My Week in Vegas

Vera Blossom, Neon Lights, & The Ninth Island

On my flight to Vegas, I finished reading How To Fuck Like A Girl by Vera Blossom. It’s a fine collection of essays from a writer who coincidentally moved from Vegas to Chicago. Towards the end of the book, in her essay Born Again, And Again, And Again, there’s this passage that I can’t stop thinking about because of the ennui it invokes.

“The world projects onto Las Vegas an idea of opulence and luxury, so it becomes true, the city is a place for indulging and gambling, sailing up through skyscrapers, and an endless meal at a buffet. But the city struggles against itself. There’s a version of Las Vegas that wants to be a shining, glamorous star, and there’s another version that crawls toward entropy, towards natural equilibrium, towards a slow life.” - Blossom, 149

When I landed, the first thing I noticed was the air. It was rich, and clear in a wa…