Local Las Vegas
“I write books, chase kids and eat cookies. Sometimes exclusively, sometimes simultaneously,” Las Vegas resident Lindsey Leavitt writes on her website lindseyleavitt.com. The former elementary school teacher is the author of the Princess for Hire series and “Sean Griswold’s Head.” Unlike many authors who write for young adults, Leavitt said she loved being a teen, and growing up in Las Vegas she got involved in “sports, theater, student council, honor society… yeah, I was that hyper girl you wanted to dial down. Or punch.”
The idea that Las Vegas residents don’t read isn’t true, according to some literary figures in the downtown and Paradise areas.
(It has been more than) eight years since we have moved here to help our (other) daughter and husband with their son. We have had to balance that joy with the daily grief of watching our other once beautiful daughter fight off the horrible effects of anorexia/bulimia. We have begged her husband to get her help. Her other siblings have come to Las Vegas and have called her to try to keep some relationship if at all possible.
Muscular dystrophy has not stopped Henderson artist Karen Wheeler from painting, even in the face of adversity. “It is because people with disabilities are super human,” Wheeler said. “It is hard enough dealing with a disability. But dealing with outsiders who give us problems just makes us stronger. I need to buy a Superman shirt.”
Clark County School District programs such as Reading Through the Holidays, along with the All People Promoting Literacy Efforts program in the Henderson area, are some of the ways area students are being exposed to reading outside of the classroom.
This week’s downtown and Paradise events include showings of Sin City Opera’s “Ba-Ta-Clan,” the Las Vegas Contemporary Dance Theater’s Fall Concert Series and more.
Dr. Kevin Petersen, the man behind No Insurance Surgery, and other surgeons are planning to offer a day of free surgeries Nov. 15 through the nonprofit organization Helping Hands Surgical Care.
Even with budget cuts to publicly funded arts and literary programs, downtown continues to thrive culturally. The Las Vegas Poets Organization, 617 S. Seventh St., is one example.