By Quest Lakes
When I was a kid, my dad would say, “I’m temporarily financially embarrassed,” which was his inside joke referencing Steinbeck’s famous observation that “we didn't have any self-admitted proletarians. Everyone was a temporarily embarrassed capitalist.”
Read MoreBy Sheila Bock
On a shelf in my living room in Las Vegas, Nevada, there is a model of the train station in Skagen, Denmark. It was a gift given to me by my dad, Russ Bock, who built it as a memento, of sorts, of the time I spent studying abroad in Denmark when I was in college.
Read MoreBy Wendy Chen
Growing up in a bilingual Chinese American household, I was a translator long before I called myself one. Daily acts of translation shaped my understanding of language and transformed my approach toward my own writing.
Read MoreBy Ashley Payette
Due to climate change, high temperatures and wildfire smoke have increased in intensity across Nevada. Communities need to be informed of these events so they may take action to protect themselves. To learn how the risks of heat and wildfire smoke are communicated, with the public, I talked with Kristin VanderMolen, assistant research professor at the Desert Research Institute.
Read MoreBy Ashley Payette
Nevada is filled with tall mountains shifting into low valleys, and pretty dull hues spotted with bright cities and small towns. This landscape is constantly changing, with much of it altered at the hands of humanity. Scott Hinton is a photographer who offered me insight into how climate ebbs and landscapes flow.
Read MoreBy Ashley Payette
As temperatures in southern Nevada rise, the water levels in Lake Mead fall. Droughts put our water, and the people who rely on it, at risk. To further understand the impact of drought on Nevada and surrounding regions, I spoke with Elizabeth Koebele, an associate professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Read MoreBy Ashley Payette
I grew up in a land between vast mountains, vaster casinos, pink and purple sunsets, black and grey pavement, and a desert landscape interrupted by concrete and palm trees: Henderson, Nevada.
Read MoreBy Molly Appel
It’s been a rocky ride on our university campus since the new federal administration came to power. Students, faculty, and institutional structures are on shaky ground, with the sudden disappearances of everything from federal aid to undocumented family members.
Read MoreBy Alina Lindquist
The work displayed in Avi Kwa Ame: Between Presence and Protection celebrates the beautiful natural environment of Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. One prominent feature of this landscape is the Joshua tree, which serves as an indicator species of the Mojave Desert and is one of my favorite plants in this region.
Read MoreBy Delight Ejiaka
Telling stories is one of the oldest art forms in our civilization. Humans tell stories to show each other how to be, what was, and things to come.
Read MoreBy Marie Valencia
Growing up in the Southwest, I have always felt a strong connection to these lands that call to home for so many of us and our ancestors.
Read MoreBy Katie Karnehm-Esh
When I moved from northern Indiana to northern Nevada in September, I knew nothing about gold mining, ranching, living in the high desert, or cowboy poetry. But within my first week of work, I had heard the name Dom Flemons.
Read MoreBy Jeremy Reed
What are we going to do? What am I going do? I have been asking myself these questions – expressed with varying degrees of panic and anxiety – on a near daily basis for the past few months. As a recent transplant to the Las Vegas area, I have been grappling with the challenges of getting to know new spaces and new communities as well as the mounting threats to the work that I do in the public humanities.
Read MoreBy Jocelyn Paige Kelly
Life has a way of knocking us down when we least expect it. For me, it was a stroke and kidney failure, two events that completely upended my world. In an instant, everything I knew—my routine, my independence, my sense of self—was thrown into uncertainty.
Read MoreBy Emily Najera
A city is more than its skyline. It’s the shape of its neighborhoods, the rhythm of its streets, the glow of neon humming through the night.
Read MoreBy Emma Frances Bloomfield
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kickstarter pledges for board games skyrocketed. Trapped at home with flexible working hours and far less commute time, some people turned to board games as entertainment.
Read MoreBy Valentin Yordanov
Step into Desert Oasis: Passage of Time and Places — an exhibition of works in which I merge the dynamic energy of urban life with the timeless beauty of the desert.
Read MoreBy Kahlo R. F. Smith
My earliest playground memories are set in cemeteries, chasing my brother around family plots and peering through each crypt’s ornate grating. Dad hoped he could keep us from fearing death by making cemeteries sites of joy.
Read MoreBy Iyana Esters and Erica Vital-Lazare
Erica Vital-Lazare speaks with Iyana Esters about her new exhibition Birthed from the soil.
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