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2O24<br />
January<br />
For your Health, Wealth,<br />
and Good Times!<br />
NEVADA’S MOST POWERFUL SENIOR MEDIA RESOURCE<br />
Our First Show in 2024 page 9<br />
Guardianship Seminars Page 13<br />
CURIOUS ABOUT<br />
THE REAL ESTATE MARKET?<br />
SEE PAGES 2 AND 3 FOR<br />
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO<br />
KNOW<br />
LAURA HARBISON<br />
702-777-1234<br />
WWW.LAURAHARBISONREALESTATE.COM<br />
NEVADA LICENSE 8.0026537.LLC
“ASK LAURA ABOUT REAL ESTATE”<br />
Happy New Year!<br />
Our real estate market is not following the “usual” cycle<br />
this season! It looks like we are in for a strong 2024 market,<br />
with appreciating prices. This is GOOD NEWS!<br />
Laura Harbison BROKER/OWNER<br />
B . 0 0 2 6 5 3 7 . L L C P M . 0 1 6 4 9 2 2 . B K R<br />
Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES)<br />
Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR)<br />
Graduate Realtor Institute (GRI)<br />
Equator Platform Platinum Certification<br />
Equator Short Sale Agent Certification<br />
Certified Residential Specialist (CRS)<br />
Advanced Evaluations Certification<br />
At Home With Diversity (AHWD)<br />
Broker Price Opinion Resource (BPOR)<br />
NVS Institute BPO Certification<br />
Five Star BPO Designation<br />
Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE)<br />
Resort & Second-Home Property<br />
Specialist (RSPS)<br />
NAWRB Certified Delegate Spokeswoman<br />
Distinguished Real Estate Broker (DRB)<br />
What’s happening? The steep drop off in new listings that<br />
usually occurs this time of year hasn’t happened. The<br />
number of new listings is actually stabilizing (rather than<br />
decreasing). And, there are even more new property<br />
listings coming to the market compared to the same time<br />
last year.<br />
What does this mean for you? If you are thinking of Buying,<br />
new listings stabilizing is a positive sign. It means you have<br />
a more steady stream of options coming onto the market<br />
and more choices for your next home than you would<br />
have at the same time last year. This opens up<br />
possibilities and allows you to explore a variety of homes<br />
that suit your needs.<br />
If you are thinking of Selling, even though new listings are<br />
breaking seasonal norms, inventory is still well below<br />
where it was before the pandemic. Inventory isn’t going up<br />
dramatically and prices aren’t heading for a crash! And<br />
with less competition from other homesellers than you<br />
would see in a more typical year, your home has a better<br />
chance to be in the spotlight and attract eager buyers.<br />
2<br />
Independently Owned And Operated<br />
Call Laura Today!<br />
( 7 0 2 ) 7 7 7 - 1 2 3 4<br />
L a u r a H a r b i s o n R e a l E s t a t e . c o m<br />
L a u r a @ H a r b i s o n R e a l E s t a t e . c o m<br />
January 2024<br />
Bottom Line Whether you're on the hunt for your next home<br />
or thinking of selling, now might just be the perfect time to<br />
make your move. If you have questions or concerns about<br />
the availability of homes in your neighborhood, give me a<br />
call. I will be happy to provide you with the up-to-theminute<br />
data that you need to make an informed decision.
Laura Harbison<br />
Broker/Owner - B.0026537.LLC PM.0164922.BKR<br />
770 Coronado Center Dr., Suite 160, Henderson, NV 89052<br />
F O R M O R E I N F O C A L L ( 7 0 2 ) 7 7 7 - 1 2 3 4<br />
Independently Owned And Operated<br />
1709 Enclave Ct $4,850,000 2394 Amana Dr $495,000<br />
Summerlin<br />
Solera at Anthem<br />
You are being presented with a unique opportunity to obtain the most<br />
prestigious address in the Las Vegas Valley. Build your custom estate<br />
dream home! This 1.42 Acre double gated building lot is located on the<br />
TPC Golf Course in the guard gated community of The Enclave in Country<br />
Club Hills.<br />
Whitney Floorplan on .24 Acre<br />
Elevated Cul-De-Sac Lot w/ Mountain<br />
& City Lights Views! 1596 Sqft, 2 Bdrm<br />
+ Den, 2 Baths, 2 Car Garage. 55+ Age<br />
Restricted Community.<br />
Coming Soon<br />
2532 Thatcher Ave $458,800 5208 Summerglade Dr $248,800 1012 Blue Lantern $TBD<br />
Sun City Anthem Promenade at the Meadows Home Stretch<br />
Jefferson Floorplan on Elevated<br />
Corner Lot w/ City and Mountain<br />
Views! 1524 Sqft, 2 Beds, Den, 2<br />
Baths, 2 Car Garage. 55+<br />
Community w/Superior Amenities.<br />
1 Story Townhome located in Guard<br />
Gated 55+ community! 1258 Sqft, 2<br />
Bdrm, 2 Bath, 2 Car Garage.<br />
Courtyard entry and Covered Rear<br />
Patio.<br />
1 Story Home with Pool & Spa, 1662<br />
Sqft, 3 Bdrm, 2 Bath, 2 Car<br />
Garage.Great Henderson Location<br />
with very low HOA dues! New Carpet,<br />
Paint, and Appliances!<br />
486 Elkhurst Pl $470,000 2352 Great Elk Dr $439,900 2354 Peaceful Sky Dr $398,800<br />
Sun CIty MacDonald Ranch Sun City Anthem Solera at Anthem<br />
Cinnabar floorplan on Elevated Lot!<br />
1818 Sqft, 2 Bdrms + Den, 2 Baths, 2<br />
Car Garage, fresh paint & new<br />
carpet! 55+ Community with<br />
fantastic amenities!<br />
Popular Jefferson Floorplan with<br />
fresh interior two-tone paint! 1524<br />
Sqft, 2 Bdrms, 2 Baths, 2 Car Garage<br />
w/Shelves. 55+ Community with<br />
amazing amenities!<br />
Upgraded Clark Floorplan in premier<br />
55+ community! Approx. 1,248 Sqft<br />
with 3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, 2 Car<br />
Garage, upgraded flooring &<br />
appliances, fully fenced yard! 3
2880 BICENTENNIAL PARKWAY<br />
SUITE 100-244<br />
HENDERSON, NEVADA 89044<br />
702/251-4441<br />
www.thevegasvoice.net<br />
www.vegasvoicetv.net<br />
OUR 20th YEAR<br />
PUBLISHER/EDITOR<br />
PRESIDENT<br />
VICE PRESIDENT<br />
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR<br />
ENTERTAINMENT DIRECTOR<br />
NIGHT LIFE EDITOR<br />
TRAVEL EDITOR<br />
RADIO HOST<br />
VIDEO HOST<br />
GRAPHICS EDITOR<br />
VIDEO PRODUCTION<br />
PRESIDENT EMERITUS<br />
Dan Roberts<br />
dan@thevegasvoice.net<br />
Rana Goodman<br />
ranathevegasvoice@aol.com<br />
Dianne David<br />
dianne@thevegasvoice.net<br />
Bill Caserta<br />
bcaserta76@gmail.com<br />
Jonny Bird<br />
Sam Wagmeister<br />
Stu Cooper<br />
Rich Natole / Jon Lindquist<br />
Tony Arias<br />
Michael Roberts<br />
Jason Roberts<br />
Ray Sarbacker<br />
OUR FANTASTIC COLUMNISTS<br />
Pat Alexander<br />
Adrea Barrera<br />
John Bielun<br />
Liz Breier<br />
Dianne/Burt Davis<br />
Chuck Dean<br />
Jane Dow<br />
Bruce Ewing<br />
Jan Fair<br />
Howard Galin<br />
Susan Goldfein<br />
Linda Gomez<br />
Ali Guggenheim<br />
Dianne Hahn<br />
Dan Hyde<br />
Lisa Kemmerling<br />
Pat Landaker<br />
Heather Latimer<br />
Gayla Kalp<br />
BJ Killeen<br />
Kathy Manney<br />
Kyo Mitchell<br />
Mike Murphy<br />
Mary Richard<br />
Mark Richards<br />
Renee Riendeau<br />
Lauren Tallman<br />
Beverly Washburn<br />
Vicki Wentz<br />
4<br />
January 2024<br />
About The Vegas<br />
Voice<br />
In 2023, The Vegas Voice received<br />
16 national awards from the most<br />
prestigious senior publication trade<br />
association in the United States. In<br />
receiving “Best in Show” honors, our<br />
mission remains to be Nevada’s most<br />
powerful senior media resource and<br />
the “voice for your health, wealth &<br />
good times.”
Help Us Help You<br />
By: Dan Roberts / Roberts Rules<br />
“<br />
If we don’t do it, who will?”<br />
That was the response by my PILL (partner<br />
in love and life) as to “why” The Vegas Voice will<br />
be undertaking this 2024 initiative to once<br />
again, protect readers from the “evils” of<br />
guardianship.<br />
As regular readers are aware, The Vegas<br />
Voice has spent over eight years reporting<br />
and investigating this issue. And while<br />
reform laws were passed and a few bad guys<br />
were sent to prison, the fact remains that<br />
this problem is still out there.<br />
While the private guardianship industry<br />
may have been decimated, there are still<br />
predators – namely the public guardian<br />
and (sadly) family members only too happy<br />
and willing (along with the lawyers, always<br />
the lawyers) to place you and your assets in guardianship proceedings.<br />
With Rana being shut out of continuing to serve on the Nevada<br />
Guardianship Commission, make no mistake, attempts are being<br />
made to circumvent those reforms.<br />
Notwithstanding the above, one option remains as a bullet-proof<br />
protection to avoid an unwanted and expensive guardianship – the<br />
Guardianship Nomination form. This form, when completed and sent<br />
to the Nevada Secretary of State’s Lockbox is the only way to guarantee<br />
that nothing underhanded can happen to<br />
you.<br />
The Vegas Voice with the assistance and<br />
cooperation of the listed “age-qualified”<br />
communities will be holding four FREE<br />
workshops/presentations for completing the<br />
forms. For dates, times and locations, see<br />
page 13.<br />
For those that attend and want to<br />
complete the Guardianship form, we will<br />
provide AT NO CHARGE the following:<br />
1. All information as to “how” and to<br />
answer any questions you may have, and<br />
2. The Guardianship Nomination form<br />
and<br />
3. The required 2 witnesses and,<br />
4. Courtesy of and with our thanks to Eleanor Prior of Mobile<br />
Notary Public FREE notary service, and<br />
5. The Vegas Voice will even send your form to the Secretary of State.<br />
The only thing you need is an ID for the notary, knowing the correct<br />
information as to who you want (and their address) as your guardian,<br />
and a pen. And if you don’t bring one, we will also supply the pens.<br />
We will do everything for you except sign your name. Also<br />
see an example of the guardianship form. This should give<br />
you an idea of what info you need when you complete the<br />
form.<br />
On a personal note and giving credit to our “Guardian Gladiator”<br />
I’m proud to boast that no other government agency, senior<br />
organization and/or company or non-profit entity have worked so long<br />
and hard to protect seniors from this terrifying nightmare. And by these<br />
workshops, Rana’s mission continues.<br />
“There’s only so much you can do Rana” I said in response to her<br />
question as to what else can we do.<br />
Rana Goodman at the<br />
Nevada Guardianship<br />
Commission.<br />
What Do<br />
You Think?<br />
Do you agree with our<br />
columnists? Did anyone get<br />
you angry, make you think or<br />
simply put a smile on your face?<br />
Please tell us by forwarding<br />
your comments, thoughts or<br />
suggestions to Publisher Dan at:<br />
dan@thevegasvoice.net.<br />
5
6<br />
Hello 2024!<br />
By: Adrea Nairne-Barrera / Senior Moments<br />
Here we go again! What little surprises are in<br />
store for us this year?<br />
Will you get a new dog? Find out you won<br />
mega bucks? How about vacation plans? Redecorate?<br />
Overall, does anything ever surprise you?<br />
My personal wish regarding The Vegas Voice is I hope I don’t run<br />
out of ideas.<br />
Moving on, I want to stay the way I am now. I’m happy with myself<br />
most of the time and I’m accepting aging with determination. They<br />
say one should accept it with grace but that never seems to be my style.<br />
Determination keeps you on your toes, makes your brain work better<br />
and overall takes on challenges. It makes me fight harder to return to<br />
my version of normal.<br />
And my friendships seem to be intact so far. A few have wandered<br />
away from me but that’s their choice to do.<br />
The friends I’ve had for 30 to 60 years are still part of my life and<br />
we get to complain and moan together. We get better and better at it<br />
every year!<br />
2024 promises to bring some opportunities professionally so the idea<br />
of retirement is way out in the future somewhere. I am still working<br />
and secretly hoping I don’t screw up.<br />
Sometimes I burn out early in the day and I’ve introduced myself<br />
to napping in the afternoon. I truly never expected that but I have to<br />
admit I like it!<br />
I will still record my soap so I can skip the commercials, watch court<br />
shows and sit with my guy watching almost every Dateline there ever<br />
was. I can now tell you 300 ways to kill someone and get on TV.<br />
I don’t ever know if readers find me interesting or not. But I like<br />
putting random thoughts down with remarkable events from my<br />
senior life. I measure things differently so I don’t want to waste time<br />
on some long-drawn-out superficial project that is built to last longer<br />
than me.<br />
2024 is my now. I hope it will be filled with instant gratification<br />
along the way. Let’s do this thing!<br />
Adrea likes to opine and find the lighter side of life as a senior.<br />
January 2024<br />
New Year, New Laughs<br />
By: Bill Caserta / Bill’s Blurbs<br />
*<br />
Perks of reaching the New Year, being<br />
60+ and reading my column in The<br />
Vegas Voice<br />
1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.<br />
2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be<br />
released first.<br />
3. No one expects you to run - anywhere.<br />
4. People call at 9 pm and ask: “Did I wake you?”<br />
5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.<br />
6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.<br />
7. Things you buy now won’t wear out.<br />
8. You can eat supper at 4 pm.<br />
9. You can live without sex - but not your glasses.<br />
10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.<br />
11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.<br />
12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks<br />
into the room.<br />
13. You sing along with elevator music.<br />
14. Your eyes won’t get much worse.<br />
15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay<br />
off.<br />
16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the National<br />
Weather Service.<br />
17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can’t<br />
remember them either.<br />
18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.<br />
19. You can’t remember this column or the name of our magazine.<br />
**Words of Wisdom<br />
1. When people say, “Enjoy them while they are young” they’re<br />
talking about your knees and hips, not your grandkids.<br />
2. Apparently exercise helps you with decision making. It’s true. I<br />
went for a run this morning and decided I’m never going again.<br />
3. And by the way, never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping<br />
pill and a laxative on the same night.
55+<br />
7
It’s Ruta Lee!<br />
By: Beverly Washburn / Hollywood Memories<br />
Well here it is, 2024! Wishing you all a very<br />
Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. I<br />
know 2023 was<br />
a rough one for so many people, but<br />
let›s all keep the faith that 2024 will<br />
be a good one for all.<br />
I thought I’d write this month<br />
about a wonderful, funny actress by<br />
the name of Ruta Lee. That›s her<br />
with me at a Superman luncheon<br />
in which we were honoring George<br />
Reeves.<br />
Now she may not be a household<br />
name in the industry, but all you<br />
have to do is google her and you<br />
will be amazed at all of her credits.<br />
In fact, if I were to list all of them it<br />
would take up the entire Vegas Voice<br />
issue! Just one example, Ruta has a Star on The Hollywood Walk of<br />
Fame.<br />
Ruta is one of those actresses who was literally in just about every<br />
television show there was - especially in the 60s, 70s, 80s and even<br />
now! I think she appeared in every game show there was, including<br />
Hollywood Squares and Match Game.<br />
She was a Canadian born actress but moved to Hollywood and her<br />
career took off. Everyone who knows her (starting with me) loves her.<br />
Ruta is now 88 and still going strong. She’s pretty amazing really.<br />
You’d think she was in her 60s! She<br />
always dresses like she just stepped<br />
off of a magazine cover and always<br />
has a huge smile on her face. She is<br />
one of the most delightful people I’ve<br />
ever had the privilege of knowing.<br />
She has a book out about her life<br />
which is titled “Consider Your Ass<br />
Kissed.” Yep, you read that right!<br />
Ruta’s still a little bit naughty,<br />
a little bit bawdy, but boy does she<br />
make you laugh. I’ve never known<br />
anyone who loves life more than<br />
she does! She always loves to shock<br />
people with her naughty sense of<br />
humor - but ya gotta laugh.<br />
I am grateful to know her.<br />
Until next time, remember, Laughter is the best medicine. Photo<br />
credit: Steve Friedman<br />
Beverly Washburn graced the silver screen as a child actress and<br />
is the author of Reel Tears. You can contact Beverly at: bjradell@<br />
hotmail.com.<br />
8<br />
January 2024<br />
A Peck for Beverly<br />
Santa’s helper, aka Publisher Dan prepares to plant a big kiss on<br />
our startled columnist Beverly Washburn. Dan hosted our annual Vegas<br />
Voice Holiday party last month at Sun City MacDonald Ranch.
9
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Notes From An Agnostic Jesus-Follower<br />
By: Bruce Ewing / Having Faith<br />
My name is Bruce Ewing. I’ve been a member<br />
of The Vegas Voice family for years — since<br />
publisher Dan first<br />
came to see a show I produced and appeared<br />
in called “The Phat Pack.” It was a show<br />
that we did for a number of years (both<br />
in Las Vegas and nationally) with other<br />
performers I worked with in “Phantom:<br />
The Las Vegas Spectacular”<br />
The Vegas Voice did his best to help<br />
us make a success out of our show. This<br />
friendship has flourished over the years,<br />
producing other shows and traveling on<br />
cruises with the Vegas Voyagers.<br />
Along with my love for performing, I also<br />
love the Divine — aka God — aka the<br />
Great Creator — aka the Source of Love.<br />
I worked at Community Lutheran Church<br />
for the past 15 years as choir director/worship leader.<br />
I also wrote a Daily E-votional for years, simply sharing my thoughts<br />
on the two most wonderful gifts of a spiritual life: Love & Grace.<br />
Even though I grew up Lutheran and have worked for the past 15<br />
Bruce Ewing joins our Vegas Voice<br />
family of columnists<br />
years in a Lutheran Church, I don’t call myself a Christian. I don’t<br />
always like what that means in current day America.<br />
I tell people, “I’m not a Christian, I am a Jesus-follower” and even<br />
more recently I’ve done some writings under the title “Notes from an<br />
Agnostic Jesus-Follower.” Some people<br />
shudder at the word ‘agnostic’, but all it<br />
really means is, “I don’t know anything<br />
for sure… but I do love following the<br />
teachings of Jesus!”<br />
I also love following and learning<br />
more about other faiths. I love to look<br />
for the similarities. We can focus on the<br />
differences, but what good does that do?<br />
Can you imagine if we all concentrated<br />
on our similarities, how much better our<br />
society could be?<br />
I am not a theologian. I am not a<br />
religious expert. I’m simply a neighbor who<br />
loves talking “faith.” And I look forward to<br />
doing that with you in future editions!<br />
Bruce Ewing - a singer/actor since the age of 12, has appeared in<br />
“Forever Plaid, Phantom, and The Phat Pack. He still sings where/<br />
when asked as well as teaching at OLLI/UNLV<br />
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January 2024<br />
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Rolling into the New Year<br />
By: Mike Murphy / Social Insecurity<br />
As the football season winds down in January,<br />
many of us dedicated sports fans will soon<br />
need to make an appointment to have a doctor<br />
surgically remove our posteriors from the couch in front of the<br />
television.<br />
Just like the football players, I too am determined to get “bigger,<br />
faster, stronger” in the New Year. Okay, scratch faster and stronger, but<br />
bigger I can do if I really set my mind to it.<br />
I admit that I was a bit shocked to find myself hyperventilating and<br />
sweating profusely simply from watching a 30-second Ab-Cruncher TV<br />
sales pitch recently! Truth is, if it wasn’t for watching the holiday home<br />
workout equipment ads on TV, I wouldn’t be getting any exercise at all.<br />
Let’s face it, you know your situation is not good when the TV weightloss<br />
commercials depict the before and after pictures, and you would<br />
sell your soul to look like the person in the before shot!<br />
Jonathan Henderson - From Henderson!<br />
(702) 672-8880<br />
790 Coronado Center Drive,<br />
Ste 115 - Henderson, NV 89052<br />
Senior health and peace of mind have<br />
been my priority for over 18 years.<br />
I work with you to help you understand<br />
Medicare and find a plan with the right<br />
benefits.<br />
One shape-up solution involves rolling around on rubber balls<br />
of various sizes. For seniors, the ads proclaim that fitness balls help<br />
improve balance and strength. That’s if you can prevent the ball from<br />
squirting out from underneath you and your rear end plopping down<br />
on the hard floor.<br />
Have you noticed that the people demonstrating these exercise<br />
devices are already in tip-top condition and can roll around endlessly<br />
on a tiny rubber ball without their hands or feet even touching the<br />
floor? While you or I suffer a lower back injury just reaching for the<br />
remote to change the channel to a burger commercial.<br />
And why do they offer two Bun-Blaster Balls for the price of one? Are<br />
they implying that I need one for each cheek? Or that I most likely will<br />
break the first one when I sit on it?<br />
One inevitable bonus result of all those exercise equipment ads<br />
and the countless Christmas gifts that result from them, is that come<br />
around, oh, say, April or May, as sure as the dandelions spring up after<br />
the spring rain, there will be a huge increase in want-ads advertising<br />
great deals on “barely used” or “still in the box” treadmills, stationary<br />
bikes—and large (flat) rubber balls.<br />
Mike Murphy is a retired teacher/coach. His book of humorous<br />
articles titled “Tortoise Crossing - Expect Long Delays” is available<br />
on amazon.com.<br />
I represent several plans so you can make<br />
the most informed decision.<br />
Call now!<br />
Together, we will choose the best<br />
Medicare option for you.<br />
11
By: Rana Goodman / On My Soapbox<br />
Readers who have attended our previous<br />
guardianship seminars may recall that<br />
we outlined the pitfalls of being placed in<br />
guardianship and what can (and often does happen) to your property<br />
and savings.<br />
Because of recent changes in<br />
the Family Court system, we’ve<br />
added options for you to consider<br />
that would enable you to remain<br />
in your home until YOU decide<br />
that guardianship is really<br />
needed and/or wanted by you.<br />
The Vegas Voice lobbied the<br />
Nevada Legislature to pass a<br />
law that gave you the right to<br />
nominate your own guardian.<br />
Should the need arise, your<br />
nomination would always take<br />
precedence over any private or<br />
public guardian a court might<br />
appoint.<br />
For this protection, you need<br />
12<br />
Guardianship Seminar Update<br />
January 2024<br />
Rana Goodman signs the first<br />
Guardianship Nomination form. With her<br />
is Publisher Dan, President Ray and then<br />
Senator Becky Harris.<br />
to file a guardianship nomination form with the Nevada<br />
Secretary of State. We will provide the form at our workshops (see next<br />
page) There is no charge for the form or for filing it.<br />
Why the form? We have recently uncovered cases where a family<br />
member (other than the person’s choice) convinced the court that their<br />
family member is better suited to<br />
care for them - including their<br />
assets.<br />
One example - we have been<br />
communicating with a former<br />
Las Vegas resident, a woman<br />
who now resides with one of her<br />
daughters living in the mid-west.<br />
Her other two daughters live in<br />
our Valley.<br />
The other daughters filed suit<br />
to become the mother’s guardian<br />
claiming that the daughter<br />
she lives with is not caring for<br />
her adequately. The mother<br />
adamantly denied that was true.<br />
Thousands of dollars have<br />
already been spent (starting<br />
with those attorney fees) from<br />
Mom’s estate, and hearings are<br />
still going back and forth while they fight it out. Had mom filed the<br />
guardianship nomination form, by law, that would have been the end<br />
of the story.<br />
*On another topic, I’d like to share the steps I took when caring for<br />
my father and then my mother when it became necessary. The learning<br />
period was in taking care of dad first. He never made things easy bless<br />
him, but my daughters and I were there as often as needed.<br />
The first step was to have my mother hire a caregiver five days a<br />
week to come to their home and do whatever was needed for him. On<br />
weekends my girls and I took over.<br />
When my dad passed away, I sold their home and my mother and<br />
I moved into a home together in Anthem. Again, remembering how<br />
draining it was with dad, mom agreed to have the same caregiver to<br />
assist her. The weekends were my job.<br />
Another idea to consider: About 15 years ago, I took out a Long-Term<br />
Care insurance policy. At that time the rate was $169 a month and it<br />
has never changed. The policy provides for a caregiver to be sent to my<br />
home several times a week and other benefits.<br />
If a caregiver is not an option, you might consider an assisted living<br />
facility where meals are provided and the monthly fee includes the<br />
normal expenses you would have had you stayed in your home. The<br />
biggest difference is that these choices are yours, not those of a stranger<br />
assigned to you by a court.<br />
We will talk about these choices at the seminar, but we hope these<br />
ideas may give you “food for thought” in the meantime. Make a note<br />
of any questions you may have, as we always have Q&A at the end of<br />
the seminar.
13
The Best New Year’s Resolution<br />
By: Pat Landaker / Positive Aging<br />
If New Year’s Resolutions are all about selfimprovement<br />
like weight loss, read more, eat<br />
less, take classes - then, self-care is the only New<br />
Year’s resolution you need. It covers everything<br />
you may want to resolve, improve, and even purge.<br />
Think about it: weight loss, exercise, eating healthy,<br />
getting out more, loving yourself, setting boundaries<br />
and anything else that improves your life and lifestyle<br />
is self-care.<br />
Let go of all that overthinking! Let go of the<br />
pressure of expectations! Let go of caring for everyone<br />
but yourself.<br />
This New Year do one simple thing…do you! If you make yourself<br />
number one, if you make sure you’re good, if you drink from your cup<br />
first, if you wake up with awareness of your own needs, then you’re<br />
exercising great self-care.<br />
It doesn’t mean go out and spend freely and live as if there’s no<br />
tomorrow - but it can. It doesn’t mean treat yourself to frivolous<br />
decision-making, but it can.<br />
It means self-care is about moderation, self-awareness, selfcontrol,<br />
self-management. This includes taking care of your mental<br />
and emotional self.<br />
Self-care makes you smile, generates happiness, fosters social<br />
engagement, and offers a sense of well-being. Self-care results from a<br />
balanced diet, an active lifestyle, continuous hydration, adequate rest,<br />
good old Vitamin D, and any other activity that refreshes, rejuvenates,<br />
and restores you.<br />
Be present in your life. Know your WHY? Show gratitude and<br />
compassion. Take time at the end of a day to reflect and review.<br />
This is key to self-care because it keeps you in step<br />
with your goals and objectives. Remember, lifestyle<br />
and mindset matters! Also, detach yourself from<br />
anything that doesn’t make feel loved or appreciated.<br />
You won’t need yearly resolutions if you exercise<br />
simple Self-Care. This is positive aging!<br />
* Please listen in to my new KUNV 91.5 Community Talk<br />
Show, “There’s No Aging in Vegas,” every 4 th Sunday of the<br />
month. First show airs Sunday, January 25 th at 8:30 a.m.<br />
Tune in for positive stories about aging in the Valley. Hear<br />
from entertainment, community, and business legends and<br />
leaders from a variety of positive aging perspectives and<br />
interests.<br />
Pat Landaker is a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA) and owner of<br />
Living La Vida Senior, Ageless Aging, and Senior Solutions. She<br />
also teaches Positive Aging at UNLV/OLLI. Visit www.patlandaker-<br />
AGEncy.com or email her at: info@patlandakeragency.com.<br />
14<br />
January 2024
Getting Older & Wiser<br />
By: Gayla Kalp / Life is Laughter<br />
I<br />
’m responsible for what I say, not for what you<br />
understand.<br />
Common sense is like deodorant. The people<br />
who need it the most never use it.<br />
It’s not my age that bothers me, it’s the side effects.<br />
I’m not saying I’m old and worn out, but I make sure I’m nowhere<br />
near the curb on trash day.<br />
As I watch this generation try and rewrite our history, I’m sure of one<br />
thing. It will be misspelled and have no punctuation.<br />
I haven’t gotten anything done today. I’ve been in the Produce<br />
Department trying to open the stupid plastic bag.<br />
Turns out that being a “Senior” is mostly just googling how to do<br />
stuff.<br />
God promised men and women that good and devoted wives and<br />
husbands would be found in all corners of the world. Then he made<br />
the world<br />
round……<br />
and laughed<br />
and laughed!<br />
I’m on two<br />
diets. I wasn’t<br />
getting enough<br />
food on one.<br />
I put my<br />
scale in the<br />
bathroom<br />
corner and<br />
that is where<br />
the little liar<br />
will stay until<br />
it apologizes.<br />
Me, sobbing.<br />
“I can’t see<br />
you anymore. I’m not going to let you hurt me again.” My Trainer:<br />
It was only one sit up.<br />
My mind is like an internet browser. At least 19 are open tabs, 3 of<br />
them are frozen, and I have no clue where the music is coming from.<br />
Hard to believe I once had a phone attached to a wall and when it<br />
rang, I picked it up without knowing who was calling.<br />
Apparently, RSVPing to a wedding invitation, “Maybe next time”<br />
isn’t the correct response.<br />
He says I keep pushing his buttons. If that were true, I would have<br />
found “mute” by now.<br />
So, you’ve been eating hot dogs all your life, but you won’t take the<br />
vaccine because you don’t know what’s in it. Are you kidding me?<br />
There is no such thing as a grouchy old person. The truth is that<br />
once you get old, you stop being polite and start being honest.<br />
Gayla is a speaker, author, psychologist and humorist. She also<br />
happens to be Ms. Sr. California, Nevada and Universe England.<br />
15
16<br />
Accessories for the Bed<br />
By: Heather Latimer / Heather’s Self-Help Tips<br />
In earlier times a bed was merely a piece of<br />
furniture used for sleeping. An attractive quilt,<br />
camouflaged sheets,<br />
blankets and an eiderdown was often added<br />
for extra warmth.<br />
“At nursing school, part of our training was<br />
how to make a bed so it was neat, comfortable<br />
and helpful for the patient’s condition,”<br />
said Carolina Cesena PCA. “We could<br />
not leave wrinkles in sheets and blankets or<br />
unfluffed pillows, and the necessity of tucking<br />
in bedding at the two lower corners at the<br />
foot of the bed by using a precise triangular<br />
positioning called military style was stressed<br />
repeatedly.”<br />
Today most patient beds in assisted living<br />
and other non-hospital care facilities have<br />
accessories attached to ease symptoms of<br />
various health issues. There are hundreds of those simple add-ons and<br />
many can be purchased for your own use if you know the name and<br />
description.<br />
Some examples:<br />
Baby It’s Cold Outside<br />
By: Pat Alexander / Art of Entertaining<br />
When you come from<br />
a big city and settle<br />
in a small town, you learn<br />
to make your own fun. Every January, after the<br />
hoopla of greeting in the new year, we were faced<br />
with a cold, dark month that just called for a<br />
diversion.<br />
The lake behind a friend’s house froze over<br />
each winter, and one January we decided to plan<br />
a fun day around it. We chose an ice skating party<br />
with prizes for best and worst skaters, fastest time<br />
over a specified course, most inventive outfit, etc.<br />
I won a prize for being the best slider. Here’s<br />
where I should mention that I can’t ice skate.<br />
The only skating I’d ever done was sliding over a<br />
frozen pond in red galoshes when I was a kid. I<br />
think it was a pity vote!<br />
I still remember how cold it was! In movies,<br />
you see people at outdoor ice skating rinks<br />
looking glamorous in little jackets and gloves<br />
and bare heads.<br />
No red noses, frozen hands or ungraceful falls. So not real! Decked<br />
out in thick sweaters under heavy jackets, woolen mittens, scarves,<br />
hats, and thick socks, we all looked like ungainly, colorful, but frozen,<br />
January 2024<br />
1. For climbing into a bed that is too high - Step stool with adjustable<br />
height handle.<br />
2. Skin on buttocks irritated and painful - An alternating pressure<br />
pad designed to prevent ulcerated bed sores.<br />
3. Heartburn, acid reflux - A wedge pillow<br />
to keep the head raised.<br />
4. To reduce fear of falling out of bed whilst<br />
sleeping - Two cloth-covered bumpers for<br />
adults that are laid along each side of bed.<br />
5. To prevent falling whilst getting in and<br />
out of bed - Bed grab rails.<br />
6. Bed clothes wet with sweat or urine -<br />
Washable bed under pads that are water<br />
resistant and non-toxic.<br />
7. To move patient from one side to the<br />
other side - Bed repositioning pad for one<br />
person to place under patient and pull on<br />
pad in desired direction.<br />
8. For sensitive toes that hurt when heavy<br />
blankets put pressure on them - Blanket lifter bar.<br />
Heather Latimer is a nationally recognized specialist in making<br />
difficult subjects easy and author of 17 books. See amazon.com/<br />
heather latimer/how to overcome.<br />
snowmen!<br />
So much fun, but so cold!<br />
We were so happy to head to a warm house at the end of the day,<br />
shedding our multitude of outer garments.<br />
We gathered on sofas, around tables, drinks in<br />
hand, tasting all the delicious foods, partying<br />
and laughing at all the silliness and hi-jinks<br />
that had gone before.<br />
A party is my answer to so many things. I<br />
love the mingling, the conversations, the ideas<br />
shared and the camaraderie. It’s the best way to<br />
bring people together.<br />
My advice for a dank January – have a party!<br />
And try the recipe below to make it even better.<br />
Cheese Tarts: Defrost a box of mini phyllo<br />
tarts. In a medium bowl, mix 4 oz. each of room<br />
temperature goat cheese and cream cheese.<br />
Stir in 3 tbs. minced fresh chives, 1 tbs. olive<br />
oil, 1 grated or finely minced garlic clove, 1 tbs.<br />
fresh minced dill, ¼ tsp. flaked sea salt and ¼<br />
tsp. white pepper.<br />
Taste for seasoning. Fill tarts. Garnish with a<br />
sprig of dill. Serve.<br />
Pat Alexander writes about all things home. She is well known for<br />
her cooking, parties and interior design, and consults on kitchen<br />
and bath remodels.
Bathroom Remodeling<br />
Made Effortless<br />
$750 Off<br />
up<br />
to<br />
Tub or Shower Remodel<br />
up<br />
to$1500 Off<br />
Complete Bathroom Remodel<br />
Not to be combined with any other offer.<br />
Ask a sales representative for details. Expires 1/31/2024.<br />
Schedule your free in-home design consultation today.<br />
702-509-7503<br />
Complete Bathroom Remodeling • Tub & Shower Updates • Aging & Accessibility Solutions<br />
3655 East Patrick Lane, Las Vegas, NV 89120<br />
NV Lic # 81688, 81689, 81690<br />
17
Back to the Future<br />
By: Jonny Bird / Here’s Jonny<br />
If you could go back in time, would you? How far<br />
back, and for how long? Would you jump into<br />
Doc Brown’s DeLorean and rev it to 88 miles per<br />
hour to go back to high school?<br />
I think a lot of us would. But why?<br />
Dreaming of time travel dates back to long before our grandparents,<br />
or even great grandparents were spinning a top or fishing with a<br />
cane pole. The concept of time travel by a machine was prominently<br />
popularized by H.G. Wells’ 1895 story The Time Machine, but the<br />
thoughts of time travel itself came much earlier.<br />
18<br />
January 2024<br />
In Mark Twain’s 1889 novel, A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, a<br />
Connecticut engineer gets a knock on the noggin and is transported to<br />
the court of the famed King Arthur. There, he uses his knowledge of the<br />
future to attempt to modernize the past, eventually even rivaling the<br />
great Merlin himself, who appears to be a fraud.<br />
But why is time travel so appealing?<br />
It’s been romanticized about and warned of in stories, movies, and<br />
songs. Admit it. You’ve thought of going back to your younger days and<br />
fixing a few things with the knowledge you now have.<br />
In the movie, Peggy Sue Got Married, Peggy Sue attends her<br />
25 th high school reunion on the verge of divorce from her high school<br />
sweetheart and faints while being crowned as the reunion queen. When<br />
she wakes up, she has been transported back to her senior year where<br />
she quickly decides to correct a few mistakes.<br />
Or would you decide to go into the future to see what’s new and<br />
exciting? Maybe the cure for cancer is just around the corner. Maybe<br />
war, poverty, and hunger have been solved.<br />
Maybe the Starship Enterprise is giving vacation tours to the tropical<br />
(and passionate) planet, Risa. That last one is for my Trekkies.<br />
I could say that the past has no appeal to me, but I’d be lying. I would<br />
have bet on Buster Douglas, bought Google, and never asked out Kim<br />
in high school. But that’s another story.<br />
Jonny Bird is the entertainment host of all Vegas Voice shows. Have<br />
an idea or suggestion? Contact Jonny via email:birdlandmusic@<br />
hotmail.com
Elevate Your Fitness Game in 2024!<br />
By: Tom Harmon / Lean Dog<br />
Every New Year, the same old tale unfolds.<br />
People set fitness goals with high hopes, yet<br />
by February, they’re back<br />
at square one.<br />
The standard gym experience just doesn’t<br />
deliver. Now there’s Lean Dog Fitness, a<br />
brand new gym experience like no other!<br />
A high-tech personal training facility<br />
designed to guarantee that this time, your<br />
fitness resolutions stick. We’re committed to<br />
seeing you triumph in 2024.<br />
Lean Dog Fitness stands ready as your launchpad to success.<br />
Lean Dog Fitness isn’t just a gym; it’s the key to a healthier, longer<br />
life. We all know being fit and healthy is the most precious thing we<br />
can possess.<br />
Change your mind and you will change everything. Being older does<br />
not have to mean being weaker. We have clients in their eighties who<br />
are achieving great results and you can too. I’m 73 and don’t know an<br />
MD - and I’m planning on keeping it that way.<br />
What sets Lean Dog Fitness apart is its commitment to providing<br />
elite personal training on the most advanced exercise equipment. Our<br />
equipment is unique to Southern Nevada and is not only effective but<br />
also extremely efficient so that our clients move from point A to point<br />
B twice as fast as they would at an ‘old school’ gym.<br />
This state-of-the-art approach means Lean Dog Fitness patrons save<br />
an astounding 180 hours annually, all while<br />
achieving superior fitness results. While our<br />
high-tech environment and equipment are<br />
impressive, we also offer full-body wellness<br />
advice.<br />
As for my three essential tips for those seeking<br />
healthy and fit longevity:<br />
1. Eat high quality food with a focus on<br />
protein, healthy fats, and quality fruits and<br />
vegetables.<br />
2. Strength Train, Strength Train, Strength Train....and walk, dance,<br />
play, love, and stay connected.<br />
3. Supplement with liquid, high density full spectrum vitamins,<br />
minerals, trace minerals, and amino acids available at Lean Dog<br />
Fitness!<br />
Happy New Year!<br />
Tom Harmon is a Certified Fitness Trainer & Nutritionist and<br />
owns Lean Dog Fitness in Henderson. Call 702/297-6440 to book<br />
your free intro/assessment to begin your journey to reclaim your<br />
health. www.leandogfitness.com<br />
19
Out With the Old<br />
By: Linda Bateman-Gomez / Timeless Beauty<br />
Another year has come to a close and for many,<br />
it is customary to decide what changes we<br />
should make. Out with the old, in with the new.<br />
Health and beauty truly go hand in hand. So<br />
when deciding if you need to lose a few pounds or what new vitamins<br />
you might want to start, it’s also a good time to go through your<br />
cosmetics and clean out old products. Beauty products do have a shelf<br />
life just like food and medicine.<br />
A Good Time to Make<br />
Changes Regardless of Age<br />
By: Lisa Kemmerling / Fashion Couture<br />
Another magical Holiday Season has passed<br />
by and for many, saying goodbye to 2023 is a<br />
welcome thought. As we usher in the New Year it’s always a great time<br />
to ponder on things that may be on your “wish list.”<br />
Perhaps travel is in the future, or picking up a new sport, or finding<br />
time to just relax. For a large collection of people (myself included)<br />
out with the old and in with the new, becomes part of my new year<br />
mantra.<br />
Standing by my walk-in closet the other day, I realized it was time to<br />
fill up bags with the clothes that neither myself nor my husband will be<br />
wearing anytime soon. Naturally, there are those amazing once a year<br />
worn outfits during the holiday season which any good recycler thinks<br />
they’ll wear again - and yet they never do.<br />
The most important products to be mindful of are eye products and<br />
face creams. Aside from not performing as well, products like mascara<br />
are exposed to bacteria and fungi.<br />
Manufactures recommend mascara be discarded after 3 months.<br />
While there are no hard and fast FDA regulations, you can easily google<br />
the suggested shelf life for your products.<br />
When replacing old products, take a look at what might be new on<br />
the market since your last purchase. Is it time to try something new or<br />
stick to your old favorites?<br />
If moisturizer is one of the things you need to replace, consider<br />
Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream. Cold weather often leads to dry skin<br />
and this cream has been a game changer for me.<br />
I use it on the dry areas on my face and around my mouth. I also use<br />
it on my hands and feet before bed.<br />
While you are starting a new year, take a look at your closet. Are there<br />
things you have been meaning to get rid of but haven’t?<br />
This is a great time to donate those things. Perhaps consider a facility<br />
that helps others. Or upload them to Poshmark and use the extra cash<br />
to buy some new things.<br />
If you are getting organized in the new year, consider extra things for<br />
animals you might have that are no longer needed. Many shelters can<br />
also use old blankets and towels.<br />
What could be better than starting the new year by getting rid of<br />
things you may not need or want and helping others, people and<br />
animals, at the same time?<br />
May 2024 be the start of a healthy, happy, kinder year for us all.<br />
Linda Bateman-Gomez has an international beauty company<br />
based in Las Vegas that specializes in cosmetics and other beauty<br />
products. Contact Linda at TimelessBeauty2020@gmail.com or<br />
through her website www.fullips.com.<br />
20<br />
January 2024<br />
The “super fitted 501” Jeans that no longer fit, or the awesome<br />
leather jacket from the 80s. Ladies, here’s a tip, if it hasn’t made it<br />
onto your person in the past 1-2 years, it’s probably not going to be<br />
worn in the future.<br />
With that, comes the challenging part. Which pieces need to go<br />
and which one’s should stay? As a devoted fashion follower of various<br />
brands, my recommendation is to always hang onto the pieces that are<br />
irreplaceable.<br />
Perhaps you have a great velvet pants suit, that is in the perfect color<br />
of black. Definitely hang on to it as velvet is not just for the holidays,<br />
you can mix and match by wearing the jacket with a lovely pair of<br />
jeans, white blouse and boots. Winter white is also making a huge<br />
comeback and looks extraordinary throughout the year.<br />
When it comes to pairing down the closet, ask yourself one question,<br />
“Do I see myself putting this on in the next 6 months?” If you cannot<br />
say yes, then I’m certain many of the amazing charities around the<br />
area would welcome those items.<br />
The best part of freeing up your closet space - you now have room to<br />
add any new items with all those amazing after Christmas sales!<br />
Lisa Kemmerling is the owner of Clean Lines Fashion Consulting,<br />
helping individuals with their packing needs for travel, as<br />
well as finding current styles for both men & women. You can<br />
contact her at: lisa@cleanlinesfashion.com or 925/518-4950.
21
Unresolved<br />
By: Susan Goldfein / Susan’s Unfiltered Wit<br />
So here we are, once again on the threshold of a<br />
new year. How many times in the next 24 hours<br />
will you say or think: Where did the time go?<br />
So I won’t bother to repeat it here. (But where did it go?)<br />
Do you still consider making New Year’s resolutions? If you don’t<br />
write them down, do you even think about them?<br />
I have long ago given up making promises to myself that I will never<br />
keep. If I want to feel bad about myself for being a weakling, I already<br />
have sufficient items from prior years to draw upon.<br />
So this year, instead of trying to reconfigure bad habits, I’ve decided<br />
to embrace them. Below is just a partial list of personal reforms that<br />
will NOT happen in 2024 .<br />
Snap!<br />
By: Dianne Hahn / Back in the Days<br />
Do you remember when grownups used to<br />
bore you about how hard they had it as kids...<br />
walking to school in the freezing rain and snow!<br />
I vowed I’d never do that.<br />
But now that I’m over the hill and sliding down, I’m beginning to<br />
sympathize with those old folks from days gone by. Snap!<br />
Compared to what I went through, kids’ lives today are filled with<br />
toppings of peaches and cream, poured over imported French Vanilla ice<br />
cream with a big dab of whipped cream on top!<br />
Okay, neither one of us travelled the rough prairies in a covered wagon,<br />
but I grew up without an internet! I had to traipse over to the library for<br />
info and deal with the card catalogue to write an essay.<br />
No email but a pen and paper to write a letter. Yup, wrote in longhand,<br />
addressed an envelope, and walked to the postbox to mail it. Oh, wait! Had<br />
to buy stamps first! The letter took over a week to arrive!<br />
No cell phones! We had one black rotary phone in the house. The<br />
family shared it. If a call came in while you were on the phone, the caller<br />
got a busy signal! No call waiting!<br />
1. Spend more time at the gym.<br />
2. Eat more vegetables.<br />
3. Give up Cool Whip.<br />
4. Lose weight.<br />
5. Shop less.<br />
6. Get more sleep.<br />
7. Organize my drawers and keep them organized.<br />
8. Stop wasting time watching Law and Order reruns.<br />
9. Improve at golf.<br />
10. Learn French.<br />
11. Cook at home more often.<br />
12. Always hang up my clothes before I go to bed.<br />
13. Read James Joyce.<br />
14. Wear a bikini.<br />
15. Complete a London Times crossword puzzle.<br />
16. Solve even one clue of a London Times crossword<br />
puzzle.<br />
17. Have a neat desk.<br />
18. Never write another essay about my husband.<br />
So, what did you do on New Year’s Eve? Stay at home? Perhaps a<br />
movie? Dinner with friends? A fancy party?<br />
Did you even try to stay awake until midnight? Whatever your<br />
preference, I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy New Year.<br />
And thank you for your encouragement and readership. My husband<br />
also thanks you. The time I spend writing is time spent not shopping.<br />
Susan Goldfein’s newest book, Laughing My Way Through the<br />
Third Stage, is available at Amazon.com, BN.com, Read her blog<br />
at: www.SusansUnfilteredWit.com. Email Susan: SusanGoldfein@<br />
aol.com.<br />
22<br />
January 2024<br />
We didn’t keep in touch 24/7! Kids of today become paranoid if they<br />
aren’t clutching their cell phones or texting!<br />
Kids weren’t rude back then either! If you were, you’d get a swat from<br />
your parents. At school, the strap, or a wrap on the knuckles with a ruler<br />
- then you were expelled.<br />
“Wait until your father gets home!” No Child Protective Services to<br />
care!<br />
Remember car rides? No guarantee you’d come out unscathed. No<br />
seatbelts or car seats! If you sat up front your mom would stretch her<br />
arm out if she had to stop suddenly, so you wouldn’t go flying into the<br />
windshield. In the backseat you had to watch out and hang on!<br />
All meals made from scratch, no microwaves, no frozen foods. Kids of<br />
today would be in a daze! But, I suppose they’ll be saying the same about<br />
their kids once they’ve made the climb, eh! Yeah…Snap!<br />
A former schoolteacher, Dianne Sebis Hahn writes for children too.<br />
Presently, Dianne has eight books available on Amazon.com.
Lost in Sensation: Overcoming Painful Diabetic<br />
Neuropathy<br />
By: Arlene Kaplan / Guest Column<br />
Imagine a world where every step<br />
you take feels like walking on pins<br />
and needles, resulting in shooting,<br />
burning pain. This may sound like a terrible nightmare, but it was my<br />
constant reality for over a decade.<br />
My suffering was caused by painful<br />
diabetic neuropathy (PDN), a condition<br />
impacting millions of people with diabetes<br />
around the country. It’s one of the most<br />
common diabetes complications that<br />
causes numbness, tingling, burning, and<br />
sharp pain in the limbs.<br />
Though it’s common, the options for<br />
relief are often not good enough for the<br />
long term. I tried everything my doctor<br />
and I could think of – prescription pain<br />
medications, physical therapy, and even some experimental holistic<br />
treatments.<br />
The side effects of the medications left me in a worse state than I<br />
was in before, and the other options didn’t make a lasting difference in<br />
my pain. I couldn’t even walk barefoot unless it was on the<br />
carpet. Something had to change.<br />
I finally found hope with Dr. Yevgeniy Khavkin and the Khavkin Clinic<br />
here in Las Vegas. We met to discuss my options and he introduced me<br />
to a high-frequency spinal cord stimulation (SCS) device called Nevro<br />
HFX. HFX is a small device that works inside your body to deliver<br />
very mild electric pulses to the nerves<br />
interrupting pain signals to the brain.<br />
I started out by trying HFX for a week.<br />
When the pain came back after the trial<br />
was over, I knew I needed this device for<br />
the long haul.<br />
Since receiving HFX, I have been painfree<br />
and can walk around without the<br />
shooting, burning pain I lived with for too<br />
long. I have a dedicated Nevro HFX Care<br />
Team that works with me on a personalized<br />
plan to fine-tune my relief with HFX.<br />
Today, every pain-free step I take is a reminder of all that I’ve<br />
overcome. I encourage anyone who lives with PDN symptoms to learn<br />
more about Nevro HFX at hfxforpdn.com and find out if it might be<br />
right for you, too.<br />
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23
Chase Brown’s Vegas Country Night<br />
By: Dianne Davis / That’s Entertainment<br />
Chase Brown has it all.<br />
The Texas-born performer has the good<br />
looks, the tremendous talent, the awesome voice,<br />
the entertaining moves, and that indefinable<br />
something that ties it all together. No orchestra,<br />
no keyboard – just one hot sexy talented man<br />
showing what he’s got.<br />
Well, actually, we could stretch it and say there<br />
are back up dancers. Notoriety has cleverly moved<br />
some seats and tables to allow for and encourage<br />
folks to get up and dance to many of the familiar<br />
country songs that Chase shares during his 1½<br />
hour country music performance. The Robin<br />
Leach room at Notoriety in downtown Las Vegas<br />
is comfortable with a huge screen as backdrop for<br />
this one man show.<br />
Chase has groupies. Many are there weekly to<br />
enjoy the upbeat, clap your hands, often singalong<br />
performance.<br />
And – as an added bonus, oh my, that naked chest that keeps<br />
showing up as he changes from shirt to vest to topless. Of course that’s<br />
a bonus for him as the gals - and sometimes the guys as well – stuff<br />
$$$ into his tight pants.<br />
This performer is climbing the ladder to success. And wait til you see<br />
his moves and gyrations on the ladder which he uses to full advantage<br />
on stage.<br />
You’ll love the Sonny and Cher number – he does both parts! Wow,<br />
what a voice.<br />
Be sure to get directions to Notoriety and the<br />
4 th Street parking underneath Neonopolis where it<br />
is located. It is a bit tricky. But it puts you right in<br />
the heart of downtown Vegas so take a stroll down<br />
Fremont Street and enjoy the overhead light show<br />
or get a bite to eat.<br />
We were at Chase’s 100 th show in December<br />
2023 – no small accomplishment in this town.<br />
This is country music at its finest. You’ll love his<br />
Tennessee Whiskey number. And “ Everything<br />
That Glitters is Not Gold.”<br />
Rest assured this performer glitters and his<br />
show is gold. For a highly enjoyable evening, go<br />
see Chase Brown’s Vegas Country Night at 7 p.m.<br />
on Fridays at Notoriety and ENJOY!<br />
Dianne Davis specializes in “senior entertainment” and is the<br />
Las Vegas Associate Editor of lasvegassplash.com. She hikes, works on<br />
her stand-up comedy, and looks forward to more travels with her<br />
husband Burt.<br />
By: Renee Riendeau / Movie Revelations<br />
Last month, our Nightlife Editor, Sam<br />
Wagmeister approached me and asked, “Have<br />
you seen The Holdovers?”<br />
I had not and he suggested I<br />
should review it for my next Vegas<br />
Voice column. The following<br />
Monday, on Senior Day, I went to see<br />
the “R” rated 2 hour and 13 minute<br />
film.<br />
Thank you Sam, I really enjoyed<br />
your recommended movie.<br />
I’m not surprised Rotten<br />
Tomatoes gave it a 96 overall rating<br />
and an audience review of 91 overall rating. This film definitely pulled<br />
you in and there was no trouble following this action packed story.<br />
It takes place in New England in the 1970s at an all-boys prep school<br />
called Barton. Some of the boys who couldn’t go home for Christmas<br />
spend their breaks in the care of Paul Hunham, a curmudgeonly,<br />
sourest, most pompous, history instructor.<br />
His job was to babysit a handful of students with nowhere to go. He<br />
soon forms an unlikely bond with a brainy but damaged troublemaker<br />
and the school’s head cook, a black woman who had just lost her son<br />
24<br />
The Holdovers<br />
January 2024<br />
in the Vietnam War.<br />
And there the story begins.<br />
Alexander Payne, one of the producers and director selected the<br />
perfect cast that included: Paul Giamatti, as the professor; Da’Vine Joy<br />
Randolph, head cook; and Dominic<br />
Sessa, troubled youth.Critics were<br />
mostly pleased with The Holdovers<br />
and I’d like to share a few of their<br />
comments which I agreed with:<br />
“Slice of life movie”; “Perfect family<br />
movie”; “One of the best in years”;<br />
“A must see.”<br />
And there was more:<br />
Paul should receive an Oscar<br />
nomination for his performance”; Well-acted and well filmed”; “Best<br />
movie in a longtime – real people with real issues that touch your<br />
heart”.<br />
I thought it was a terrific movie and probably destined to become a<br />
cherished holiday classic. It gets a “5” on my film evaluation chart. Go<br />
see this touching experience !<br />
Renee Riendeau is the movie reviewer for The Vegas Voice. Renee<br />
can be reached at rriendeau@aol.com and is anxious to hear<br />
from you.
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25
26<br />
Gimmick or Genius?<br />
By: BJ Killeen / Down the Road<br />
The amount of technology loaded into a new<br />
vehicle today is enough to make anyone run<br />
for the hills. JD Power conducts a study called the<br />
U.S. Tech Experience Index Study that focuses on<br />
the user experience with advanced vehicle technology.<br />
It also studies if people are using the technology. The findings show<br />
that over one-third of advanced features are used by fewer than half of<br />
new-car owners.<br />
I’ll bet many of you have features in your vehicle you have never<br />
used. But which features are gimmicks and which are genius?<br />
Back-up and 360-degree cameras are genius. They help prevent<br />
dents and dings.<br />
What about using hand gestures to change radio stations? That can<br />
go either way, depending on if you use it or not, but it leans toward<br />
gimmick.<br />
One feature, however, proved itself invaluable during my recent test<br />
drive of the 2023 Hyundai Palisade three-row SUV: Remote Smart Park<br />
Assist (RSPA). This feature was first highlighted during the 2020 Super<br />
Bowl in a commercial starring some well-known celebrities.<br />
RSPA allows you to park and retrieve your vehicle from outside the<br />
car. Sounds silly, right? But it really works.<br />
Most of us have small, two-car garages. Maneuvering in and out can<br />
be nerve-wracking especially if both vehicles are large. Not to mention<br />
trying not to hit the other car when you open your door to exit.<br />
RSPA makes this effortless. You can stand outside or inside your<br />
garage, lock the door, remote start the car, then hold down the button<br />
on the keyfob, and the vehicle will slowly move into or out of the garage<br />
on its own.<br />
Not only that, but it also uses parking sensors to judge the distance<br />
to the vehicle next to it and turns the steering wheel to make room so<br />
the vehicles don’t touch. I used this every time I got into and out of the<br />
Palisade the entire testing week.<br />
I’m sold. The feature is usually optional or only on top-end models,<br />
but it’s worth every penny for those who need to park or get out of tight<br />
spaces.<br />
BJ Killeen has been an automotive journalist for over 30 years.<br />
She welcomes all questions and inquiries, and can be reached at<br />
bjkdtr@gmail.com<br />
January 2024<br />
Dear Abby<br />
By: Chuck Dean / Vet 2 Vet<br />
In 2008, I met Jeanne Philips, a/k/a Abigail<br />
Van Buren, the advice columnist for the<br />
advice column “Dear Abby.”<br />
We were attending a ceremony to honor the yearly recipients of the<br />
Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center Leadership Award. I was<br />
attending as an honoree for my supporting veterans, and writing the<br />
book, “Nam Vet: Making Peace with your Past.”<br />
Over the years, she has<br />
addressed many issues<br />
facing veterans, such as<br />
their struggles with PTSD<br />
and readjusting to civilian<br />
life. She has provided<br />
advice on how to support<br />
and understand veterans,<br />
and she continues to urge<br />
readers to be patient,<br />
compassionate, and<br />
knowledgeable about the<br />
resources available for<br />
veterans.<br />
I encourage you, as a<br />
veteran, to keep an eye out for any of her columns that pertain to our<br />
service and challenges. Here is one of those letter exchanges:<br />
DEAR ABBY: I am a veteran, and something gnaws at me every<br />
time I hear it. It’s the expression, “Thank you for your service.”<br />
Having lived through the ’60s and ’70s, I remember all too well<br />
seeing many soldiers bad-mouthed and worse during those times.<br />
Since 9/11 many of the same people who were critical of us then<br />
are now thanking us. It rings hollow to many of the vets I know.<br />
We did our job, some to the ultimate level. We never asked for<br />
thanks, and we still don’t. We respect the rights given to those who<br />
wish to abuse them because we believe in them. Some of us even<br />
died so all could enjoy these rights.<br />
If a person truly wants to thank a vet, DO something for him or<br />
her instead of just offering lip service. Cut their grass, offer to help<br />
carry in their groceries, etc. While words are appreciated at times,<br />
hearing them too often becomes hollow. Showing appreciation is<br />
always welcome.<br />
DEAR VETERAN: I am printing your letter because I know those<br />
feelings exist among some older veterans. However, I see nothing<br />
wrong with expressing thanks when someone feels it is deserved,<br />
as well as lending a hand when needed. These acknowledgments<br />
should be accepted as graciously as they are offered.<br />
Thank you, Dear Abby. I offer a big salute to those in the public eye<br />
for supporting veterans.<br />
Chuck Dean served as an Army paratrooper in Vietnam and<br />
through that experience was led to address the many transitional<br />
issues veterans struggle with. He is the author of several important<br />
books for veterans.
27
28<br />
What is Your “New World?”<br />
By: Jane Dow / Mutterings & Musings<br />
When’s the last time you heard<br />
yourself thinking, “Boy, I sure miss<br />
my growing up years. Nothing today<br />
approaches life in the 50’s or 60’s.”<br />
Thank you, Captain Obvious. I’m as guilty as anyone else – but I<br />
always temper these nostalgic thoughts with the reality: “Those were<br />
our good ole days. Today is someone else’s good ole days.”<br />
I’m not a historian. I’m an English teacher, so I tend to view life<br />
through the lens of a Tennyson poem like “Ulysses”: “Come, my<br />
friends, ‘Tis not too late to seek a new world. Though much is taken,<br />
much abides. And that which we are, we are.”<br />
Who are you today?<br />
Our good ole days made us who we are today. I’m a blend of rural<br />
Pennsylvania, four years of working my butt off to squeeze out that 2.28<br />
GPA at Penn State and a family life blemished by my father’s infidelity.<br />
Do we really want to go back? I don’t. It’s fun to reminisce, but I<br />
like the challenge of creating a brave new world for myself filled with<br />
geezer frivolities and pre-crypt derring-do (that’s not a misspelling. I<br />
looked it up).<br />
If you read my first article for The Vegas Voice, you know I find the<br />
opposite sex amusing and easy to poke with a sharp stick. How do you<br />
deal with the opposite sex?<br />
I’ve found that there’s a huge difference between a widower and a<br />
divorced guy. Grief vs relief. Loss vs opportunity.<br />
It’s interesting to see which of those emotions gets in the way of a<br />
healthy relationship. In my experience, grief is the most difficult to<br />
deal with.<br />
Especially unacknowledged grief. But I’m an attentive listener, so<br />
sometimes we work things out.<br />
We seniors love to travel. We have the time and means....and<br />
hopefully, the health. For me, 2024 holds the adventure of cruising<br />
around the United Kingdom - England, Scotland and Ireland.<br />
Finally, living in the now means hanging with friends, taking<br />
advantage of all Southern Nevada has to offer. The Sphere. Silver<br />
Knights. Smith Center. What’s your “New World?”<br />
Jane taught high school English and theatre for 30 years. She<br />
now spends her time being a Toastmaster, enjoying the endless<br />
entertainment options in our town, attending Pilates classes and<br />
spoiling her rescue, Mandy.<br />
January 2024<br />
Friendship Case - A<br />
Reader’s Response<br />
By: Ali Guggenheim / Psychic Phenomenon<br />
Thank you to Vegas Voice reader Jon Carpenter,<br />
for agreeing to print this email. “Why not?”<br />
he said, “It’s all true.”<br />
Long time no speak. I read your recent article in The Vegas<br />
Voice…<br />
Interesting fact, an ex-employee in my film company back in<br />
the 80s branched out for himself and put together a 2-hour film of<br />
Aliens visiting Earth. The night before it was to be shown on Fox in<br />
1987 it got pulled.<br />
He even visited Andrews Airforce Base where they have nine<br />
UFOs in Hanger Six and took photos. An ex-Olympian, he was<br />
quickly arrested and hauled off for questioning on the base and<br />
subsequently released.<br />
His film contained comments from those that had been invited<br />
to travel with Aliens in their spacecraft. I saw the film and had the<br />
footage tested and confirmed as authentic.<br />
Ron Condon became a close friend in Las Vegas, We would lunch<br />
every few weeks and discuss spiritual elements, UFO and Alien<br />
matters and world affairs.<br />
He was a pit boss at the Desert Inn for 40 years and had a very<br />
special friend, known as Brother Bob, who shared truth about how<br />
the world really operates, as an inside person of the Committee of<br />
300 that runs the globe.<br />
Ron was a very credible guy. In 1965 he was driving from Vegas<br />
to Pahrump in a rag top and saw an orange light in the distance<br />
that got bigger and bigger until it was upon the car. He stopped the<br />
car, which contained two friends, and when the light was shut off<br />
there in front of the car, was an Alien craft.<br />
Three Aliens got out and spent about 30 minutes looking and<br />
touching Ron and his friends very gently. He said that he experienced<br />
the highest level of love he had ever felt in their presence. Then they<br />
left and the immense love dissipated.<br />
Up until his death in 2016 Ron sought that same love to return<br />
[from the Aliens], and even prayed for it. He never saw them again.<br />
Ron even took Peyote 68 times in the hope of connecting with them,<br />
to no avail.<br />
To contact Ali or for spiritual consultations, coaching, workshops<br />
and readings, email: alivegasvoice@yahoo.com.
Another Year Down!<br />
By: Mary Richard / Health Fitness<br />
Whew! We made it through another year<br />
around the sun. I just celebrated my 79th birthday<br />
and am so happy to have another year.<br />
I did accomplish some of<br />
my goals for 2023 and have<br />
more for 2024. I don’t do New<br />
Year Resolutions, I set goals.<br />
I try my best to accomplish<br />
them and if not, I don’t sweat<br />
it.<br />
If you want to enjoy 2024,<br />
try to make some changes.<br />
Don’t be a couch potato, go<br />
out and make some changes.<br />
Try to meet new people.<br />
Smile more - it takes less<br />
muscles to smile then it takes<br />
to frown. Besides, when you smile, you feel good and make everyone<br />
around you feel good too.<br />
Try to be excited about new things - try a new exercise class. Even<br />
if you goof up, you will feel better when all is done. I’ve tried various<br />
classes, even ones I wasn’t sure of and had a blast.<br />
Try to declutter your home. If it’s something you haven’t used (or<br />
worn) in quite a while throw it out or donate it to charity. I’ve gone<br />
through my closets and drawers and gotten rid of clothes either I’m<br />
tired of or no longer fit right.<br />
Unfollow negative people on social media. I’ve “unfriended” some<br />
people who constantly post negative comments, are rude, disgusting or<br />
I just don’t have anything in common with them anymore. By doing<br />
so, you’ll feel so much better<br />
and have a sunnier attitude.<br />
Try a new craft or hobby.<br />
I’ve taken up trying to learn<br />
a ukulele and it really is<br />
fun! Bought a kid’s music<br />
book and learning some new<br />
chords. I never thought I’d be<br />
such an addict of the ukulele,<br />
but I find it’s easier than a<br />
guitar.<br />
It’s keeping my brain cells<br />
active! You’re never too old to<br />
learn something new.<br />
Enjoy life, as we are not promised tomorrow. BE GRATEFUL - for<br />
whatever you have, not what you don’t have.<br />
POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND HAPPY HEALTH TO ALL!<br />
Mary Richard is a long term supporter of senior fitness. She<br />
teaches Zumba, toning and dance classes throughout the Las<br />
Vegas Valley.<br />
29
A New Gardening Year<br />
By: Howard Galin / Happy Gardening<br />
January marks the commencement of a new<br />
gardening year.<br />
2023 had long periods of excessively high<br />
temperatures and extended drought periods followed by short<br />
“damaging bursts” of torrential rainfall leading to flash flooding.<br />
This intense weather pattern led to large numbers of<br />
plants, (even natives!) to suffer and die!<br />
In addition to plants, soil is also affected by heat,<br />
drought and flooding. High pH levels from alkali salt<br />
buildup can cause plant root systems to stop their<br />
absorption of needed nutrients such as nitrogen,<br />
phosphorous, potassium, and iron.<br />
This leads to stunted growth, yellowing of leaves,<br />
diminished flowering and increased vulnerability to insect and<br />
disease damage. In order to prevent harm to your landscapes, there<br />
are a number of preventative steps that you can take now before the<br />
growing season begins.<br />
To lower pH levels, apply sulfur into the soil. This can be done now<br />
so that in springtime, plant fertilizers will be properly absorbed via the<br />
plants’ root systems.<br />
If you lost plants last season due to weather-related issues; replace<br />
them with heat/ drought tolerant native plants. Gardening centers<br />
designate which plants address your needs.<br />
You can modify your irrigation by both adding and repositioning<br />
drip emitters so that they are located near “active roots” where water<br />
can be absorbed. As your landscape plants grow, their roots spread<br />
further from stems and trunks.<br />
In addition, you can diminish evaporation in the soil and keep<br />
ground temperatures lower in summer by replacing rock mulch with<br />
wood chips or compost.<br />
During last year’s growing season, did the plants’<br />
leaves look yellowish with green veins running<br />
through them? This can be caused by iron-deficiency<br />
(Chlorosis) which can be caused by poor iron<br />
absorption.<br />
Apply chelated iron directly into the soil and water<br />
thoroughly. Apply now through June.<br />
If, however, the condition appears during July-August, a special<br />
“spray-type” iron should be used directly on the leaves. Applying iron,<br />
when needed, will accelerate photosynthesis and improve plant color<br />
and health! Finally, complete all pruning before any buddings mark<br />
the beginning of the new growing season.<br />
Have a gardening question? Contact me at: Theplantwhisperer28@<br />
gmail.com<br />
Howard Galin is a University of Nevada certified Master<br />
Gardener who lectures on, and writes about native plants and<br />
desert landscaping<br />
30<br />
January 2024
Always All-Inclusive<br />
By: Stu Cooper / Happy Adventures<br />
Our business model at the Vegas Voyagers,<br />
when quoting a trip price, has been to give<br />
a complete, “all in” trip price. Our trip pricing<br />
always included all taxes and fees and our bus<br />
transportation when promoting our “Bus to the Boat” cruises. There<br />
were no additional taxes to add into the price.<br />
Recently, we have included a beverage package, Wi-Fi internet service<br />
and all gratuities for the cruise when cruising with Princess Cruise<br />
Lines. Our trips have truly become all inclusive.<br />
And is seems our “Voyagers” overall like this concept of paying<br />
upfront for most of the trip cost. The only aspect of the trip cost not<br />
included is trip cancellation insurance (which is discretionary) and<br />
incidental expenses like shore excursions and trips to the spa on board.<br />
And this “all inclusive” concept has become the trend in the cruise<br />
industry. Many premium and upscale cruise lines even include shore<br />
excursions in their all inclusive pricing.<br />
It is only the mass market (i.e. Carnival and Royal Caribbean)<br />
that still do not offer an all inclusive pricing option. Gratuities, drink<br />
packages and Wi-Fi are still offered on an ala carte basis with these<br />
cruise lines and are extra charges above the basic cruise price.<br />
It remains a personal preference as to how folks like to pay for their<br />
cruise vacations. There are those (like me) who don’t want to see a big<br />
bill at the end of the cruise. However, there are those who like to pay as<br />
they go and don’t mind a post cruise bill which itemizes all on board<br />
spending.<br />
The Vegas Voyagers will continue to offer pricing on as an “all<br />
inclusive” price as possible. Complete upfront pricing as possible is<br />
how we will price our trips. And feedback from our trip participants<br />
overwhelmingly prefer this pricing. Happy and Healthy New Year to all.<br />
Holly Jolly Spectacular<br />
A capacity crowd joins in and shares Holly Jolly joy with the cast at<br />
Sun City MacDonald Ranch last month. Vegas Voice Entertainment<br />
Director Jonny Bird (on right) leads the performers in the fantastic<br />
closing number. Joining Jonny were (L to R) Steve McCoy, Rita Lim,<br />
Nelia Ross and Michael Sinatra.<br />
31
genealogy:<br />
32<br />
Time to Get Organized<br />
By: Craig Smith / Exploring Your Roots<br />
It’s time to make those New Years resolutions.<br />
Organizing your genealogy research at the<br />
beginning of the new year is a great idea to start<br />
afresh and make your research more efficient.<br />
Here are some tips to help you organize your<br />
Create a Research<br />
Plan:<br />
1. Outline a research<br />
plan for the year. Identify<br />
specific goals and the<br />
steps needed to achieve<br />
them.<br />
2. Break down larger<br />
goals into manageable tasks to stay focused.<br />
3. Prioritize your research objectives and focus on specific branches<br />
or individuals.<br />
Collaborate & Share:<br />
1. Connect with other researchers or family members to share<br />
information.<br />
2. Collaborate on research projects and consider joining genealogy<br />
forums or online communities.<br />
Educate Yourself:<br />
1. Stay updated on new genealogy research methods, tools, and<br />
resources.<br />
2. Attend genealogy conferences, webinars, or workshops to enhance<br />
your skills.<br />
Organize Physical Records:<br />
1. If you have physical documents or photos, organize them in a<br />
systematic way.<br />
2. Consider digitizing important documents to ensure their<br />
preservation.<br />
The key to successful genealogy research is consistency and attention<br />
to detail. By organizing your genealogy at the beginning of the year, you<br />
set yourself up for a more productive and enjoyable research experience.<br />
For those new to genealogy, consider joining a local genealogical<br />
society. For example, the Clark County Nevada Genealogical Society,<br />
in partnership with Henderson Libraries, offers numerous classes and<br />
research opportunities.<br />
In addition to monthly meetings with guest speakers on a variety of<br />
topics, the Society is offering a “Beginning Genealogy” course on February<br />
22, 2024 at the Paseo Verde Library. This class offers the beginning<br />
researcher an opportunity to learn from experienced genealogists.<br />
Paseo Verde Library also has the “Heritage Research Room” that<br />
is dedicated to genealogy research. Many days of the week there are<br />
volunteers available to assist you with your research.<br />
Craig Smith is the President of the Clark County Nevada<br />
Genealogical Society. The Society meets on the third Saturday of<br />
each month at the Paseo Verde Library in Henderson. Craig can<br />
be contacted at president@ccngs.org<br />
January 2024<br />
Prescott Offers Arizona<br />
History Capsule<br />
By: Kathy Manney / Around Our World<br />
Beneath the expansive canopies of more than<br />
100-year-old trees lies the Sharlot Hall Museum,<br />
a history capsule museum of exhibits and former governor homes dating<br />
to Arizona’s territorial days. The museum holds considerable amounts of<br />
Prescott’s territorial history and additionally maintains the Museum of<br />
Indigenous People.<br />
Prescott became Arizona’s Territory capitol in 1864. One hundred<br />
years later, when Barry Goldwater became the 1964 Republican nominee<br />
for president, he launched his presidential campaign from the steps of<br />
Prescott’s Yavapai County Courthouse.<br />
The capital moved<br />
from Prescott to Tucson<br />
in 1867 and then<br />
returned to Prescott in<br />
1877, finally settling<br />
on Phoenix as the<br />
permanent capital<br />
in 1889. The three<br />
Arizona Territory<br />
capitals reflect<br />
political changes of<br />
those territory regions<br />
as they grew and<br />
developed.<br />
Prescott was a boisterous town, handing down a rich history. Many<br />
times, the rough-and-ready wooden town burned to the ground.<br />
Doc Holliday and Virgil Earp of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral once<br />
lived here. Virgil Earp, a Prescott constable in 1878 and Doc Holliday<br />
appears in the 1880 census records.<br />
The Yavapai, who split from Patayan groups in about 1300 A.D., are<br />
considered the original indigenous inhabits. The first recorded European<br />
contact with the Yavapai was in 1583, when the Spanish came searching<br />
for gold.<br />
Permanent European presence started with gold discovery south of<br />
Prescott in 1863 and soon gold was found in other nearby locations.<br />
Settlers quickly arrived for the mining, often clashing with the indigenous<br />
tribes. Their skirmishes caused neighboring Fort Whipple to struggle in<br />
being territory peace keeper.<br />
Prescott grew into northern Arizona’s most important city because<br />
the areas mineral wealth was of such high-quality. The gold quality<br />
also aided the escalating American Indian Wars, as settlers and natives<br />
increasingly displayed aggression toward one another.<br />
Present day Prescott is known for their self-proclaiming “World’s<br />
Oldest Rodeo” having run continuously since 1888 and brings thousands<br />
of rodeo fans as tourism augments the economy.<br />
Kathy draws her articles from a diverse personal background. She<br />
hopes readers enjoy her column as much as she enjoys the writing and<br />
sharing.
33
Bring Them Home<br />
By: Liz Breier / This & That<br />
My first Vegas Voice article appeared in the<br />
August 2020 issue. I recently looked back<br />
on the topics I have discussed over the past 3<br />
plus years and considering the last few months, I<br />
realize how fortunate we were.<br />
In retrospect it all seems so unimportant.<br />
Little did I know how my (our) world would<br />
change in the literal blink of an eye.<br />
Just like going from the innocence of<br />
childhood to the responsibilities of adulthood,<br />
I woke up on October 7 and realized that the<br />
world had changed. Maybe not changed,<br />
but revealed itself to me in a way that was<br />
so unexpected, and sadly, not a world that I<br />
thought I lived in.<br />
I am not so naïve that I was unaware of the<br />
hatred, jealousy, racism, antisemitism and<br />
Islamophobia and all the other crazy hatreds<br />
people dream up to blame someone else or<br />
some other group for their own misfortunes.<br />
However, I was not aware that beheadings and<br />
rapes and burning of children would receive<br />
applause from the allegedly sane and educated of the world.<br />
Who would contemplate that society could deteriorate to such depths<br />
of depravity? If someone told you a few months ago that people would<br />
applaud barbarism, could you believe it? Would you think such a thing<br />
was even possible? Condoning and celebrating the atrocities seems<br />
almost as ugly as the actual acts of brutality.<br />
I must temper my relief at the release of some hostages as they are<br />
returned in the most agonizingly slow trickle. Of course, I am thrilled<br />
that they are reunited with their families but<br />
am frightened for their future.<br />
Is it even possible to live a normal life again?<br />
How carefree can those children ever be? What<br />
will haunt them in their dreams? Will they even<br />
recover physically from the torments?<br />
If you have ever been unfortunate to suffer a<br />
trauma, you know that you never fully recover.<br />
What those hostages have endured is far<br />
worse than most experiences any of us can<br />
imagine. The long-term effects of the Hamas<br />
attack reduce me to tears for Israel as it will live<br />
on in the hearts and minds of the victims, their<br />
loved ones, and the entire country.<br />
Jews everywhere are now living in an<br />
alternate universe. We must now suffer the<br />
daily torrent of hatred spewed at rallies calling<br />
for genocide.<br />
Hamas proudly broadcast their rape and<br />
murders and yet there are deniers. Municipal leaders are denying<br />
Jewish religious symbols and lighting of menorahs to avoid showing<br />
“favoritism.”<br />
Ivy League university presidents are claiming that a rally calling for the<br />
mass murder of Jews is not hate speech (unless or until action is actually<br />
taken because it depends on the “context”). One such individual, Sally<br />
Kornbluth, is herself a Jew – I am embarrassed and ashamed of her.<br />
Perhaps, keeping the Saudi funds coming into the University coffers<br />
is more important than standing up for what is right by condemning<br />
individuals (students and professors) who are bullying and intimidating<br />
Jewish students. I cannot comprehend how individuals with so much<br />
education can be so ignorant.<br />
I fear that the worst is yet to come. While we remain hopeful for the<br />
freedom of all the hostages, I can foresee that Hamas will never want<br />
to release the women to attest to the brutality they suffered or any of the<br />
remaining hostages because they are a security blanket for Hamas.<br />
I pray I am wrong – I would never be so grateful to be mistaken.<br />
Peace is not likely to come to Israel any time soon. Hamas has declared<br />
that they would gladly attack again as they did on October 7 and that they<br />
would do it repeatedly.<br />
Jews outside of Israel go about our days with friends and family and<br />
all the mundane errands we must perform to survive, but never, ever is<br />
the thought of our brothers and sisters far from our thoughts. They are<br />
always in our hearts as we pray to Bring Them Home.<br />
34<br />
January 2024<br />
Liz Breier is an ex-New Yorker who retired to Florida for 24 years<br />
before deciding that Nevada means home to her. You can contact<br />
Liz at: bluesky090372@gmail.com.
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It’s Who You Know<br />
By: Mark Richards / Games & Shows<br />
Here are “clues” to famous people. How many<br />
can you get? Write their name and check the<br />
answers below.<br />
1. In the movies, he was The Little Tramp______<br />
2. Known as the man of a thousand faces _______<br />
3. Story teller named the Cowboy Philosopher________<br />
4. He broke the sound barrier in 1947___________<br />
5. Former PLO leader__________<br />
6. He shot Ronald Reagan_______<br />
7. American chess grandmaster at the age of 15 _______<br />
8. The Bard of Avon_______<br />
9. Wild West Show sharp shooter________<br />
10. Long Island Lolita______<br />
11. Million Dollar Mermaid aqua-movie star______<br />
12. Presidential brother who had a beer named after him______<br />
13. Newspaper editor who said “Go West Young Man”______<br />
14. Pilot lost over the Pacific in 1937______<br />
15. American professional boxer known as the Brown Bomber______<br />
16. Only U.S. president on Mt. Rushmore with a mustache______<br />
17. Besides Groucho, and Harpo, who was the 3 rd Marx Brother______<br />
18. World War II Army General who said “I shall return”______<br />
ANSWERS<br />
1. Charlie Chaplain, 2. Lon Chaney, Sr., 3. Will Rogers, 4. Chuck<br />
Yeager, 5. Yasser Arafat, 6. John Hinkley, Jr., 7. Bobby Fischer, 8.<br />
William Shakespeare, 9. Annie Oakley, 10. Amy Fisher, 11. Esther<br />
Williams, 12. Billy Carter, 13. Horace Greely, 14. Amelia Earhart, 15.<br />
Joe Louis 16. Teddy Roosevelt, 17. Chico, 18. Douglas MacArthur<br />
It Takes Two To Tango<br />
By: Lauren Tallman / Erotic Las Vegas<br />
Chin up, chest out, look into your partner’s eyes,<br />
and float across the floor dancing the sensual<br />
tango. Enjoy the moments of intimacy, without<br />
strings attached, while escaping into an exotic world.<br />
The fluidity and cat-like staccato bring drama into the stimulating<br />
dance. Movements are slow and arousing, the music drawing you into<br />
dips, dives, and turns.<br />
“We change lives through dance,” Tiffany Higgins, co-owner of the<br />
franchise at the Las Vegas Arthur Murray Dance Center in Henderson,<br />
said. “We have new and experienced dancers aged 50-80 who come here<br />
for exercise, meet people, make friends, and build confidence. We had an<br />
85-year-old woman who danced here until the age of 100. She told others,<br />
‘If you want to stay young, dance.’”<br />
Dancing is a hobby and a healthy habit, improving the dancer’s<br />
balance and brain function. At the Center, seniors are taught the sexy<br />
Argentine Tango, the Cha-cha, Salsa, Swing, and Latin Bachata by highly<br />
trained teachers. Dance students connect with old and new partners<br />
learning steps, techniques, and passionate gestures.<br />
Seniors come for date nights, four to five times a week, dancing the<br />
flowing Foxtrot, weaving Waltz, measured Mambo, or rhythmic Rumba.<br />
Many dance to the high-speed Hustle, or the let-loose Line Dancing.<br />
Dancers also participate in the four major dance events held annually<br />
at the Center.<br />
“Argentine Tango is different from other social dances, like Ballroom<br />
Tango,” reports Bryarly McEachern with the VTDigger. “First, there is the<br />
embrace. In Ballroom, partners arch their upper bodies away from each<br />
other, but in Argentine Tango, the chests lean in, even touching if you are<br />
using the close embrace.<br />
“People who have found their way to Argentine Tango are unabashed<br />
in telling you what they love about the dance. Some have found their<br />
soulmate through tango, others say that it rekindled their love for life,<br />
and many claim that Tango has made them a better person, transforming<br />
their relationships to themselves and others.”<br />
Nothing is more titillating than the physical touch when dancing the<br />
tango. Book a class, raise your arm out to the side, rest your hand in your<br />
partner’s, and dance the language of love.<br />
36<br />
January 2024<br />
Lauren Tallman is founder of the Erotic Writers Group of Las Vegas<br />
and author of “Harem of the Dragon,” “Come Again?,” and “How<br />
to Have an Affair and Not Get Caught.” Visit her website: laurentallman.com.
37
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