Original Publication Information:
Suedomsa the Magazine July 1998 Volume Two, Issue
One
Introduction: Vegas Sucks By Lisa Heim
Born in Vegas, raised in California and sentenced to high school back in
Vegas, I think I have a pretty good grasp on things. But if my palms get
sweaty I might lose my grip on this plastic reality. So I'll be
careful.
Plastic.
Plastic mannequings wearing vinyl (plastic!) clothes. Plastic ATM cards.
Plastic cups filled with free alcohol. Place your plastic money on the
blackjack table where the cards are dealt from plastic shoes. Everything
in Vegas is plastic. Everyone in Vegas is a plastic Barbie or Ken. That
is why Vegas sucks.
Everyone I know that doesn't fit into the mold is lucky enough to have
been raised somewhere else. Somewhere where plastic still exists but
isn't a dominating force.
July 17, 1989, I was in the backseat of my mom's Jeep Cherokee in tears.
I did not want to move here. But what can a kid do?
Throughout high school, as I continued to KIT with my childhood beach
bunny friends, I was told multiple times how lucky I was to "get to" live
in Vegas. I gave the same excuses to them as I gave to the guys I picked
up on the Strip once I reached driving age. Vegas sucks 'cause there's
nothing for kids to do. Be 21 or be bored. Sometimes I doubted that
reasoning. I thought about what kids in other places must be doing -
movies, shopping, bowling, whatever...and we have all that here.
Probably, we have it a little better than most towns but the movie
theaters, the malls, the bowling alleys, all of 'em, are in casinos. If
they aren't part of a massive hotel, they have their share of slot
machines tucked away in some corner. The most irritating fault Las Vegas
bears is this: you can walk into any grocery store and smoke! Wouldn't
want to deny any gamblers any of their rights!
The rage this article inspires has ironically made my palms sweaty which
means I may lose my grasp for a minute...as I often do...and accidentally
think Vegas is cool.
