S Eastern Ave., Suite 100, Henderson, NV, 702-735-1010, info@cheniNo.com, cheniNo.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

Guy L. Chisteckoff Island Smiles Cosmetic & Family Dentistry, 8940 S Maryland Parkway, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-270-6501, chisteckoff@gmail.com, islandsmiles.org

Specialty: General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

April J. Cole

Absolute Dental, 3040 W Ann Road, Suite 101, N Las Vegas, NV, 702-825-0926, absolutedental.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

Jeffrey A. Cox

Anthem Pediatric Dentistry, 10400 S Eastern Ave., Henderson, NV, 702-531-5437, apdkids10400@gmail.com, apdkids.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Kenneth M. Cox 6615 S Eastern Ave., Suite 102, Las Vegas, NV, 702-866-9311, kencox7@gmail.com, parkviewdentallv.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Matthew O. Cox 8460 S Eastern Ave., Suite B, Las Vegas, NV, 702-492-6688, mcoxendo@yahoo.com, coxendo.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Chris S. Cozine 8579 S Eastern Ave., Suite A, Las Vegas, NV, 702-739-8289, vancozyn@yahoo.com, cozinedental.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Bruce E. Crowley 9510 W Sahara Ave., Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-838-9863, brucecrowleydds.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Chase Crowley Endodontics of Las Vegas, 9750 Covington Cross Drive, Suite 150, Las Vegas, NV, 702-878-8584, endodonticsoflasvegas.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Michel Daccache 1701 W Charleston Blvd., Suite 520, Las Vegas, NV, 702-750-9444, info@nevadaoms.com, nevadaoms.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Edilberto De Andrade Anthem Periodontics and Dental Implants, 2610 W Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 202, Henderson, NV, 702-270-4600, info@anthemperio.com

Specialty: Periodontics

Mark I. Degen

Red Rock Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Centre, 4730 S Fort Apache Road, Suite 390, Las Vegas, NV, 702-253-9090, info@redrockoralsurgery. com, redrockomsc.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

William J. Dougherty, Jr.

Sunset Endodontics, 54 N Pecos Road, Suite B, Henderson, NV, 702-436-4300, sunsetendo@gmail.com, sunsetendo.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Jason L. Downey 8876 Spanish Ridge Ave., Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-871-4903, drdowney@smileslasvegas. com, smileslasvegas.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

John Q. Duong

Lakeview Dental, 2291 S Fort Apache Road, Suite 104, Las Vegas, NV, 702-869-0001, lakeviewdental104@gmail. com, lakeviewdentallv.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Mark D. Edington

Modern Dental Care, 9895 S Maryland Parkway, Suite A, Las Vegas, NV, 702-372-4069, mark_d_edington@hotmail. com, moderndentallv.com

Specialty: General Dentistry Cosmetic Dentistry

Chad W. Ellsworth

Anthem Pediatric Dentistry, 10400 S Eastern Ave., Henderson, NV, 702-531-5437, apdkids10400@gmail.com, apdkids.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Eryn E. Ence Ence Orthodontics, 8490 S Eastern Ave., Suite A, Las Vegas, NV, 702-260-8241, Braces@ VegasCoolSmiles.com,

vegascoolsmiles.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

Jesse J. Falk Canyon Oral & Facial Surgery, 6200 N Durango Drive, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-867-2763, info@canyonofs.com, canyonofs.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

David C. Fife Fife & Steffen Endodontics 1975 Village Center Circle, Suite 110, Las Vegas, NV, 702-360-2122, office@drdavidfife.com, drdavidfife.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Barton H. Foutz Foutz Family Dentistry, 2510 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 100, Henderson, NV, 702-792-5929, bartfoutz@gmail.com, foutzdental.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Jon P. Galea Pediatric Dental Care Associates, 8981 W Sahara Ave., Suite 110, Las Vegas, NV, 702-254-4220, lantunapdca@yahoo.com, pediatricdentalcareassociates.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

John T. Gallob UNLV School of Dental Medicine, 1707 W Charleston Blvd., Building D, Las Vegas, NV, 702-671-5175, john.gallob@unlv.edu, unlv.edu/dental

Specialty: General Dentistry

Michael C. Gardner Leaver & Gardner Orthodontics, 6005 S Fort Apache Road, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-602-9066, lgortho@me.com, leavergardner.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

Adam Gatan

Seven Hills Endodontics & Microsurgery Center, 2810 W Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 200, Henderson, NV, 702-384-0053, sevenhillsendodontics@ gmail.com, lvrootcanal.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Amy A. Gearin

Gearin Dentistry, 1975 Village Center Circle, Suite 160, Las Vegas, NV, 702-367-4040, info@dramygearin.com, dramygearin.com

Specialty:

General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Ryan Gibson Gibson and Leavitt Oral & Maxillofacial & Implant Surgery, 670 S Green Valley Parkway, Suite 115, Henderson, NV, 702-685-3700, info@doctorsoms.com, ryangibsonoralsurgery.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Ryan S. Gifford

Periodontics Unlimited, 3811 W Charleston Blvd., Suite 201, Las Vegas, NV, 702-259-1943, periodonticslimited@ gmail.com, lvperio.com

Specialty: Periodontics

Cosmetic Dentistry

Irwan T. Goh

Smiles by Goh, 2653 W Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 110, Henderson, NV, 702-732-3754, smilesbygoh.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

John C. Griffiths

Las Vegas Braces, 8710 W Charleston Blvd., Suite 150, Las Vegas, NV, 702-256-7846, jcgortho@aol.com, lasvegasbraces.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

R. Cree Hamilton Hamilton & Manuele Orthodontics, 401 N Buffalo Drive, Suite 220, Las Vegas, NV, 702-243-3300, drcree@hmortho.com, hamiltoNo.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

Blaine R. Hansen Hansen Orthodontics, 3600 N Buffalo Drive, Suite 110, Las Vegas, NV, 702-568-1600, blakatlex@hotmail.com, hanseNo.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

Chad R. Hansen Las Vegas Endodontics, 6655 W Sahara Ave., Suite A-106, Las Vegas, NV, 702-876-5800, lvendo10@gmail.com, lvendo.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Steven L. Hardy

Paradise Family Dental, 6825 Aliante Parkway, N Las Vegas, NV, 702-294-2739, pfdhardydds@cox.net, drstevehardy.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

George Harouni 731 Mall Ring Circle, Suite 201, Henderson, NV, 702-434-9464, harounig@aol.com, georgeharounidds.com

Specialty: General Dentistry Cosmetic Dentistry

Gregory M. Heideman 6950 W Smoke Ranch Road, Suite 150, Las Vegas, NV, 702-304-1902, heideman@lhdentalcare. com, lhdentalcare.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Gregg C. Hendrickson

Comprehensive Dental Care, 2790 W Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 100, Henderson, NV, 702-735-3284, drgregg@NVDentists.com, nvdentists.com

Specialty:

General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Ashley E. Hoban Summerlin Pediatric Dentistry, 635 N Town Center Drive, Suite 104, Las Vegas, NV, 702-838-9013, drhoban@summerlinpediatricdentist.com, summerlinpediatricdentistry.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Allen W. Huang Significance Dental Specialists, 2430 East Harmon Ave., Suite 6, Las Vegas, NV, 702-733-0558, AllenH@sdsdental.com, sdsdental.com

Specialty: Periodontics

Cosmetic Dentistry

Steve J. Huang Henderson Oral Surgery & Dental Implant Center, 1701 N Green Valley Parkway, Suite 2-E, Henderson, NV, 702-270-2999, hendersonoralsurgery@ gmail.com, oralsurgeryhenderson.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Gregory J. Hunter Nevada Oral & Facial Surgery, 6950 Smoke Ranch Road, Suite 200, Las Vegas, NV, 702-329-7554, info@ NOFSLV.com, nevadaoralandfacialsurgery.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Emily R. Ishkanian Flores Family Dental, 6536 N Decatur Blvd., Suite 120, Las Vegas, NV, 702-242-3373, emily.Ishkanian@yahoo. com, floresfamilydental.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Jaren T. Jensen Smile Reef, 9500 W Flamingo Road, Suite 200, Las Vegas, NV, 702-570-7333, jtjdds@gmail.com,

smilereef.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Brendan G. Johnson Nevada Oral & Facial Surgery, 6950 Smoke Ranch Road, Suite 200, Las Vegas, NV, 702-329-7554, nevadaoralandfacial.help@ gmail.com, nevadaoralandfacialsurgery.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Brian R. Karn Encore Dentistry, 9406 W Lake Mead Blvd., Suite 105, Las Vegas, NV, 702-331-9966, drkarn@drkarn.com, drkarn.com

Specialty:

General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Thomas P. Keating Keating Dental, 880 Seven Hills Drive, Suite 240, Henderson, NV, 702-454-8855, keatingdds@aol.com, keatingdds.com

Specialty:

General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Katherine A. Keeley 2649 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 102, Henderson, NV, 702-263-9339, kakeeleyomfs@yahoo. com, drkeeley.net

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Matthew M. Kikuchi Kikuchi Oral Surgery & Dental Implant Center, 5765 S Fort Apache Road, Suite 110, Las Vegas, NV, 702-876-6337, drk@kikuchioralsurgery. com, omssnv.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

James G. Kinard 2780 W Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 20, Henderson, NV, 702-719-4700, jgkinard@aol.com

Specialty: General Dentistry Cosmetic Dentistry

Scott E. Leaver Leaver & Gardner Orthodontics, 6005 S Fort Apache Road, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-878-0764, lgortho@me.com, leavergardner.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

Bryce Leavitt Gibson and Leavitt Oral & Maxillofacial & Implant Surgery, 670 S Green Valley Parkway, Suite 115, Henderson, NV, 702-685-3700, info@doctorsoms.com, doctorsoms.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Curry H. Leavitt Red Rock Periodontics & Implantology, 7475 W Sahara Ave., Suite 101, Las Vegas, NV, 702-834-8900, info@redrockperio.com, redrockperio.com

Specialty: Periodontics

William P. Leavitt UNLV School of Dental Medicine, 1001 Shadow Lane, Las Vegas, NV, 702-774-2641, william.leavitt@unlv.edu, www.dentalschool.unlv.edu

Specialty: General Dentistry

Ton V. Lee Summerlin Smiles, 9525 W Russell Road, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-579-7645, remy1998@aol.com, summerlinsmiles.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Carlos H. Letelier

The Center for Oral Surgery of Las Vegas, 10115 W Twain Ave., Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-367-6666, carlos@letelieroms.com, lasvegasoms.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Robin D. Lobato

9061 W Sahara Ave., Suite 101, Las Vegas, NV, 702-877-0500, drlobato@drlobato.com, drlobato.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Nicholas E. Lords Rainbow Park Dental, 2950 S Rainbow Blvd., Suite 200, Las Vegas, NV, 702-227-6510, nlordsdds@yahoo.com

Specialty: General Dentistry Cosmetic Dentistry

Spencer Luth Luth & Heideman Dental Care, 6950 W Smoke Ranch Road, Suite 150, Las Vegas, NV, 702-304-1902, luth@lhdentalcare.com, lhdentalcare.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Kent A. Lysgaard

Lysgaard Dental, 2911 N Tenaya Way, Suite 101, Las Vegas, NV, 702-360-9061, contact@drlysgaard.com, drlysgaard.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

James K. Mah

UNLV School of Dental Medicine, 4505 S Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV, 702-774-2535

Specialty: Orthodontics

David L. Mahon

Siena Dental, 10075 S Eastern Ave., Suite 107, Henderson, NV, 702-567-0000, sienadentallv@gmail.com, sienadental.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Brian Mantor Periodontics Unlimited, 3811 W Charleston Blvd., Suite 201, Las Vegas, NV, 702-500-1742, bmantor@gmail.com, lvperio.com

Specialty: Periodontics

Jeremy S. Manuele Hamilton & Manuele Orthodontics, 401 N Buffalo Drive, Suite 220, Las Vegas, NV, 702-243-3300, drj@hmortho.com, hamiltoNo.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

George J. McAlpine UNLV School of Dental Medicine, 1700 W Charleston Blvd., Suite 290, Las Vegas, NV, 702-671-5130, george.mcalpine@unlv. edu, unlv.edu/dental

Specialty: General Dentistry

Dawn L. McClellan Dental Care International, 1750 Wheeler Peak Drive, Las Vegas, NV, 702-272-1100, mcclellan2@aol.com, dcare.org

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Elizabeth J. McGee

Pediatric Dental Care Associates, 6365 Simmons St., Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-449-7657, dshaypdca@yahoo.com, pediatricdentalcareassociatesaliante.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Todd S. Milne

Children’s Dental Center, 2085 Village Center Circle, Suite 120, Las Vegas, NV, 702-240-5437, info@cdclv.com, cdclv.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

D. Kevin Moore Moore Family Dentistry, 10624 S Eastern Ave., Suite N, Henderson, NV, 702-407-6700, mfd3llc@gmail.com, lvsmiles.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

E. Orlando Morantes 3412 N Buffalo Drive Las Vegas, NV, 702-794-0820, omorantes@cox.net, morantesdds.com

Specialty:

General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Jason T. Morris Shipp Endodontics, 9053 S Pecos Road, Suite 3000, Henderson, NV, 702-798-0911, shalevdds@yahoo.com, shippendodontics.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Michael Most Most Dental, 6392 Spring Mountain Road, Las Vegas, NV, 702-871-0304, mmost15@gmail.com, mostdental.com

Specialty:

General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Jeff E. Moxley Moxley Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, 3663 E Sunset Road, Suite 403, Las Vegas, NV, 702-898-8350, moxleycrew@yahoo.com, drjeffmoxley.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Johnny E. Nassar Smile Design Center, 10120 S Eastern Ave., Suite 375, Henderson, NV, 702-361-9611, jndds@hotmail.com, smiledesigncenterlv.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Patrick A. O’Connor O’Connor Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, 630 S Rancho Drive, Suite B, Las Vegas, NV, 702-870-2555, info.droconnor@gmail. com, drpatrickoconnor.net

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Amanda J. Okundaye 9500 W Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV, 310-486-6656, ddsanesthesia@gmail.com, anesthesiabydramanda.com

Specialty: Dental Anesthesiology

Kathleen F. Olender

Desert Dental Specialists, 7520 W Sahara Ave., Las Vegas, NV, 702-384-7200, dds-lv.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Cosmetic Dentistry

Daniel L. Orr II Medical Education Building, 2040 W Charleston Blvd., Suite 201, Las Vegas, NV, 702-383-3711, dlorrii@gmail.com, orrs.org

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Marco T. Padilla

Clear Choice Las Vegas, 6460 Medical Center St., Suite 300, Las Vegas, NV, 702-430-2372, mtupa2@aol.com, clearchoice.com

Specialty: Prosthodontics

Cosmetic Dentistry

Jorge Paez Nevada Dental Esthetics, 5864 S Durango Drive, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-744-8007, jpaezdds@ gmail.com, lasvegas-cosmetic-dentistry.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

William G. Pappas 7884 W Sahara Ave., Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-367-7133, wgpappasdds@lvcoxmail. com, wgpappasdds.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Sam Partovi Desert Smiles Dental, 10175 W Twain Ave., Suite 120, Las Vegas, NV, 702-202-2300, desertsmiles@yahoo.com, desertsmilesdental.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Marielaina Perrone 2551 N Green Valley Parkway, Suite A-405, Henderson, NV, 702-458-2929, drperrone@cox.net, drperrone.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

James B. Polley 1875 Village Center Circle, Suite 110, Las Vegas, NV, 702-873-0324, skwpolley@gmail.com, drpolley.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

John M. Quinn Smiles for Life Family Dentistry, 8930 W Sunset Road, Suite 190, Las Vegas, NV, 702-795-2273, kelleysmilesforlife@gmail. com, lvsmilesforlife.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Richard A. Racanelli Stunning Smiles of Las Vegas, 6410 Medical Center St., Suite B, Las Vegas, NV, 702-736-0016, drracanelli@lvstunningsmiles. com, lvstunningsmiles.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Manny Rapp, Jr. Adaven Children’s Dentistry, 2843 St. Rose Parkway, Suite 100, Henderson, NV, 702-492-1955, adavenpeds@yahoo.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Steven L. Rhodes 501 S Rancho Drive, Suite E-29, Las Vegas, NV, 702-384-4896, rhodesdds@cox.net, srhodesdds.com

Specialty: Prosthodontics

Gary D. Richardson Adventure Smiles, 8995 W Flamingo Road, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-838-5437, rofarabia@hotmail.com, adventuresmiles.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

James K. Rogers

Canyon Ridge Periodontics, 3575 S Town Center Drive, Suite 110, Las Vegas, NV, 702-966-0300, drjrogersperio@gmail.com canyonridgeperio.com

Specialty: Periodontics

Craig R. Rose

Rose Family Dentistry, 8490 S Eastern Ave., Suite C, Las Vegas, NV, 702-914-0000, cstrose@aol.com, rosefamilydentistry.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Douglas D. Sandquist Sandquist Dentistry, 2650 Lake Sahara Drive, Suite 160, Las Vegas, NV, 702-734-0776, doug@sandquistdds.com, sandquistdds.com

Specialty: General Dentistry Cosmetic Dentistry

Tammy Sarles 8650 Spring Mountain Road, Suite 101, Las Vegas, NV, 702-869-0032, office@mydesertbreezedental.com, mydesertbreezedental.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Alana Saxe

Saxe Orthodontics, 3555 S Town Center Drive, Suite 104, Las Vegas, NV, 702-541-7070, drsaxe@saxeortho.com, saxeortho.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

Joshua L. Saxe

A Childrens Dentist, 8710 W Charleston Blvd., Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-255-0133, frontoffice8710@ achildrensdentist.com, achildrensdentist.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Michael D. Saxe

A Childrens Dentist, 8710 W Charleston Blvd., Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV, 702-255-0133, frontoffice8710@achildrensdentist.com, achildrensdentist.com

Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Steven A. Saxe

Advance Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, 1570 S Rainbow Blvd., Las Vegas, NV,

702-258-0085, nvjawdoc@aol.com, nvjawdoc.com

Specialty: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Nathan D. Schwartz Henderson Family Dentistry, 537 S Boulder Highway, Henderson, NV, 702-564-2526, hendersonfamilydental@ gmail.com, hendersonfamilydental.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Daniel I. Shalev Nevada Endodontics, 2510 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 200, Henderson, NV, 702-263-2000, shalevdds@yahoo.com, nvendodontics.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Ryan C. Shipp Shipp Endodontics, 9053 S Pecos Road, Suite 3000, Henderson, NV, 702-798-0911, drshippendo@gmail.com, shippendodontics.com

Specialty: Endodontics

Douglas K. Simister Las Vegas Braces, 8710 W Charleston Blvd., Suite 150, Las Vegas, NV, 702-256-7846, drdougsimister@gmail. com, lasvegasbraces.com

Specialty: Orthodontics

Patrick A. Simone 70 N Pecos Road, Suite A, Henderson, NV, 702-735-2755, dr@drsimone.lvcoxmail.com, patricksimonedds.com

Specialty:

General Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

Luke Simonis Centennial Hills Dental Care, 7425 W Azure Drive, Suite 110, Las Vegas, NV, 702-878-4397, smile@chdentist.com, centennialhillsdentist.com

Specialty: General Dentistry

Dave L. Smith 5320 W Sahara Ave., Suite 4, Las Vegas, NV, 702-871-1808, smithortho@hotmail.com, davesmithorthodontics.com

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Specialty:

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Tracy D. Wyatt Wyatt Orthodontics, 7550 W Lake Mead Blvd., Suite 6, Las Vegas, NV 89128, 702-242-9777, info@ wyattorthodontics.com, wyattorthodontics.com

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Behnam Yaghmai A Great Smile Dental, 3412 N Buffalo Drive Las Vegas, NV 89129, 702-804-5154, great_smile_dental@ yahoo.com, agreatsmiledental.com

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BY PJ PEREZ

Lin ‘Spit’ Newborn and Daniel Shersty were murdered 25 years ago. Their legacies still reverberate through Las Vegas.

ILLUSTRATION BY DANIJEL Ž E Ž ELJ

eslie LeGere doesn’t remember who called her on the morning of Saturday, July 4, 1998. Maybe it was her friend Lisa, who lived across from Cafe Espresso Roma on Maryland Parkway, one of the several UNLV-area coffeehouses where LeGere and her friends did much of their socializing. But she hasn’t forgotten the words she heard from the other end of the line that would change her life forever: “Dan had been found. Spit was missing.”

Daniel Shersty and Lin “Spit” Newborn (who often referred to himself in full as Idyll Kylljoi Spitler Kyllclown) were supposed to be attending a sort-of punk rock Independence Day picnic at Sunset Park that afternoon. The previous day, LeGere stopped by Tribal Body Piercing, the Maryland Parkway shop where Newborn worked as a piercer, to see if he had any plans for the eve of the holiday. Newborn was tied up with a client, but Shersty was there, helping watch the shop, as he often did.

“Dan (Shersty) let me know they were going to a party with some girls they had met at the shop,” says LeGere, who sang in Newborn’s politically charged noise-punk band, Life of Lies. “That was the last time I ever saw Dan.”

Shersty, a white U.S. Air Force service member, and Newborn, a Black punk rocker, both self-identified as Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARPs). They shared a passion for anti-racist activism, but for Newborn, this mission wasn’t some moral exercise in righteousness — it was a battle for survival. He often spoke of being the target of harassment and attacks by white supremacist skinheads, proclaiming during one of his band’s performances, “I’ve been stomped by Nazis, chased by Nazis, I’ve been beat up by Nazis, I kicked a couple of Nazi asses.”

Those girls with whom Shersty and Newborn said they had dates turned out to be Mandie Abels and Melissa Hack, the girlfriends of Ross Hack (Melissa’s brother) and John “Polar Bear” Butler — an alleged leader of the Independent Nazi Skinheads (INS). And the desert destination on the

northwest edge of the Las Vegas Valley they drove to after midnight in Shersty’s black Chevrolet Cavalier turned out not to be a meetup for a party but an ambush.

Butler, Ross Hack, and two others — Leland Jones and Daniel Hartung — were waiting at the designated location. Shortly after Shersty and Newborn arrived with Abels and Melissa Hack, gunshots started going off. Shersty was killed almost immediately, having been shot at close range (possibly trying to protect his friend) and bludgeoned, up against the front of his car. Newborn tried to escape, and, despite suffering a shot to the back of his head, he was still able to run some distance into the desert. After being chased and shot at through the darkness, he was finally finished by a shotgun blast.

Newborn had just turned 24 that May. Shersty was 20, only a month away from his 21st birthday.

The mere idea of an “anti-racist skinhead” may be perplexing to those whose only familiarity with skinheads is media portrayals such as the one in the 1998 film American History X. But not all skinheads hold neo-Nazi or racist views — many, far from them.

Skinhead culture has its roots in the 1960s among the working-class youth of England. These are often referred to as “traditional Skins” or “trads” for short. They were notably multicultural, aesthetically inspired by mod fashion and Jamaican “rude boys” — including, initially, an association with reggae and ska music and solidarity with working-class immigrant communities. They kept their hair cropped tight and appearance crisp and clean in contrast to middle-class “long hairs.” The only hints of violent tendencies were usually limited to football hooliganism.

But like many subcultures, divisions formed over time. An England-first, anti-immigrant sentiment developed, and by the time the skinhead scene made it to the U.S. in the early 1980s, it brought with it both its traditional, multicultural, working-class origins and its neofascist, racist ideologies as well — the latter finding alignment with and support from American white power groups such as the White Aryan Resistance.

The seminal 1980s Las Vegas punk band Fuck, Shit, Piss (known more commonly as FSP) exemplifies this split in ideologies. Led by then-teenage Johnny “Bangs” Bangerter, who Chapman University sociology professor Peter Simi describes as a former “peace punk,” the band was always radical, inspired by the anti-establishment sentiments of heroes such as the Dead Kennedys. But as Bangerter became more influenced by far-right, anti-government ideologies, tensions formed within the band, culminating in a 1987 show where Bangerter showed up bearing a swastika armband, which caused a minor riot and led to the breakup of FSP.

Bangerter became a leader of a group known as Christian Identity Skinheads but relocated to Utah following a series of “race riots” in the early 1990s, with several of his followers joining him to establish a whites-only commune in Zion National Park. Others stayed behind or took their place in the white power pecking order.

“Once roots are there, new groups take their place,” says Simi, whose experiences embedded with white power groups informed the book he co-authored with UNLV sociology professor Robert Futrell, American Swastika.

Harry Fagel, a Las Vegas poet and retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department captain, remembers neo-Nazis “starting shit” at punk rock shows when he was growing up in the valley. This recollection is shared by many young music lovers who grew up in Las Vegas in the 1980s and 1990s.

“I remember there always being a Nazi presence, whether it be shows (or) parties,” LeGere says. “Any time there was any type of gathering, there always seemed to be at least a few neo-Nazis in the bunch at that time.”

Fagel says he was exposed to even more overt organized hate after he started attending college at UNLV.

“I went to see a Jewish Defense League speaker, me and the president of Black Students Association,” Fagel says. “And when we came out, there was a ton of skinhead Nazi punks in the street, and they were screaming, ‘Death to the Jews’ and all this other shit. It was awful.”

Racist skinhead groups grew bolder as their numbers swelled. As Heidi Beirich, cofounder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, recalls, “The skinhead problem was massive in the ’90s and the early 2000s. Back then, that was the most violent part of the white supremacist scene.”

But even as the presence and activities of neo-Nazi groups increased, so did those who rose up to combat hate both ideologically and in physicality.

Lin Newborn wasn’t a Las Vegas native — he was born in Pomona, California, and moved to the Vegas area with his parents in the late 1980s. But even as an adolescent, Newborn was already developing a keen awareness of the injustice surrounding him in the world.

“Lin was on a mission from day one,” Newborn’s father Lionel Newborn said during one of the murder trials. “He thought everyone should be able to get along and live together. He just didn’t understand why people couldn’t get along.”

Margaret Newborn, Lin’s older sister — whom he almost exclusively called “Bunky” — remembers having long talks with her brother and being in awe of not only his intelligence, but also what she called “a whole world movement” brewing in his mind.

“From a very young age, Lin was a people person,” Margaret says. “I mean a lover of people. He was always the type that, you knew if somebody needed something, he

would offer to help. He was that type of person. He was outspoken, but not loud. You knew where he stood.”

When musician Brandon Sledge first met Newborn, he says, “We really didn’t like each other.” But despite that auspicious start, Sledge ended up moving in with Newborn and his girlfriend at the time in a less-than desirable area of North Las Vegas, where the pair ended up “bonding over fearing for our lives,” as Sledge tells it. They formed a band not long after called Life of Lies, often driving out to their guitarist’s house in Boulder City to rehearse and record.

Life of Lies’ music could be challenging to a casual listener. According to LeGere, they were heavily influenced by bands associated with Crass Records — the small label formed by the English anarcho-punk band Crass. Discordant guitars, shifting rhythms and shouted lyrics provided the gristle to serve up Life of Lies’ anti-establishment messages.

“Life of Lies was always very political because of Spit and Brandon (Sledge),” LeGere says. “They were very outwardly spoken about their beliefs and didn’t ever hold back on that.”

Sledge says that while his rage wasn’t motivated by anything in particular (he

admits that like “most pissed-off kids,” his ire was “scattered and vague”), Newborn’s venom was sharply focused on racism and the forces that perpetrated such ideologies.

“He had been dealing with it his whole life,” Sledge says. “I mean, he had already been shot once by the time I met him. So that all came through in the music.”

At Life of Lies’ first gig with LeGere — who’d joined as a second vocalist — a desert show at the Caves opening for Citizen Fish, Newborn rallied against white supremacists and at the very notions of power, setting on fire an American flag in protest, which — even at a punk rock show in the middle of the desert — “made everybody mad,” according to LeGere.

It wasn’t just racism and the establishment against which Newborn railed. In the middle of Life of Lies’ first — and only — gig at the historic Huntridge Theater, Newborn destroyed a television on stage as part of the performance of their song “Television Children.” The band was permanently eighty-sixed from the all-ages venue.

“So many people just bleed their face into television,” Newborn said of the song’s inspiration during an interview filmed for the 1996 local music documentary, Lost Vegas . “Instead of going out and talking to somebody about what’s

going on in the world, they’d rather have it displayed to them on a television. It’s just totally false. It’s bull.”

Music venues weren’t the only locations where Newborn made his voice and message heard — he was also a regular at various poetry readings around Las Vegas, particularly those held in the coffee shops that dominated the scene on Maryland Parkway in the 1990s. His pointed invectives often drew a sharp contrast to the usual introspective or tongue-in-cheek poetry of his comrades-in-verse.

“Spit was a great poet,” LeGere says. “His activism, beliefs, and life experiences really shone through.”

Fagel, another Maryland Parkway coffeehouse regular, who wrote and performed street-level poetry partially inspired by his experience as a beat cop patrolling the area around UNLV, remembers Newborn’s poetry as “visceral street stuff.”

“He was very much an anti-racist person and didn’t understand the hate thing,” Fagel says. “He was really counter to that in his conversations, (his) poetry. He looked tough, like he could handle his business, but he had a really big heart for all the kids in the neighborhood.”

Golden Sun Shyne, now a makeup artist for film and television, was a preteen when she first started hanging out in places like Cafe Espresso Roma and Cafe Copioh on

Maryland Parkway. She remembers first bonding with Spit over mutual musical tastes and their shared experience as Black punk rockers in an otherwise homogeneous white scene.

“He came out of nowhere,” Shyne says. “It felt like he just dropped from heaven.”

Shyne says that Newborn, who affectionately called her “Cub,” often acted as a big brother figure, trying to protect her from dangers she wasn’t aware of. “He would shoo me,” she says — telling her to leave desert punk rock shows when he sensed violence was possible. Even though he wasn’t much older than many of the teenagers in the scene who looked up to him, Newborn still cut an almost paternal figure.

“He was a very legit guy who just cared about his family, about the little kids out on the street,” Fagel says of Newborn. “They worshiped the ground Spit walked on.”

Brandon Hodges moved to Las Vegas in 1996 after graduating high school, drawn by Sin City’s status at the time as a mecca for all things punk rock — at least relative to the sparse offerings of his small Arizona town. But it was through a very different Vegas institution that he met Dan Shersty.

“We had a friend from Arizona who was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base,” Hodges says. “We would just drive onto the base and go to parties at the barracks. As someone who was underage, what else are you going to do on a Tuesday night rather than just driving to Nellis and (hanging) out with your friends?”

Shersty, who worked on helicopters at Nellis, became part of Hodges’ snowboarding crew. They got to know each other well during long drives to Brian Head Resort in Utah. Hodges remembers Shersty as “very serious and earnest, but also (having) a good sense of humor.”

“Dan wanted to change the world,” Hodges says.

In addition to desert punk shows and mountain snowboarding, Hodges was also drawn to the bohemian coffee shops along Maryland Parkway. He ended up getting a job at a record store near the university, and it was his immersion in that scene that led to meeting Newborn.

“The first time I met Spit (Newborn), it was probably outside of Cafe Copioh, where we would all hang out in the parking lot,” says Hodges, who considered Shersty “the crossover” between the two scenes he was a part of — the Maryland Parkway counterculture scene and the Nellis Air Force Base crew.

Eventually, Shersty’s desire to “change the world” cemented into a passion for the anti-racist movement. Both he and Newborn had become intimately involved in the Las Vegas Unity Skins, and the pair cofounded a local chapter of Anti-Racist Action (ARA), a national network of left-leaning activists formed in Minneapolis in the late 1980s that had reached a peak of about 1,500 members nationally by the mid-1990s.

“Back then, it seemed like every major city had a chapter or group of ARA,” Hodges says.

Newborn had already been instrumental in getting anti-racists organized and active in Las Vegas for many years — a growing need because of the rising presence of racist skinheads in the scene. As LeGere notes, there wasn’t a “strong (traditional) skinhead presence yet in Las Vegas. We were always outnumbered by Nazis.”

Although groups such as ARA and Las Vegas Unity Skins helped provide an alternative alliance for young skinheads who otherwise may have fallen under the influence of white power groups — indeed, Newborn in particular was known for helping to “deprogram” racist skins — the neo-Nazi groups weren’t exactly sitting on the sidelines.

“After the Huntridge reopened (in 1996), it seemed like there was increased violence at shows,” Hodges says. “And so, it seemed like when the violence got stronger, the ARA presence became stronger.”

Although he admits, “It did seem like most of the fights involved the racist skinheads,” Hodges is careful not to pin all of the cause for the violence at local concerts on tensions between racist and anti-racist factions.

“Was it racist skinheads or was it just youthful testosterone?” Hodges asks. “The violence would happen regardless of there being politics involved. You’re at an aggressive music show and people are slam dancing and there’s inevitably fights.”

But when Life of Lies, with Newborn on vocals, was asked to open for popular English skinhead band The Business at the Elks Lodge in Henderson, there was no question

of the reason for increased tensions.

“We were very excited to open up for them, but we were also very cautious,” LeGere says. “They had a huge skinhead following, and we knew that. So, we didn’t know what to expect. At the show, there were several neo-Nazis that showed up.”

LeGere says that as soon as they finished their set and got off the stage, the band had to split up in different cars to avoid anyone following them back to Newborn’s apartment.

In the year leading to Newborn and Shersty’s murders, Hodges recalls, the skinhead violence started “bleeding outside of being at shows and getting into fights” and evolving into “showing up in parking lots just randomly.”

“There were definitely a few people that I know who got attacked,” Hodges says.

By the summer of 1998, Newborn and Shersty were much more deeply involved with ARA and their anti-racism activism — while Life of Lies found itself on an unplanned hiatus.

“We had lost our drummer,” LeGere says. “Our guitarist, James, had gone away to college. Everyone was kind of doing their own thing at that point, so we weren’t really playing out.”

Above, Margaret Newborn , Lin’s sister. Opposite page, Leslie LeGere, who sang in Life of Lies with Lin Newborn

Golden Shyne, by then approaching adulthood, says that, in the days before the murders, Newborn’s tone intensified, his attitude toward her shifting from “big brother” to “more father-ish.” Shyne had just graduated high school — from the same vocational technical institute Newborn had attended years earlier — and was looking forward to her first summer of relative freedom. But she remembers hanging out around Tribal Body Piercing and Newborn insisting she go home.

“In that last week, he was less tolerable of this kid being around,” Shyne says.

Dan Shersty’s body was found just after 8 a.m. on the morning of July 4, 1998, when a trio of ATV riders stumbled upon Butler, his friend Joey Justin, and Melissa Hack returning to the scene of the crime to recover any traces of evidence from the mayhem the night before. Butler’s crew hastily told the ATV riders to call the police and drove off, attempting to hide their identities from the riders. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police quickly arrived on the scene, but it would take another two days before detectives would return to the desert to find Newborn’s body.

“The police were confused,” Margaret Newborn says. “When they found (Shersty’s) car, they found it was actually Lin’s jacket in the back of the car. Because of the style of clothing that they wear, they thought they were a different type of people. Then they looked at the stickers they had and realized that they weren’t looking for another typical white skinhead. They realized they were looking for someone else.”

Friends were baffled that Newborn was not found sooner. Some of them, including Hodges, ventured out to the publicly reported location of the crime to see if they could find him themselves, to no avail. According to court transcripts, even Newborn’s father, Lionel, went with them on one such excursion. On reflection, he said in court, “I should have never even been there.”

“They found Spit in the same general area a couple of days later,” Hodges says. “Like, they didn’t have search dogs and helicopters? I mean, I don’t know.”

Few of the details of what had truly happened out by Powerline Road near

Rome Boulevard were known at the time. Early reports in the local media at the time included quotes from friends and ARA members that Shersty and Newborn’s killings were likely the result of a premeditated plot to lure them to their deaths. Police officials would only say the deaths were likely tied to the ongoing skirmishes between racist and anti-racist skinheads — the result of bad blood between two gangs.

“I attempted to provide some guidance,” says Fagel, who was still a relatively young patrolman at the time. “They tried to say (Newborn) was in a gang — I said that was not true. The gang unit was very fervent on this. It seemed like they had bad info at the time. That kid was in my purview. They colored it wrong. He got ganked by some absolute evil haters. He was murdered for being Black, literally. And it should have been the crime of the century.”

But it didn’t take the authorities too long, as Margaret Newborn put it, to get “on the right track.” Metro gang unit detectives found Butler on July 14 standing by a vehicle with Justin. Butler fled, and in the course of the chase — which eventually resulted in an arrest — an officer recovered a .32-caliber handgun that was later matched to two of the bullets recovered from Shersty’s body. Police still couldn’t link the .38 caliber bullet recovered from Newborn’s body to a

specific weapon. But at least they had some physical evidence and a suspect in custody.

At that point, Metro was also looking into other suspects, including Ross Hack. Police searched Hack’s home in late July, but six days later, he fled to Germany.

Abels followed him out of the country but returned on her own to the U.S. within a few months. It didn’t matter — she wasn’t even on the authorities’ radar at that time.

Butler, meanwhile, was in possession of a stolen vehicle (and methamphetamine) when he was taken into custody — and inside that vehicle, police found a letter addressed to Butler from an inmate in Ely State Prison, in which he was told “I want the punk Spit to know he can be reached out and touched.” Butler was formally booked for the two murders that September.

While he was awaiting trial in the Clark County Detention Center, he confided in a cellmate that he’d committed the July 4 murders, even detailing the events of that night. The testimony of that witness at Butler’s December 1998 preliminary hearing helped nail the case shut, at least for “Polar Bear.” Not so for any of his co-conspirators — yet.

Shersty’s funeral was held at Nellis Air Force Base. Hodges recalls the scene being “emotionally charged,” with the service attended by both his fellow airmen from the base and — in an allowed violation of Air Force protocol — a coalition of artists, musicians, and activists.

“The way I remember it,” Hodges says, “it was like you had all these artists and musicians and punk rockers and activists sitting on one side with piercings and dyed hair, and then on the other side, you had all the airmen. We obviously had the same friend. It was just two worlds colliding.”

Newborn’s funeral was an entirely different scene — and a much more public one. Those who attended recall hundreds of people turning up at Davis Funeral Home and Memorial Park on the southeast side of Las Vegas, reflecting the outsized impact Newborn had in his short life on the community that he fought to make more harmonious.

Sierra Sky, a mutual friend of Newborn’s and Shyne’s who first encountered Life of Lies at their infamous Huntridge

appearance, remembers the funeral home’s chapel being a standing-room-only affair, with people spilling outside. As she sat on the floor with her then-infant daughter and some friends, Sky says, she listened to Lionel Newborn express shock at the sheer number of people who were in attendance. “I had no idea my son had so many friends,” she recalls him saying.

“There were so many people,” Margaret Newborn says, echoing her father’s sentiments. “It was amazing. We had no idea the reach that Lin had. I did speak to some people, and they were from out of the country, not just out of state, not just from the East Coast.”

Of course, the funeral was also a potential powder keg. Some feared that racist skinheads might show up at the service or the burial and try to cause trouble. Several people remember there being a palpable sense of danger.

“There were all sorts of rumors about what was going on,” Hodges says. “There was a rumor going around that there was a bomb threat called in. I don’t know if that actually happened or not.” Shyne, who also attended the funeral, says that the air of potential threat was too much for her. She didn’t end up staying long. “It felt like anything could happen at any moment,” she says.

Thankfully, the fears turned out to be unfounded. Margaret Newborn remembers, “It was all love.” The funeral remained peaceful likely, in part, because of the proactive presence of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers — including Fagel.

“Because of the threats we’d heard, my boss felt it was prudent that we had uniformed officers there,” Fagel says. “I was allowed to attend on-duty in uniform. I was trying to help. (Newborn) knew me

as a policeman, a protector, and a servant.” Fagel’s presence did not go unnoticed by Newborn’s friends.

“Officer Fagel showing up and paying his respects just showed how much he understood the importance that Spit had to the culture,” Hodges says, “but also the loss (to) the community.”

After the funeral, Fagel wrote a poem in honor of Newborn, which was subsequently published in his first poetry collection, Street Talk . Although Fagel says he no longer performs the poem, it reflects his still-seething feelings about what had happened to his friend.

“It’s hard to think about,” Fagel says. “That young man didn’t have to die for that. It makes me upset even now, to be taken out of your place of safety, to think that you’re going to a party with friends and girls, and you’re killed — and have the guy still alive who did it? It was just so wrong.”

Above, former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Captain Harry Fagel Opposite page, John “Polar Bear” Butler in a 1998 court appearance

BUTLER: AARON MAYES/LAS VEGAS SUN; FAGEL: JEFF SCHEID

2023

With COVID in the rearview mirror, artistic directors and cultural institutions have turned up the volume on the events scene to 11. It’s so lit that we couldn’t fit everything there is to see, hear, and do in a mere 14-page feature. Fortunately, we don’t have to: There’s now a community-created version of this annual feature online, called (literally) The Guide. Check it out — and feel free to submit your own events — at desertcompanion.com!

MUS I C

by ERIC DURAN-VALLE

NOISE BREAK

OCT. 7

››› Despite our reputation as the land of lounge singers and novelty acts, there is a thriving, locally brewed rock scene in Vegas. You’ll want to tune into the White Noise at their EP release show, along with a variety of other punk rockers like teen trio the Dollheads, pseudo-businessmen

Pure Sport, the gothic grunge Elevated Undergrounds, and bittersweet emo pop group Arrlo. Don’t worry, if I see you there, I won’t judge you for wearing ear plugs. In fact, I’ll have a few extras. The Space, 6p, $20, thespacelv.com

NEVER BE ROYALS

OCT. 13-14

››› Past the decorum and opulence, a major component of our obsession with royalty is a morbid fascination with the dark side and transgressions of the court. The juxtaposition of high society with the grim is at the center of the Kings & Queens: Madness, Mayhem & Macabre concert at Charleston Heights Art Center, presented by Vegas City Opera and the Las Vegas Sinfonietta. Enjoy works that

incorporate the final writings of monarchs and consorts alongside the avant-garde compositions of György Ligeti and John Cage. Charleston Heights Art Center, 7-8:30p, $25 and $40, vegascityopera.org

OPERA AL DENTE

OCT. 25

››› I read somewhere that when opera singers forget their lyrics, they just begin listing varieties of pasta and the audience is none the wiser. Well, why not finally blend

these two crafts, literally? Pasta & Puccini consists of an opening cocktail hour, an Italian opera for your main course, and a hearty dinner to wrap it all up. Remind me, was it Rossini or Rigatoni who wrote the theme to “The

Lone Ranger?” Monzú Italian Oven + Bar, 5:30p, $150-200, operalasvegas.com

BRING YOUR OWN TONIC

OCT. 28

››› The Downtown Rocks Free Concert Series is your main source of headliners that make you go, “Oh hey! Those guys!” Sometimes they’re welcome blasts from the past, like Taking Back Sunday. or All-American Rejects. Other times … maybe they should have stayed back there (looking at you, Rick Springfield). You know Gin Blossoms from their radio hit, “Hey Jealousy,” but they also have a rich catalog of power pop tunes with bright melodies and profound lyrics. Check ’em out, along with the rest of the Downtown Rocks calendar. If the show’s a bust, it’s not like you’re starved for entertainment options in the immediate area.

Fremont Street Experience 3rd Street Stage, 9:30p, free, vegasexperience.com/downtownrocks-free-concerts

REPENTANCE WITH RHYTHM

OCT. 29, NOV. 19, DEC. 10

››› On select Sundays, House of Blues hosts a renowned concert and

dining experience, Gospel Brunch. The soul is palpable in the selection at the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet and from the performers on stage giving it their all. So, in case you overindulged on Saturday night, but Sunday Mass is a little too dour for your taste, why not get some rejuvenation at Gospel Brunch? You’ll also be supporting a good cause, as a portion of ticket sales benefits the Music Forward Foundation, an organization that helps youths ages 13-24 pursue their musical passions. House of Blues, 10a, $65, houseofblues. com/lasvegas

THAT LOUD

OCT. 30

››› YE-AH! You know that YE-AH! You just read it in his voice, don’t lie. There is only one man who can deliver that YE-AH! with absolute conviction, transporting you back to a time when MySpace and flip phones were the cutting-edge. You couldn’t even deepfake that YE-AH! if you wanted to. See the man himself at Lil Jon’s DJ Set inside Aria’s Jewel Nightclub. I’ve said my piece. YE-AH!

JEWEL Nightclub, 10:30p, $20-30, events. taogroup.com

DO A LITTLE DANCE

NOV. 3

››› Okay, I have two confessions to make. The first is that, even as a proud, proud, Nevadan, I love the Red Hot Chili Peppers. My second is that, even as a dirty hipster who frequents shows in

abandoned pools and backyards, I can also dig a good tribute band. That’s what you’re usually going to find at casino showrooms anyway. The Red Hots have stopped in Vegas twice in the past year, but in case you “Can’t Stop” indulging in your “Dark Necessities,” the Red Not Chili Peppers have your dose of “Californication.” Sunset Station, 8p, $20, stationcasinoslive.com

REAL COOL ACTS

NOV. 11

››› Craig Ranch has had some real winners lately. Who would have thought someone like Phoebe Bridgers would do a show there??? At the Rhythm & Brews Festival, classic R&B and funk acts including Cameo, Lakeside, Thee Midnighters, and many others perform their grooving jams in an open-air venue where you can take your pick of delectable food and drink options. Word up!

The AMP at Craig Ranch Regional Park, 12p, $35, rhythmandbrewslv.com

THREE FOR THE SHOW

NOV. 18

››› Good things often come in threes.

Something about that number elicits harmony. As charming as they are talented, the California Guitar Trio has a musical range spanning popular music classics to original composi tions. They’ve had the honor of soundtracking coverage for the Olympics and waking up NASA

astronauts (alarmclock style, not live). You’ll find yourself singing along to the lush, bright sounds that steel strings make when masterfully manipulated by these virtuosos.

UNLV’s Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall, 7:30-10p, $35, unlv. edu/pac

THE ART OF THE COMEBACK

NOV. 25

››› Few actors have managed to pull themselves from the depths of obscurity with a second act. Corey Feldman, of Gremlins, Goonies, and Stand by Me fame, looks to do it through music. Feldman is embarking on a U.S. tour to promote his new album Love Left 2 Dubbed Love Retours , the show is billed as a multi-media mix of his music and film hits, promising a uniquely ’80s-flavored spectacle. The Sand Dollar Downtown, 8p, $20-25, plazatix.com

THE BIG SHOW

NOV. 27-29

››› The UNLV jazz program has garnered accolades for its musicians’ talent, as well as for its diverse musical styles. This year’s three-day Jazz Festival will cover a lot of ground, highlighting the work of multiple jazz ensembles — contemporary, Latin, studio, vocal, and more. And the headline guest artist is drummer Gregg Bissonette, who’s played with everyone from American rocker David Lee Roth to Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. UNLV’s Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall, 7:30p, $8-10 (free for students) per concert, unlv.edu/pac

FAREWELL

The holidays are the time of the year for tradition and the reminder of things that have persisted through generations. But this period also marks an oncoming change for the Las Vegas Philharmonic.

Long-time conductor

Donato Cabrera is at the podium for the last time in the 2023-24 concert season. See him leading the Philharmonic in A Very Vegas Christmas, a collection of carols, holiday favorites, and heartwarming songs that are fun for the whole family. Who could ask for a better swan song? Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, 7:30p, $29-121, thesmithcenter.com

IMPROVISE THIS

DEC. 16 & 29

››› Not since Ferris Bueller has a man in a bathrobe attained so much notoriety. Marc Rebillet, better known as “Loop Daddy” to his online audience, started making beats in his bedroom and performing at Dallas restaurants. He now tours the world and has appeared at multiple festivals. His comedic lyrics walk the line between transgressive and cathartic. Rebillet’s animated and chaotic presence has converted initially uninterested bar patrons into dedicated followers. See what all the hype is about at Marc in Vegas. Brooklyn Bowl, 7p, $60-375, brooklynbowl.com/ las-vegas

NO MASK REQUIRED

JAN. 13

››› The Phantom might have had a happier life if he worked in a library, where locking yourself in the basement can just be considered archival work. An Evening with the Phantom features singers from Broadway and the Metropolitan Opera performing pieces from not only the famed Phantom of the Opera, but also other Andrew Lloyd Webber favorites such as Cats, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sunset Boulevard, and more. Thankfully, there’s no ornate chandelier to worry about in this venue. West Charleston Library, 7-8:30p, free, thelibrarydistrict.org, 702-507-3459

KELLER WILLIAMS

JAN. 25

››› In the age of streaming, many musicians have diversified their styles to span multiple genres or defy categorization entirely. Keller Williams is a progenitor of this philosophy, meshing elements of rock, jazz, bluegrass, and more since he released his first album in 1994. With a reputation for unique live performances, he plays tunes that are dynamic enough to get you out of the house on a cold

January night and moving around the dance floor like it’s the middle of summer.

Brooklyn Bowl, 7p, $25, brooklynbowl.com/ las-vegas

ALWAYS WITH US

FEB. 3

››› Norteño Legends Los Tigres Del Norte have the critical acclaim to back up their stardom and the street cred to keep it going. Fifty years after Johnny Cash’s legendary concert at Folsom, the group was the only one approved to perform at the prison’s anniversary concert. On their Siempre Contigo Tour, you can experience their unmatched emotional energy and poignant lyrics reflecting the raw authenticity of life for Latinos on both sides of the border.

Michelob Ultra Arena, 8p, $57-221, mandalaybay.com

by ANNE DAVIS

FUN ON TAP

OCT. 6

››› Dance visualizes music through the lyrical pauses, directional shifts, tempo changes — all expressed easily with the human body. Tap and piano are natural companions in this regard, harkening back to the age of big band. This is perhaps why pianist Conrad Tao and tap dancer Caleb Teicher joined forces in Counterpoint, where the clacking, shuffling dance style and lively, ragtime-inspired piano concerto play off one another on one stage in choreographed (and improvised) fashion. It’s a lively, compelling interplay of different art forms that blend predictably well. UNLV’s Ham Concert Hall, 7:30-10p, $20-60, unlv.edu/pac

FALL SQUARED

OCT. 6-7

››› Fall in Love With Contemporary West Dance Theatre Fall Concert Series is more than an excellent autumn pun — it’s also the title of this season’s performances by a stellar independent dance theater. Featuring four contemporary performances choreographed by artists Ray Mercer, Adrienne Hurd, and CWDT founder Bernard Gaddis, it’s the perfect introduction for those unfamiliar with the first dance company in Las Vegas (and the wider state of Nevada) to be founded by two

people of color. Charleston Heights Arts Center, 7:30p, $25-30, lvdance.org

BOUNDARYBREAKING BAILES

OCT. 13

››› Music and dance transcend national borders and language barriers, making this showcase of Mexico’s region-defining bailes not only a fun and beautiful event, but also one with cultural significance. At Fiesta Folklorico: Una Celebración de Baile, the folk dances of Jalisco, Nayarit, and Sinaloa all make appearances, along with traditional music and colorful costumes. Fiesta is the correct term for this event, which promises to bring all attendants together, regardless of cultural barriers. Grab your Jalisco Dress or your dancing shoes, and get ready to baile the afternoon away!  East Las Vegas Library, 3:30-4:30p, free, thelibrarydistrict.org, 702-507-6019

LAUGH TRACKS AND CLAPBACKS

OCT. 20-NOV. 5

››› If you’ve ever watched I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners and wondered, “What was the writers’ room like for one of these?” then you’ve unknowingly asked the driving question behind the creation of the play Laughter on the 23rd Floor. Written by Neil Simon — famed TV comedy writer of the ’50s — this production opens the door to a smoke-filled and polit-

Award-winning show.  Super Summer Theatre Studios, Fri., Sat., and Mon. 7p, Sun. 2p, $35-40, apublicfit.org

PUTTING THE CARE IN SCARE

OCT. 31

TEMPTING FATE

OCT. 10-15

››› I ain’t too proud to say I grew up listening to Motown. And why would I be? The Detroit-based record label helped define the music of the 1960s and ’70s, and provided a launchpad for some of the best Black singers and songwriters of the 20th century. Of all those mid-century music icons, the Temptations stand out as perhaps the most enduringly popular, demonstrated by Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations, a Tony Award-winning musical based on their lives and music. Speaking for myself, I’ll be a rolling stone to the box office for this one. Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, Tues-Fri. 7:30p, Sat. and Sun. 2p and 7:30p, $39-155, thesmithcenter.com

ically charged writers’ room at NBC in the mid-20th century. Although it dishes out plenty of laughs, the play also serves as a powerful reminder that while much has changed (thankfully modern script-writers no longer have to dodge McCarthyism), some things will always stay the same.  Las Vegas Little Theatre, Fri. and Sat. 8p, Sat. and Sun. 2p, $30, lvlt.org

DECENCY DECONSTRUCTED

OCT. 27-NOV. 20

››› Religion, prostitution, and lesbianism — all controversial topics in their own right — come together in one early-20th century drama, giving context for the outrage that Sholem Asch’s God of Vengeance inspired.

Indecent, A Public Fit’s newest production, tells the story behind this play, one of history’s

most censored, parodied, and praised stage works. Yet, God of Vengeance is only a secondary character in Indecent — the real story is about its creator, Asch, his travails in staging the

play, and dealing with the fallout the show caused him and his family as Jews in 1900s Europe. Human resilience, rebellion, and relationships are all center stage in this powerful Tony

››› There are some other eerie events in the Fall Culture Guide, but none can hold a jack-o’-lantern to Contemporary West Dance Theatre’s (CWDT) Halloween Spooktacular. Including performances by CWDT, a cameo from Dracula, and a postshow dance party and costume competition, parents can rest assured that it’s a safe way to celebrate the scariest day of the year with their children. If you’re looking for other holiday-themed performances from CWDT through the end of 2023, the company is also putting on a “Cool Yule” Christmas show, Dec. 15-16 at the Charleston Heights Arts Center.  Charleston Heights Arts Center, 5:30p, $10-20, lvdance.org

WHEREFORE ART THOU, ENTERTAINMENT?

NOV. 3-4

››› No self-respecting culture guide would be complete without at least one Shakespearean production, and if you only have room for one, might as well make it Romeo and Juliet — with a twist. While remaining true to Shakespeare’s beloved play and its dialogue, the Nevada Shakespeare Festival promises to add “a bit of Bon Jovi,” in this updated iteration. Parting is such sweet

Caleb Teicher

sorrow when there are only two performances, so snap up tickets while they’re available.  Windmill Library, Fri. 7-8:30p, Sat.

3-4:30p, free, thelibrarydistrict.org, 702-507-6068

SCREAM TEAM

THROUGH NOV. 4

››› Scary musicals — an unconventional genre of theater that’s more common than you’d think. The latest installment, Troy Heard and Brandon Scott Grayson’s Scream’d: An Unauthorized Musical Parody, is having its world premiere at Majestic Repertory Theatre. Based on my experience with the original source material, the 1996 slasher flick Scream, I fully expect to laugh, sit in suspense, and (of course) scream. Majestic Repertory Theatre, times vary, $20-50, majesticrepertory.com

SOCIAL ISSUES UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

NOV. 10

››› Lewy Body Dementia is estimated to affect 1.4 million Americans and is the second most common form of dementia, behind Alzheimer’s. Yet few know how the disease affects those suffering from it — and their families. The Wonderful World of Was, a play staged by the Social Issues Theatre, aims to correct this by telling the story of Lareaux, a high-achieving real estate developer who develops Lewy Body Dementia and is left caregiver-less when his wife passes away. The

show is a compelling educational tool on dementia’s wide-reaching effects, along with an exploration of thorny relational dynamics, including the question of whether children have a moral imperative to care for their parents. If you can’t make it to see the play at the Clark County Library on Nov. 10, you can catch it at other dates and locations.  Clark County Library, 7-9p, free, thelibrarydistrict.org, 702-507-3459

MUTUAL UNDERSANDING

NOV. 15-26

››› Happy Days is quite the deceptive name for Samuel Beckett’s 1960 play, which revolves around the alienating relationship between Winnie and her husband, Willie. Spending the play buried up to various parts of her body (yes, literally), Winnie banters to the mostly invisible Willie about their past, their future, and their love story. In so doing, Beckett’s 60-year-old show is a feast of the surreal — strange, and sorrowful.

How do we react when life seems to be passing us by, seemingly burying us in the sands of time?

Kymberly Luke Mellen, stage veteran and UNLV theater professor, stars in the leading role. If you can’t make it to the VTC dates, the production is also being staged at UNLV’s NCT (see unlv.edu/ nct). Vegas Theatre Company at Art Square, times vary, $25-40, theatre.vegas

A CINDERELLA YULE LOVE

NOV. 24-DEC. 10

››› Think you’ve seen every version of the classic Brothers Grimm story about lost glass slippers and true love? Think again! The Judy Bayley Theatre is the site of the world premiere of Cinderella Under the Mistletoe, a Nevada Conservatory Theatre original production. It sports a similar premise as the one we all loved as kids, but has been updated with quirky slapstick gags and a very dry British humor — courtesy of director Laura Jane James. Perhaps the

STAY ON YOUR MISTLETOES

DEC. 8-24

››› Many families’ Advent traditions, mine too, include seeing The Nutcracker sometime in December. There’s a reason why, out of the half-dozen shows in Nevada Ballet Theatre’s yearly seasons, The Nutcracker is consistently one of them. The sumptuous costumes, large corps of dancers required to put it on, and ever-festive music of Tchaikovsky — it’s simply the whole holiday package. If it’s not yet a tradition for you, there’s no time like now to start!  Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, Wed., Thurs., and Fri. 7:30p, Sat. 2p and 7:30p, Sun. 2p, $31-190, thesmithcenter.com

most unconventional twist on the fairytale? This time, it’s set in Vegas (or somewhere that looks like Vegas, at least). Bring the kids, but leave your woodland friends at home, so you can get back before the clock strikes midnight.

UNLV’s Judy Bayley Theatre, times vary, $15-30, unlv.edu/nct

‘SANTA?!?’

DEC. 1-17

››› There is a healthy debate over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie (it is), but there’s also discussion about whether Elf needed to be made into a musical (it did). Whatever side prospective audience

members fall on, they’ll swoon for this version of the eponymous holiday film. The banter is creative, the musical numbers have a certain jingle to them, and Buddy the elf is predictably lovable, which, all wrapped together, makes seeing the show feel like an early Christmas gift. Las Vegas Little Theatre, Fri. and Sat. 8p, Sun. 2p, $10-20, lvlt.org

ENJOY THE JOURNEY

DEC. 1-3 AND 8-10

››› Adapting Homer’s seminal poem, The Odyssey, might not seem like an easy thing to do for a youth theater

company — after all, it’s a rather mature tale of violence and lawlessness in the post-Trojan War era. However, the Rainbow Company Youth Theatre has managed to do it, creating a show that remains faithful enough to the source material to get the story across, but cleaned up enough to be safe for younger eyes and ears. And for prospective audience members who are hard of hearing, not to worry: The Company has an ASL interpreter during the second weekend’s Saturday (Dec. 9) matinee, making this version of the epic even more accessible. Charleston Heights Arts Center, Fri. 7p, Sat. 2p and 7p, Sun. 2p, $10, rainbowcompany.org

HOLI-DAY OF JUDGMENT

DEC. 7-30

››› Majestic Repertory Theatre advertises its Christmas show this year, A Very Vegas Christmas Carol, with the subtitle, “The holiday classic on the rocks,” which in and of itself is pretty descriptive. Beyond that, we can tell you the show is a parody of Dickens’ famous tale, with the quirky cast of characters trying to soften the heart of a Vegas casino mogul. It promises to be a tale for the nontraditional among us, each and every one. And if Majestic’s track record for adaptations holds, it’ll be worth seeing just for their take on the three ghosts of Christmas. Majestic Repertory Theatre, times vary, $20-50, majesticrepertory.com

Dita Von Teese

The queen of burlesque talks about her showgirl tribute at the Horseshoe

Like most artists who play the Las Vegas Strip, burlesque queen Dita Von Teese sat in the audience first. “Jubilee! was the show that I always came to see,” she says. “I never got tired of those feathers and rhinestones and the Bob Mackie/Pete Menefee costumes. And I loved the camp of it all — sinking the Titanic on stage every night.”

Since then, Von Teese has gone from solo star to headliner, impresario, and entrepreneur. Meanwhile, Jubilee! closed in 2016 after 35 years. The artist and her inspiration reunite in Dita Las Vegas: A Jubilant Revue opening at the Horseshoe October 5. She talked with Desert Companion about how the show fits into her career’s evolution. An edited excerpt follows.

What’s it like to stay in one theater instead of being on the road?

I love touring. I do the Opéra Garnier in Monte Carlo, the London Palladium, the Folies Bergère in Paris, the most beautiful theaters in the world. I travel with a semi-truck full of gear: I insist we have the best showbiz lighting money can buy, I bring my own curtains, I bring pyrotechnics. But I’d think, “It would be great to build something bigger. But in order to do that, I have to stay in one place.” Vegas is the obvious choice.

How is this show different from what people may think of as a typical showgirl or burlesque show?

There’s a very decisive point of difference between the showgirl world and my world. Some of my favorite performers are not your typical showgirl/pinup girl types, and I’ve always wanted to have as many men in the show performing striptease as women. We did auditions in Vegas and Los Angeles, but the majority of the cast is from Las Vegas.

The costumes from Jubilee! are extraordinary. What is it like working with these pieces?

Honestly, when I walked into the costume room

for the first time — and the second time, and maybe the third time — I was really emotional … And that’s kind of one of my driving forces — people should see (these costumes) because there is nowhere else in the world that you’re going to see something like that anymore.

How do you think audiences will react to Dita Las Vegas?

My die-hard fans will lose their minds but, as I say about everything I do, whether it’s my lingerie line or my perfume, I just want to make a great product that you want, whether you know me or have never heard of me. My goal is to make a show that’s not about me; it’s about the biggest, best, most beautiful burlesque show in the whole world.

— Lissa Townsend Rodgers

Dita Las Vegas: A Jubilant Revue opens Oct. 5 at the Jubilee Theater. Tickets start at $59. More information is at caesars.com/horseshoe-las-vegas

visual arts

by HEIDI KYSER

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS

OCT. 13-DEC. 8

››› A dead giveaway that you’re looking at a LaRon Emcee painting is a head of hair represented by a cloud. Emcee says it’s a symbol of dreams and a celebration of Black hair. His work fuses cartoon portraiture with surrealist painting, allowing him to project subjects’ inner lives on their outward appearance. “My goal is to make pieces that are relatable to the people in my community,” the artist says, on his website. His work comprises Pearson Community Center’s solo series for the entire fall. Pearson Community Center Gallery, weekdays 7a-9p, weekends 7a-6p, free, clarkcountynv.gov, 702-455-8685

A SECOND TO THINK

OCT. 14

››› Continuing the trend of recurring date alliteration for art events (see: first Friday, third Thursday), Robin Slonina has chosen the second Saturday of each month for her open house exhibitions featuring local artists and incorporating interactive fun for the public. This month’s event will showcase the works of Jayson Atienza, Q’Shaundra James, 3 Baaad Sheep, Gina Bobina, Glynn Galloway, Fifi Marika and Nicole Cochener, along with the owner/ artist herself. Slonina says, “With almost everything on wheels, from gallery walls to gift shop displays, our flex-space is designed

to be a constantly evolving canvas. This unique approach allows artists to experiment, collaborate, and transform the space to share their work with the world.” Your move, world. Slonina Artspace, 2-6p, free, sloninaartspace.com

BREAKING ON THROUGH

OCT. 24-JAN. 6

››› Painter Byron Stout took the assignment of creating a show for Left of Center Art Gallery somewhat literally. The subject of his exhibition, The Other Side, is what you see when you shift your gaze away from the usual focal points and consider what’s on the margins. “In these images,” he says in his artist statement, “I am

trying to present an angle of America that can only be seen if you’re looking left of center.” Get it? The result is a collection of scenes and portraits casting a warm light on what Stout calls “this desert freak show.” Left of Center Gallery, Wed.Fri. 12-4p, Sat. 10a-3p, free, leftofcenterart.org

DEBBIE DID VEGAS

THROUGH OCT. 26

››› Like many Hollywood celebrities, triple threat Debbie Reynolds had a Las Vegas era. Hers began in 1962, when she moved here (in part to escape her bruising divorce from Eddie Fisher, who was having an affair with Elizabeth Taylor) for a residency at the Riviera Hotel and

Casino. The move also gave Reynolds time to regroup with her children. The exhibition The Persona. The Person: Debbie Reynolds in Las Vegas explores both the public and private sides of the star’s sojourn in the city of second chances. On Oct. 5 at 1 p.m., the City of Las Vegas will host a discussion about the show with Reynolds’ son, Todd Fisher. Grand Gallery at Las Vegas City Hall, Mon.-Thurs. 9a-5p, free, neonmuseum.org

SKATING TO FAME

THROUGH OCT. 31

››› Born in Reno, artist Mark de Salvo gravitated to punk rock and skate culture when, like many of his peers

Work by LaRon Emcee

Stephanie Amon

in the community, he felt alienated by mainstream society. Following formal training in San Francisco, he made his passions his profession, creating iconic album covers for bands including Miss Vincent, NOFX, Tony Sly, Track Five and others, as well as doing design for skateboard companies. The Mark de Salvo exhibition brings together the best of this work, with a selection of signed and numbered limited edition prints for sale. The Punk Rock Museum, Mon.-Fri. 12-8p, Sat.-Sun. 10a-8p, $19.50-100 (kids under 4 free), thepunkrockmuseum.com

FIESTA FOR THE EYES

THROUGH NOV. 1

››› For the second time, the City of Las Vegas collaborated with the Consulate of Mexico to

create an exhibition highlighting emerging artists. This year’s theme is celebration, and it attracted works exploring everything from fireworks to migration. One of the 19 artists who contributed will win a $500 Best of Show prize. Mayor’s Gallery at the Historic Fifth Street School, Mon.-Fri. 8:30a-5:30p, free, lasvegasnevada. gov, 702-229-2787

WONDER WALK

NOV. 3

››› One of UNLV’s biggest crowd-pleasers, the annual Art Walk is a campus-wide open house, where the public gets to see all kinds of exhibitions and performances up close and in person. The university’s galleries all typically open for the event, allowing visitors to take in a wide range of works, chat with artists and curators, and meet fellow art lovers in

the community. And of course, they can enjoy refreshments and fun activities along the way. UNLV main campus, 5-9p, free, unlv.edu/ finearts/art-walk

FLY AWAY HOME

NOV. 3-JAN. 29

››› Las Vegas arguably wouldn’t exist without developments in mass national transit. This photography and memorabilia exhibition, Desert Skyways: 75 Years of Clark County Aviation, looks at air travel, which has played a critical role in the city’s growth as an international tourism hotspot. Staged at the Clark County Museum, its companion pictorial exhibit will be on display at the Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum in Terminal 1 of Harry Reid International Airport through Jan. 22. The airport exhibit is free to visitors and open 24 hours a day. Clark County Museum, 9a-4:30p, $1-2, clarkcountynv.gov/ museums, 702-455-7955

GO THERE

NOV. 6-DEC. 21

››› For its winter exhibition, Home, Sweet Home , Clark County invites artists to reflect on home — be it a structural dwelling or something completely abstract. Images, in any medium, representing everything from an artist’s favorite childhood memory, to their ideal shelter from the elements, to their fantasy of a place where they feel totally welcome, will be included. Clark County Government Center

PLEIN DEALER

THROUGH NOV. 18

››› Art professor Daryl DePry’s Experience Outdoors: Landscapes in Paintings and Prints is influenced by his upbringing in Southern California, hiking the deserts and mountains with his mom. DePry focused on nature as a frequent subject in his drawing and printmaking for UNLV’s master of fine arts program and, after a foray into plein air oil painting, learned to incorporate printmaking into the excursions by using a small intaglio press in the bed of his pickup. This show brings together a collection of these outdoors-made works. “I continue to devour the landscape,” DePry says. “I make marks to survive myself.” CSN’s Fine Arts Gallery, weekdays 9a-6p, Sat. 10a-4p, free, csn.edu, 702-651-4146

Rotunda Gallery, Mon.-Thurs.

7:30a-5:30p, free, clarkcountynv.gov, 702-455-8685

50 YEARS IN FACES

THROUGH NOV. 18

››› In the exhibition Faces of Hip Hop, painter Stephanie Amon brings together a selection of the portraits that have put her on the map, focusing on hip-hop artists in honor of the music’s 50-year anniversary. Amon’s oil-paint realism brings out her subjects’ emotions, a style that, she says, is meant to

“inspire and motivate” those with dreams. The Studio at Sahara West Library, Mon.-Thurs. 10a-8p, Fri.-Sun. 10a-6p, free, thelibrarydistrict.org, 702-507-3630

THE VIEW FROM UP THERE

NOV. 30-JAN. 24

››› Each year, Nevada Humanities — our state’s partner with the National Endowment for the Humanities — produces six curated in-person exhibitions at its Program Gallery in Las Vegas. This one brings northern perspectives south, presenting 13

Work by Byron Stout

artists’ interpretation of the Great Basin. Representing a mix of media, Between Earth & Sky: Exploring the Great Basin Through the Eyes of Northern Nevada Artists offers a range of takes on what this highly diverse landscape means to the diverse people who inhabit it. Nevada Humanities Program Gallery, Tues.-Thurs. 1-4p, First Fri. 1-9p, free, nevadahumanities.org, 702-800-4670

REFLECTING ON HISTORY

THROUGH MARCH 16

››› Imagine learning that your people were buried under a heap of waste. How could you process such contemptuous disregard?

This question drove artist Jeannie Hua to develop Tailings . The mixed-media installation exposes the burial of Chinese Americans in Tonopah, outside the region’s official cemetery under an unmarked mound of tailings removed from local mines. It’s part of Hua’s larger exploration of the neglect of Asian Americans who helped settle the West. The show is on display in the museum’s Window Gallery, where, depending on the time of day, viewers may see their own reflection — an effect Hua says is an intentional part of the experience.

Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, Tues.-Sat. 10a-5p, free, unlv.edu, 702-895-3381

Scrambled Eggs

Manny Muñoz moves the needle on community art

As a mariachi group plays, a crowd spills out of UNLV Grant Hall Gallery into the space outside to enjoy the music, holding plates of food from Chef Loui. Others remain inside the gallery, looking at art and buying zines. Scrambled Eggs has done it again: a unique reception to open a pop-up exhibition, this time gathering artists previously shown in solo exhibitions into one group show. It solidifes Scrambled Eggs’ status as true artist collective.

It began in March 2022 in Emmanuel “Manny” Muñoz’s 200-square-foot downtown studio, which he rented initially to work on art projects and freelance architecture gigs in his free time. Next door was a studio run by Monika Chaney, who hosted mixers where Muñoz met other artists and creative people.

“I began to think that maybe I could put together some sort of

pop-up art show for them and use my space for something more than just my own projects,” Muñoz says.

After a UNLV architecture class one day, Muñoz called Brian Martinez about his idea for a pop-up exhibition of Martinez’ work in Muñoz’s studio. Martinez agreed, and the first Scrambled Eggs exhibition was born.

After Martinez, Scrambled Eggs hosted solo exhibitions featuring the work of Isaac Quezada, Sarah Robles, Daisy Sanchez, Abigail Rivera Ramirez, and Alexys Keller. As the project grew into a collective, other artists joined these original members, contributing organizational, marketing, and design skills.

Scrambled Eggs stands out in the Las Vegas art scene as one of few BIPOC artist-run spaces with a focus on early career artists. “A lot of the artists I started working with early on were working out of their bedrooms,” Muñoz says. “A lot of them still are.”

Those involved in the collective love how it allows them to develop creatively. “I joined Scrambled Eggs because it gave me, a minority, a voice in the art community,” photographer Sarah Robles says. “I would’ve never had the opportunity to show my work if it wasn’t for Scrambled Eggs.”

Artist Abigail Rivera Ramirez praises the creative freedom artists

have. “It feels like you can breathe working with them — there’s never any pressure or cost. They really care about giving space to artists in the community.”

The collective is focused on building community, not just within the arts, but also in the rest of Las Vegas. Geovany Uranda, curator and artist, says, “I feel like the relationships we have made and the projects we’re actively working on will make Vegas a better place for artists and art enjoyers … and hopefully the entire populace.”

While remaining dedicated to the local community, Scrambled Eggs has its eye on projects outside the Las Vegas Valley as well. The group exhibition, Hija/e/o/x(s) de Su-, curated by Uranda and Cesar Piedra in collaboration with the Holland Project in Reno and Nuwu Art Gallery + Community Center in Vegas, reflects on life in a Latina(-e/-o/-x) households and features artists from both Southern and Northern Nevada.

As a small collective, money is always a concern for the group, because their events and projects are self funded. However, Muñoz keeps things positive. “If anything, having limited resources leads us to think creatively about how we organize exhibitions and collaborate with other groups in Nevada.”

Discussing Las Vegas specifically, Muñoz says there’s a lot of energy in the local art scene, especially among younger people, that not everyone is aware of. “There’s always buzz coming from places like Downtown and events like First Friday, but it’s not the only place where art is happening,” he says.

Uranda seconds that. “Las Vegas has the artists and culture to turn into a big arts hub,” he says. “We just need more eyes looking at us and not just the Strip.” — Tracy Fuentes Hija/e/o/x(s) de Su, through Dec. 7, Nuwu Art Gallery Thurs.-Fri. 4-8p, and Sat. 12-4p, free, nuwuart.com

Emmanual Muñoz

& i deas literature

SPEAK YOUR TRUTH

OCT. 3

››› The ability to read whatever we like, while most of us take it for granted, is in no way guaranteed. And with the American Library Association recording more attempts to ban books in 2022 than ever before in its history, performances such as Free to Read: A Banned Books Week Event are timelier than ever.

Staged by The Asylum Theatre, the evening is

by ANNE DAVIS

billed as a celebration of First Amendment rights and freedom of artistic expression. Clark County Library, 7-9p, free, thelibrarydistrict. org, 702-507-3459

THROUGH THESE EYES

OCT. 4

››› Add equal parts activism, solid storytelling, and emotional exploration, mix thoroughly, and garnish with a dash of journalism — you now have the recipe for Morgan Thomas’ writing.

Disarming and raw, their body of work will be the subject of this Black Mountain Institute event celebrating one of its four Shearing Fellows for the 2023-24 academic year. In this book reading, Thomas will reflect on what it means to be radically untraditional in America, and all the beauty and pain that goes along with that. UNLV’s Beverly Rogers Literature and Law Building, 7p, free, blackmountaininstitute.org

HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, BARTENDER

OCT. 5

››› There’s something appropriate about discussing classic films with a specialty cocktail in hand — mirroring the endless, off-handed pouring of scotch that punctuated scenes throughout midcentury film. Commemorate this bygone era at Bar: Film Classics and Cocktails featuring movie

David Sedaris

Eddie Muller

trivia with Turner Classic Movies host Eddie Muller. The evening promises to fill your brain with stimulating discussion and your belly with fancy drinks for every palate. The Mob Museum, 7-8:30p, $30, themobmuseum.org

POE-TRY TO KEEP UP

OCT. 15

››› Shoutout to the overthinkers! Obsessions, the latest installment in Avantpop Bookstore’s Intimate Evenings of Poetry series, is for you (and me). Hosted by activist and writer Shwa Laytart, this installment promises to satisfy your need for dark satirical poetry. If that’s not your thing, catch other readings on Oct. 22 (themed as Invisible Ghosts), Nov. 12 (Sensuality), and Nov. 19 (Fear and Loathing). Ticket prices include one free drink. Office of Collecting and Design, 6-8p, $25, avantpopbooks.com

LANDSCAPE MODE

OCT. 17

››› Architecture and landscaping are part of that wonderful class of art that we all benefit from, yet very rarely think about. May it be invisible no more, says Mary G. Padua, visiting lecturer for the AIA + Klai Juba Wald + UNLV School of Architecture fall lecture series. Padua, a researcher as well as an architect, specializes in the meaning of public spaces and post-Mao urban design in China. Her presentation, Speculations on the Landscape, will shed light on the beauty and

purpose of the planned world around us. UNLV’s Architecture Studies Library, 5:30-7p, free, unlv.edu/finearts

BIRDS OF A FEATHER WRITE TOGETHER

OCT. 19

››› Where can one witness 14 local powerhouse authors discussing their writing together in one place, other than at the Las Vegas Writes event, sponsored by Nevada Humanities? This year’s installment, published (as usual) to coincide with the Las Vegas Book Festival, is titled Feather Shows: Las Vegas Writers on Movies, TV, and Other Spectacles. The story collection focuses not only on visitors to Sin City, but also the locals who daily find themselves navigating a complicated, oxymoronic, town. And if you recognize some names, that’s because they — namely, Delight Chinenye Ejiaka and Mike Weatherford — have contributed to

BOOKING IT TO DOWNTOWN

LAS VEGAS

OCT. 21

››› One of my bigger mistakes in 2022 was foregoing the Las Vegas Book Festival because of that crazy windstorm — missing Bob Woodward stung. But around here, we learn from our mistakes, so I’m blocking out Oct. 21 for full lit immersion. And what a year it’ll be: authors Terry McMillan, Malcolm Nance, Rebecca Yarros, and Ana Reyes are slated to make appearances, along with the usual book vendors. Pro tip: Bring a friend to geek out with and help you stay true to your book budget. Historic Fifth Street School, 10a-6p, free, lasvegasbookfestival.com

Unsurprisingly, organized crime had a role in organizing many of them, which is why it makes sense for the Mob Museum to present Racing and Racketeers: Motorsport and Organized Crime in Las Vegas. The lecture, featuring Randy Cannon (a motorsport historian) and Bill Weinberger (a former casino exec), comes to town right before Formula 1. Something to think about the next time you see road closures for repaving — like everything else in Vegas, the Mafia started it! The Mob Museum, 7-8p, free with museum admission, themobmuseum.org

RITA’S RHYMES

THROUGH OCT. 29

Desert Companion, too. To get to know one of the Feather Shows writers (and the anthology editor) better, flip to page 27 for a review of Jarret Keene’s recently published dystopian novel, Hammer of the Dogs Clark County Library Theater, 7-9p, free, nevadahumanities.org

GOODWILL HAUNTING

OCT. 19

››› We Are a Haunting is an apt name for Tyriek White’s most recent novel, published in April. Combining suspense, the supernatural

(naturally), inequality, and a commentary on complicated familial dynamics, the book is further proof that White is a supreme example of his generation’s nuanced novelists, particularly when it comes to sharing Black, urban experiences. UNLV’s Barrick Auditorium, 7p, free, blackmountaininstitute.org

A BIT RACY

OCT. 26

››› True Vegas trivia buffs know that the city has a distinguished record of hosting auto racing events, stretching as far back as the 1960s.

››› The old saw about an image and a bunch of words gets the literal treatment in this poetry showcase: Students in UNLV’s Creative Writing program created poems based on the art they saw at the Rita Deanin Abbey Museum. That same poetry is now on display beside the corresponding paintings and sculptures in Vegas & Verse: A Collaborative Exhibition Rita Deanin Abbey Museum, Thurs. and Fri. 10a-6p, Sat. 10a-5p, Sun. 10a-4p, free with museum admission, ritadeaninabbeymusuem.org

TO CHAT, OR NOT TO CHAT

NOV. 1

››› Critics have declared Artificial, cartoonist and author Amy Kurzweil’s most recent publication, morally challenging, beautifully illustrated, and witty. And the plot isn’t too shabby, either. The

book is a generational epic, which thoughtfully takes shape as Kurzweil explores her family’s very complicated past, virtually resurrecting the dead while trying to reconcile her own uncertain future with her partner. For the AI-obsessed, this reading and book signing offer an ideal opportunity to contemplate the role that tech can play in understanding the past. The Writer’s Block, 7-8p, free, thewritersblock.org

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

NOV. 2

››› Mental health professionals recommend plenty of common methods for reducing climate anxiety: understand what you can and can’t control, reduce climate news consumption, talk it out with a trusted friend or family member. But there are also less well-known avenues. These form the basis for Brian Burkhart’s lecture

Climate Hope Through the Land: An Indigenous Framework for Decolonial Hope During Climate Chaos. Burkhart aims to increase climate hope by reviving the idea of “land as kinship.” Also at UNLV during American Indian Heritage Month, on Nov.

9, is Adorned Since Time Immemorial: First Nations’ Fashion Today, highlighting the current generation of Indigenous fashion designers. Both lectures are in the same place, and at the same price point and timeslot. UNLV’s Beverly Rogers Literature and Law Building, 7:30-8:30p, free, unlv. edu/liberalarts/ universityforum

BOMBSHELL BEVS

NOV. 9

››› While most atomic-age history can be heavy, this installment of the Atomic Museum’s Atomix lecture series, Atomic Life: Shaken and Stirred, makes connecting with that era a bit more accessible. It features the work of Cecelia Tichi, author of Midcentury Cocktails: History, Lore, and Recipes from America’s Atomic Age — a dash of midcentury kitsch, a solid scoop of American history, and a Moscow Mule straight out of Ocean’s Eleven Atomic Motor Company, 6-8p, atomicmuseum.vegas

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

NOV. 16

››› Is food a bonding experience, something you have good memories of, eating with family at an idealized dinner table? Or does food bring up thoughts of insecurity, trauma, lack? Perhaps it invokes some other experience altogether. Food writer Kim Foster explores these associations and more, as part of UNLV’s University Forum Lecture series in collaboration with the Black Mountain Institute. In The Meth Lunches, Foster’s discussion of nutrition in a time of income and access inequality, and how that interacts with depictions of gastronomy on social media, offers plenty to digest. UNLV’s Beverly Rogers Literature and Law Building, 7:30p, free, blackmountaininstitute.org

HILARITY ENSUES

NOV. 21

››› If you’re reading this public radio-published magazine, then chances are pretty good you’re a fan of David Sedaris, famed for his work on “This American Life,” produced by WBEZ Chicago. Since his personal essays were first heard on the radio almost 30 years ago, Sedaris has blazed a trail as star humorist, even making the New York Times bestsellers list. Sedaris will be live in Vegas, for one show only, An Evening with David Sedaris. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t sit on this chance to see the author live.

Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, 7:30p, $54-69, thesmithcenter.com

DEC. 8

››› Heather Lang-Cassera is making Desert Companion proud. Our 2017 Best of the City choice for Local Writer or Poet, Lang-Cassera has since served as the Clark County, Nevada Poet Laureate; a 2022 Nevada Arts Council Literary Fellow; and has published her most recent collection of poetry, Gathering Broken Light. This reading at The Writer’s Block offers a chance to get acquainted with not only the author herself, but also her poetry, which centers the tragedy of American gun violence, inspired by the aftermath of the 1 October shooting.

The Writer’s Block, 7-8p, free, thewritersblock.org

BOOK REVIEW

Ahmed Naji

In Rotten Evidence, the author breaks bonds both literary and political

“I can’t think of any literary genre that lies as habitually about its subject, or is as artistically lazy while claiming authenticity, as prison literature.” This critique of Egyptian prison memoirs is the bar Ahmed Naji sets for himself — and clears — in Rotten Evidence, his own memoir of Egyptian prison.

Now living in exile as a fellow at UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute, Naji became the first writer in Egyptian history imprisoned for “offending public morality.” That is, for literary rather than political reasons, as passages in his 2014 novel Using Life were deemed too sexually provocative. Sentenced to two years, he was imprisoned for 10 months in 2016.

By Ahmed Naji (Katharine Halls translator)

280 pages, $20 McSweeney’s

Rotten Evidence is anything but artistically lazy. Its timeline toggles adroitly between the ritual humiliations of captivity — petty bureaucratic sadisms, vulgar cellblock banter, revolting smells — and scenes from Naji’s life leading up to incarceration. In these, he offers brief, penetrating glimpses into Egypt’s often-surreal political, religious, intellectual, and judicial strata. Frequent excerpts from his journal add a real-time texture, and a kind of psychological shadow narrative gels as Naji recounts his sad, frightening, and hopeless dream life.

Don’t be put off by the book’s Cairo setting or cameos by unfamiliar Arabic writers; an American reader will find plenty of handholds. After all, people everywhere abuse their tiny slivers of power. And when Naji quotes at length from the judgment against him — a florid, self-important, flagrantly wrongheaded argument for censoring books on behalf of public morality — it doesn’t sound much different from a Moms 4 Liberty press conference.

If Rotten Evidence offers an abiding takeaway image, it’s of the writer in his prison bunk, hunched over a notebook cradled on his “makeshift desk of leg bones,” attempting to transmute his squalor into art. Entering prison, Naji wasn’t sure he was a real writer. Question answered.

—Scott Dickensheets

‘I WISH I COULD SING THE SKY TO YOU’

Rotten Evidence

Joe Bob’s World Drive-In

Jamboree

A cable channel B-film buff invites his ‘Mutant Family’ to Las Vegas

Joe Bob Briggs has been a B-movie advocate since long before genre cinema was cool. The author and TV personality began writing his socalled drive-in movie reviews for a Texas newspaper in the 1980s, and he has hosted B-movie showcases on cable TV since 1986. In 2021, he launched Joe Bob’s World Drive-In Jamboree, a multiday event honoring drive-in culture, held at an actual drive-in, serving as a film festival and a gathering place for his fans, affectionately known as the “Mutant Family.”

This year’s Jamboree comes to Las Vegas, setting up at the West Wind Drive-In for three days of movies, celebrity guests, musical performances, and fan camaraderie. “There are very few drive-ins that are big enough to do the size of event that we want to do,” Briggs says. The Jamboree will take over at least four of West Wind’s six screens, and attendees can even camp at West Wind, making the Jamboree the B-movie

equivalent of Coachella.

The event kicks off with a barbecue hosted by Briggs and his Shudder costar Diana Prince (aka “Darcy the Mail Girl”), with Friday’s programming devoted to submissions from independent filmmakers.

On Saturday, Briggs and Prince will be recording an episode of their Shudder series The Last Drive-In, featuring commentary on a double feature of Roger Corman movies that will be revealed that night. Legendary B-movie producer Corman himself will be on hand to celebrate what Briggs calls his “first 70 years in Hollywood.”

The night will continue beyond the TV taping with a marathon of five Corman movies.

The event wraps up on Sunday with a night devoted to the Sleepaway Camp slasher-movie franchise.

For Briggs, Las Vegas is more than just a convenient location for the Jamboree. He’s been coming to town since the 1970s, when he befriended Wayne Newton, thanks to an article he wrote in Interview magazine. The Jamboree is set to include walking tours of the Fremont Street area, with Briggs providing commentary and historical insight on the period from about 1933 to 1965. “That’s what people think of as classic Vegas,” he says. — Josh

Bell

Joe Bob’s World Drive-In Jamboree, Oct. 6-8, West Wind Drive-In, $75-275, joebobsjamboree.com

F a m i l y F e s t i v a l s &

VIVA LAS AESTHETIC!

OCT. 4-7

››› If you want to know what Duck Duck Shed references, you’ll have to track down the heralded book Learning From Las Vegas (totally worth it, too). But for our purposes here, the curiously named festival — comprising several separately ticketed events — will sprawl out to various parts of the city in celebration of its architecture, design, and culture. From Debbie Reynolds and the lore of Downtown to the use of light in casinos and a tour led by architects — the beautifying and enriching of Las Vegas will be the baseline theme of this relatively new cultural institution. Locations, times, and ticket prices vary, duckduckshed.com

IN THE NAME OF LOVE

OCT. 6-7

by MIKE PREVATT

››› Forty years ago, the city’s first Pride celebration mainly consisted of seminars and lectures at UNLV (and, yes, some afterparties at the local gay bars). Now, it’s a full weekender with one of the nation’s few LGBTQ nighttime parades and a Saturday festival — meant to both unite and celebrate one of the most dynamic queer communities anywhere. 4th Street in Downtown (parade), Craig Ranch Regional Park (festival); 6p (parade), 12-11p (festival); free for parade, $10-100 for festival, lasvegaspride. org

MOVIES AMONG THE MOUNTAINS

OCT. 7

››› Ever see a Super Summer Theatre musical in the majestic environs of

the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area? Imagine catching a few flicks in the same setting. That’s one of the major perks of attending the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, which focuses on environmental and conservation activism. There’s also food, a raffle, and a community fair that puts faces to the causes fighting for Las Vegas’ glorified — and glorious — backyard. Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, 4:30-9p, $12 in advance, nevadawilderness.org

SPLENDOR IN THE DAM GRASS

OCT. 7-8

››› Just how big is Boulder City Hospital’s Art in the Park? The annual creative confab (and Boulder City Hospital fundraiser) claims to draw 100,000 people a year and takes over four city parks. If you’re looking to swap out your Wayfair affirmation canvases with artwork that required a palette and a pulse, you’ll have plenty to consider here.

Wilbur, Bicentennial and Escalante Parks, Sat. 9a-5p, Sun. 9a-4p, free, bchcares.org/ art-in-the-park

FALL INTO A SOLAR ECLIPSE

OCT. 12-16

››› White Pine County will celebrate being situated in the path of totality by throwing a party, the Ring of Fire Eclipse Festival. Billed as a community-wide event — enlisting businesses and local governments “from Schellbourne to Baker” — the festival promises

a wide range of events, from the usual food, music, and pub crawls, to the more unexpected Tai Chi, 5K run, and … a Hip Hop dance party?

The staple will, of course, be skygazing. Locations and times vary, free, elynevada. net/ring-of-fire-eclipsefestival

SOME KNAVE

ALL

OCT. 13-15

››› Back in ye olde family-friendly Strip days, Excalibur was as close to middle-age England as you could get this side of the Atlantic. Now that it looks more like a medieval Westfield Mall in Bethesda, the Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival is your best bet for Anglo-Saxon reverie. The commitment to theme is unassailable; expect jousting tournaments, artisan wares, historical reenactments, and medieval surgeon demonstrations — minus any insurance preapproval tomfoolery!

Sunset Park, Fri. and Sat. 10a-10p, Sun. 10a-5p, $8-45, lvrenfair.com

many violent episodes and sexual themes that adults thought twice about reading them to their kids. But time has softened the infamous stories, thus giving the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District confidence in branding its second Haunted Harvest event with the worlds and characters of the Brothers Grimm.

As for activities:

GHOSTS OUT TO SOCIALIZE

OCT. 19-22

››› Most adults can’t handle the usual Halloween haunt attraction — you know, the makeshift mazes with Hefty trash bag walls and carny-like scare actors — let alone kiddos. That’s partially why Springs Preserve established Haunted Harvest, where the young ones can trick-or-treat, game, craft, and traverse a mellower macabre maze without the PTSD. Springs Preserve, 5-9p, $8-12, springspreserve.org

BUT WILL THEY READ ‘THE CHILDREN WHO PLAYED SLAUGHTERING’ ALOUD?

OCT. 21

››› Grimm’s Fairy Tales is a curious theme for any children-friendly event, given that the collection of stories traditionally featured so

Trunk-or-treating, face painting, and shadow puppet shows highlight this daytime Halloween alternative. Centennial Hills Library, 2-6p, free, thelibrarydistrict.org, 702-507-6100

A LITTLE MERRIMENT WITH THAT MOURNING

NOV. 1-2

››› There’s no shortage of Dia de los Muertos festivals on the Southern Nevada calendar, but the abuelo of all of them may be Clark County’s Life in Death Festival. While attendees can simply observe the performances and art that honor the dead and poke fun at mortality, they’re encouraged to build ofrendas (altars) and read calaveras (memorial poems) made for loved ones who have passed on. This year, the county is offering a $500 stipend for each of the three best ofrendas Winchester Dondero Cultural Center, 5-9p, free, clarkcountynv.gov, 702-455-7340

SLICE OF LIFE

NOV. 4

››› There’s a festival for everything nowadays

— many totally unasked for (see: festivals for

underwater music and cheese-rolling). But this one’s a no-brainer: It’s for pizza. The one dish perfect for any hour of the day, the one nearly impossible to screw up (silenzio, pineapple despisers), the one most likely to reduce its consumer to awkward moaning sounds on sight. Your ticket to the Las Vegas Pizza Festival comes with unlimited samples of the valley’s best pies, made by a royal court of world-famous pizzaiolos residing in Las Vegas. The Industrial Event Space, 1-4p, $75-135, vegaspizzafest.com

NEW VEGAS IN AN OLD SALOON

NOV. 11-12

››› If playing Fallout: New Vegas in your mancave just isn’t enough anymore, the folks at the NCRArmy have an event for you. The second annual Fallout: New Vegas Festival will be a cosplay ’n’ camping Xanadu for fans of the video game. Buy a ticket, amass your prepper gear, and consider this a dry run of our post-apocalyptic future. The Pioneer Saloon, 7a-7p, facebook.com/ncrarmy

The murders of Newborn and Shersty reverberated throughout the Vegas underground scene. Things had already been getting tense for a while. Poet and artist John Emmons was shot behind Cafe Copioh in late 1994. Dancer Ginger Rios disappeared from a Maryland Parkway spy craft store in 1997, her body found months later in the Arizona desert. Heroin use ran rampant, ruining young lives — some permanently. For many local artists and musicians, even those unaffiliated with ARA or Unity Skins, Newborn and Shersty’s murders were the last straw.

“Spit had been one of these pivotal linchpins for this community,” says Meagan Angus, a Las Vegas native and active member of the Maryland Parkway coffeehouse scene. “The idea that an archetype could be snuffed out so easily freaked me out. It freaked out a lot of other people.”

Angus moved to Seattle not long after the murders, part of an exodus during the late 1990s and early 2000s that included many of her friends and acquaintances from the scene, including Keith Haubrich, a percussionist who first encountered Newborn at the Underground record store on Twain Avenue before they became regulars at area poetry readings. For Haubrich, the “dispiriting aspect of friends being murdered” was just another nail in the coffin of a scene whose touchstones — such as the beloved independent record store Benway Bop and KUNV 91.5 FM’s “Rock Avenue” programming — were rapidly disappearing.

“I never felt like Vegas was the place I’d want to grow old in, start a family in,” Haubrich says. “I knew I did not want to stay in Vegas.”

For those who were much closer to Shersty and Newborn, however, their killings were more than just representations of a cultural movement in decline. They had a more direct impact on their existence — emotionally and physically.

“There was a lot of paranoia,” Hodges says. “You didn’t know who to trust. I was fired from one job because the owner of the establishment was afraid that the violence would target his business. I left Las Vegas around six months after the murders. I just didn’t want to look over my shoulder everywhere I went.”

That sentiment was echoed by LeGere, whose last few years living in Las Vegas

before relocating to Chicago in 2003 left her feeling like she “didn’t want to be out.

“I personally felt like I didn’t want to be seen. I just wanted to lay low,” LeGere says. “A lot of people, I think, felt that if something like this can happen, then no one’s safe anymore.”

Shyne says the death of Newborn, in particular, left her feeling like “the only one like me left.” After the murders, she says, she was spit at and called the N-word by a female skinhead during a show at the Huntridge Theater. Suddenly, the scene in which she’d felt refuge and comfort for so long now left her feeling “very alone.”

And Margaret Newborn, who was no stranger to casual racism merely for having grown up Black in America, experienced a new level of terror from people who otherwise, she says, she “would know nothing about.

“Within the first year of his murder, I was receiving correspondence from — we’ll call them haters,” Newborn says. “I had never experienced anything like that before. It was really, really scary. There’s a lot of hate out there, and a lot of them are just mouthpieces. But I know that some of them will or want to act on that hate.”

At John Butler’s murder trial, his friend Joey Justin testified that when he, Butler, and Melissa Hack encountered the ATV riders on the morning of July 4, they were, indeed, picking up incriminating evidence that had been left behind the night before. However, Butler’s attorneys claimed that their client was only aiding Ross Hack and Daniel Hartung, and that they — not Butler — planned and carried out the murders.

The jury was not convinced. They found Butler guilty of both murders and recommended the death penalty. He was formally sentenced to death in March 2003.

“I had always been a supporter of the death penalty up to that point,” LeGere says. “And I realized that no matter how much I hated this person for what they had done, they had a family and they had parents that maybe cared about them the way that I cared about Spit. I couldn’t handle knowing that I would put them through that kind of grief, the grief that I was feeling for my friend.”

Butler appealed his sentence almost immediately, based on what his legal team perceived as procedural errors in the sentencing phase of his trials — including a claim that the trial court erred in allowing

the state to introduce evidence about his INS gang affiliation. In 2004, the case went to the Nevada Supreme Court, which ultimately agreed with Butler, upholding his two convictions for first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, but vacating the death penalty sentence and remanding the case for a new sentencing trial. After a new penalty hearing, Butler’s sentence was reduced to life without the possibility of parole.

“I am disappointed that John Butler’s death sentence got overturned for a couple of reasons,” Margaret Newborn says. “One is because there’s no need for a person that can do such a thing. There’s no need. But also, I am not ashamed to say that I wanted to see him die. I wanted to see him executed. And when that all changed, I was robbed of that.”

Even after Butler’s fate was finally sealed, the murder investigation remained open. But the hope of nabbing anyone else for their involvement in the murders seemed thin. In 2008, Ross Hack returned to the United States and was arrested in a passport fraud case, ultimately convicted and sentenced in 2009 to three years in a federal prison. This put him in the sights of the grand jury investigation that the U.S. Department of Justice was running — the murders happened on Bureau of Land Management land, which falls under federal jurisdiction.

It’s hard to think about the unintended sacrifice Newborn and Shersty made fighting against racism and for a more united world, considering the turn the country’s taken in the last decade ...

Butler, who failed to appeal his conviction again in 2010, started talking to federal investigators. This led authorities to start sniffing around other suspects again, including Leland Jones. And with the help of Ross Hack, the FBI finally had tracked down the “unknown woman” who’d aided Melissa Hack in luring Newborn and Shersty to their deaths — even if she wasn’t exactly an ideal informant.

“Mandie Abels was just a hot mess with her drug addictions and other problems,” says Kathleen Bliss, who was at the time the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case. “The FBI agents started working on her to try to see if they could get some information out of her because she was there at the time of the murders. She actually cooperated and gave statements.”

And then in the summer of 2011, Bliss received a lucky break in the form of Daniel Hartung showing up at her downtown Las Vegas office, riddled with guilt, to confess his involvement in the murder plot. They met with defense attorney Karen Winckler, and Hartung agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and testify at trial. Prosecutors also got Abels to do the same, and she was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

“It was just a matter of tenacity and piecing together information and getting some good luck,” Bliss says.

Then, that luck began to run out. In February 2012, Ross Hack, Leland Jones, and Melissa Hack were indicted on murder and firearms charges. Although Melissa Hack also ended up going the same route as Abels, pleading guilty to conspiracy and cooperating with federal prosecutors for a reduced sentence, Hartung was killed in an automobile accident in April 2012 — which meant his statements could not be used at trial because the defendants would have been deprived of their constitutional right to cross-examine.

Nonetheless, Melissa Hack, Abels, and Butler all testified at the August 2014 grand jury trial of Ross Hack and Jones. Despite their corroborating stories that detailed the events of July 3 and 4, 1998, defense attorneys convinced the jury that without physical evidence, they could not convict. Both Ross Hack and Jones were acquitted.

“In the end, the fact that the DOJ failed to make those cases, that the jury rejected them, seems to me a miscarriage of justice, frankly, and kind of shocking,” the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism’s Heidi Beirich says. “I think Melissa Hack was a pretty convincing (eye) witness ... So, what

does it take to show who was involved in the situation? It’s kind of amazing that that wasn’t enough to sway the jurors.”

Before testifying at the 2014 grand jury trial, Butler was reported as having been removed from state custody — not an abnormal situation, given he was testifying in a federal murder trial against his co-conspirators. But still today — almost a decade later — his location still shows as “Out of State Confinement” in the result of an inmate search on the Nevada Department of Corrections website.

When asked about Butler’s current location or status, a Nevada Department of Corrections representative would not provide any information, stating only, “Due to inmate confidentiality, you would not be able to get an update.”

Chapman University professor Simi has a theory that Butler worked out a deal to snitch on the Aryan Warriors, a white supremacist prison gang for whom he was considered a “shot caller.” For Margaret Newborn, even the good that may come from such an arrangement does not make up for Butler’s unknown whereabouts.

“And even if that were so, then where is he?” she says. “I mean, even if they’re in prison and they’re under protection, I mean, come on now, what do you say? So, you’re saying the Aryans run the prison. You cannot control where you put someone you know you need.”

Because of Fagel’s long experience as a member of law enforcement, he’s not optimistic about Butler’s current whereabouts.

“I’ve seen the FBI check a guy out of prison and never put him back,” Fagel says. “They literally checked him out and put him in a safe house down in San Diego and then just kind of petered out on watching him and eventually he walked away from that. And that was the end of it. And even the Bureau of Prisons in Nevada, is like, yeah, once an inmate gets removed and they don’t come back, it’s like the system just boots them out eventually. So, I would not be surprised. Hopefully he’s not in the wind.”

Every year in the weeks leading up to and on the actual Fourth of July, social media timelines fill with posts commemorating the anniversary of Newborn and Shersty’s murders. Many are from those most closely impacted by their deaths — family, friends, former coworkers.

“To this day I’m still shocked and saddened and just still can’t believe that something like that could happen to such a small,

underground portion of the world that I lived in,” says Chad Simmons, an artist and labor activist who documented the Vegas punk scene in the ’80s and ’90s on video tape. “What happened to Spit and Dan, it was a terrible thing, and we will forever mourn them.”

The online remembrances of the murders and their victims aren’t limited to those who knew Newborn and Shersty personally — organizations whose values are aligned with the cause for which the pair fought also spread the word each year. And as a result, every July 4 sees more people unfamiliar with the murders discover what happened. Thurston Moore of pioneering indie rock band Sonic Youth shared the story on his Instagram account in 2021.

“It’s really one of the only examples of anti-racists getting murdered by white supremacists, certainly at that time,” Beirich says, explaining the outsized impact of the killings. “And it was a pretty serious case: Two people were dragged into the desert, shot and beaten, and murdered for standing up for fairness (and) diversity. And it was scary.”

It’s hard to think about the unintended sacrifice Newborn and Shersty made fighting against racism and for a more united world, considering the turn the country’s taken in the last decade, from the rise of the “altright” and groups like the Proud Boys to anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric since 2016 that has correlated with a surge in violent hate crimes across the United States.

“I would like to think that things have changed, but I just don’t know if that’s true anymore,” LeGere says. “Things seem very cyclical. Just the current political climate and the senseless killing that goes on constantly in our country makes it seem sometimes that nothing has changed.”

When Lin Newborn was taken from this world, he left behind not only a legacy of anti-racist activism that inspires countless people to this day, but also a then-two-yearold son, Nicodemus, who Margaret Newborn calls “the spitting image” of her younger brother. Now 27 — an age his father never got to reach — Nicodemus is himself the father of a young son.

“He’s an awesome young man, but he’s deeply affected by what happened with his father,” Margaret says. “He wants to fill his father’s shoes. He wants to honor his father with his daily living. He struggles sometimes with the emotional part of what happened to his father, but he doesn’t let that stop him. It’s just too bad that he didn’t get to know his dad.” ✦

MOUNTAIN MAMAS

New guidebook invites Nevada parents and kids to explore outside

BY Reannon Muth

Editor’s note: For our culture issue, we’re taking a break from recommending individual hikes so that we can recommend several dozen of them — through a book review! We’ll get back to the trail next issue.

If you’ve ever hiked with a kid, you’ll know there are two questions you need answered before deciding if the hike is kid-friendly: How long is it? And how much of it is up hill?

The guidebook, 50 Hikes with Kids: Utah and Nevada, answers both questions. Every hike the guide features is five miles or fewer and has a max elevation gain of 900 feet — ideal for short legs and short attention spans, and perfect for parents wanting to avoid piggy-backing a toddler up a mountain that didn’t look that steep on the map at the visitor’s center.

The guide was co-authored by National Outdoor Book Award-winning

author Wendy Gorton and Hailey Terry, a Utah resident, mother, and avid hiker who grew up in Las Vegas. It divides hikes by state, adventure type, and also by season — so you won’t accidentally trek in the summer heat to a waterfall that only exists in the spring.

While the book includes mostly hikes, it also features other kid-friendly outdoor adventures, such as a stroll through Rhyolite Ghost Town or Ward Charcoal Ovens. Kids will enjoy the colorful maps and the “scavenger hunts,” which include pictures and descriptions of plants and animals found along each trail.

If you’ve clocked some miles in the mountains in Utah or Nevada, you’ll find few surprises here. But the guide is a great starting point for those new to hiking with kids or for anyone looking for inspiration for their next family-friendly adventure. ✦

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