Life in Nevada or Life on Mars?
By Matt Malinowski
Frank Herbert’s Dune sets the scene with the classic line, “Arrakis – Dune - Desert Planet,” but to describe Nevada in such a complete and beautiful way is nearly impossible. An ethereal strangeness clings to our state. Whenever I feel comfortable here, something else mysterious, exuberant, or even dangerous, captures my attention. Nevada, with its otherworldly setting, and diversity of life appeals to my appreciation of science fiction and has kept me connected, intrigued, and even humbled.
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Lighting Up Las Vegas: YESCO Marks a Glittering Century
By Kelli Luchs and Emily Fellmer
Las Vegas and neon are synonymous with each other. When you think of Las Vegas, you think of its dazzling skyline and brilliant lights. Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) has played a significant role in creating Las Vegas’ shining reputation. The company has created many signs that have defined the look and feel of Las Vegas. From its early use of neon on Fremont Street in the 1930s, to the Strip “spectaculars” of the 1950s and 1960s, to the cutting-edge technologies of today, YESCO has helped mold the image of Las Vegas.
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An Ode to the Dumpling
By Kathleen Kuo
Winter is the season for comfort food, and for me, there is no comfort food like the humble dumpling. These edible little parcels are literal gifts that deliver joy with every bite. Dumplings are wondrous in both their simplicity and complexity; on the one hand, a dumpling can be as simple as a filling contained within a wrapper. On the other hand, there are myriad ways that you can choose to fill, fold, and cook your dumplings. (I personally prefer the boiled or steamed method when making them at home myself) I also enjoy the particulars of dumpling taxonomy - what even constitutes a dumpling in the first place?
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What Does It Take to Build and Belong to a More Perfect Union?
Nevada Humanities is pleased to announce A More Perfect Union—a new initiative of events and programs that will deepen our appreciation for the connections between the humanities, our community stories, and the history of the United States.
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Pilot Remarks
By Brittany Bronson
In my father’s Senior Pilot Logs, Las Vegas first appears as a destination in late 1981. Although based in California, my father worked for Honda, and he regularly flew across the southwest to visit dealerships in Nevada and Arizona. In addition to dates, destinations, and durations, the logbooks contain pilot remarks – a variety of additional details he felt compelled to record about the flights.
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Nevada Humanities Awards More Than $614,350 in Pandemic Relief and Recovery Grants to Nevada Organizations
By Staff of Nevada Humanities
Nevada Humanities is honored to be part of our nation’s important pandemic recovery efforts. We are well aware of the challenges that Nevada’s cultural organizations have been experiencing over the past two years, and we know that this funding will be critical in giving an infusion of financial support when it is needed most.
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Such an Effortful Green
By Kate Fennimore
one thing can sustain
another
so Z. & I spend the day
looking for lichen
hanging from the trees
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CAN Do
By Demetrice P. Dalton
In my art studio I have a saying posted, “Do what you CAN where you are with what you have.” It's a mentality I learned from folks who helped raise me during the 60’s and 70s. They lived in an area north of Reno known by some as Black Springs. I reflect on many things from back then.
The sound of laughter. Me helping Grandma pull carrots out of the back yard garden so she could make carrot juice and later that day teach me my next lesson in crocheting.
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The Masks We Wear
By Genevy Machuca
Take a second look to your left …
Now look to your right…
One of your peers or even the stranger right beside you can be one of the greatest liars out there
Even if you think you know them you don't realize what's beneath the mask they wear…
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Happy Holiday Wishes from the Double Down Blog
By Staff of Nevada Humanities
As 2021 comes to a close, Nevada Humanities remains thankful for our virtual audiences who have engaged with our programming online. Our virtual programs and events will continue into 2021 as we look forward to offering some in-person programs and events.
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Border Stories—Looking Beyond the Wall That Separates
By Shaun T. Griffin
In the fall of 2019 my wife and I volunteered at Al Otro Lado in Tijuana. This non-profit is run by a group of fiery Latina lawyers, and their purpose is to help asylum seekers navigate the almost impenetrable immigration process. While they work in the courts as advocates the volunteers work with the families who come to the agency seeking help.
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Time to Experience the Cowboy Arts & Gear Museum
By Jan Petersen
Did you know that Nevada has a museum devoted entirely to Western arts and culture? Located in historic downtown Elko, the Cowboy Arts & Gear Museum is housed on Commerce Street in the G.S. Garcia’s Saddle and Harness Shop building, which was recently nominated to the Nevada State Register of Historic Places.
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Humanities Heart to Heart Wins National Award
By Staff of Nevada Humanities
Nevada Humanities is thrilled to share news that Humanities Heart to Heart, a virtual storytelling program of Nevada Humanities, has won the 2021 Helen and Martin Schwartz Prize for outstanding public humanities programming conducted or supported by a state humanities council in 2020.
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Cytokine Storms
By Caleb S. Cage
“There’s a term doctors use to describe what happens to COVID-19 patients when their immune systems go into overdrive,” Megan Messerly explained in a piece published on March 28, 2021. “It’s called a cytokine storm.” When one of these storms happens, Messerly wrote, the body responds aggressively, so aggressively in fact that it even attacks healthy organs.
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Darkness
By Flynn Dexter
I would like
To reach into the darkness
With my arms
And scoop it into my hands
(Amorphous jell-o)
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Send in the Clowns
By David Gamble Jr.
Although I am an attorney in my day job, one of my passions is stand-up comedy, which I have performed for the last seven years. In this role, I was once able to get a room full of law enforcement officers to agree with the premise that police violence falls disproportionately on African Americans.
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What I Love about Nevada
By Bobbie Ann Howell
We hoped to get as many people as possible thinking about this question. What is it we love about Nevada, what is it that other people across the state love about Nevada? Does someone in Ely, or Elko, or Denio, or Cal-Nev-Ari love what I love?
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“Nevada Penkh Nemmen Nakkant” “Nevada Is Where We Live”
By Antoinette Cavanaugh
The earthy scent upon the cool morning air silently announces northern Nevada’s perennial transition of seasonal change to fall. Fine, airy tendrils playfully tease at loose strands of hair playing them against my forehead as if tugging at seemingly ancient Shoshone memories embedded at the back of my mind, announcing, “It is time.”
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Notes from an Editor: Las Vegas Boasts a Growing Number of Diverse Writers
By Jarret Keene
I love reading short fiction that takes my breath away. Stories that, one after the other, make my head spin with fantastic plots, and with burning questions like: Is the laconic hotel security officer about to witness an ugly fistfight or a make-out reunion between a mature couple on the casino floor? Can an on-the-run mother-daughter duo roaming the post-apocalyptic desert evade the flying sand whales that deafen with uncanny songs?
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A View from the Mediator’s Chair: The Promise of Conversation
By Margaret Crowley
The Dalai Lama has it right - we need to talk. More accurately, we need to talk the right way: face to face, with openness and curiosity. In these unprecedented times when hundreds of Americans are dying, we should be connecting with one another, united in grief. Yet we remain polarized, finding it increasingly difficult to engage with those whose viewpoints differ from ours. How has it come to this?
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