Week of Sept. 27, 2023

From the editor’s desk

With political hopefuls now jockeying for positions in the 2024 elections, columnist Sheila Leslie proposes some ground rules in the name of civility. 

For a lot of retirees in the United States, aging doesn’t just mean sore knees—it means a healthcare system that can hurl you into poverty. Leave it to Reno Little Theater to treat the subject with compassion and leave audiences laughing. Jessica Santina has more in her review of RLT’s current production, A Facility for Living.

Artist April Bey said that in the Bahamas, where she’s from, advertisements tend to show locals mostly as servants, refilling drinks for tourists. But in her images, Bahamians are the ones indulging on the beach. Bey’s exhibition Atlantica, The Gilda Region is on view at the Nevada Museum of Art, and Brent Holmes’ Q+A with her is in the RN&R. 

Back in late August/early September, the international press characterized Burning Man as an utter catastrophe due to the rain. I was there, and I saw the event from a different vantage point. My shoes sure did get muddy, but for a great many of us, it was more or less business as usual.

Temperatures will drop a bit this weekend, so maybe staying in for a movie is the way to go. Bob Grimm’s has two streaming recommendations for you. No One Will Save You on Hulu is “a fun and scary new alien home-invasion movie from writer-director Brian Duffield” with plenty of “old-school alien hijinks.” On Amazon Prime, Gael Garcia Bernal gets high marks as Cassandro, the real-life, openly gay Mexican wrestler in Cassandro.

You already knew Mark Twain—a Nevada resident for a time—was funny. But did you know there’s a whole canon of early Silver State humor? Author Ronald James explores the culture of “deceit … tall tales, burlesque lies, practical jokes, and journalistic hoaxes” in his new book Monumental Lies: Early Nevada Folklore of the Wild West.

In this month’s letters to the editor, readers sound off on assault weapons, the unaccounted-for computers at Truckee Meadows Community College, and more. (Have an opinion you’d like to share? Send a letter to the editor, up to 150 words, based on verifiable facts, to letters@renonr.com.)

Our October print edition will start hitting the streets over the weekend. Be sure to pick one up at 700 locations across Reno, Sparks, Carson, Minden/Gardnerville, Tahoe and beyond!

Take care,

—Kris Vagner, managing editor