Week of April 17, 2025
From the editor’s desk
At last night’s Washoe County Library Board meeting, the board was slated to discuss now-former director Jeff Scott’s 90-day performance review. The board had given him a score of 1.42 out of 3. Listed among the evening’s possible outcomes was “dismissal if necessary.”
But board chair Ann Silver announced early in the meeting that Scott had “voluntarily resigned.”
While the board had rated Scott’s performance “minimally effective,” staff members seemed to feel differently. According to a 2024 survey conducted by Washoe County, library employees reported a high satisfaction rate with their jobs—4.37 out of 5.
Among the 40-plus public commenters at the meeting was Jennifer Cole, a librarian at South Valleys Library. She said, in part:
“Why do we still love working for the library after struggling to provide service through a global pandemic, having our motives and professionalism repeatedly questioned in public forums, being yelled at, harassed, injured and threatened in our workplace, and having an organized disinformation campaign waged against us, resulting in the loss of our dedicated funding source? The answer is ‘strong leadership.’ Director Scott understands that the number-one resource of any thriving public library is its staff. He supports us, trusts us, and allows us to do what we are here to do.”
Take care,
—Kris Vagner, managing editor
From the RN&R
A complicated legacy: Dani Putney, the non-binary child of a mail-order bride, comes to peace with a fractured identity
By Max Stone
April 17, 2025
“I do feel displaced being a mixed-race person growing up in America who did not have access to the languages my mom spoke,” said poet Dani Putney. “My dad forbade her from teaching my brother and me Tagalog, because he wanted us to be more American.”
Sequins of events: Beck Baumann’s shiny sculptures brim with joy
By Jessica Santina
April 15, 2025
But after she lost her remote tech-support job in the economic crisis of 2008, Beck Baumann, a stay-at-home mom, decided to take advantage of a chance at a true artistic second act.
11 Days a Week: April 17-27, 2025
By Kelley Lang
April 16, 2025
Coming up in the next 11 days: A spring carnival at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center; a halfway-to-Halloween party at Dead Ringer Analog Bar; and more!
Terror for 95 minutes: ‘Warfare’ is a chilling real-time depiction of a battle during the Iraq War
By Bob Grimm
April 14, 2025
Warfare feels authentic, for good reason: Co-writer/co-director Ray Mendoza was one of the soldiers, and the filmmakers go to extremes both visually and sonically to re-create the terror of the failed mission.
Implant imposition: The seventh season of anthology series ‘Black Mirror’ gets off to a great start
By Bob Grimm
April 14, 2025
While some of it is funny, the 56-minute premiere episode of Black Mirror’s seventh season has a significant horror element to go with the sci-fi.
Streetalk: Have you ever had buyer’s remorse?
By David Robert
April 13, 2025
“Having an Amazon account is a dangerous game. I buy stuff, and I don’t even remember what I bought until it comes in the mail.”
Local launchpad: The Sontag competition helps fund innovative entrepreneurs with a $50,000 award
By Matt Westfield
April 11, 2025
Meet the semifinalists from UNR’s annual entrepreneurship contest.
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