By Ashley Warren

In 2016, I rolled a 20-sided dice onto my kitchen table, surrounded by some of my closest friends, and my life changed forever. This was my first time playing Dungeons & Dragons, a game I had wanted to play since I was a child looking at the early versions of the Monster Manual at the public library. 

By Alina Lindquist

When in bloom, the desert globe mallow brings the Mojave floor to life with vibrant orange and red hues. It is a common misconception that the desert is desolate or devoid of life, but when stumbling upon natural gems like the globe mallow, it unveils the incomparable beauty of the landscape. Hop out of the car and walk along any trail in the southern part of Nevada. It may look barren from the road, but it is impossible to miss all the wonders and life of the desert that emerge when walking amongst it. 

By Shannon Salter

The first thing I loved about Las Vegas was its oleander. Not only the bursting blossoms—red, pink, white—but the way it so often throws itself over cement walls and sidewalks, how it thrusts up against chain link fences, and drops its petals into the street. When I came to Las Vegas in 2009 to study poetry at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), I walked around in constant awe of the blooming things, which defied the starkness of an American suburban landscape.

By George Tsz-Kwan Lam

The excitement is building around the 2024 Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl. The Crawl is northern Nevada’s largest literary festival. I am grateful to have the opportunity to work together with our team at Nevada Humanities to bring this event to life. We are now putting together the final touches to a rich program of sessions, readings, and interactive activities for Saturday, October 12 in downtown Reno.

Por Lydia Huerta Moreno

El acceso y la representación en español son cada vez más necesarios en Estados Unidos, lo que refleja la evolución demográfica y cultural del país. Con más de 40 millones de hispanohablantes, Estados Unidos es el segundo país de habla hispana del mundo, por lo que es esencial que las empresas y otras industrias faciliten el acceso y presten servicio a esta población.

By Maryam Ala Amjadi

In July 2009, a Sudanese journalist, Lubna al-Hussein, and a group of 12 other women in Khartoum, Sudan were arrested for wearing trousers and sentenced to 40 lashes each for committing an act of “indecency.”

By Michelle Graves

What a whirlwind the past year has been! For a condensed story, over the summer of 2023 I first heard about Goldwell Open Air Museum and a call for temporary outdoor sculptures through fellow Las Vegas artist Brian Gibson. I applied to the call for art as well as a Nevada Arts Council Project Grant and was accepted to both. The sculpture exhibit was canceled but I pursued the installation anyway and was told, “Absolutely yes,” by Goldwell Open Air Museum Executive Director Suzanne Hackett-Morgan. So I installed my 4’ x 30’ text sculpture called, Keep Going in October 2023.

By Laura Newman

As the recipient of the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Silver Pen Award, I am excited to present a session at this year’s Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl on October 12, 2024. The subject of the session will be Writing the Desert West in Fact and Fiction. Michael Branch, a Nevada Writers Hall of Fame 2024 inductee, represents fact, while I represent fiction. Join us!

By Shan Michael Evans

We asked Shan Michael Evans, a Las Vegas artist and guest curator of the current Nevada Humanities Exhibition Series Saint and Poets Maybe… exhibition, to answer six questions about his inspiration in creating this exhibition.

By JM Huck

When a creative writing teacher told us about poetry by immigration detainees on Angel Island, I knew I had to go. I drove all the way to San Francisco, boarded a ferry at Embarcadero, and rode a shuttle to the museum at Angel Island Immigration Station in the San Francisco Bay. There are several books translating the poems carved onto the walls of the detention center for those interested.

By George Tsz-Kwan Lam

When I began my new role as assistant director at Nevada Humanities earlier this year, I was especially looking forward to planning the Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl. From my conversations with colleagues and friends, I understood that there was immense support for this beloved event to return to Reno.

How Pantries, Food Banks + Politicians Can Do Better for Nevadans.
By Kim Foster

I was making a Confit Byaldi. Better known as the ratatouille Remy makes in the movie Ratatouille.

I made a piperade, a Basque-style stew of onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and garlic. The stew was flecked with piment d’Espelette, a fruity, briny, low-heat chili pepper that tasted subtle and round in this sauce. I sautéed it all in beef tallow. I sliced the zucchini into micro slices. I trained myself to cut them all by hand, without a mandolin, because I was an absolute blood-gushing lunatic with that contraption.

By Natalie Van Hoozer

In today’s political climate, connecting with our fellow community members on a human level is more important than ever. To promote this connection through storytelling, at KUNR Public Radio we partnered with StoryCorps to bring the One Small Step program to northern Nevada and eastern California. We invite community members to sign up to sit down with a stranger who has different political values.

By Sophie Sheppard

I am lucky to have been raised by two people who considered the making of beauty a worthwhile occupation for adults—as if the creation of beauty and the making of paintings and sculpture were as normal as making money or building things or having a job like the other parents did that lived on Primrose Street where I grew up. The first of the postwar developments put small houses and tidy streets in what had been a dairy pasture on the west edge of Reno.

By Gail Rappa

Disclaimer: This story mentions suicide. Suicide is preventable. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988. Nevadans can reach services by calling, texting, or chatting online.

I recently hosted a table at a health fair, sharing information about new mental health resources at Great Basin College (GBC). This event welcomes a few thousand folks eager for information and swag from health-related businesses and providers. I had a tabletop prize wheel courtesy of GBC Student Government Association. I knew that if I captured the attention of the kids, their adult companions would follow and listen to my message.

By Laura Momoh

You wore that flag with pride and honor
Half of a yellow sun was the ornament of your hope
Addicted to the fight for freedom, you lay broken
You understood the level of your weakness
But you had power in your pain
What happened in 1966 was the ultimatum
Give us our freedom or perish!

By Eva Toplak

I had a mint plant once
I killed it because I kept overwatering it.
I tried so hard to keep that plant alive,
And in the end that’s exactly why it died.
Love is like that, I think.
Sometimes, at least, the people who love you the most
Are the ones who hurt you so.