Welcome to the Double Down blog. Our blog highlights the voices of people from around Nevada with thought-provoking humanities posts. We invite you to dive in and explore.
The Double Down blog is supported in part by the generous donors of Nevada Humanities.
By 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.
By 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.
By 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.
By 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.
By 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.
By 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.
By 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.
By Iyana Esters and Erica Vital-Lazare
Erica Vital-Lazare speaks with Iyana Esters about her new exhibition Birthed from the soil.
By Giana Ragudos
I’ve always loved the diversity of my home. Being born and raised in Hawaii, and to be raised surrounded by such rich cultures, isa privilege. As a child, I’ve been given the opportunity to experience many cultural traditions that play a huge role in my identity today.
By Shaun T. Griffin
October 2024. This preamble is for the scores of men who have been in the Razor Wire Poetry Workshop which, for over three decades, saved lives, kept them out of prison, gave voice to many poets, and led to countless friendships that kept me returning to teach poetry.
By George Tsz-Kwan Lam
Last week, Nevada Humanities staff traveled to Providence, Rhode Island to attend the 2024 National Humanities Conference, which took place from November 13 to November 17. This annual gathering was jointly produced by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the National Humanities Alliance. Rhode Island Humanities served as this year’s conference host.
By George Tsz-Kwan Lam
The 2024 Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl returned on Saturday, October 12, featuring panel discussions and interactive activities throughout downtown Reno.
By Sharon K. Schafer
My interest in the magic and mystery of the natural world lies at the intersection of art and science. As a wildlife biologist by education and an artist and photographer by passion, I endeavor to work at the confluence of these disciplines to create images that open hearts and minds to the life and landscapes of the world’s wild places.
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.
