R 2014 12 18

Letters............................ 3 Opinion/Streetalk............ 5 Sheila.Leslie.................... 6 Brendan.Trainor.............. 7 News.............................. 8 Green........................... 10 Feature......................... 13 Arts&Culture................ 16 Art.of.the.State............. 18

The future of shopping hell On why Amazon.c om’s brand of e-commer ce is way, way, way worse than Wal-Mart Page 13

By Jim Hightower

RENo’s NEws & ENtERtaiNmENt wEEkly

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Foodfinds..................... 22 Film.............................. 24 Musicbeat.....................27 Nightclubs/Casinos....... 28 This.Week..................... 31 Advice.Goddess........... 32 Free.Will.Astrology....... 34 15.Minutes.....................35 Bruce.Van.Dyke............35

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• Family planning & contraception ontraception

Part of our aim is to improve the health of our community — to minimize sickness, disease and hospital stays. Our integrated approach to wellness utilizes an electronic medical record and coordination with specialty care when needed.

ne density • Mammogram & bone screening referrals

General Medicine Services NNMG is proud to offer personalized primary care designed for women. We also offer women in the community: • Health screening & disease prevention • Diagnosis & management of chronic disease • Medical skin care

• Sexually transmitted d infection screening and treatment • Vaginal and urinary tract infection treatment

“Sensitive, personalized ed care for women in a safe, nurturing ring environment.” nt.”

Kathryn Bryant, MSN, APRN, FNP, earned her Master of Science degree in Nursing from the Orvis School of Nursing at the University of Nevada.

A nurse since 2003, Bryant focused her study on family nursing.

Her background is in critical care nursing. Bryant practices at NNMG’s Spanish Springs location at 5070 Ion Drive.

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To schedule an appointment, call 775.352.5335.

Medicare and most of the area’s health plans are accepted.

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If you have concerns or questions about specific symptoms that may affect your health, please contact your healthcare provider.

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Send letters to renoletters@newsreview.com

Being here

Why DO we?

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Well, there went another big chunk of my life, another semester down. I know a lot of you think I’m crazy, and I often hear about how I must be crazy with the workload I carry, but I really don’t feel like I’m killing myself (except that my gym time gets cut out).

I think there are three reasons for that. I don’t follow sports, watch television or participate in a religion.

My dad used to make a similar point to me years ago.

When I was a teenager, I had to go out every night, party with my friends, get friendly with whatever girls would have me.

He’d always say something along the lines of “The same exact thing happens every night; you’d miss nothing.” And then he’d sit there and watch sitcoms on network TV every night and drink beer. But it wasn’t the hypocrisy I was trying to get at, it was just this concept of how much of our time living we spend not living.

I mean, I’m all for drinking beer and being merry, but if the time we spend watching TV or watching sports on TV was taken off the end of our lives instead of in increments throughout, there’d be a hell of a lot fewer people getting softly shitfaced on the couch and watching The Voice. And Sundays, can you imagine the pyramids you could build if you just decided to stop pretending that professional sports are something that fulfill you personally or that you can take personal pride in?

I don’t have any answers, maybe going to church on Sunday really does put a chit in some get-into-heaven-free box. But wasn’t there some debate in Christianity whether good works, like volunteering at the Literacy Council or visiting somebody who’s sick, wouldn’t also get you a couple of those secret keys to the pearly gates?

I’m big into investing my time and money into things that will advance me as a human being, and I can’t think of anything that does that better than education. On the other hand, you’ve got to have a hangover every now and then to appreciate all that self-improvement.

Re “Dogs for everyone” (Letters to the Editor, Dec. 11): The whole gist of my comment was to show, in my opinion, why the shop owners in Ferguson should have defended their property with firearms, while the government stood by and watched their businesses burn.

One could hardly call the crimes committed in Ferguson a petty crime.

I don’t think a baseball bat and a dog would have saved their livelihood.

99.9 percent of law enforcement officers are good people and do a great job, but if somebody is threatening the life of me or my family, while breaking into my house, they will get a bullet between their eyes! There wouldn’t be time to call 911. No citizen should be a cop, but excuse me, why do we still have the Second Amendment?

Mike Arp Reno

from California and one of the main reasons was the third world country my city had become. Now I see Reno and Nevada slowly turning into a third world country as well. Maybe I should pack up and move out of this country before it is to late.

Robert Henri Reno

Another devil win When one supports abortion, isn’t it very likely he/she will also support embryonic stem-cell research? If one doesn’t believe an unborn baby has the right-to-life sadly most will conclude that it’s OK to kill human embryos if others can benefit from the embryonic stem-cell research.

What we have here is a warped ideology that has divorced God and fallen for the devil’s deception. God is the Creator of all human life and He determines who lives and when we die, not man!

Michael Rachiele Prairie Village, Kansas

Third World, Nevada Re “Immigrants are not the enemy” (Left Foot Forward, Dec. 11): This is in regards to Sheila Leslie column in which she writes that immigrants are not the enemy. I guess that is true. The bigger enemy is our own federal government that continues to turn their back on guarding our borders and who continue to import poverty and disease and crime into our country. Funny how they never use the term “illegal immigrants,” because if they attached it to what they are always ranting about, we’d know as they know that it is wrong. I have grown up trying to get jobs where I am asked if I speak Spanish or we really need someone who is bilingual, knowing I won’t get the job simply because I am asking for too much pay. It is time to truly do immigration reform and once they do then I want both borders sealed off. But we know that will never happen. I moved here

Our Mission To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring. To create a quality work environment that encourages people to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare. To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live.

Edward Snowden released classified information and immediately was charged by the Department of Justice with two counts of violating the Espionage Act. And the Department of State canceled his passport.

Snowden faces prison and has been on the run ever since.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s CIA report releases classified information, and puts Americans across the globe in danger. Has Sen. Feinstein’s passport also been canceled? Is Justice drawing up similar charges? They’d better hurry, before Feinstein seeks sanctuary in San Francisco.

Robert R. Kessler Las Vegas

Tax everyone equally

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Editor/Publisher D. Brian Burghart News Editor Dennis Myers Arts Editor Brad Bynum Calendar Editor Kelley Lang Staff writer Sage Leehey Contributors Amy Alkon, Woody Barlettani, Bob Grimm, Ashley Hennefer, Sheila Leslie, Eric Marks, Dave Preston, Jessica Santina, Todd South, Brendan Trainor, Bruce Van Dyke, Allison Young

ART OF THE STATE

Re “Livable community?” (Letters to the Editor, Oct. 10, 2013): Over a year ago, I wrote a letter regarding the crosswalk one block north of Junkees after the former mayor made such a big deal about not getting hit while crossing, when the pedestrians of our crosswalk just one block north had not been as lucky. I no longer own that business, so I am not there to help the senior citizens across as I once did. I write this letter because just last week, word got back to me that one of my senior citizens in his 70s who must use a cane, and one of many I had to literally stop traffic for so he could cross, was hit in this very same crosswalk. He was dragged over a block before the driver finally stopped. He has two broken arms, a broken collar bone, and his lower back also broken.

I cannot tell you how mortified I was to hear this. Until we have true and consistent traffic control in these obvious problem areas I shudder to think how many more people will suffer horrific injuries and even death. I can only hope that my former customer and friend will be able to recover.

Cecelia Soper Reno

We now know how much the IRS has been used by our “leaders” for their political purposes. The news keeps coming. We already knew that the IRS had power with impunity.

Creative Director Priscilla Garcia Art Director Hayley Doshay Junior Art Director Brian Breneman Production Coordinator Skyler Smith Design Melissa Bernard, Brad Coates, Kyle Shine Advertising Consultants Joseph “Joey” Davis, Gina Odegard, Bev Savage, Jessica Wilson Senior Classified Advertising Consultant Olla Ubay Office Manager/Ad Coordinator Karen Brooke Executive Assistant/Operations Coordinator Nanette Harker

brianb@ ne wsreview . com

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The war in heaven recorded in Revelation 12:7-9 happened in our pre-mortal life with our Heavenly Father (Almighty God, Lord Omnipotent, Elohim, Man, Endless, Eternal, Creator of Heaven and Earth, YHWH, I Am, Allah) and Heavenly Mother of our eternal spirits who is too sacred to identify by names. A savior was needed for God’s plan of salvation to make it possible for us to return to Their presence after our mortal sojourn where we would obtain experience, knowledge and physical bodies of flesh and bones like They have (Luke 24:39-43, D&C 130:22); and get dirty in the process, as no unclean thing can enter into the presence of God, (Eph. 5:5-6, 3 Nephi 27:19). Lucifer was rejected as the savior in favor of Jehovah (Jesus Christ) because Lucifer’s plan was to take away our God-given free agency and force us all to obey God’s commandments, and he wanted our glory and God’s glory and power in return for not losing a single soul (Moses 4:1-4). Lucifer became Satan the dragon (Rev. 20:2) because of his rebellion and anger against God and was cast into the outer darkness portion of the universe, where Earth is now, with his followers numbering one-third of the host of heaven (D&C 29:36-37,133:73). The war in heaven resumed in the Garden of Eden and continues to this day.

Michael W. Jarvis Salt Lake City

Enforce crosswalk laws

Walking papers

—D. Brian Burghart

OPINION

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!

These problems are partly a result of the human condition. Our Founding Fathers, the framers of our U.S. Constitution, knew this. They knew how leaders can reduce liberty of citizens. That is why they forbid an income tax. They said it was the equivalent of stealing someone’s property. So just 100 years ago the income tax (16th Amendment) was sold as a way to “soak the rich.”

Within five years, the income tax was imposed on all Americans. This country’s economy did just fine without an income tax.

Jim Lyle via email

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Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Manager Anthony Clarke Distribution Drivers Sandra Chhina, Steve Finlayson, Debbi Frenzi, Vicky Jewell, Joe Medeiros, Ron Neill, Christian Shearer, Marty Troye, Warren Tucker, Gary White, Joseph White, Margaret Underwood General Manager/Publisher John D. Murphy President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Chief Operations Officer Deborah Redmond Human Resource Manager Tanja Poley Business Manager Grant Rosenquist

NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS

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THIS WEEK

Business Nicole Jackson

Sweetdeals Coordinator Alicia Brimhall Nuts & Bolts Ninja Christina Wukmir

Lead Technology Synthesist Jonathan Schultz Senior Support Tech Joe Kakacek Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalinn Jenkins 405 Marsh Ave., Third Floor Reno, NV 89509 Phone (775) 324-4440 Fax (775) 324-4572 Classified Fax (916) 498-7940 Mail Classifieds to classifieds@newsreview.com

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Web site www.newsreview.com Printed by Paradise Post The RN&R is printed using recycled newsprint whenever available.

Editorial Policies Opinions expressed in the RN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permission to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. The RN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form.

Cover and feature story design: Brian Breneman/Tina Flynn

DECEMBER 18, 2014

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by Marina Palmieri

ThIS Modern World

by tom tomorrow

Do you have any tips for winter driving?

Asked at Department of Motor Vehicles, 305 Galletti Way Carmen Vazquez Interpreter

Take your time, dive slower and stop as far away from the car in front of you as possible.

Justin Walsh Construction worker

Don’t slam your brakes, don’t turn too fast, and don’t drive fast.

David Brandt Construction worker

That’s sick

Drive slowly and pay attention to other people around you.

Long-time Washoe County Commissioners Bonnie Weber and David Humke earned recent headlines because they asked for a policy change that would let them collect a pile of accumulated sick pay—supposedly to the tune of around $10,000—when their terms end at the end of the year. Seeing as commissioners aren’t even full-time employees and don’t take sick leave, Humke and Weber’s request didn’t exactly tug at the heartstrings of their constituents or fellow board members. It may be unlawful, too.

“Because of the lack of accountability for hours or leave, approving sick leave could also amount to an illegal increase in compensation for commissioners,” deputy District Attorney David Watts-Vial wrote in a legal opinion obtained by the Reno Gazette-Journal.

“Because ... there is no reason to use sick leave ... the commissioners would essentially be accumulating sick leave for the sole purpose of receiving a payout at the end of their career.”

This calls for some slow clapping, folks.

Per the RGJ’s coverage, a commissioner who skips meetings doesn’t get docked pay the way a sheriff, D.A. or other full-time official might, but neither is he or she compensated for unspent time off the way full-timers are. Granted, “time off” doesn’t really apply in this case.

“They don’t have regular work hours,” a county spokeswoman said of the commissioners, “because they’re elected.”

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In other words, the sick-pay idea (which Weber proposed and Humke initially supported) looked like a backhanded way to cash out. It’s important to note, though, that Weber ultimately did the right thing. She slowed her roll by the time her suggestion showed up on the commission’s Dec. 9 agenda, apologizing to other commissioners and opting to drop the idea. She was also irked (or perhaps motivated?) by the RGJ’s mention of Watts-Vial’s opinion, and called his facts into question, though it’s the newspaper’s job to bring information to the public.

Anyway, county payroll records show that she and Humke each pull in close to $59,000 a year as commissioners. That shakes out to about $100,000 with benefits, according to the website Transparent Nevada, transparentnevada.com.

Cry. Us. A. River.

The two are respectably compensated for their jobs as part-time public servants—and again, the modifier is “part-time.” They still have their day jobs, of course.

He’s a tribal court judge and prosecutor, and she co-owns a family business.

Even the mere appearance of greed among public officials is off-putting. Always has been. That’s because—call us Captain Obvious, here—taxpayers cover the salaries of folks like county commissioners and the various other public officials who trade their time and perhaps their sanity to better our community.

Ten thousand free dollars may not feel like much to Weber or Humke, but it’s a lot to everyone else. Ω

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Kat Rubioso Catering Banquet Server

Be careful and keep your mind focused on what you’re doing. No texting or talking on the phone.

Julio Arras Job seeker

Go by the rules, wear your seatbelt and don’t go too fast.

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The best offense is a good defense What can we expect in 2015 as Nevada’s public policy takes a decidedly rightward turn, courtesy of the Republican sweep of the Legislature and constitutional offices?

The policy framework becomes more apparent with each passing day as Republicans begin to formulate an by agenda that will highlight many old Sheila Leslie proposals the Democrats, particularly those in the Assembly, blocked for many years.

It seems everyone is anxious to improve Nevada’s abysmal education statistics, reflected by our consistently poor rankings in the two areas that matter most—number of high school dropouts and number of children enrolled in pre-school.

Republicans have been fond of saying “you can’t throw money at the problem” whenever Democrats point out Nevada’s poor showing in per pupil funding as well. But despite politicians from both parties crowing about increases in education funding in recent years, most of the “extra” money has gone toward “roll-ups,” funding needed to address increased

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enrollment and inflationary expenses.

Now, Republicans will get the opportunity to pass the education “reforms” that Democrats blocked for decades. You can expect to see legislation to add more charter schools, despite numerous studies that show many of the existing charter schools have failed just as miserably as our worst public schools. Other bills, one with Democratic support, will focus on parental choice, allowing some parents to move their children into better performing schools while leaving children with less involved parents behind.

Teachers will likely lose collective bargaining abilities and other employment protections in the Republican quest to improve individual teacher performance by punishing everyone.

And Assemblymember “I’d vote for slavery if my constituents wanted it” Jim Wheeler, now the Republican whip, has signaled his priority will be “protecting” prayer in school.

Will there be a retrenching of abortion rights? Back in 1990, Nevada voters approved Question 3, the

Freedom of Choice Act, to preserve abortion rights on the state level, even if the U.S. Supreme Court decided to overturn its 1973 decision in Roe v.

Wade. Only the voters can rescind that constitutional protection in Nevada, but that won’t stop Republicans from trying to chip away at access to abortion any way they can.

It looks like their first effort will be to weaken Nevada’s parental notification law passed in 1985 but never enforced after a legal challenge

by Planned Parenthood. Abortion opponents are hoping the new attorney general, Adam Laxalt, will ask the Ninth Circuit to take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court as Montana did when their parental consent law was upheld.

In past sessions, extreme and misleading anti-abortion legislation, such as Sharron Angle’s insistence that women be informed that abortions are tied to breast cancer, were simply not heard. Be prepared in 2015 for other fringe bills to emerge as they have in other states, such as a requirement for a vaginal ultrasound, enforced waiting

periods, or access limited by requiring unreasonable building codes.

Will the sunsets finally sunset?

In 2009, under the leadership of Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn, the Legislature was unable to balance the budget without “temporary” taxes to raise about $600 million. When Democrats wanted to make the taxes permanent to avoid a battle every two years, Republican Majority Leader, Senator Bill Raggio, made “sunsetting” them after two years a condition of his approval.

Gov. Brian Sandoval couldn’t balance the state budget without the “sunsets” in 2011 or in 2013 so the taxes have continued along with many budget cuts enacted during the recession. Will these taxes appear in the governor’s budget for the next biennium as the state faces a looming budget hole of hundreds of millions of dollars? The answer will be revealed in his State of the State address in mid-January.

But it’s clear, progressives will be in defensive mode in 2015. Ω

Here’s an NPR story from August of last year about how California is turning the West blue: http://n.pr/1sgpydJ

We have a Second Amendment, let’s use it On Oct. 27, 2007, Amanda Collins was raped by James Biela on the UNR campus in a parking garage near the campus police office. She said she could hear officers driving off even as Biela put a gun to her head and violated her.

Amanda, life-long firearm enthuby Brendan siast, had a concealed carry permit.

Trainor She was not allowed to carry on campus. Nevada campuses are gunfree zones. She became an armed self-defense activist after the rape.

On April 3, 2013, Amanda testified before the Nevada Assembly Judiciary Committee in favor of a bill that would have allowed Nevada concealed carry permit holders to carry on Nevada campuses. Biela went on to rape two more women and killed one of them before he was caught and sentenced to death. Amanda believes that if she had her weapon she could have, at some point in

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the rape, ended it and Biela’s crime spree as well. Although the bill died in that committee, Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, R-Las Vegas, promises to bring it up again in 2015.

Campus carry opponents say concealed carry would increase crime while making students less safe, and that the evil rapists will take away the gun from the poor little victim and use it against her.

Seven states, including Utah, have campus concealed carry with no increase in crime, and numerous studies suggest that the decadeslong national decrease in violent crime correlates well with the increase in shall-issue concealed carry laws. Criminals rarely take the weapon of a permit holder and usually flee after the weapon is merely brandished.

This time in Nevada, with a Republican-controlled Legislature and governor, a campus concealed carry bill would likely pass.

Recently, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the constitutional

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right of individual armed self defense. Even Sacramento has reluctantly begun to issue concealed-carry permits. Many Nevada women enjoy their gun rights. The natural right to armed self-defense is becoming as recognized as gay marriage and marijuana reform.

Opponents of campus carry cite student drinking as a reason not to allow it. Actually, it is not student drinking, but rather binge drinking, that is the problem. Binge drinking on college campuses is out of control. Libertarians, however, have the solution: repeal the federal minimum drinking age of 21 years.

Let the states decide the minimum drinking age, which most will set to 18 years.

An 18-year-old can vote for president and die for his country but cannot legally drink a beer. Not all frat boys are pigs, but those who are gain power over the women they call “beer wenches” because they control the flow of alcohol at

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their parties. Since most college coeds are under 21, they must obtain their drinks at underground venues. Psychology 101 teaches us that repression breeds overcompensation, which in American colleges results in binge drinking and sometimes in rape. If coeds have friendly and legal venues at which to consume alcohol, binge drinking and sexual assaults would decrease.

The solutions the left have proposed to the problem of campus rape have failed. The Department of Education’s affirmative consent rule threatens to portray every stolen kiss as a strong-armed robbery.

Committing rape is a crime, and the accused are deserving of due process. We have tried the left’s repressive approach to the problem. It has resulted in several high profile false accusations and numerous silly analogies. America is not Afghanistan, we do not have a “rape culture.” It is time to say “I Believe” to freedom. Ω

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Here’s an interesting site called Students for Concealed Carry: http://concealedcampus.org.

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Photo/Dennis Myers

An exhibit showed one of the two signs planned for Summit Sierra. This one includes a digital screen and was rejected by the Reno Planning Commission. A second sign did not include the screen and was approved.

A message instead of money

It was a little like the restaurant scene in Doctor Zhivago.

At Reno’s Siena Hotel Casino, a group of affluent lobbyists and Republicans were on hand to give money to Nevada Assemblymember James Wheeler. A group of community activists who had quietly arrived began chanting “I can’t breathe”— the last words spoken by Eric Garner, the unarmed man who died after being put in an apparent choke hold by a New York City police officer in July.

The chant was repeated 11 times, the same number that Garner spoke the sentence. Wheeler (facing the protesters in photo) kept saying, “Neither can I.” The protest was less over Wheeler’s well-known comments about voting to reinstate slavery than his actual voting record. “He is also the only legislator who scored worse on racial equity (48 percent) than Ira Hansen (42 percent) in the last session,” read a planning document for the protest.

After making their point, the protestors filed out. Following their departure, Wheeler told his contributors, “No extra charge for the entertainment.”

Database called public service A U.S. House member has attested to the value of the Fatal Encounters database developed by RN&R editor Brian Burghart and urged federal support for academic partners who are joining the effort.

“Mr. Burghart’s work is critical to complementing our legislative efforts,” wrote U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida. “Already, activist groups such as Color of Change are using his data to educate public policymakers. I believe the Department of Justice will not compile such a database unless it is forced to do so by a competing credible academic database.”

Burghart launched the website in February, and the August shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri brought it to considerable prominence. Particularly because it lists more incidents than federal databases such as that of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Congress last week re-enacted the Death in Custody Reporting Act, a federal law that lapsed eight years ago, but Burghart’s efforts continue. While the original act was in effect, 2000-2006, it was largely ignored by official agencies.

Low oil prices reduce fracking?

A Bureau of Land Management auction of oil and gas leases in Reno last week came to little when only one of 97 parcels offered was bid on. BLM and petroleum execs spun the story as a case of sage grouse protections scaring off oil companies, but environmental spokespeople said the facts don’t fit that scenario.

“Fascinating, since sage grouse parcels were all removed from the sale before it began,” said wildlife biologist Erik Molvar of Wild Earth Guardians in an email message to an associate. “The real answer is probably that low crude oil prices make horizontal fracking operations unprofitable.”

Fracking is forcing a water/chemical/sand mixture into the earth tap shale for fossil fuels. It is relatively unregulated. Nevada does not require disclosure of the ingredients being forced into the ground, nor does any other state, and the federal government exempts fracking from clean air and water laws.

—Dennis Myers 8 | RN&R |

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High light Battle joined over Summit Sierra signs The Reno City Planning Commission last week approved a seven-story sign for Summit Sierra mall and rejected a by second such sign.

Dennis Myers Scenic Nevada, which as Citizens for a Scenic Reno won a 2000 voter-approved enactment of a ban on new billboards in Reno, said the Summit signs are billboards and should be disallowed.

“This sign is not a billboard. … It is not governed by the city’s digital billboard ordinance,” said Summit lawyer John Frankovich.

“This sign is not a billboard.”

John Frankovich summit sierra The two signs are a little more than 70 feet high and stand on concrete pedestals. They are akin to signs adjacent to the freeways that pass the Sparks Nugget and the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno.

One of them has a digital screen, and that one was rejected by the commission.

Frankovich said up to five billboards are allowed in the area, which Summit has agreed to forgo if its two monolithic signs are allowed, a proposition that Scenic Nevada spokespeople called a threat.

“If we don’t give them what they want, they’re going to make it

worse,” said Scenic Nevada lawyer Mark Wray.

Scenic Nevada members were already doing a slow burn when they arrived at the meeting. They believed they had the battle won at a Dec. 4 meeting, whereupon Summit was given a continuance.

“When there’s a tie vote, the applicant gets [an extension] and there’s a later date,” said Scenic Nevada board member Peter Neumann. He also told the planning commission members that “the staff [was] meeting behind your back” to work out a deal with Summit.

There were times during the meeting when staffers seemed to come to the aid of Summit, although whether it was advocacy or just keeping the commissioners informed is a subjective call.

Frequently, it came when there were differences over definitions.

For instance, at one point the issue was raised whether the change on the digital face of the sign from one image to another constituted a “flashing” sign, and a staffer said that it has not normally been defined that way. She said that “flipping from one scene to another every ten seconds” does not flash, and to demonstrate it, she had a Summit representative switch images on a computer that was putting material on wall screens.

Commissioner Douglas Coffman argued that because the technology is advanced, that made

it “progressive technology. I think it’s where signage is going. … It’s not as offensive to me.”

Frankovich similarly argued that “the digital is new technology … safer and more effective.” But he also made the case that there’s nothing wrong with relatively obtrusive signs in that particular region, because that’s the way it is expected to go. In fact, he pointed out, there is a casino hotel approved for the area, which is true, though it is a fairly stale approval that has never moved much beyond the approval stage.

Wray responded, characterizing Frankovich’s pitch as “There’s going to be all kinds of crappy signs, so what difference does it make if we have them, too?”

Summit was seeking approval to bend the city’s rules on signs dealing with height, the size of the sign’s face, the number of lights in the sign, and the “variables”—that is, the number or frequency of times the image on the sign changes.

The opponents took repeated shots at the height of the sign, often calling it “seven stories tall” and arguing it could be “seen for miles.” That was a sore spot because there were comments from the commissioners about signs at the Grand Sierra Resort that can be seen for long distances.

Commissioner Paul Olivas called the GSR sign the “most obnoxious” in the valley. No one seemed to want to approve another sign that incurred the same level of public displeasure.

“These are very bright signs,” Neumann said in his testimony.

“They have more than a million lights—LED lights—in them.”

“There are “no moving parts, no flashing,” Frankovich said. “The change [of images] is not a flash.”

In addition, they are adjacent to the freeway, intended to be seen by freeway drivers—“You’ve got to go 40 feet before you reach the level of the freeway.”

Olivas also said the commissioners must follow existing standards for signage.

“We’re not here to write the rules, but we’re here to apply them,” he said—though he also referred to “holes and inconsistencies” in the rules.

Wray told the commissioners, “If this was OK ... then he [Frankovich] wouldn’t be coming

before you for permission to bend the rules. … They’re making a mockery of the standards you’re supposed to be following.”

Frankovich interpreted the silence of people who live in the area as consent to the signs.

“There is nobody from the surrounding neighborhoods that has come to complain,” he said.

The proposed signs are on-premise, meaning they advertise merchants on the same property where the sign is located.

South Reno resident Barbara Rainey was not impressed by that line of argument.

“A hundred percent of the impact of this sign is off premise,” she said.

A study done at the request of Scenic Nevada by state highway officials was invoked against the Summit signs, prompting Frankovich to trivialize the study.

That made Commissioner Peter Gower say there is “useful information in it, and I thought it was fairly compelling.”

The meeting was held Dec. 11. Scenic Nevada board member Lori Wray informed the meeting that just the evening before, the Reno City Council had agreed to a moratorium on on-premise digital billboards. “Approving this may be premature,” she said.

The moratorium is on noncasino and non-mall applications.

“If we don’t give them what they want, they’re going to make it worse.”

Mark Wray Scenic nevada

AND HIV

After the commissioners voted down the digital sign and approved the non-digital version, there were some defenses of the city staffers as having acted “in good faith.”

The buck does not stop with the commission. The Reno City Council has final say on whether to approve the signs, so Scenic Nevada will have to continue gthe effort. The group sent a Dec. 16 notice to its members, telling them, “The planning commission’s decision is final unless appealed

by December 22 to the Reno City Council.”

That prompted another community activist write to her mailing list: “As one businessman remarked to members of the city council last week, it is like the wild west here. We need to clean this up. We need to speak out against allowing this visual pollution to destroy our communities and region.”

Mark Wray said later that Scenic Nevada is not in the habit of fighting every eyesore that comes along. “We don’t fight a lot of things,” he said. Ω

Troubled bridge over waters Photo/D. Brian Burghart

Get Tested, Get Treatment, Get Talking Call (775) 328-6147 for free and confidental testing

During preparations for the Great Santa Dash on Saturday morning, a Reno motorcycle officer took a ride over the pedestrian bridge to check out some action in Wingfield Park.

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Cason Gongaware has helped promote and sell products for Renew Bamboo since the business started in the owner’s garage.

Bamboom Bamboo flooring and woodworking company thrives in Reno Some species of bamboo can grow about three feet in one day, making it the fastest growing plant in the world. This helps to make bamboo an extremely sustainable resource, although transportation of it, particularly if it’s grown in Asia, by Sage Leehey remains problematic. “You can only harvest a forest every 30 to 50 years on your traditional sagel@ types of woods, and that’s a long time to wait for trees to grow,� said Renew ne w s re v i e w . c o m Bamboo sales representative Cason Gongaware. “The bamboo that we use is called moso bamboo, and it can be grown and then harvested every five years. And what’s cool is that you can cut it off from the bottom of the stalk, and it will just re-grow from the stalk, and it’s actually good for the plant to do that. It’s a grass, and it just grows continuously.�

Because of the sustainability of bamboo, Nate McVay decided it would make for a great building product, and back in 2009, he started Renew Bamboo out of his garage. It has grown ever since, with business based mostly on referrals. The company works primarily locally, but will work with clients elsewhere as well. It originally was meant to be a custom furniture and cabinetry business, but flooring has taken over most of the business. “[Our distributor Cali Bamboo] send[s] us all the products we use to build the custom woodworking products, and they started selling flooring by the masses, so we started carrying flooring product lines and that has taken over 10 times more than what we do for custom furniture and cabinetry,�

Gongaware said. “Flooring is our big ticket item, but we still pretty much do anything woodworking as long as it involves bamboo. We’ll use other woods that customers might want, but we focus on bamboo.�

Bamboo also produces 30 percent more oxygen than trees do and can to learn more, visit www.renewbamboo. produce 20 times more timber than trees on the same area, according to com or call 244-2707.

When Technology Fails by Matthew Stein. Stein also said that bamboo has a Renew Bamboo is at “10 to 30 percent annual increase in biomass versus 2 to 5 percent for trees.�

3595 airway Drive.

Bamboo is also great for erosion control. “And if you have it anywhere where there are large earthquakes, you can actually walk into a bamboo forest during an earthquake and you’re more protected there than in most places because it’s such a dense, strong material,� Gongaware said. “And that kind of goes into why we sell the flooring and the woodworking that we do—bamboo is the strongest wood product that you can buy. It’s as strong, like on a compression rating, as strong as most alloy steels or even stronger than some.� The strength of bamboo makes it much more difficult to damage than other kinds of wood flooring, he said.

One of the issues with using bamboo in woodworking, though, is that it doesn’t do well in our dry climate here in Reno, but the Cali Bamboo products used by Renew Bamboo don’t really have that problem, they say. The method used to make their wood flooring planks—shredding the stalks, gluing, coloring and pressing them under high pressure—creates an extremely dense material and has a 10-layer finish. This flooring has a Janka hardness rating of 5,000 plus pounds-force. “The bamboo we sell is the hardest wood flooring in the world, so it’s such a dense floor that it doesn’t really allow for a lot of room to retain moisture or any sort of humidity,� Gongaware said. “So it doesn’t move, swell, split or break like it used to.� Ί

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Itʼs happen ing in ACTIVITIES

CLICKETS KNITTING GROUP

THE DESERT THROUGH MY EYES Aimee Kelly’s exhibition includes nine color photographs printed on aluminum. Her work tends to focus on nature and the environment, primarily desert ecosystems. Through the lens of her camera Aimee strives to capture the contradictory elements of the desert, which can range from absolutely stunning to downright strange. This new exhibition looks at the power of water in the desert. M-Th, Su, 10AM-5PM, 10AM-6PM & 11AM-7PM through 12/28, free. Spanish Springs Library, 7100A Pyramid Lake Highway (775) 4241800

RENO SKI & RECREATION CLUB The Reno Ski and Recreation Club holds its general meeting.

Hear the most current information about the Reno Ski & Recreation Club, upcoming trips and activities. The group meets the second Tuesday of each month. For socializing and dinner, members start arriving around 6PM. Meeting begins at 7PM. Second Tu of every month, 6PM, free. Cantina Los Tres Hombres, 926 Victorian Ave. (775) 356-6262

CROCHET CONNECTION Learn to crochet or share tips with other crochet enthusiasts.

Th, 4-5:45PM, free. Spanish Springs Library, 7100A Pyramid Lake Highway. (775) 424-1800

FOUR SEASONS BOOK CLUB The book club meets the first Saturday of each month. Call to find out each month’s book title. First Sa of every month, 1-2PM, free. Sparks Library, 1125 12th St. (775) 352-3200

CONVERSATION CAFE The drop-in conversation program meets on the first Saturday of each month, 2-4PM, free. Sparks Library, 1125 12th St. (775) 352-3200

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!

This class is for knitters of all ages and levels. Yarn and needles are available. First and Third Su of every month, 1:30-3PM, free. Spanish Springs Library, 7100A Pyramid Lake Highway, Spanish Springs (775) 424-1800

PERFORMANCE AND MUSIC BRANDED Th, 12/18, 8PM, F, 12/19, 8PM and Sa, 12/20, 8PM, no cover. JA Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

ELF PARTY WITH THE BAND 11*11 Come to the inaugural Elf Party at Paddy & Irene’s in Sparks.

The band 11*11 will be playing, there will be $2 PBRs, signature band drinks and special holiday drinks. Come in your elf attire; it will be a blast! Sa, 12/20, 9PM, no cover.

Paddy & Irene’s Irish Pub, 906-A Victorian Ave. (775) 3585484

RENO DANCE COMPANY’S NUTCRACKER BALLET Reno Dance Company presents its 13th annual presentation of the classic ballet. F, 12/19, 8PM, Sa, 12/20, 2 & 8PM, Su, 12/21, 2 & 7PM, M, 12/22, 2 & 7PM and Tu, 12/23, 2PM, $19.95-$36.95. JA Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

you there! Sa, 12/20, 9PM, no cover. Sparks Lounge, 1237 Baring Blvd. (775) 409-3340 JOSH BUDRO BAND W, 12/24, 8PM, Th, 12/25, 8PM, F, 12/26, 8PM and Sa, 12/27, 8PM, no cover. JA Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-330

SADDLE TRAMPS Sa, 12/27, 8PM, $15. JA Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave.,(775) 356-3300

LIVE MUSIC Sa, 9PM and Su, 3PM, no cover. CBQ, 1330 Scheels Dr. (775) 359-1109

LINE DANCING LESSONS Line dancing lessons from the Gilley’s Girls from 6PM-8PM. Enjoy DJ Trey from 6PM-mid. W, 6PM through 12/31. No cover. JA Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

DJ RAZZ Come dance the night away to DJ RAZZ! You can even karaoke if you like. Ladies Night every Friday night. Drink Specials all night. F, 9PM. Paddy & Irene’s Irish Pub, 906-A Victorian Ave. (775) 358-5484

LADIES NIGHT & TOUGHEST COWBOY Ladies Night w/live music and Toughest Cowboy Competition.

DJ breaks until midnight. W, 7 & 9PM through 12/31, no cover. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

ACOUSTIC WONDERLAND This is a singer-songwriter showcase. Come down to Paddy’s and bring your acoustic instruments. Sign-ups are at 7:30PM and music begins at 8PM. Drink Specials all night! Th, 8PM, no cover. Paddy & Irene’s Irish Pub, 906-A Victorian Ave. (775) 358-5484

LIVE MUSIC & LATE NIGHT DJ Live music with late-night DJ. F, 5PM-2AM & 7-11PM through 12/26, no cover. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

LIVE MUSIC & LATE NIGHT DJ Live music with late-night DJ. Sa, 5PM-2AM & 7PM-midnight through 12/27, no cover.

John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

KARAOKE

BIKINI BULL RIDING

KARAOKE WITH BOBBY DEE

DJ and Bikini Bull Riding Competition. Su, 5 & 9PM through 12/28, no cover. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

Tu, 8PM, no cover. Morelli’s G Street Saloon, 2285 G St. (775) 355-8281

Join us for The Elbow Room Bar’s Fireside Xmas Bash with Zero Jones Band! Sa, 12/20, 9PM, no cover. Elbow Room Bar, 2002 Victorian Ave. (775) 356-9799

LOCALS NIGHT

Th-Sa, 9PM, no cover. Bottom’s Up Saloon, 1923 Prater Way (775) 359-3677

ROCK AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE

CLASSIC ROCK NIGHT

Raffle, food drive, toy drive. It is the time of year to give. And we are ready to give you a Christmas full of rock ‘n’ roll. See

Classic rock night with DJ. Tu, 5PM through 12/30, no cover.

John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

ZERO JONES BAND FIRESIDE XMAS BASH

Locals Night, DJ. M, 5PM through 12/29, no cover. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

KARAOKE

AmAzon’s dArk side

On why Amazon.com is way, way, way worse than Wal-Mart

By Jim Hightower

Why pick on Amazon? After all, isn’t it a model of tech wizardry, having totally reinvented retail marketing for our smartphone, globally linked age? Doesn’t it peddle a cornucopia of goods through a convenient “1-Click” ordering system, rapidly delivering them right to your doorstep? And doesn’t it offer steep discounts on nearly everything it sells (which is nearly everything)? Yes, yes and yes.

However, as an old saying puts it: The higher the monkey climbs, the more you see of its ugly side.

Amazon certainly has climbed high in a hurry. Not yet 20 years old, it is already a household name and America’s 10th largest retailer. Traditional media marvels at Bezos’ obsession with electronic streamlining and systems management OPINION

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need for the factory owner to provide a lunch break, but it also transforms human workers into components of the machine itself.

Of course, worker-feeding machines were a comedic exaggeration by the filmmaker, not anything that actually existed, nothing that would even be considered in our modern times, right?

Well, if you work for Amazon.com, you’d swear that Chaplin’s masterpiece depicts Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ idea of a properly run workplace.

that allow Amazon to sell everything from books to bicycles, barbecues to Barbies, at cheap-cheap-cheap prices, undercutting all competitors—even Wal-Mart.

But what is the source of those efficiencies and the low prices so greatly admired by Wall Street and so gratefully accepted by customers? Are they achieved strictly by being a virtual store, saving the costs of building, staffing and maintaining brick-and-mortar outlets? Or is Amazon achieving market dominance the oldfashioned way—by squeezing the life out of its workers and suppliers, by crushing its competitors with monopolistic muscle, and by manipulating our national and state tax laws?

Amazon and Bezos scream for more scrutiny because Amazon, more than any ARTS&CULTURE

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other single entity, has had the infinite hubris to envision a brave new computerdriven order for our society. Bezos isn’t merely remaking commerce with his algorithms, metrics and vast network: He’s rebooting America itself, including our concept of a job, the definition of community, and even basic values of fairness and justice. It amounts to a breathtaking aspiration to transform our culture’s democratic paradigm into a corporate imperium led by Amazon.

Wal-Mart is now yesterday’s model of how far-reaching and destructive corporate power can be. Amazon is the new model, not just of tomorrow’s corporate beast, but also the day after tomorrow’s.

Only it’s already here. |

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This article is being published via a partnership coordinated by the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation and The Media Consortium.

It is part of AAN and TMC’s joint mission to bring important stories often overlooked by traditional media to communities large and small.

sHopping Hell

In his classic 1936 comedy Modern Times, silent filmmaker Charlie Chaplin depicts the trials and tribulations of a harried factory worker trying to cope with the sprockets, cogs, conveyor belts and “efficiencies” of the new industrial culture. The poor fellow finds himself caught up (almost literally) in the grinding tyranny of the machine. The movie is hilarious, but it’s also a damning portrayal of the dehumanizing consequences of mass industrialization.

The ultimate indignity for Chaplin’s everyman character comes when he is put on an assembly line that includes a mechanized contraption that force-feeds workers as they work. Not only does this “innovation” eliminate the

Bezos has been crowned with numerous laurels, from “Person of the Year” to world’s best living CEO. This May, however, he was awarded a less-coveted prize by the International Trade Union Confederation: “World’s Worst Boss.”

Even high-rankers in the corporation’s hierarchy describe him as a cold, controlling, often vengeful man with little empathy for the people who work for him.

But to witness the full Bezonian disregard for workers, one must look beyond the relative comfort of Amazon’s expansive headquarters and visit any of its 40-some “fulfillment centers” spread across the country. These are gated, guarded and secretive warehouses where most of the corporation’s 100,000 employees work.

The warehouses are dehumanizing hives in which Bezos has produced his own sequel to Modern Times.

Consider the job of “picker.” In each warehouse, hundreds of them are simultaneously scrambling throughout a maze of shelves, grabbing products. Pickers must speed-walk on concrete an average of a dozen miles a day, for an Amazon warehouse is shockingly big—more than 16 football fields big, or eight city blocks—and pickers must constantly crisscross the expanse. There are miles of 7-foot-high shelves running along narrow aisles on each floor of three-story buildings, requiring pickers continuously to stoop down, crawl along and stretch up.

They are directed by handheld computers to each target. Then they must scan the pick and put it on the right track of the 7 miles of conveyor belts running through the facility. Immediately after, they’re dispatched by computer to find the next product.

The computers don’t just dictate where to go next, they also relay how many seconds Amazon’s time-motion experts have calculated it should take to get there.

The scanners also record the time each worker actually takes—information that is fed directly into a central, all-knowing computer. Everything workers do is monitored, timed, scored and reviewed by managers, who have a mandate to fire those exceeding their allotted seconds.

This, and many other indignities, brings $10-$12 an hour, which is less than $25,000 a year gross for full-time work. But few get year-round work.

Rather, Amazon’s warehouse employees are “contingent” hires, meaning they are temporary, seasonal, part-time laborers entirely subject to the employer’s whim.

Worker advocates refer to these jobs as “precarious”: When sales slack off, you’re let go; when sales perk up and managers demand you do a 12-hour shift with no notice (which might let you find a babysitter), you do it or you’re fired.

more on pAge

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Is Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos just giving consumers what they want, namely low prices? Or is he undercutting competitors by skirting U.S. tax laws and venomously going after rivals?

PHOTO BY WIKICOMMONS

shopping heLL From page

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Of course, technically, you don’t actually work for Amazon. You’re hired by temp agencies and warehouse operators with Orwellian names like Amalgamated Product Giant Shipping Worldwide Inc. This lets Amazon deny responsibility for your treatment—and it means you have no labor rights, for you are an “independent contractor.” No health care, no vacation time, no scheduled raises, no route to a fulltime or permanent job, no regular schedule, no job protection and—of course—no union. Bezos has gone all-out with intimidation tactics and hired a notorious union-busting firm to crush any whisper of worker organization.

If you asked workers in Amazon’s swarming hives why they put up with the corporation’s demeaning treatment, most would look at you incredulously and say something like: “Rent, food, clothing—the basics.”

Like a cheetah staLking a sickLy gazeLLe Amazon is by far the largest online marketer in the world, with more sales than the next nine U.S. online retailers combined. That has given Bezos the monopoly power to stalk, weaken and even kill off retail competitors—threatening such giants as Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart and draining the lifeblood from hundreds of small Main Street shops.

Lest you think that “predator” is too harsh a term, consider the metaphor that Bezos himself chose when explaining how to get small book publishers to cough up deep discounts as the price of getting

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their titles listed on the Amazon website.

As related by Businessweek reporter Brad Stone, Bezos instructed his negotiators to stalk them “the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle.” Bezos’ PR machine tried to claim that this sneering comment was just a little “Jeff joke,” but they couldn’t laugh it off, for a unit dubbed the “Gazelle Project” had actually been set up inside Amazon.

This top-level team focused on doing exactly what Bezos’ metaphor instructed: Pursue vulnerable small publishers and squeeze their wholesale prices to Amazon down to the point of no profit, thus allowing the online retailer to underprice every other book peddler. When Stone exposed Gazelle last year in his book, The Everything Store, the project was suddenly rebranded with a bloodless name—“Small Publisher Negotiation Program”—but its mission remains the same.

Today, Amazon sells a stunning 40 percent of all new books, up from 12 percent five years ago. It is even more dominant in the digital-book market, which is fast catching up to the sales level of physical books and is widely perceived as the future of publishing. Electronic book sales were nonexistent just seven years ago; today about a third of all books sold are e-books, and Amazon sells two-thirds of those. Of course, Amazon also owns Kindle, the largest-selling device for reading digital books.

With his market clout, deep-pocket financing and ferocious price-cutting, Bezos has forced hundreds of America’s independent bookstores to close and has

humbled the superstore book chains that once preyed on the independents and dominated the market. Borders, the secondlargest chain, succumbed to bankruptcy in 2011. Now Barnes & Noble, the largest brick-and-mortar bookstore, is stumbling. It has lost millions of dollars, closed dozens of stores, shrunk most others, and suffered the embarrassment of its own board chairman frantically dumping big chunks of Barnes & Noble stock.

Bezos’ online empire not only stands alone as the paramount bookseller, but is also the dominant price setter, the arbiter of which titles get the best access (or none) to the biggest number of buyers, the most powerful reviewer of books, the publisher of its own line of books, the keeper of an in-house stable of writers—and even the sponsor of a major book prize.

He achieved this the old-fashioned way: brute force.

While it’s true that Amazon is innovative, efficient and focused on customer satisfaction, such factors alone did not elevate Amazon to its commanding level of market control. To reach that pinnacle, Bezos followed the path mapped by Rockefeller and other 19th-century robber barons: One, ruthlessly exploit a vast and vulnerable low-wage workforce; two, extract billions of dollars in government subsidies; and three, wield every anticompetitive weapon you can find or invent to get what you want from other businesses.

Through doing all of the above, Bezos has applied his cheetah business model to nearly everything retail. Amazon’s massive book dominion is now dwarfed by its annexation of dozens of other markets— book sales now make up a mere 7 percent of Amazon’s total business. Amazon has already captured more than a third of all online sales with a website that’s a phantasmagoric mall of unimaginable size, containing what amounts to hundreds of virtual superstores.

In the process, and with the same deeply discounted prices they used to conquer the book business, Amazon has poached millions of customers from neighborhood shops and suburban malls. The chase for cheap has been great for Amazon, but it is proving intolerably expensive for everyone’s hometowns.

Our local businesses lose customers and have to close, local workers lose jobs, and local economies lose millions of consumer dollars that Amazon siphons into its faraway coffers. What makes that even more intolerable is that much of Amazon’s competitive advantage has been ill gotten, obtained by dirty deeds.

merchant, has avoided adding these taxes to the price that its customers pay.

Bezos has emphatically insisted from the start that Amazon’s only facility is its headquarters in Washington state, claiming therefore that Amazon’s sales in the other 49 states are exempt from sales taxes— even though he racks up billions of dollars in sales in those states and even though Amazon has massive warehouses in about half of them. With legalistic hocus-pocus, Bezos asserts that the warehouses are independent contractors, not part of Amazon.

In Texas, the sales tax rate is 6.25 to 8.25 percent, so by claiming to be exempt, Amazon gets a price subsidy of more than 8 cents on every dollar of its sales—that’s more than the entire profit margin of most independent shops.

The tax subsidy ranges from about 4 percent to more than 10 percent across the country, handing Bezos an advantage of several billion dollars a year that has underwritten his fast and vast expansion.

Amazon’s tax ploy has been key to its ability to undercut the prices of local retailers, forcing many of them out of business.

And the tax dodge has also shortchanged our communities by eliminating billions in tax revenues that cities and states desperately need for schools, infrastructure, parks and other public services.

During the past couple of years, 21 states, including California, have stopped playing the fool, finally requiring Amazon to collect sales taxes like its competitors do. In a study released earlier this year, the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed retail data of five of these states and found that Amazon’s sales plummeted by nearly 10 percent after they started charging sales tax. It was saving the cost of sales tax—not any Bezos “magic”—that kept many customers buying from his online mall. Of course, that’s cold comfort to the retailers driven out of business during two decades of Amazon’s governmentbacked assault.

Amazon’s amazing slice-and-dice tax machine not only avoids paying state taxes, but also extracts tax money from states to expand its warehouse network. This supremely rich company says that states wanting the (low-wage, no-benefit, temporary and dehumanizing) jobs that come with its warehouses must show Amazon the money, i.e., offer “incentive grants” or tax breaks.

In short, flimflammery and government favoritism help Amazon overwhelm honest competition and extend its monopoly reach.

amazon’s tax pLoy

Having vast market power means never having to say you’re sorry—even to your owners.

Bezos can afford to be a voracious predator because his Wall Street investors have allowed him to keep operating without returning a profit. On paper, his revenuegenerating machine has lost billions of dollars, yet his major investors, enamored with Amazon’s takeover of one consumer

Bezos would not have grabbed such market dominance if the government had not been subsidizing his sales with special tax breaks for 20 years.

In all but a handful of states, merchants are obliged by law to collect city and state sales taxes from everyone who buys stuff from them. But Amazon, as an online

such ruthLessness

A peek inside an Amazon.com warehouse. The company outsources its workforce, so many of its workers are contingent and temporary, sans health insurance, benefits or job security.

PHOTO BY WIKICOMMONS

market after another, haven’t pulled the plug. Amazon uses their capital to buy its competitors or to market its own version of competitors’ products, which it then sells at a loss in order to squeeze hapless competitors out of business.

That’s the very definition of predatory pricing.

Stone’s book gives a chilling example of one such predation. Amazon has its own corporate-espionage team called Competitive Intelligence that tracks rivals.

In 2009, CIAmazon spotted a fast-rising online seller of one particular baby product: Diapers.com. A Bezos lieutenant was dispatched to inform the diaper honchos that the cheetah was going into that business, so they should just sell their firm to it.

No, thanks, replied the upstart.

Amazon promptly responded to the rebuff by marketing another line of diapers—with a price discount of 30 percent. It kept dropping the price even lower (plus free shipping) when the smaller firm tried to fight back.

Diapers.com’s investors grew antsy, and in September 2010, the two founders of the company met with Bezos himself and surrendered.

The final blow was their discovery that Bezos, in his campaign to crush them and control the market of online diaper sales, was on track to lose $100 million in just three months.

Such ruthlessness is standard operating procedure at Amazon, which exerts it against any gazelle it chooses to eliminate.

This likely includes some of your town’s Main Street stores. Small retailers everywhere are experiencing an ugly practice dubbed “showrooming.” For example, John Crandall, owner of Old Town Bike OPINION

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Shop in Colorado Springs, has seen a surge of shoppers who come in, check out the bikes he sells, ask a lot of questions, try out some bikes—and leave without buying anything. Then, some days later, they’ll show up at the store with the parts for a new bike and ask Old Town to assemble it for them! These shoppers have used their smartphones in Crandall’s store to scan the barcode of a product they like and then gone online to buy it from Amazon at a discounted price—lower than Crandall’s wholesale price.

Amazon’s new smartphone, called Fire (apparently meant in the sense of “shoot to kill”), is specifically designed to make showrooming fast and easy. Amazon has even offered $5 rebates to shoppers who scan items at stores, then buy them from the online brute. This is corporate murder.

After 38 years in business, Old Town is hanging on, but it’s endangered.

Crandall employs 11 people, pays rent and local taxes, supports all sorts of community events, and is fully involved in Colorado Springs—a place Bezos couldn’t care less about.

Producers need the marketplace, the marketplace needs products. You’d think this would be a felicitous, symbiotic relationship, but when the market grows into a virtual monopoly, the monopolist can turn on suppliers with a vengeance. Amazon has done precisely that to book publishers.

While Amazon’s fight with international publishing giant Hachette has been wellpublicized, it’s medium-size and small publishers who are especially vulnerable.

They don’t have splashy marketing budgets, so they’re largely dependent on access to the buyers coming to Amazon’s online market. |

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Amazon is insidious, far more dangerous and destructive to our culture’s essential values than Wal-Mart ever dreamed of being.

“I offered them a 30 percent discount,” the head of a small academic publishing house told The New York Times this year. “They demanded 40,” she said. After she acquiesced, the cheetah soon came back, demanding 45.

“Where do I find that 5 percent?” she asks. “Amazon may be able to operate at a loss, but I’m not in a position to do that.” She can’t leave, but staying could crush her company: “I wake up every single day knowing Amazon might make new, impossible demands.”

The new raw deal Rather than examine the far-reaching social destructiveness in Amazon’s business model, the Powers That Be blithely hail Bezos as an exemplary corporate leader and point to his company as a model for the New Economy. They smile when he says that it’s not Amazon killing off local businesses and turning work into a low-wage, roboticized nightmare—rather it’s “the future” that is producing these changes.

Bezos has gotten away with this |

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Radio commentator, speaker, author and to-the-bone populist Jim Hightower has spent his career battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be. You can find Hightower on the radio, or subscribe to the Hightower Lowdown, by going to hightower lowdown.com.

If you tweet, he’s @HightowerNews.

hornswoggle up to now by endlessly reciting his mantra that everything Amazon does is to benefit consumers by relentlessly lowering prices.

Stacy Mitchell, an intrepid researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (www.ilsr.org), has been studying Amazon’s impact and rightly says that to avoid a sterile Amazonian future, we must force “a public conversation about their power.” Unlike Wal-Mart, Amazon is largely invisible to most people. As Mitchell puts it: “All you really see is the website and then the FedEx guy is there.”

More people need to know what’s going on between that jazzy website and “the FedEx guy,” for Amazon is insidious, far more dangerous and destructive to our culture’s essential values than Wal-Mart ever dreamed of being.

Remember: Price is not value.

Exchanging value—and our society’s values—for Amazon’s low prices is a raw deal. Ω

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They may be the ones who deserve these movie gifts

BY BOB GRIMM

It’s holiday time,

and you want to look cool when you pick a movie for somebody as a gift. That’s why this list is here, because I’m cool (or so says my dog), and I can be a reliable guide at this time of year. And when I say guide, I mean shopping guru. I’m no Sherpa.

Don’t take me on any mountain hikes because I will get you lost, and I will cry if a bear eats you.

So here we go, my list of some of the better home viewing options for 2014. If you give one of these, and the person who gets it has actually read this article, then they will know you cheated and aren’t at all original in your gift giving. That’s OK—we all have our shortcomings.

Prices listed are from Amazon.com at time of writing.

The Box Set I Want The Most Halloween: The Complete Collection (Blu-ray) $100.96 Hey, I’m not shy. This is probably my only chance to let folks know what I really want under the Christmas tree over at their place because I don’t have one. This puppy comes with all of the Halloween movies, even the ones Rob Zombie did, and a big load of extras. OK, so now you know.

Would somebody buy this for me, please?

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DECEMBER 18, 2014

Cult Greatness UHF (Blu-ray) $14.59 Shout Factory has grown into one of the cooler purveyors of cult cinema home viewing. Weird Al Yankovic’s one and only foray into headlining a movie was great satire in its day, and it’s still funny. Michael Richards kicked ass as Stanley the Janitor, and the “We don’t need no stinkin’ badgers!” moment still kills me.

Eraserhead (Blu-ray) $30.91 What can bring on the holiday cheer quicker than an embalmed cow fetus crying for its mommy? I say, nothing whatsoever! Give this one along with the later mentioned Twin Peaks box set to give that special someone a joyous David Lynch geekgasm. It’s Criterion, so that means it costs a little more than the average Blu-ray, but it’s totally worth it.

Snowpiercer (Blu-ray) $9.99 This came out this year, and it’s an instant cult classic. Yes, it’s an apocalypse film, but there’s lots of snow in it, so that makes it qualify

as somewhat of a holiday movie. Hey, even though this one is about the survival of the planet and contains some gross stuff, it’s no scarier than that freaking creepy The Polar Express animated movie.

Monty Python Live: One Down, Five to Go (Blu-ray) $18.74 The alleged last Python show ever was a little sloppy, but everybody left alive in the troupe is something like 139 years old now, so we’ll cut them some slack. The five remaining Pythons did a final stretch of live performances in London, with big musical numbers and a surprisingly nimble Terry Gilliam jumping 10 feet off the ground during the Spanish Inquisition sketch.

Frank (Blu-ray) $12.99 Here’s another movie from this year that next to nobody saw, but garners that instant cult classic badge. Michael Fassbender wears a big mask on his head the whole time, and the results are one of the year’s funniest movies. Give this to the music lover who idolizes Syd Barrett.

Give The Gift Of Garbage To Someone You Despise Blended (Blu-ray) $22.99 Remember when we used to gather around the TV in the living room around holiday time, ready for a good laugh? We’d have the fireplace going, and we’d pop in the latest Adam Sandler flick for chuckle time.

We’d roast candy canes, and smoke marshmallows, safe in the knowledge that Sandler would provide a couple of good gutbusters.

Those days are so gone. Long gone. This movie is a crime against movies, people, dogs and various insects. Give it to somebody you can’t stand, and then run out of the house as soon as they unwrap it. Trust me, you don’t want to be there when this Blu-ray goes live.

Blockbuster Goodness Guardians of the Galaxy (Blu-ray) $19.99 One of the year’s better blockbusters is on Blu-ray just in time for stocking stuffing.

Giving this one also provides a nice excuse for you to make somebody a mix tape.

Godzilla (Blu-ray) $22.99 At the beginning of the year, I said this was my most anticipated film, and if it were a bad movie, I would spiral into severe depression.

As things turned out, I enjoyed it immensely, and I now have a distinct spring in my step.

The Blu-ray is cool, with some fun mock documentary stuff about Godzilla and behindthe-scenes stuff.

Edge of Tomorrow (Blu-Ray) $23.99 This was a blockbuster wannabe that fell a little flat at the box office. While not a huge bomb, the latest Tom Cruise flick, wherein he gets caught in a death loop and must die thousands of times, didn’t do that well. A lot of people haven’t seen it, and it is amazing.

Give this one to that science fiction-loving person who couldn’t see fit to plunk down the dough at the IMAX Theater. They will love it, for sure.

For Those Who Eschew Cable And Miss Cool Stuff On TV Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery (Blu-ray) $84.96 Far and away, the best Blu-ray of the year. If somebody you know loves Peaks, get them this and only this. When they open it, just throw your hands up like you scored a touchdown and then start dancing like the red dwarf.

One of the greatest TV shows ever made gets a spectacular treatment, full of archive features. Then, you also get Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and those long rumored deleted scenes. Yes, the movie would’ve been a little more fun had director David Lynch kept some of these in.

The show is coming back for season three in 2016, so this works as a nice primer for more things to come.

Family Ties: The Complete Series (DVD) $55.29 Alas, this classic series will probably never have a date with Blu-ray,

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meaning you will never see Justine Bateman’s Mallory Keaton in HD glory.

Batman: The Complete Series (Blu-ray) $174.99 Adam West and Burt Ward finally get their due on Blu-ray. I would suggest boycotting this because the two fools skipped out on Reno Comic Con this year, but that would be unprofessional. If you feel like springing for another $400 bucks, get them the cool collectible dolls available over at sideshowtoys.com.

There are some people on your list worth $700 bucks, right?

Fargo: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray): $29.96 I had my doubts about this one, but the Billy Bob Thornton-starring TV show offshoot of the Coen brothers movie proved to be a worthwhile endeavor. It comes with audio commentaries, deleted scenes and making-of docs.

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ART OF THE STATE

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A technician works on a broadcast tower.

Air waves Radio Free Nevada KXNV 89.1 FM Despite the Internet’s impact on the music industry and increasingly popular podcasts, broadby cast radio still holds strong as a medium Ashley for communication and entertainment Hennefer even in the midst of waning listeners.

For many, radio needs to be revamped, reclaimed and used once more as a valuable platform for communities, citizen journalism and local arts and culture.

That’s the goal of KXNV 89.1 FM—also referred to as Radio Free Nevada—a station that can be heard at 89.1 FM. The Listen to KXNV at 89.1 station, which has been operating since FM or online at www. late October, has been more than two kxnv891.fm. Follow years in the making, and is getting closer the station’s launch to an official launch. As one of the final by searching for KXNV steps toward “official,” they received their 89.1 on Facebook.

FCC approval last week.

Station manager Steve Funk says the process of taking over a license is arduous, and that it required patience.

“It’s an interesting chain for where the license came from,” he says. “We had to get the station on air by a certain date [late November]” to receive and maintain ownership.

Funk is part of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN), and the idea for taking over the channel came up about two and a half years ago.

“We realized that in local radio, there’s just a slice of broadcast left in, and a little bit of politics, a lot of religious broadcasters,” says Funk. “We thought, we should nail that down so the community could have a proper radio station. So it took two and a half years of working at it bits and pieces, clawing and scratching and asking for help, but we made it just under the wire of the FCC, just one month shy of getting the station.”

KXNV is a nonprofit organization, as is PLAN, and the station is funded through grants and donations. Although it’s considered public broadcasting, it’s not associated with the local public radio station, KUNR. “Open Sky Radio [media network] and PLAN worked together to get the station going,” says Funk. “Once we got on the air, we had to fill out a bunch of paperwork and send it to Washington.

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We’re running on a contingency broadcast situation.” Although it’s a formality, he says, it’s common when establishing a new station.

Current programming consists primarily of music. A small group of disc jockeys including Bruce Van Dyke (an RN&R contributor) and Funk have curated more than 80,000 songs.

“We’re still adjusting to this programming approach being heavily dependent on an Apple computer,” says Van Dyke.

“We’re using what we’re calling the bucket approach to radio shows. My bucket plays, and I build the bucket by building the master library. Right now it’s

a 24-hour jukebox.”

Van Dyke says he chooses “great old songs that are familiar, and great new songs that aren’t familiar,” based on his preference and expertise.

But plans for the station go far beyond music.

“We have big aspirations for the radio station,” says Funk. “[We see it] really connecting to the community, connecting to voices in the community, working with a number of entities, working with nonprofit organizations and charitable organizations, connect[ing] to youth, women, arts and culture. It’s really about arts and culture, and we also have an aspiration to have a close-to-the-street volunteer news organization. We’re excited to achieve what this could be for the community.”

Funk and Van Dyke say the organization will reach out to those who want to help with programming once the station is officially launched.

“We hope to have public affairs, news programming and a lot of organizations sharing on the station,” says Funk. “We look forward to carving ourselves a lovely little niche in the airwaves of Northern Nevada.” Ω

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Mr. Houston's office is located at 432 Court Street, in Reno and he is prepared to offer you aggressive & experienced legal representation which may make the difference in retaining your driver's license, avoiding jail and large fines.

The editors of this 2014 Consumer Business Review feel you owe it to yourself to have David R. Houston on your side and be on the winning team. We're proud to recommend him to our readers for the 21st time. When you can't afford to lose…you need the very best!

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Western Metals Recycling, at 1325 Hymer Avenue, in Sparks, will pay cash or check by the pound for recyclables of all types. They buy scrap metals including aluminum cans, copper, brass, steel insulated wire and more.

By re-using these materials, we can prevent further dredging up of the Earth in order to obtain new raw materials and this is, of course, a big help to the ecology. You're doing a service to the ecology AND to your pocketbook when you make it a point to take all excess recyclables to Western Metals Recycling. They, in turn, sell materials to many places of business where they're converted back into useful products again. It's an excellent way to help the environment and the economy.

If you have a business that discards a lot of scrap metals regularly, make the most of it by contacting Western Metals Recycling for regular pick-up. Visit them on the web at www.WMRecycling.com.

The editors of this 2014 Consumer Business Review strongly recommend Western Metals Recycling for their significant contribution to the ecology. It's Up To You!

18 | RN&R |

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Would you represent yourself if you became the defendant in a criminal matter? No, of course not! You'd retain an attorney. But, it's difficult to know whom to call, unless you know someone. We'd like to help!

Criminal defense is not something you should consider lightly. You could spend significant periods of incarceration and large fines & assessment fees should you lose your case. Your personal freedom and your financial well-being are at stake when you are accused of a crime.

David R. Houston is engaged in the practice of criminal defense. His emphasis is in the areas of DUI, drug and sex offenses, crimes of violence, theft crimes and all other felonies and misdemeanors. He knows the laws and knows how to properly prepare your case. Call 775-786-4188 today for a confidential consultation.

Mr. Houston's office is located at 432 Court Street, in Reno and he is prepared to offer you aggressive & experienced legal representation which may make the difference in retaining your driver's license, avoiding jail and large fines.

The editors of this 2014 Consumer Business Review feel you owe it to yourself to have David R. Houston on your side and be on the winning team. We're proud to recommend him to our readers for the 21st time. When you can't afford to lose…you need the very best!

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Phone 775-322-3366 * Fax 775-322-1755 www.barbaralawnv.com An accident in the workplace can happen to any working person. If you or someone you care about is involved in a work-related accident, you'll need the services of Barbara Gruenewald regarding your Workers' Compensation case. An accident at work is covered by Workers' Compensation insurance, no matter whose fault the accident was. Ms. Gruenewald can help. Her office is at 439 Marsh Avenue, in Reno.

She will be glad to answer any questions you may have and explain the range of benefits available to you under the Workers' Compensation laws. Workers' Compensation can be a long and frustrating process. Ms. Gruenewald will do everything possible to obtain a prompt and fair settlement.

The editors of this Consumer Business Review, for the 22nd time, recommend you seek the assistance of Barbara Gruenewald. She cares about your problems, and invites you to visit her website at www.barbaralawnv.com and to call 775-322-3366 and make arrangements for a $45.00 initial consultation.

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It seems like "Self-Storage" facilities are everywhere. But, who has the most convenient, clean and secure storage units in the Truckee Meadows?

Stor-All Self-Storage at 777 Panther Drive, in Reno has the perfect size storage units for homeowners, military personnel, business people or anyone needing a clean, secure and weather tight storage unit. Rest easy, knowing your business files, equipment, car, RV, boat, household items and furniture are safely and securely stored away. Plenty of space is available to store your RV, car or boat and you can be sure your possessions are completely secure, with electronic gate access 24/7, digital video surveillance and fully fenced and lighted.

The editors of this 2014 Consumer Business Review are pleased to recommend Stor-All Self-Storage to our readers as self-storage facility of the year!

Bring the appreciation and true enjoyment of music into your home with a new piano from northern Nevada's oldest and most reliable music center. Carpenter's Music World at their new location, 1090 Kietzke Lane, in Reno.

You can choose the perfect piano from northern Nevada's largest inventory to fit your décor. They are exclusive authorized dealers for Yamaha pianos and Clavinova, featuring Baldwin, Steinway and Kawai pianos.

When you want to introduce your family to a piano for the first time, you'll like the "rent with option to buy" plan that Carpenter's Music World offers. If your child should not want to continue, you're not locked into a long-term commitment. If the child adapts, your rent can be applied to the purchase price.

Carpenter's Music World offers music lessons for all levels from university-trained teachers at Reno Music Academy. Once you and your children learn to play piano, it's easier to learn any other instrument.

Carpenter's Music World has provided 47 years of service to the community. In celebration, very special Customer Loyalty discounts are being offered right now during the holiday season! Gift certificates available!

In this 2014 Consumer Business Review, the editors are proud to, once again, recommend Carpenter's Music World to our readers!

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The area's best golfers agree that The Links at Kiley Ranch is just about the finest executive course around! The Links at Kiley Ranch at 5800 Kiley Links Drive, in Sparks, (off Sparks Boulevard between Los Altos and Pyramid), features EVERYTHING for making your game more rewarding and enjoyable. Call (775) 354-2100 for more information on memberships and other golf opportunities.

Another reason for The Links at Kiley Ranch's immense popularity is their Links style golf course, co-designed by Mark Miller and Patty Sheehan, a member of the LPGA Hall of Fame.

Testimonials: Rich, who lives in Wingfield Springs, "I've played all the courses around and can't believe I haven't been here the whole time. This course is the coolest!"

Brett and Laurie, "We love coming here! It's nice to have a place like this that will cater to us like it's our own little Country Club!"

Warren Family, "Kiley Ranch is a hidden treasure! We, as a family, could not be happier! The course is challenging enough for us and our kids are more patient playing the 9 holes…"

The editors of this 2014 Consumer Business Review urge all area golfers to play The Links at Kiley Ranch for family fun outside. Affordable fun for the entire family and open year round!

Call 775-827-0303 There are many firearms dealers to choose from. Northern Nevada's leading firearms specialist is Silver State Arms at 3020 Kietzke Lane, in Reno (at Gentry). This well known shop features one of the best selections of guns in the region and they're known for the best value.

Stop in and browse. You'll see a fine assortment of famous name rifles, handguns and shotguns. Choose from well-known brands. Meet the staff, Dennis, Joe and Sharon. They'll help you with your selection and answer your questions. Visit them on the web at www.SilverStateArms.com. There's ammunition, too, in all calibers. Silver State Arms features a full line of accessories and supplies for hunting.

The editors of this 2014 Consumer Business Review are proud to recommend Silver State Arms to our readers for the 6th time! We know you will be pleased with their quality products and services.

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Wouldn't it be nice to be able to take your Japanese car to just one place for all of your repair work? In Sparks there is such a place and we're talking about Preferred Auto Care! With shop facilities at 1705 Greg Street, Preferred Auto Care is the area's leading repair shop. Ask any one who's used their services. They'll tell you this is the ONLY stop you need to make on your way to worry-free driving!

From a simple oil change to a complex engine repair, Preferred Auto Care has the equipment, parts and skill to repair or replace any part that may malfunction. With years of recommendations behind them, Preferred Auto Care has established the type of reputation you can trust.

So, when you need ANYTHING done to your car, see the best...first.

The editors of this 2014 Consumer Business Review recommend you make an appointment with Tom at Preferred Auto Care. He'll take good care of you at prices you can afford!

If you are contemplating getting a tattoo, but are not sure where to get the best work for the money, contact Fondue Body Boutique, at 416 Greenbrae Drive, in Sparks. Fondue Body Boutique is the area's expert in beautiful skin illustrations and body piercings.

From their large selection of creative designs, they will help you select the perfect one for you. Choose an award-winning tattoo from their own creation. Fondue Body Boutique has received many awards for their work and are the recipients of the highest honors for displaying the most professional attitude and ethical practices.

Fondue Body Boutique has a reputation for being the finest in design as well as realistic initial cost.

Fondue Body Boutique uses the latest equipment and tools featuring auto clave sterilization, and will expertly create the design of your choosing.

The editors of this Holiday Consumer Business Review once again recommend Fondue Body Boutique to all tattoo and body piercing enthusiasts. We know you'll like the safe, businesslike way you are treated!

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OPINION | NEWS | GREEN | FEATURE STORY | ARTS&CULTURE | ART OF THE STATE | FOODFINDS | FILM | MUSICBEAT | NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS | THIS WEEK | MISCELLANY | DECEMBER 18, 2014 |

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The Seed 1085 S. Virginia St., 284-5545 Typically when you mention you’re going for “vegan” or “raw food,” you’ll hear, “Are you going to eat some real food by Todd South first?” Funny, sure, but my omnivorous self has learned that raw food doesn’t equal no food. By definition, the word cook means, “to prepare— food, a dish or a meal—by combining and heating the ingredients in various ways.” But cooking with no heat? Yes sir, there is such a thing, although it’s kind of mind-boggling to us cavemen slapping meat on a grill.

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Celebrate the Spirit of Christmas

Matt Oberg prepares an open-face mock tuna sandwich, and Mary Rubin chops veggies at The Seed.

the Seed is open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

22 | RN&R |

DECEMBER 18, 2014

My wife and I invited a vegan friend to join us for dinner at The Seed Cafe, akin to hiring an interpreter when traveling through an exotic land. There was a wide assortment of organic juices and smoothies available and a tea bar featuring a broad array of loose, herbal concoctions that— with the addition of hot water—are the closest thing to anything “cooked” on the menu. Our friend and my wife enjoyed their teas ($2.15) while we perused the offerings.

First out, a pair of small kale salads ($5, large is $8). The kale is massaged by hand with some salt to loosen it up, then marinated in a mixture of olive oil, orange juice, Bragg Aminos, apple cider vinegar and sesame oil, chopped fine and tossed with cucumber, carrot, almond paté, marinated mushrooms and

sesame seeds. If you’re a salad eater, you’ll love this. We all did.

Pho 108 ($9) arrived next, served just above room temperature with thin-sliced vegetables: zucchini, kelp “noodles,” cabbage, spinach, basil, cilantro, onion and mushrooms. I can’t quite describe the flavor of the broth, but it reminded me of true pho, though not as savory. A lot of chewing through raw veggies, but satisfying.

I didn’t care for the mock tuna sandwich ($8), but my dining companions enjoyed it. A mixture of “tuna” (sunflower seeds, nori, celery, mustard, lemon) was heaped on a square of onion “bread” (puréed onion dehydrated into a quasi-cracker), topped with sprouts, avocado, carrots and seasonings. It wasn’t bad, but paled compared to other dishes we sampled.

Next up, pizza ($8). An almond cracker was the stratum for a healthy pile of cashew “ricotta,” sun-dried tomato marinara, sprouts, tomato, avocado, pineapple, red bell pepper, marinated mushroom, onion and basil.

I didn’t find it very pizza-like. It was more like a heavily-laden tostada with a lot of flavors competing for attention. A dash of red pepper flake and oregano might help this dish live up to its name, but as-is, we still enjoyed it.

The word sushi refers to vinegared rice, no fish required. So how to accomplish sushi rolls ($7) when you can’t employ cooked rice? Wrap sunflower paté, marinated mushroom, cucumber, carrot, jalapeño, red bell pepper, avocado and sprouts in nori (sushi wrapper), and serve with an amazing cashew-lemon-garlic aioli.

The ocean flavor of nori tricks you into thinking you’re eating seafood, which I found a bit awe-inspiring.

Last up was creamy Alfredo pasta with red bell pepper tomato soup ($13). The soup was akin to gazpacho, basic-yet-flavorful at room temp. But pasta without noodles? Long, thin strips of raw zucchini substituted so well for pasta I forgot what I was eating. Though not really Alfredo in flavor, this cashew-based sauce aptly completed my new favorite way to eat summer squash.

The Seed's pumpkin pie ($4.50) is a knock-out. Holiday-spicier than average, this is a dessert with few equals. The crust is comprised of pressed nuts and coconut, the filling is amazing, and you can’t visit The Seed without trying it. Ω

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In what proves to be her best role since scoring an Oscar for Walk the Line, Reese Witherspoon astonishes in Wild, director Jean-Marc Vallee’s follow up to last year’s Dallas Buyers Club.

Based on the memoir of Cheryl Strayed, Witherspoon plays the author, who took it upon herself to do a solo trek on the Pacific Crest Trail after some tragedies in her life. by The film winds up not only being a fine Bob Grimm showcase for Witherspoon, but a damned fine commercial for the PCT and those REI b g ri m m @ ne w s re v i e w . c o m outdoor gear stores.

The film opens on the not-so-pleasant sight of Strayed losing a toenail in bloody fashion to a wrong-sized boot, already days into her trek. It then flashes back a bit to the beginning of her hike, and takes a nonchronological approach to its plot.

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As she begins her walk, Strayed remembers moments from her childhood, marriage, and recent relationship with her mother (Laura Dern, shining in a small role). We discover that tragedy had led her to extreme promiscuity and heroin use. Her decision to hike the PCT is an attempt to get herself back on the right track.

Early in her march, in one of the film’s most powerful scenes, Strayed comes across a man driving a tractor (a fantastic W. Earl Brown) and is desperate for food. Vallee does a nice job creating a palpable sense of dread, and shows just how vulnerable a solo hiker could be, especially one lacking experience.

The result of Strayed’s meeting with the tractor driver is great, surprising storytelling.

The characters Strayed meets along the way are mostly positive, although a couple of male hikers put a dent in the goodness of the human race. A quick meeting with a man writing about hobos provides the film’s funniest moment.

While being an uplifting film about

redemption and Strayed’s personal triumphs, the movie also works as an authentic and informative film about the art of hiking. From Strayed’s struggles with her huge backpack, to her over-reliance on trail tanks for water, to her stopovers at community outposts along the trail, you get a sense of what you might experience on such an expedition. It also teaches you that buying your hiking boots at REI would be a smart move.

With a few exceptions, including her excellent turn in last year’s Mud, Witherspoon has been showing up in quite a few mediocreto-lousy films (including this year’s Devil’s Knot). Before her Oscar glory and crap like Legally Blonde, Witherspoon was a reliable, off-the-beaten-track actress with projects like Freeway and Election.

Wild represents the sort of Witherspoon that got her a stellar reputation early in her career. Raw and edgy, there’s not a false note in her performance. You get a sense she put herself through some physical hell for the role. It’s not a “showy” role, but one that allows her to be understated and stripped down.

Dern breaks hearts as the eternally optimistic mom who attends college at the same time as her daughter and is thrown a nasty curveball, one that very much contributes to Strayed’s life missteps. Thomas Sadoski, as Strayed’s husband Paul, captures the essence of a person very much in love and struggling with his wife’s actions. He remains civil in the most unpleasant and challenging of circumstances.

Vallee and company made a great-looking movie here, covering all the terrains Strayed must’ve experienced on her hike, from deserts to the snowy Sierras. He complements the meditative movie with beautiful choices for his soundtrack, including Simon and Garfunkel’s “El Condor Pasa” and a stunning cover of the overlooked R.E.M. track “Walk Unafraid.”

Many of the tracks sound as if they are being played on loudspeakers along the trail, their musical strains gently bouncing off the trees and echoing through the forests.

Witherspoon is a lock for an Oscar nomination, having already gotten a nod from the Golden Globes. She deserves the accolades.

Hopefully, Wild and her small role in this year’s Inherent Vice are indicative of more adventurous choices in her future. Ω

4

Big Hero 6

Disney and Marvel deliver one of the year’s best animated films in this delightful story of a boy and his big, puffy robot. Hiro (voice of Ryan Potter) is an inventor, as is his brother Tadashi (voice of Daniel Henney). While Hiro likes to win money at robot fights, his brother is concentrating on helping the world with Baymax (voice of Scott Adsit). Circumstances arise that leave Hiro in the company of Baymax, who turns out to be rather adorable and chummy for a robot. Hiro updates Baymax to fly and fight, then enlists his friends to join him in the fight to stop a mysterious masked man from stealing one of Hiro’s inventions. Baymax and Hiro are a touching, fun screen combo, and the animation here is dynamite. The movie is a blast from start to finish, and it actually does well with the heavy emotional stuff.

It’s visually inventive with a strong script that makes you care for its characters. I’m quite certain there will be a sequel. It should be noted that “Feast,” the more traditionally animated short that precedes the film, starring a little Boston Terrier-looking pup named Winston, is also a real winner.

1

Exodus: Gods and Kings

Ridley Scott renders the Old Testament quite boring in this laborious treatment of the Moses (Christian Bale) story and his tumultuous relationship with Ramses (Joel Edgerton). There are stretches of the movie that look pretty good, including a massive gator attack that turns a river blood-red and the infamous frog plague making things unpleasant in Egypt. As good as some of these things look, they often sound really stupid thanks to a pedestrian screenplay and an ever-wandering Bale accent. There are times when he sounds like straight-up Christian Bale, and others where he inexplicably sounds like and American rabbi from Brooklyn. Scott makes some great movies, but his period epics, including this one, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Kingdom of Heaven and Robin Hood, tend to stink ass. His wasting time in this particular sandbox has taken him away from more important matters, like getting the Prometheus and Blade Runner sequels into production and in front of my face. No more historical epics from Ridley Scott, please.

2

Horrible Bosses 2

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Top Five

The marriage of Stephen and Jane Hawking takes center stage in director James Marsh’s sweet and powerful depiction of love in the face of adversity. The film showcases the talents of Eddie Redmayne (Les Miserables), who gives a remarkable performance as Hawking, renowned physicist and eventual Pink Floyd vocalist. Redmayne depicts a relatively healthy Hawking at first, a slightly awkward but brilliant Cambridge student smitten with classmate Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones of Like Crazy). Redmayne transforms as the film progresses, slowly but surely depicting the physical deterioration of Hawking as he suffers from ALS. Jones is equally powerful as Hawking’s first wife, a woman who refused to let him waste away after his diagnosis. The two marry knowing that the road ahead will be a rough one. Hawking’s initial prognosis had him living no more than two years, a prediction he has outlived by about 50 years. The movie is a love story first, with Hawking’s musings about black holes and the origins of the universe taking a back seat.

Redmayne and Jones are utterly convincing as the couple. Marsh treats their courtship in a magical, glimmering sort of way involving awkward school dances, followed by a memorable wedding sequence. The film unabashedly celebrates their romance.

Chris Rock writes, directs and stars in this semi-autobiographical look at a standup comedian turned film star looking for industry respect. After a string of movies about a bear cop and a bout with substance abuse, Andre Allen (Rock) is taking a break from standup and slapstick to do “serious” movies. On the day of a big premiere, a reporter (Rosario Dawson) tags along to interview him. Rock and Dawson are fun together, and a supporting cast that includes J.B. Smoove, Cedric the Entertainer, Gabrielle Union and, holy crap, Ben Vereen score a bunch of solid laughs. A sequence involving a coke-and-hooker party stands as one of the year’s funniest scenes, and Rock’s writing is solid throughout. As Chris Rock films go, this is his best starring vehicle by far. Adam Sandler and Jerry Seinfeld have hilarious walk-ons. Sandler actually hasn’t been this funny in years. Perhaps he should allow Rock to direct him all of the time.

Maybe Rock can turn that whole Grown Ups franchise around.

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OPINION

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After a rousing second chapter, the Hunger Games franchise gets a little darker and introverted in its third installment. The results are perhaps a slight step back from the truly winning film that was Catching Fire, but you are still dealing with a good movie in this one. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), after being rescued following her complete annihilation of The Hunger Games, is being used as a propaganda tool to get at the evil Capitol government and its wily leader, President Snow (Donald Sutherland).

As it turns out, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) survived the second movie, and is being used as a propaganda tool as well (He’s being held captive by the Capitol). A lot of this movie takes place underground and in the dark,

4

The latest from writer-director Christopher Nolan is a triumphant piece of moviemaking, a science fiction film that dares to go outside the lines and actually create things and hypothesize. In the future, Earth is getting swallowed up by dust, all the crops are dying, and the Yankees really suck (wait … that’s true now!). Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a farmer and former test pilot, is raising his two children after the death of his wife. He and his young daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy) discover a strange site that just happens to be the remnants of NASA, where an old scientist (Michael Caine) is in the middle of a plan to save the human race.

Cooper eventually winds up flying a mission to enter a wormhole and explore distant planets for their ability to sustain life. The major drawback is that time gets all warped during space travel, and the slightest delay can cost him many years back on Earth. The movie gets a little crazy and farfetched, and possesses more than its share of plot holes.

I don’t care. It’s a terrific viewing experience that made me think it’s an all-time great science fiction film, even if it is a little crazy.

The movie offers many great surprises, performances and brain-teasing concepts. It’s also weird and insane, and I love it for that.

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While the first Horrible Bosses got by on the charms of its three stars, the second one winds up being a near miss. Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) have decided to go into business for themselves after the events of the first film. They wind up on TV pitching a stupid idea called the Shower Buddy, where they are seen by Rex (Chris Pine), the son of billionaire businessman Bert Hanson (Christoph Waltz). This leads to that, and the boys wind up in a kidnapping scheme involving Rex trying to double-cross his dad. The screenplay strains to bring back the likes of Jennifer Aniston as the naughty dentist and Kevin Spacey as the embittered ex boss. It also doesn’t help that Day and Sudeikis are a bit overwrought this time out, their acts getting a little tired. It should be noted that Bateman is easily the funniest thing about this movie, effortlessly smarmy as always. I laughed a fair amount of times, but felt like the three stars would be better served with all new material and premise. I like seeing them together, but they need a new place to play.

with a few good action sequences. It should be said that this only covers half of the third book in the popular series, and everything builds up to quite the cliffhanger ending.

Lawrence is good here, although a couple of scenes are a bit jarring, and not in a good way. She does get a chance to sing, and she sings quite well. Philip Seymour Hoffman completed his role before his death, and he’s typically great.

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Spirit of song Reno Jazz Orchestra When Chuck Reider moved to Reno from San Francisco in 1978, the city was known as a decent place to make a by Kent Irwin living with music. Jazz musicians, seeking employment in casinos, were able to make ends meet. In fact, the showrooms, which offered greater potential for earning a living as a jazz musician, were the reason Reider moved from San Francisco.

Photo/Kent IrwIn

Chuck Reider is the director of the Reno Jazz Orchestra.

the reno Jazz orchestra’s holiday Concert is 7:30 p.m. Dec. 20 at the nightingale Concert hall, Church Fine Arts, University of nevada, reno. tickets are $25 general; $10 students.

Chuck reider will conduct.

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Over time, this changed, but Reider didn’t let it stop him from continuing to be an enthusiast of local jazz. He started the Reno Jazz Orchestra in 1997, and it became a nonprofit a year later. The orchestra was formed to present the best of big band and swing music to younger generations.

“It can be hard work,” said Reider, who directs the group and plays trombone. “But when you’re standing in front of the band, that’s the only place on earth you want to be.”

The orchestra started with six members, growing to its current count of 17. Originally specializing in the classic numbers of Duke Ellington and Count Basie, the group began to branch out into Latin fusion, salsa and funk.

Reider’s goal has always been to take the music into novel places, like the ballet. He’s also a passionate advocate for music education.

“Jazz has always been a version of contemporary music that seeks to play around with and expand the borders of its source,” he said. “It’s creatively stimulating.”

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While Reider agrees that contemporary jazz can often wax nostalgic, pandering to those who hold the classics dearly, he tries to push forward into new territory. He believes that for kids especially, jazz is often the doorway to self-expression.

“A lot of kids, before they’re in the jazz band in school, don’t realize that you can make music, not just buy it,” he said.

For the Jazz Orchestra’s holiday concert, Reider promises that listeners will have plenty of presents to unwrap under the tree. The group will play the hits, sure, but there will be some surprises for listeners as well.

While living in San Francisco in the '70s, one of Reider’s colleagues wrote a big-band score for “Sly”

by Herbie Hancock. The song, from Hancock’s breakthrough funk album Head Hunters, was originally put to minimal instrumentation–electric piano, bass, percussion, sax and drums. The score, written for a much larger band, will be performed at the holiday concert for the first time in 30 years, making its debut appearance in Reno.

A variety of guest musicians and dancers will join the Jazz Orchestra during the holiday concert. Guests will include Madeline Eastman, described by Reider as a gifted singer, a great musician and an-all around nice person. She’s been described by the L.A. Times as “innovative and endlessly entertaining.”

World-renowned tap dancer Sam Weber and his daughter Ananda Bena-Weber will perform dance routines, and singers the orchestra featured in its summer James Brown program will return to perform. Other guests will remain a surprise until the moment they step out on the stage.

Reider says the event keeps in spirit with Christmas in that it’s all about friends and family, and the community support the Jazz Orchestra has received over the years.

Above all, the music is itself the center of the event. Reider considers jazz to be a truly original American concept, its grassroots inception lending perfectly to Christmas’ spirit of brotherhood and community.

“It’s gonna be a hoot.” Ω ART OF THE STATE

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901 S. Center St., (775) 348-8888

CARGO AT WHITNEY PEAK HOTEL

Toys for Tots benefit show w/Jelly Bread, Mojo Green, 8pm, $10 or toy of equal value

CEOL IRISH PUB

Pub Quiz Trivia Night, 8pm, no cover

CHAPEL TAVERN

Sonic Mass w/DJ Tigerbunny, 7pm, no cover

1099 S. Virginia St., (775) 324-2244

3rd Street, 125 W. Third St., 323-5005: Comedy Night & Improv w/Patrick Shillito, W, 9pm, no cover Catch a Rising Star, Silver Legacy, 407 N. Virginia St., 329-4777: Rick D’Elia and Reno’s Rising Stars, Th, Su, 7:30pm, $15.95; F, 7:30pm, 10pm, $15.95; Sa, 7:30pm, 10pm, $17.95; Tu-W, 7:30pm, $15.95 The Improv at Harveys Cabaret, Harveys Lake Tahoe, Stateline, (800) 553-1022: Darren Carter, David Gee, F, 9pm, $25; Sa, 8:30pm, 10:30pm, $30 Reno-Tahoe Comedy at Pioneer Underground, 100 S. Virginia St., 686-6600: Rodger Lizaola, F, 9pm; Sa, 8:30pm, $13-$15

Traditional Irish Tune Session, 7pm, Tu, no cover

Good Friday with rotating DJs, 10pm, no cover Carson Feet Warmers, 11:30am, Tu, Dave Leather, noon, W, no cover

312 S. Carson St., Carson City; (775) 883-2662

DAVIDSON’S DISTILLERY

Downtime, 9:30pm, no cover

275 E. Fourth St., (775) 324-1917

EL CORTEZ LOUNGE

235 W. Second St., (775) 324-4255

DJ Trivia, 9pm, no cover

ELBOW ROOM BAR

ELEVENTH FRAME WINNER’S LOUNGE 4600 Snyder Ave., Carson City; (775) 883-2606

FUEGO

170 S. Virginia St., (775) 322-1800

Mary Jane Rocket, Reno We Have a Problem, 9:30pm, no cover

Karaoke w/Nitesong Productions, 9pm Tu, Open Mic/Ladies Night, 8:30pm, W, no cover

Karaoke with Lisa Lisa, 9pm, no cover

Karaoke w/Lisa Lisa, 9pm Tu, no cover Karaoke w/Miss Amanda, 9pm, W, no cover

Zero Jones Band, 9pm, no cover

2002 Victorian Ave., Sparks; (775) 356-9799 Hired Gunz, 8pm, no cover Live flamenco guitar music, 5:30pm, no cover

THE GRID BAR & GRILL

Karaoke w/Andrew, 9pm, no cover

8545 N. Lake Blvd., Kings Beach; (530) 546-0300

HARRY’S SPORTS BAR & GRILL

DJ and karaoke, 9pm, no cover

1100 E. Plumb Ln., (775) 828-7665

9825 S. Virginia St., (775) 622-8878

HIMMEL HAUS

3819 Saddle Rd., South Lake Tahoe; (530) 314-7665

| DECEMBER 18, 2014

Christmas with Ciana, 9pm, no cover

COMMA COFFEE

HELLFIRE SALOON

RN&R

Jason King, 9pm, no cover

Monday Night Open Mic, 8pm, M, no cover

538 S. Virginia St., (775) 329-5558

Comedy

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 12/22-12/24

816 Highway 40 West, Verdi; (775) 351-3206

255 N. Virginia St., (775) 398-5400

|

SUNDAY 12/21

BAR-M-BAR

Dec. 19, 7 p.m.

Knitting Factory 211 N. Virginia St. 323-5648

28

SATURDAY 12/20

Open Mic Night, 7pm, no cover

1801 N. Carson St., Carson City; (775) 461-3311

LOUDPVCK

FRIDAY 12/19

Mark Castro Duo, 8:30pm, no cover

Greg Austin, 8:30pm, no cover

Bass Heavy, 9pm, W, $TBA

Open mic, 7pm, no cover Goin Country, 8pm, W, no cover Open Mic Night, 9pm, M, no cover Trivia Night, 9pm, W, no cover

THETHE HOLLAND PROJECT HOLLAND PROJECT 140 Vesta St., (775) 742-1858 140 Vesta St., (775) 742-1858

THURSDAY 12/18 THURSDAY 12/18

FRIDAY 12/19 FRIDAY 12/19

SATURDAY 12/20 SATURDAY 12/20

Spoken Views: One Night Slam, Spoken One Night 7:30pm, $10Views: to perform, $5 toSlam, watch 7:30pm, $10 to perform, $5 to watch

Chris Sexton Trio, 8pm, 8:30pm, Chris Sexton 8:30pm, $5 w/ugly sweater,Trio, $7 8pm, without $5 w/ugly sweater, $7 without

Elspeth Summers Record Release, 7pm,Elspeth $5 Summers Record Release, 7pm, $5

JUBJUB JUB’S THIRST PARLOR JUB’S THIRST PARLOR

SUNDAY 12/21 SUNDAY 12/21

1) Ostracized, Half A Tusk, Steel Savior, Ostracized,Broodwich, Half A Tusk, Steel Savior, The1)Enucleators, Enucleators, Broodwich, 8pm,The $8-$19 8pm, $8-$19

71 S. Wells Ave., (775) 384-1652 71 S. Wells Ave., (775) 384-1652 1) Showroom 2) Main Bar 1) Showroom 2) Main Bar

KNITTING FACTORY CONCERT HOUSE KNITTING FACTORY CONCERT HOUSE 211 N. Virginia St., (775) 323-5648 211 N. Virginia St., (775) 323-5648

MOODY’S BISTRO BARBAR & BEATS MOODY’S BISTRO & BEATS 10007 Bridge St., Truckee; (530) 587-8688 10007 Bridge St., Truckee; (530) 587-8688

Live music, 8:30pm, no cover Live music, 8:30pm, no cover

PADDY & IRENE’S IRISH PUBPUB PADDY & IRENE’S IRISH

906-A Victorian Ave., Sparks; (775) 358-5484 906-A Victorian Ave., Sparks; (775) 358-5484

POLO LOUNGE POLO LOUNGE

1559 S. Virginia St., (775) 322-8864 1559 S. Virginia St., (775) 322-8864

REDRED DOG SALOON DOG SALOON

2) Blazin Mics!, 10pm, M, no cover 2) Blazin Mics!, 10pm, M, no cover

LOUDPVCK, Man Machine, 7pm, $10 LOUDPVCK, Man Machine, 7pm, $10

Frankie Robert, Dylan Jakobsen, Frankie Robert, Jakobsen, Weston Buck, GraceDylan Hayes, 7:30pm, $12 Weston Buck, Grace Hayes, 7:30pm, $12

Live music, 8:30pm, no cover Live music, 8:30pm, no cover

Live music, 8:30pm, no cover Live music, 8:30pm, no cover

DJ Razz, 9pm, no cover DJ Razz, 9pm, no cover

Elf Party w/11*11, 9pm, no cover Elf Party w/11*11, 9pm, no cover

Gemini, 9pm, no cover Gemini, 9pm, no cover

Gemini, 9pm, no cover Gemini, 9pm, no cover

PoPst show ost sh s online by rere e by gisgterinogwas onlin isteringtat ww .n ew ww sr ww.newsr evev iew ie.c /re wo.cm om /rneon. oD.eDaedaline is thth d ee lin e Frid is ay b e Friday fore pupblicatiboenfore ublicatio. n.

RUBEN’S CANTINA RUBEN’S CANTINA

Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m.

Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Harrah’s Lake Tahoe 15 Highway 50 15 Highway 50 Stateline Stateline 588-6611 588-6611

Open Mic Night, 7pm, M, W, no cover Open Mic Night, 7pm, M, W, no cover

Karaoke, 8pm, no cover Karaoke, 8pm, no cover

1483 E. Fourth St., (775) 622-9424 1483 E. Fourth St., (775) 622-9424

Tommy TommyCastro Castro and andthe thePainkillers Painkillers

Richie & Lee, 7:30pm, W, no cover Richie & Lee, 7:30pm, W, no cover

Lacy J. Dalton, 7:30pm, $27 Lacy J. Dalton, 7:30pm, $27

76 N. C St., Virginia City; (775) 847-7474 76 N. C St., Virginia City; (775) 847-7474

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 12/22-12/24 MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 12/22-12/24

Hip Hop Open Mic, 10pm, W, no cover Hip Hop Open Mic, 10pm, W, no cover

RYAN’S SALOON RYAN’S SALOON

Live jazz, 7:30pm, W, no cover Live jazz, 7:30pm, W, no cover

924 S. Wells Ave., (775) 323-4142 924 S. Wells Ave., (775) 323-4142

SE7EN TEAHOUSE/BAR SE7EN TEAHOUSE/BAR

Dead DeadWinter WinterCarpenters Carpenters

Bluegrass/Americana Open Bluegrass/Americana Performance Jam, 7pm, noOpen cover Performance Jam, 7pm, no cover

148 West St., (775) 284-3363 148 West St., (775) 284-3363

ST.ST. JAMES INFIRMARY JAMES INFIRMARY

Local Music Night w/locals bands LocalDJs, Music Night or local 9pm, no w/locals cover bands or local DJs, 9pm, no cover

445 California Ave., (775) 657-8484 445 California Ave., (775) 657-8484

STUDIO ONON 4TH4TH STUDIO

Tuesday Night Trivia, 8pm, Tu, Reno Beer and Tuesday Trivia, Beer and Record Club Night w/guest DJs,8pm, 9pm,Tu,W,Reno no cover Record Club w/guest DJs, 9pm, W, no cover

Dance party, 9pm, no cover Dance party, 9pm, no cover Open Mic Holiday Party, Mic Holiday Party, 8pm,Open no cover 8pm, no cover

432 E. Fourth St., (775) 737-9776 432 E. Fourth St., (775) 737-9776

WILD RIVER GRILLE WILD RIVER GRILLE

Dec. 19-20, 9 p.m.

Dec. 19-20, 9 p.m.

Crystal Bay Club Crystal Bay Club 14 Highway 28 14 Highway 28 Crystal Bay Crystal Bay 833-6333 833-6333

Sunday Jazz, 2pm, no cover Sunday Jazz, 2pm, no cover

17 S. Virginia St., (775) 284-7455 17 S. Virginia St., (775) 284-7455

WILDFLOWER VILLAGE WILDFLOWER VILLAGE

1) The Writer’s Block Open Mic,

3) Music in the Round, 6:30pm, M, the Round, 6:30pm, Jack3)DiMusic Carlo,inRed Dawn, 6pm W, M, Jack Di Carlo, Red Dawn, 6pm W, no cover no cover

1) Reno Music Project Open Mic, 1) Reno 6:30pm, no Music cover Project Open Mic, 6:30pm, no cover

Thecover Writer’s Block Open Mic, 4275-4395 W. Fourth St., (775) 787-3769 7pm,1) no 4275-4395 W. Fourth St., (775) 787-3769 7pm, no cover 1) Golden Rose Cafe 2) Green Fairy Pub 3) Cabaret 1) Golden Rose Cafe 2) Green Fairy Pub 3) Cabaret

ffrom rom the the

5 N. C St. Virginia City Ring in the New Year at the annual celebration hosted by Lance Gilman and the all new Mustang Ranch Steakhouse! year’s theme is honoring g Nevada’s 150th birthday! y This y

Tickets - $45 per person($80 per couple) Includes Prime Rib Dinner, 2 Drinks Each, Party Favors, Dancing, Live Entertainment, Champagne Toast!

Tickets available at the Steakhouse or at www.lancegilmansnewyearseve.com OPINION | OPINION

NEWS | | NEWS

|

GREEN | GREEN

|

FEATURE STORY | FEATURE STORY

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ARTS&CULTURE | ARTS&CULTURE

|

IN ROTATION | IN ROTATION

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ART OF THE STATE | ART OF THE STATE

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FOODFINDS | FOODFINDS

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FILM | FILM

MUSICBEAT | | MUSICBEAT

|

NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS | NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS

THIS WEEK | | THIS WEEK

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MISCELLANY | MISCELLANY

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DECEMBER 18, 2014 | DECEMBER 18, 2014

|

RN&R RN&R | |2929

ATLANTIS CASINO RESORT SPA 3800 S. Virginia St., (775) 825-4700 1) Grand Ballroom Stage 2) Cabaret

THURSDAY 12/18

FRIDAY 12/19

SATURDAY 12/20

SUNDAY 12/21

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 12/22-12/24

2) Midnight Riders, 8pm, no cover

2) Midnight Riders, 4pm, no cover In A Fect, 10pm, no cover

2) Midnight Riders, 4pm, no cover In A Fect, 10pm, no cover

2) In A Fect, 8pm, no cover

2) Hindsight, 8pm, M, Tu, W, no cover

2) Atomika, 8pm, no cover

2) Atomika, 8pm, no cover

1) Dead Winter Carpenters, Front Country, 9pm, $17-$37

1) Dead Winter Carpenters, T Sisters, 9pm, $17-$37

1) Christmas Wonderland, 7pm, $19.95-$25.95 2) Garage Boys, 10:30pm, no cover 3) Skyy High Fridays w/Roni Romance, 10pm, no cover

1) Christmas Wonderland, 3pm, 7pm, $19.95-$25.95 2) Garage Boys, 10:30pm, no cover 3) Addiction Saturdays w/DJ Roni Romance, 10pm, no cover

1) Christmas Wonderland, 3pm, 7pm, $19.95-$25.95 2) Garage Boys, 10:30pm, no cover

1) Christmas Wonderland, 7pm, Tu, W, $19.95-$25.95 2) Live Band Karaoke, 10pm, M, DJ Chris English, 10pm, Tu, Steel Breeze, 10:30pm, W, no cover

1) ZzyZyx 2, 8pm, $20 2) Havana Brown, 10pm, $10-$30 3) Boots & Daisy Dukes w/DJ Jamie G, 10pm, no cover

1) ZzyZyx 2, 8pm, $20 2) DJ Peeti-V, 10pm, $30 3) County Social Saturdays w/DJ Jamie G, 10pm, no cover

1) ZzyZyx 2, 8pm, $20

1) ZzyZyx 2, 8pm, M, Tu, W, $20

3) Arty the Party, 9pm, no cover

1) Tommy Castro and the Painkillers, 7:30pm, $27.50 2) DJ Rick Gee, DJ SN1, 10pm, $20 3) Arty the Party, 9pm, no cover

1) Two Kings, 8pm, $29.50-$40.50 2) DJ/dancing, 10pm, no cover 3) Take Two, 8pm, no cover

1) Two Kings, 8pm, $29.50-$40.50 3) Take Two, 8pm, no cover 5) Vicki Lawrence & Mama, 7pm, $40.50-$51.50

1) Two Kings, 8pm, $29.50-$40.50

1) Reno Dance Company’s Nutcracker Ballet, 8pm, $19.95-$36.95 3) DJs, 5pm, 11pm, Branded, 8pm, no cover

1) Reno Dance Company’s Nutcracker Ballet, 2pm, 8pm, $19.95-$36.95 3) DJs, 5pm, 11pm, Branded, 8pm, no cover

1) Reno Dance Company’s Nutcracker 1) Reno Dance Company’s Nutcracker Ballet, 2pm, 7pm, $19.95-$36.95 3) Bikini Ballet, 2pm, 7pm, M, 2pm, Tu, $19.95-$36.95 Bull Riding Competition, 9pm, no cover 3) Josh Budro Band, 8pm, W, no cover

3) Boogie Nights, 9pm, $10 4) Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

3) Boogie Nights, 9pm, $10 4) Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

2) Josh Cook & The Key of Now, 8pm, no cover 3) Fixx Fridays, 7:30pm, $10 after 8pm

2) Josh Cook & The Key of Now, 8pm, no cover 3) The Give Back w/DJ Spryte, 10pm, $20 or no cover w/donation

2) Kyle Rea, 6pm, no cover

2) Kyle Rea, 6pm, M, Tu, W, no cover

2) Big Bad Boogie Rock, 9pm, no cover 3) Fashion Friday, 9pm, no cover 4) Rebekah Chase, 9pm, no cover

2) Big Bad Boogie Rock, 9pm, no cover 3) Seduction Saturdays, 9pm, $5 4) Rebekah Chase, 9pm, no cover

2) Recovery Sundays, 10pm, no cover 3) Industry Night, 9pm, no cover

2) Gong Show Karaoke, 8pm, Tu, no cover Country-Rock Bingo w/Jeff Gregg, 9pm, W, no cover

CARSON VALLEY INN

2) Atomika, 8pm, no cover 1627 Hwy. 395, Minden; (775) 782-9711 1) Valley Ballroom 2) Cabaret Lounge 3) TJ’s Corral

DJ Spryte

CRYSTAL BAY CLUB

Dec. 20, 10 p.m.

Peppermill 2707 S. Virginia St. 826-2121

14 Hwy. 28, Crystal Bay; (775) 833-6333 1) Crown Room 2) Red Room

ELDORADO RESORT CASINO 345 N. Virginia St., (775) 786-5700 1) Showroom 2) Brew Brothers 3) BuBinga Live 4) Stadium Bar

GRAND SIERRA RESORT

Karaoke Cobra Lounge at Asian Noodles, 1290 E. Plumb Lane, Ste. 1, 828-7227: Cash Karaoke w/Jacques Simard, Sa, 8pm, no cover Hangar Bar, 10603 Stead Blvd., Stead, 677-7088: Karaoke Kat, Sa, 9pm, no cover Murphy’s Law Irish Pub, 180 W. Peckham Lane, Ste. 1070, 823-9977: Steve Starr Karaoke, F, 9pm, no cover Ponderosa Saloon, 106 South C St., Virginia City, 847-7210: Steel Rockin’ Karaoke, F, 7:30pm, no cover Spiro’s Sports Bar & Grille, 1475 E. Prater Way, Ste. 103, Sparks, 356-6000: F-Sa, 9pm, no cover West Second Street Bar, 118 W. Second St., 384-7976: Daily, 8pm, no cover

1) Christmas Wonderland, 7pm, $19.95-$25.95 2) Garage Boys, 10:30pm, no cover 2) Locals Night w/DJ 2Wice,

10pm, no cover w/local ID; $15 after 2500 E. Second St., (775) 789-2000 1) Grand Theater 2) Lex Nightclub 3) Sports Book midnight 3) Honky Tonk Thursdays w/DJ Jamie G, 10pm, no cover 4) Cantina 5) Summit Pavilion

HARRAH’S LAKE TAHOE

15 Hwy. 50, Stateline; (775) 588-6611 1) South Shore Room 2) Peek Nightclub 3) Center Stage Lounge

HARRAH’S RENO

219 N. Center St., (775) 788-2900 1) Two Kings, 8pm, $29.50-$40.50 1) Sammy’s Showroom 2) The Zone 3) Sapphire Lounge 4) Plaza 5) Convention Center

JA NUGGET

3) DJ/dancing, 5pm, no cover

1100 Nugget Ave., Sparks; (775) 356-3300 3) Branded, 8pm, no cover 1) Celebrity Showroom 2) Rose Ballroom 3) Gilley’s

MONTBLEU RESORT

55 Hwy. 50, Stateline; (800) 648-3353 1) Theatre 2) Opal 3) Blu 4) The Zone

PEPPERMILL RESORT SPA CASINO 2707 S. Virginia St., (775) 826-2121 1) Tuscany Ballroom 2) Terrace Lounge 3) Edge

SILVER LEGACY

2) Josh Cook & The Key of Now, 7pm, no cover 2) Bonzai Thursdays w/DJ Trivia,

407 N. Virginia St., (775) 325-7401 8pm, no cover 1) Grand Exposition Hall 2) Rum Bullions Island Bar 3) University of Aura, 9pm, no cover 3) Aura Ultra Lounge 4) Silver Baron Lounge

30

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| DECEMBER 18, 2014

2) Steve Lord, 6pm, Tu, W, no cover

3) Boogie Nights, 9pm, M, $10

For a complete listing of this week’s events, visit newsreview.com/reno Handel’s Messiah TOCCATA—Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus winds down its ninth annual holiday production, which has been performed at several venues in the RenoTahoe area over the past two weeks. The concert features favorite selections from Handel’s Messiah parts I and III, as well as seasonal carols. The show begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 19 at Grace Community Church, 1220 Robb Drive. Tickets range from $5 to $40. Call (775) 3139697 or visit www.toccatatahoe.com.

Jazz for the Holidays The Reno Jazz Orchestra presents its holiday concert featuring performances by jazz vocalist Madeline Eastman, international tap dancing star Sam Weber and Ananda Bena-Weber of Sierra Nevada Ballet, the Reno Youth Jazz Orchestra and other special guests.

The show begins at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20, at Nightingale Concert Hall, Church Fine Arts Complex, 1335 N. Virginia St., at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for students. Visit www.renojazzorchestra.org.

Colors of Christmas Jazz singer Cami Thompson will present her annual holiday show and winter solstice celebration featuring favorite holiday tunes and selections off her CD Colors of Christmas. She will be joined by Peter Supersano, Joe McKenna, Eric Middleton, Doug Coomler, Rich Lewis, Andrew Woodard, and the Billinghurst Middle School Jazz Choir under the direction of Kris Engstrom and backup singers Jesse Briggs, Malary Engstrom and Jill Engstrom. The concert will benefit the Jessica Ann Faber Foundation’s “Help Bring Joy To Their World” campaign to present gifts of music lessons, arts supplies, dance gear, instrument repairs and more to struggling young artists in the community. The show begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21, at Nightingale Concert Hall inside the Church Fine Arts Complex, 1335 N. Virginia St., at the University of Nevada, Reno. Tickets are $25 general admission, $15 for seniors age 65 and older and $10 for youth age 15 and younger. Visit www. camithompson.com.

Riverwalk District Wine Walk

R

emember that ugly Christmas sweater your Great Aunt Millie knitted for you ages ago that you banished to the darkest corner of your closet? It’s time to dust it off and put it on display for this month’s wine walk event.

Participants age 21 and older are invited to break out their

most atrocious knitted holiday garments while sampling wines at a variety of shops in the Riverwalk District in downtown Reno. Stop by Brüka Theatre, Chocolate Bar, 5 Star Saloon or other Riverwalk District businesses, and, with a valid photo ID, you’ll receive a map, wine glass and an ID bracelet that

allows you to sample wine from any participating merchant.

The glass and bracelet are $20.

Part of the proceeds from this month’s event will go to Cancer Awareness of Nevada. The wine walk takes place from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20. Call 825-9255 or visit www.renoriver.org.

Ham for the Holidays

—Kelley Lang

OPINION

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NEWS

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GREEN

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FEATURE STORY

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ARTS&CULTURE

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ART OF THE STATE

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FOODFINDS

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FILM

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MUSICBEAT

|

NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS

There are just a few more days left to catch Brüka Theatre’s holiday production of Shad Willingham’s warmhearted farce and nod to the screwball comedies of the 1930s. The scene: It is Christmas Eve, 1939, in the fictional town of Hamlin, Georgia, and the local radio station WHAM has a special one-off performance planned for Christmas. WHAM has gathered its radio actors together for the anticipated arrival of a script and radio star Orson Welles, who will join the cast for the performance. Unfortunately, a freak snowstorm derails those plans and the actors must scramble to get a play together by airtime. Performances start at 8 p.m. on Friday-Saturday, Dec. 20-21, with a matinee show at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21, at Brüka Theatre, 99 N. Virginia St. Tickets are $20 general, $18 students and seniors and $25 at the door. Call 323-3221 or visit www.bruka.org.

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THIS WEEK

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MISCELLANY

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DECEMBER 18, 2014

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RN&R

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31

The more you stay away I’ve got an intense attraction to this musician I’ve been dating for four months. He’s on the road a lot, plus he’s new to the city and recently out of a relationship. He says he’s not ready to get serious and just told me he wants us to be non-monogamous. The more I try to get close, the more he pulls away. My girlfriends told me to stop chasing him and be much less available. I tried being less present, which, to my surprise, made him miss me and be more attentive. I’m disgusted at the need for manipulative game playing. How much longer do I need to keep this up?

There are times it makes sense to chase a man, like if he’s wearing Lycra knickers and making a dash for the end zone.

However, chasing a man is an especially bad strategy when you’re looking for love. The reason for this goes back millions of years and comes down to what anthropologists call “parental investment” and how biology sticks women with the lion’s share of it. As I’ve explained here from time to time, before the invention of reliable birth control, a single romp in the bushes could leave a woman with a hungry kid to haul around and feed. So women evolved to be the choosier sex, and to cross their legs until the man vying for sex showed he’d likely stick around to provide for any ensuing Neander-browed children.

Men, in turn, coevolved to expect this choosiness from women. And though we’re living in modern times, we’ve got some pretty antique psychology still driving us, so when a man today encounters a woman who seems easy to have, he tends to get the message that she isn’t worth 32 | RN&R |

DECEMBER 18, 2014

having. This may seem awful and unfair, but it’s just how things are. So lamenting the need for “game playing” is like expecting something different from gravity. Drop an apple and it’s going to fall; it will not lift off, circle your head a few times, and then try to make it to Cleveland on tail winds before nightfall.

As for this guy, sure, you want him, but letting attraction and enjoyment alone determine who you have a relationship with is like letting your taste buds do your grocery shopping. (Dunno about yours, but mine would not be lingering in the broccoli section.) Before you get involved with a man, you need to check to see that he’s available, and immediately disqualify any man who isn’t single or emotionally ready for a relationship.

Once you have a viable candidate, take steps to avoid seeming desperate, like by setting the timer on your phone for 20 minutes or an hour before you return a text. The more you do this sort of thing the more natural it will feel, until you become hard to get instead of just playing it. Should you feel tempted to fall back into old chase behaviors, just remind yourself of your ultimate goal: inspiring a man to want you instead of inspiring him to fill out paperwork to keep you 100 feet away from him at all times. Ω

Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave., No. 280, Santa Monica,CA 90405, or email AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com).

Print ads start at $6/wk. www.newsreview.com or (775) 324-4440 ext. 5 Phone hours: M-F 8am-5pm.

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All advertising is subject to the newspaper’s Standards of Acceptance. Further, the News & Review specifically reserves the right to edit, decline or properly classify any ad. Errors will be rectified by re-publication upon notification. The N&R is not responsible for error after the first publication. The N&R assumes no financial liability for errors or omission of copy. In any event, liability shall not exceed the cost of the space occupied by such an error or omission. The advertiser and not the newspaper assumes full responsibility for the truthful content of their advertising message.

BEWARE OF FAKE CHECK SCAMS Fake check scams are clever ploys designed to steal your money.

You can avoid becoming a victim by recognizing how the scam works and understanding your responsiblity for the checks that you deposit in your account.

If someone you don’t know wants to pay you by check but wants you to wire some of the money back, beware! It is a scam that could cost you thousands of dollars. For more information, go to www.fraud.org/scams.

This reminder is a public service of the N&R Career Training Airline Careers start here.

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OPINION | NEWS | GREEN | feature story | ARTS&CULTURE | IN ROTATION | ART OF THE STATE | FOODFINDS | FILM | MUSICBEAT | NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS | THIS WEEK | MISCELLANY | december 18, 2014 |

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who was

BaaaaD in

2014?

NOMINATE THEM FOR THE SHEEP DIP/RN&R PEOPLE’S SHAFT AWARD!

Here’s your cHance to nominate the person, business or government entity you feel has done something really cheap, stupid or superficial during the past year!

You know, something really stupid, preposterous, absurd, insipid...you get the point. It’s your chance to lampoon them! All you have to do is tell us your “People’s Shaft” award nominee.

Send us an e-mail with your nominee and your name will be entered into a drawing for 2 tickets to the 51st Annual Sheep Dip Show at John Ascuaga’s Nugget, January 9-10, 2015. Deadline for nominations is Friday, December 26, 2014.

by rob brezsny

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Too much

happiness can make you unhappy,” reported journalist Marta Zaraska in The Washington Post. Citing research by psychologists, she concluded that being super-extra cheerful can make you selfish, gullible and more prone to stereotyped thinking. On the other hand, she said, maintaining merely moderate levels of happiness is pretty damned good for your mental and physical health. So here’s the takeaway, Aries: The astrological omens suggest you’re due for a surge of joy and pleasure. Just be careful it doesn’t spill over into rash, delirious excess. Here’s your watchword: well-grounded delight.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In the 19th

century, the Grimm brothers gathered more than 200 old fairy tales from a variety of sources and published them in an unprecedented collection. Many of their stories are still popular, including “Cinderella,” “Snow White,” “Hansel and Gretel” and “Rapunzel.”

Around the same time they did their work, a storyteller named Franz Xaver von Schönwerth assembled his own compendium of fantastic myths, fables and folklore. Unlike the Grimm brothers’ book, his work faded into obscurity. But it was rediscovered in 2011, and 500 lost fairy tales are now finding their way into newly published books. I foresee a comparable phenomenon happening for you in 2015, Taurus. Forgotten stories will return. Raw material from the depths will resurface. Interesting news from the past will come flowing into the present.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Your first

task is to ascertain the half-truth, the whole half-truth and nothing but the whole half-truth. Only then will you be able to find the other half of the truth. I realize it may be frustrating to use this approach. You’d probably prefer to avoid wrangling with the deceptions and misdirections. But I think it’s the only way to jostle loose the hidden or missing information. For best results, be a cunning and unsentimental detective who’s eager to solve the mystery. Don’t focus on finding fault or assigning blame.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): One of the

ingredients that makes yoga mats so soft and springy is the chemical azodicarbonamide. The same stuff is added to the soles of shoes. There’s a third place where it’s used, too: in the burger buns sold by McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and other fast food joints. I’m not suggesting that you order a big supply of azodicarbonamide and ingest it. But I do hope you will consider the metaphorical equivalent: doing whatever’s necessary to make yourself bouncy and fluffy and pliable and supple and resilient.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “There are two

kinds of light,” said author James Thurber, “the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.” Lately you have been an abundant source of that first kind of light, Leo. The fire in your heart and the gleam in your eyes have not only brightened the mood wherever you’ve gone. They have also clarified confusing situations, warmed chilly attitudes and healed dispirited allies. Thank you! In the coming weeks, I’d love to see you continue on your hot streak. To help ensure that you do, keep your ego under control.

Don’t let it pretend that it owns the light you’re emitting. With a little introspection, you will continue to generate illumination, not glare.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Studies suggest

Send to contest@newsreview.com and put SHEEP DIP in the subject line. Include your full name, birth date and daytime phone. Winner will be notified by phone and e-mail.

that 57 percent of all people with access to the Internet have engaged in the practice known as ego-surfing. This modern art form consists of searching Google for mentions of one’s own name. This is a suspiciously low figure unless we factor in the data uncovered by my own research—which is that a disproportionately small amount of Virgos go ego-surfing: only 21 percent. If you are one of the 79 percent of your tribe who does not indulge, I invite you to remedy the situation. It’s an excellent time to risk exploring the potential benefits of increased self-interest and self-regard.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): When I started

writing horoscopes many years ago, I was a good astrologer but an unexceptional writer. Eventually, the practice of composing 12 packets of pithy prose every week allowed me to improve my authorial skills.

The stuff I composed in the early years wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t want to present it as my work any more. So should I feel guilty that I got paid and appreciated for those old efforts even though I was less than perfect?

Did I get away with something I shouldn’t have gotten away with? I don’t think so. I was doing the best I could at the time. And even my unpolished astrological musings were helpful to many people. Now, Libra, I invite you to apply these meditations to you own unfolding destiny.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You may

already know what I’m about to tell you.

It’s a core principle at the root of your Scorpio heritage. But I want to focus your attention on it. In the coming months, you’ll be wise to keep it at the forefront of your conscious awareness. Here it is, courtesy of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: “You have it in your power to invest everything you have lived through—your experiments, false starts, errors, delusions, passions, your love and your hope—into your goal, with nothing left over.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

“A savage desire for strong emotions and sensations burns inside me: a rage against this soft-tinted, shallow, standardized and sterilized life.” So says Harry Haller, the protagonist of Herman Hesse’s novel Steppenwolf. His declaration could serve as an interesting point of reference for you in the coming months, Sagittarius—not as a mood for everyday use, but as a poetic inspiration that you periodically call on to invigorate your lust for life. My invitation has a caveat, however. I advise you not to adopt the rest of Harry Haller’s rant, in which he says that he also has “a mad craving to smash something up, a department store, or a cathedral, or myself.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I have

lived near an open space preserve for five years. Up until the last two months, it has been a peaceful, quiet place. But then the coyotes moved in. Just after dusk every evening, a pack of them start yipping and yowling in the distance. At first I found the racket to be eerie and unsettling. It activated some primal unease in me. And yet the coyotes have never actually been a problem.

They don’t roam into my neighborhood and try to bite people or prey on pets. So now I’ve come to relish the situation: The wild things are close and exciting, but not dangerous. I’m guessing this has a metaphorical resemblance to what your life will be like in the next six months, Capricorn.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont, are really a single town that straddles the border between the U.S. and Canada.

Many of the people who live there have dual citizenship, but they’re still supposed to carry their passports with them at all times.

I suspect you may experience a metaphorical version of this split in the coming months, Aquarius. You will be in a situation that has a split down the middle or a seemingly unnatural division. Whether it turns out to be a problem or an opportunity will depend on your adaptability and flexibility.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): When a

dead tree topples over in the woods, its withered branches may get entangled with the branches of a living tree that’s standing nearby. As years go by, the living tree must grow the best it can with the decaying wood trapped in its midst. Has something like that ever happened to you? Are you still carrying the rot that other people have burdened you with? If so, the coming months will be an excellent time to get disentangled. A tree isn’t capable of freeing itself from the dead weight of the past, but you are—especially in the first half of 2015.

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text message horoscopes. The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at (877) 873-4888 or (900) 950-7700.

34 | RN&R |

DECEMBER 18, 2014

by Marina Palmieri PHOTO/Marina PalMieri

Brides on a Budget Elizabeth Henningsen Déjà vu Bridal is a new wedding dress re-sale and consignment boutique featuring second-hand and new designer dresses for budget conscious brides. It is located in the Summit Mall, 13945 S. Virginia St. Call 291-9120 for more information.

Tell me about how you got started in this business?

How many dresses do you have?

I got started in the wedding re-sale and consignment business as a photographer dealing with weddings. I’d heard from a lot of brides things, like, “I need to stay on budget, how can I cut corners? What things can I really try to cut cost on?

Wedding dresses always seem to be a good idea. Why do I have to pay $1,200 for a dress when it’s just a dress I’m going to wear for eight hours.” Likewise, it was brides that were like, “I have this dress that I only wore for eight hours or four hours, and it’s still beautiful and perfect but what am I going to do with it now? It’s just sitting in my closet.” It seemed like a really good way to serve the community and serve the brides out there that are budget-conscious ... to still stay on track nd not looking to spend the $25,000 on a wedding.

I currently have 36 dresses but that number is changing, whether buying, selling, consigning, and things like that. A lot of dresses are coming and going.

Ah, Christmas. It’s on! My December has been marked by the traditional encounters of the season—with family—but in decidedly untraditional ways.

I got the call from my little brother in San Diego, asking if I could come down to his place for a few days and help while he recuperates from surgery. Yes, Tommy got hisself a new hip for Xmas, and while he certainly isn’t all that crazy about it now, I’m thinkin’ that by Feb, he’ll be fab and able to once again walk around the block without downing a fistful of Advil. But right now, the adjective “painless” is not applicable.

So I flew on down, spending the week nuking various microwavables, shuttling those into his room, and hauling out a steady stream of Gatorade bottles, filled trucker-style by a bladder that was obviously functioning a lot better than his hip.

This scenario lent itself nicely to us resuming our decades old snarkoffs, with me chiding him for not being OPINION

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NEWS

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I have some dresses that are 60, 75, 30 percent off. You’re looking at a pretty good range. It’s pretty safe to say it’s any where from 30-60 percent off.

It depends on the stock. I try to make sure I definitely have new dresses coming in all the time. Just to make sure I have a good revolving stock and style for girls, but it depends on the selling of dresses, too.

Anything else you want people to know?

The biggest thing I want people to know is my tag line is, “a boutique for the budgetconscious brides.” That’s really what it is whether you’re coming in here because you don’t have a lot of money to spend on a wedding and still want a really beautiful dress I still have that dress for you, or you’re thinking why do I want to spend $1,500 on a dress when I can get it for half that price? I really am aimed to helping that girl not have to sacrifice the style, look and feeling they are going for. It goes with the whole something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Ω

What type of dresses do you have?

All kinds of styles, all kinds of sizes. My size range goes anywhere from a size 2 to a size 22. Also, in regards to style, I have anything and everything in-between, and I did that on purpose to make sure there is good variety for the girls coming in so they have something to choose from.

∫y Bruce Van Dye

prepared for his convalescence by stocking the pantry with helpful ho ho ho THC muffins, and him telling me to shut the hell up and fetch another soda. It took about two hours to get our good old groove on, one that we can effortlessly slip into like favored sweaters.

After listening to him exercise up and down the hall with the eerie thump of his walker (which prompted all kinds of hilarious, at least to me, Walking Dead “walker” gags), it was time to roll on up the coast to see my dear old Mom, who is still hanging around at 87, and now in her eighth year of Alzheimer mode. At this point, she’s not in real good shape.

Positively skeletal and confined to a railed hospital bed, I was fairly dreading this visit. The last time I’d seen her, in July, it had been pretty grim, and frankly, I was surprised she was still here on Earth.

When I walked into her room, she looked up and began stroking the rail of her bed. That appears to be her |

ARTS&CULTURE

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ART OF THE STATE

My biggest thing for wedding dresses is I definitely try and keep more current styles.

I don’t want to have the older styles that are harder to sell, number one. But also, my biggest thing is for brides to come in here and not feel like they have to sacrifice their style or their fit, or current trends to be able to afford a dress. I definitely want them to come in and still pick out that dream dress. So I try and keep styles within the last 3-5 years. I have turned down a couple dresses because of style— they were about 20 years old—and that’s because there is just not a lot of drive for those dresses.

How much money are brides saving on dresses?

How often do you get new dresses in?

On this side of the hill

What is your requirement for taking wedding dresses?

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main recreation now, rail-stroking. Daft as a loon, stroking away, stroking and stroking and stroking. Her palms must feel good or something. I sat next to the bed, and we made eye contact. These days, she’ll look straight through you without giving a damn if you’re comfortable or not. She can’t talk, she can’t communicate, and she can’t give a damn. All she can do is look. So i looked back. I mean, shit, it’s cool.

She’s my mom, ya know?

And I asked her, as I always clumsily do, if she knew who I was. Quickly, she grabbed my hand and looked me in the eye in a way that seemed to imply that I really had some nerve to ask such a dumbass question.

Driving home later that afternoon, it sank in to my head and heart that I will receive no nicer gift this holiday. Ω FOODFINDS

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DECEMBER 18, 2014

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Come celebrate the opening of High Sierra Brewing Company Saturday, December 20th 11am-close Experience our fine food & freshly brewed award-winning beer. and at 8pm Shane Dwight hits the stage for a barn burning blues explosion Located Inside

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On the corner of Glendale & Rock

Streetalk.................... 4 Essay......................... 5 Arts & Culture............. 6 Holiday Help.............. 7 FoodFinds................... 8 Music......................... 9 Feature.................... 11

Kids News & Review

My Path................... 12 Did You Know?......... 13 Film......................... 14 Movie Reviews......... 15 My Winter Window... 17 Kids’ Voice............... 22 15 Minutes............... 23

lending a

helping

hand see Holiday Help, page 7

an autumn

craving see FoodFinds, page 8

Boys & girls club

film festival

reviews see Film, page 14

youths of The year see 15 Minutes, page 19 a special advertising supplement to Reno News & Review

DECEMBER 18, 2014

Reno Bighorns

Proud Affiliate of the Sacramento Kings www.RenoBighorns.com

Stephanie, Age 10 2 kn&r

DECEMBER 18, 2014

T

his is one of the Reno News & Review’s most important and unique projects, for it touches many people in the community while helping to create better awareness and understanding of one of the Reno area’s most valued organizations: The Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows.

The “Kids N&R” has received 1st Place honors in its category for 6 years as “Best Special Section” in the Nevada Press Association’s Better Newspaper Awards – a statewide competition judged each year by an out-of-state panel.

Most of the stories and ads were created by kids from various locations of the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows, so what you’ll see and read on the following pages is truly “through the eyes of children”.

About the Boys & Girls Club HISTORY

The Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows has grown from a single site in 1976 to 20 sites serving more than 12,000 kids a year - becoming the premier agency serving youth in the Truckee Meadows.

Locations for the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows include the Donald W. Reynolds Facility on East Ninth Street, the William N. Pennington Facility on Foster Drive as well as sites hosted in 13 schools, 4 teen centers, Neil Road and Lemmon Valley youth sites and the Early Learning Program at the E.L. Wiegand Youth Center.

MISSION

The mission of the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows is to enhance the quality of life for children

through age 18 in the Truckee Meadows. The Boys & Girls Club is committed to creating healthy children, in body and mind, with a sense of competence, usefulness, responsibility, belonging and influence through diverse programs and community involvement.

PROGRAMS

The Boys & Girls Club offers nearly 130 different programs, events and activities to meet the diverse needs and interests of their members. Core programming areas include: Character & Leadership Development Education & Career Development Health & Life Skills The Arts Sports, Fitness & Recreation

Food Bank of Northern Nevada (775) 331-3663 www.fbnn.org

Trinity P., Age 11

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Like so many non-profit agencies, it takes the generosity of a caring community to continue to provide high-level programming – especially at a time when the services offered by the Boys & Girls Club are in demand, now more than ever.

Corporate and individual donations can be made online, securely at bgctm.org or by calling (775) 331-5437 (KIDS).

Donations of items for the annual Jack T. Reviglio Cioppino Feed and Auction: Contact Allyson Bolton at (775) 331-5437 Thank you for supporting the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows and enjoy the 2014 Kids News & Review. Please tell our advertisers that you saw their ad in the Kids N&R!

2014 Kids News & Review Content:

Kids and Staff of the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows Kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows Photos: Kids and Staff of the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows BGCTM COORDINATORS: Tina Colliver, Education Director Casey Rogers, Program Development Director Layout/Design: Priscilla Garcia

Ad Coordination: Karen Brooke, Nanette Harker

Ad Sales: Joey Davis, Gina Odegard, Bev Savage and Jessica Wilson

Published by: Chico Community Publishing, Inc., dba The Reno News & Review General Manager: John D. Murphy cover art: Nicko, age 10

Ad Design:

The content and opinions expressed in this issue do not necessarily reflect those of the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows or Chico Community Publishing, Inc.

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2014 kids news & review 3

StreeTalk with Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows at Neil Road

What has the My Path program taught you and what are your take aways?

The My Path program taught me good money saving skills and taught me how to be wise with my spending.

-Jaylen Franklin, 16

My Path taught me how to budget my money. It showed me how to set up a plan and see it through. It also taught me how to make short and long term goals.

-Jasmine Scott, 18

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Athena, Age 10

My Path has shown me the difference between my needs and my wants. Additionally, I have learned the difference between credit and debit.

-Esmeralda Flores, 15

My Path has helped me budget my money. Through the program I have gained independence in using my debit card and have learned how easy it is to go to the bank and ask for help.

The savings account I opened has been very helpful and I am still using it to save money after completing the program.

-Vicky Linares, 18

My Path has impacted me by helping me overcome the challenge of saving money. Not only do I have a savings account, but I have continued to save money even though I have completed the My Path program.

-Ashley Herrera, 17

My Path has affected me by strengthening my understanding about financial literacy. Since the program I can distinguish my needs from my wants as well as the difference between credit and debit. Because of the program, I have learned how to set financial goals as well as the steps needed to achieve set goals.

-Eric Cruz, 17

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Kenny H., Age 10 4 kn&r

DECEMBER 18, 2014

My Path has given me a new way to understand the use of money. This class has given me the opportunity to open a bank account as well as creating a savings account with a deposit of $100 for finishing the program. I would recommend this this program for others, especially if they want to know how to manage their money.

-Maureena Jacinto, 17

Reaching for the

Interview with Mike Wurm, Executive Director & CPO

By Lauren Soulam, Grants Director

T

he rapid growth in Washoe County during the 1970s brought with it an increase in juvenile problems. It became clear to a handful of local businessmen that the solution wasn’t a bigger juvenile justice system, but rather programs that would curb issues before they began. It was this line of thinking that led to the founding of the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows in 1976. Then called the Boys Club, the first Club members occupied a facility just south of the intersection of Terminal Way and East Plumb Lane in Reno.

The early days of the Club were challenging with limited funding to keep the organization afloat. Longtime board members recall days when a hat would be passed around at board meetings just to make that month’s payroll. It was a hard-fought battle, but the Club’s founders—led by Boys & Girls Club patriarch Jack Reviglio—were dedicated to the cause and the kids.

Over time, support for the Club grew. A major fundraising campaign was instituted to provide a better location for the Club, and in late 1981 the Club was moved to a new location on East Ninth Street, today known as the Donald W. Reynolds Facility. In 1983, girls were invited to participate as full-time Club members, and two years later, the name was officially changed to the Boys & Girls Club.

Nearly forty years after opening, the Boys & Girls Club is running strong, operating 20 sites throughout northern Nevada. In that time, they’ve expanded membership to include teenagers, launched four sites in Fernley and opened the new William N. Pennington Facility on Foster Drive. And while there is much to celebrate over the history of the organization, each new success only seems to open the door to the next need.

“It seems like each time we reach a new peak, there’s another, higher peak on the horizon,” said Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows Executive Director Mike Wurm. “You can see that over our history. We have been very fortunate to have so many opportunities for expansion over the years, but with every win, another need, another opportunity is there.”

The Club is committed to a pursuit of those opportunities, always seeking ways to grow to serve more children with the highest

quality programs and services. “Growth seems to be a perpetual state at the Boys & Girls Club. Always responsible, sustainable growth, but growth nonetheless,” Wurm said.

This past year was certainly a year of growth at the Boys & Girls Club as the organization completed a 12-month construction project to build the new William N. Pennington Facility on Foster Drive. Located across the street from Reno High School, the property has a long history of serving local young people, and the Club was proud to continue that tradition.

The facility opened this past June, and initial estimates were to serve 250-300 children each day.

Those estimates fell short. Attendance at the Pennington Facility reached 350 after just the first week and only grew from there, peaking at times to 600 youth.

Children and families from all different backgrounds, it seems, were excited to have a Boys & Girls Club in their neighborhood.

The demand for the facility was greater than the Club could have predicted, and now, only six months after opening the facility, the Club is already looking for ways to enhance services at the Pennington Facility to meet the needs and interests of members.

“The Pennington Facility is a great example of how expansion has turned into another opportunity for growth,” said Wurm. “There’s still more we can and will do in that community, and it’s not the only one. There are other opportunities coming up over the next year at different schools and the Project Solution Complex that could mean reaching more youth in more neighborhoods.”

The Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows will serve more than 13,000 youth this year and is expected to serve even more in 2015. An impressive number, perhaps, but this represents just 20 percent of the school-aged population in Washoe County. Some children may not need the Club’s services, but there is still much work to be done.

“We’re not there yet, we haven’t reached the summit,” said Wurm. “So the mission of the Boys & Girls Club, and the vision of our founders, will keep pushing forward.”

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2014 kids news & review 5

The National Fine Art Exhibit T

he National Fine Art Exhibit is something that the Boys & Girls Club takes pride in participating in each year.

Members from four different age groups: 6-9, 10-12, 13-15 and 15-18, submit their art work in 10 categories against other Club members across the world.

Throughout the year members at all of our sites participate in programing specific to a category. Monochromatic drawing consists of pictures created using pencils, charcoal, crayons, etc. resulting in a submission all one color or hue. Multicolored Drawing is similar to the monochromatic drawing however it may contain multiple colors. The Pastel category consists of chalk or pastel.

The paint category includes Watercolor; including tempera, pan-type or tube based paints and Oil or Acrylic which includes oil and acrylic based paints. Other catego-

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Nancy Estrada, Age 12 6 kn&r

DECEMBER 18, 2014

ries are Print Making which is created by transferring an impression of a composition from one surface to paper (silk screening, etching, etc.), Mixed Media which is the combination of any other categories onto one two-dimensional surface. The final categories are Collage, Sculpture and Group Project; group projects do not need to fall into any one category and simply consists of a group of Club members working on one project together. In conjunction with teaching techniques and different mediums of art, I add a little bit of art history to the curriculum. I feel it is important for our members to learn about past successful artist that worked in the mediums they are learning and I also believe it helps to create inspiration along with allowing for the retention of the material.

The works of art are judged nationally only after a local or regional exhibit. Our local exhibit will be held at Swill Coffee and Wine for the month of December. This is year is the first year the local exhibit has been held off a Boys & Girls Club campus.

Every site in Reno will submit artwork from their members to be displayed and judged to move on to the regional competition.

The reception and judging will take place on December 5th from 4-6 p.m., the judg-

ing will be done by the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows board members that night. Moreover, throughout the month the community has the opportunity to cast their vote for their favorite piece. We are excited to have our local exhibit displayed at a local business and we invite everyone to come out and support the young artists of the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows.

By Eddie Guth, Art Coordinator

The Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows 2014 Holiday Help Program T

he Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows, with tremendous support from the Reno, Sparks and Fernley communities, provides Christmas gifts and goods to local club families in need. In 2013, the Club matched more than 200 families with the help of generous adopters, as well as those who provided extra toys. We were able to help more than 1,500 children.

Many of the families that receive help through our program are Club families that are either living on a very limited income or are homeless. The children in our Holiday Help program range in age from 5 to 18.

All are currently enrolled at the Boys &

In 2013, the Club matched more than 200 families with the help of generous adopters.

Girls Club of Truckee Meadows and have attended the Club at least 52 times in the last year. Each family goes through a prescreening process before their application is approved for the Holiday Help program, so we know these are families in need of assistance.

We ask that donors specify the size of the family they want to adopt. We always do our best to match donors with the family size they request. Our families range in size from one parent and one child up to two parents with six or more children. It is our hope that donors will provide at least three new, wrapped gifts for each child. In most cases, these gifts will be the only presents our children receive.

Many donors also want to give the parent a gift. We suggest a gift card to Wal-Mart or Save-mart (they can be purchased with restrictions such as no tobacco or alcohol), so the parent can buy food for their family and donors do not have to

worry about buying additional gifts for the parents. Another option is if a parent has filled out specific needs they have on their application the donor may choose to purchase these items.

To adopt a Reno-Sparks family for the 2014 Holiday Help program please contact Kathleen Vanderziel at (775) 3602450 or email. To adopt a family in Fernley please contact Robin Gane at (775) 3035901 or email .

By Kathleen Vanderziel, Donor Relations Manager

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a special advertising supplement to Reno News & Review DECEMBER 18, 2014

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2014 kids news & review 7

11th Annual Bully’s Community Thanksgiving Dinner:

An Autumn

Craving

By Chad Kirkland, DWR Chef

W

Czyz’s Appliance

9738 S. Virginia St., Ste AB, Reno, NV • (775) 322–3451 774 Mays Blvd. #11, Incline Village, NV • (775) 831–1300 10960 West River St., Truckee, CA • (530) 582–4400

Jake Odegard, Age 8

Welmerink Orthodontics (775) 358-6320 • Prater Way, Sparks www.welmerkinkorthodontics.com

Eric Padilla, Age 11 8 kn&r

DECEMBER 18, 2014

hen I was just a kid, each autumn meant more to me than most. As leaves churned from green to the Nevada browns of its vast landscapes, and the dry arid heat sifts to a brisk cold, I always knew Thanksgiving was upon the horizon not just from dates on a calendar—I could feel it.

Years later, I can still feel it. The smells of my grandmother’s sweet potatoes fresh from a piping oven, and the savory tastes from my grandpa’s ham, perspiring over my tongue.

Nostalgia from stories of my parents, aunts’, and uncles’ past still echo over the dinner table each year as November dissolves into winter.

This is what I’m thankful for. Not just the memories, but for the opportunity to share Thanksgiving with more than my family—my community.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, my

colleagues and I worked with the conscientious folks from Bully’s to deliver an autumn feast for the Reno-Sparks area. We served 1,200 plates of warm mashed potatoes, traditional cooked turkey with stuffing, and plenty more. Over 200 volunteers, combined with players from the Reno Bighorns and Nevada Wolf Pack mascot, Alphie, gave their support to make this year’s event a success.

A lot of hungry tummies were filled, and the smiles of appreciation make it all worth it.

As I ventured amongst those in attendance, listening to the nostalgia from others’ past Thanksgivings—the smells and tastes—I could not help but smile a little wider this November.

Watching those in the community I’ve known since I was just a kid, for this first time I can really remember, being able to help create everlasting Thanksgiving memories for at least one other person makes this autumn once again mean more to me than most.

Thank you to all who attended and volunteered to make this day special for all who was there. Have a safe, unforgettable, and delightful Holiday season!

Interview with

Skyler Mcanany

By Dan Pike, Technology Coordinator

S

kyler Mcanany has been a musician since he started playing piano with his grandmother at 6 years old. Now at age 14 Skyler Mcanany is heavily involved in the music program as a member at the brand new Boys & Girls Club Pennington facility off of Foster drive in Reno. Skyler is attends Clayton Middle school, but attends the Boys & Girls Club regularly. He plays guitar and has had some piano lessons in the past, but what he really focuses his talent on in the Club is creating hip hop beats using looping software. He can remember learning guitar from his grandmother’s boyfriend and says “I love playing the same 5 chords over and over again because I like to listen to the way it sounds. I just like to express myself through this way.” Skyler loves to convert popular songs he hears into acoustic guitar pieces. One of the pieces Skyler loves to hear converted into acoustic guitar is All Of Me by John Legend. One of his greatest influences for playing guitar being his dad, Skyler says, “I like to listen to my dad play guitar. The more I see him play the more I want to play. My family talked about creating a band. My dad plays guitar, mom sings, sister plays piano.”

Skyler has a variety of influences in his music from people such as his dad, to his faith, the way the weather makes him feel, and even some of the staff members of the Boys & Girls Club. Skyler explains that, “I grew up in a Christian family” and enjoys some of the musical talents of artists such as Chris Tomlin and Kutless who strengthen his faith. He loves their song “What Faith can do” which speaks to what the power of God can do in our lives.

Listening to music outside of Christianity too he loves listening to some of the songs his dad listens to from artists including Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, and Theory of a Dead Man. One of his favorite songs is called “Not Meant to Be,”

by Theory of a Dead Man which inspires him in its message of overcoming difficulties in life. The song’s lyric, ““Trying to

turn around in a one way street, I can’t give you what you want and it’s killing me” means a lot to Skyler. He agrees that, “some people give up on things, and he is saying that he is trying his best even though it is like turning around on a one way street. It is really hard to get passed certain things, but he is trying.”

Sklyer draws some of his inspiration from nature and says that he loves seeing dark clouds outside the studio when he is working on his hip hop projects at the Club.

Sometimes it inspires me whenever I am in a mood or whenever it is dark outside.

He says, “I like to look outside while I am working on music and the clouds really inspired me in my music.” When drawing inspiration for his hip hop work he is also inspired by his favorite hip hop artist Lecrae.

Along with all these other inspirations for his work the Club also provides an environment for him to grow his musical talents. “The Boys & Girls Club has helped me, the staff introduced me to soundation. com and it really got me into hip hop music and furthered my interest in making music.” A brand new recording studio is expected to be installed over Winter Break at the Pennington facility and Skyler says, “I like to make music and I don’t have any way of recording my music on my own or storing it so I am really excited about it.”

Skyler wants other artists to know to “Try your best, do what you gotta to do succeed!” and “I would tell them to not listen to anybody else, but to take inspiration from the music that you wish you could do and the artist you like”

Kimmie Candy Company

525 Reactor Way, Reno, NV (775) 284-9200 • www.kimmiecandy.com

Sophie, Age 12

Port of Subs

Various locations throughout Northern Nevada www.portofsubs.com

Jaiden, Age 11 a special advertising supplement to Reno News & Review DECEMBER 18, 2014

2014 kids news & review 9

Circus Circus Reno

500 N. Sierra Street • Reno, NV 89503 (775) 329-0711 • www.circusreno.com

Courtney, Age 12

Sierra Trading Post

6139 S. Virginia St., Reno (775) 828–8050 • www.sierratradingpost.com

Jake O., Age 8 10 kn&r

DECEMBER 18, 2014

20 14

Eric Cruz, 2014 Male Youth of the Year Eric Cruz was just six years old when his father passed away. His mom was rarely around, so his dad had raised Eric and his two older sisters on his own, working as many as three jobs to provide for his family. Following his dad’s death, Eric and his sisters were adopted by their aunt and uncle. But even as life was moving back toward normalcy, Eric continued to struggle.

“I had always been a quiet kid, but in the midst of crisis, I retreated further into myself,” Eric recalled. “It was hard to get attached to anyone else. I was so afraid of getting hurt again.” For many years, Eric remained that quiet kid with few friends and even fewer meaningful connections with others.

Things didn’t begin to change for Eric until he was 13, when he was introduced to the Boys & Girls Club.

“As I came to the Club more often, I got out of my box and started to interact with other Club members and began to make bonds which I was hesitant to do before,” Eric said. “I can honestly say that summer was the best summer I ever had with the staff and teens at the Sun Valley Teen Center.”

A few months later, Eric was invited to join Leaders in Training (LIT). As an LIT, Eric would volunteer his time at other Boys & Girls Club sites and assist staff with running programs for younger members. It even came with an opportunity to earn a paid position at the Club over the summer. The program clicked with Eric, and the once shy boy was now a leader and a mentor.

Today Eric is 17 and is one of the Club’s standout LITs. He has earned paid spots at the Club for each of the last three summers and is saving money from those paychecks to help with college next year.

Eric has excelled in school as well. He is a senior at Coral Academy of Science and is in the top 15 of his class. Next fall, he plans to attend the University of Nevada where he will study to become an emergency services nurse.

Eric has come incredibly far in four short years, and he is quick to acknowledge what the Club has meant to

him. “The Club has shown me that even the most difficult challenges in life are an opportunity for growth, and as I pursue my goals and dreams, I will never forget the role the Boys & Girls Club has played in my life.”

Nikita Cleveland, 2014 Female Youth of the Year Nikita Cleveland’s earliest memories go back to her mom. After her parents split when she was a baby, it was Nikita’s mom who took over custody. Life with her mom meant moving around a lot as her mom moved from relationship to relationship. At times, they would live in shelters. The moves eventually brought them to

“ The Club has shown me that even the most difficult challenges in life are an opportunity for growth, and as I pursue my goals and dreams.”

Eric Cruz

Texas, which is where Nikita’s younger brother was born. Deciding that it was too great of a financial burden to care for two children, Nikita’s mom brought fiveyear-old Nikita back to Reno to live with her dad.

“Once we got to Reno, we went straight from the bus station to the courthouse where a man was waiting,” Nikita remembers. “She told me that this man was my dad, and at first I was excited. But in the middle of my excitement, my mom walked away. I used to think she would come back for me one day, but she never came.”

The transition, however, came easily as life with her dad was wonderfully different than the instability to which Nikita was accustomed. They lived in one place, she attended one school, and she was nearby other family members. Not long after she arrived in Reno, her dad signed her up for the Boys & Girls Club.

Nikita jumped headfirst into the programs at the Boys & Girls Club. The outgoing little girl loved making new friends, doing her homework at the Club, participating in community service projects and having peers and mentors to help her navigate adolescence. “The Boys & Girls Club was part of the first stable environment I had ever had in my life,” Nikita said. “After my mom left, things seemed so uncertain. But now, my life was stable and consistent.”

Today, Nikita is a 17-year-old senior at Hug High School. She still comes to the Boys & Girls Club every day, now attending the Club on the Hug High campus.

There, she finds academic support, help with the college application process and caring mentors that continue to positively influence her life. After graduation this spring, Nikita plans to attend college where she wants to earn her Master’s Degree and become a dental hygienist.

“Looking back at my past, I realized I could have taken a very different path,” Nikita said. “I could have chosen to be a victim of my circumstances or followed the negative path modeled by others in my life. But my dad and the Boys & Girls Club have inspired me to be so much more.”

by Lauren Soulam, Grants Director

a special advertising supplement to Reno News & Review DECEMBER 18, 2014

2014 kids news & review 11

Summer financial literacy program empowers youth T

hroughout the summer 17 Jr. Staff, ages 14-17, completed a financial literacy program called MyPath Savings.

MyPath Savings engages young people in banking and saving, transforming their first paychecks into an economic mobility pathway. The program seamlessly integrates relevant youth-owned savings accounts, innovative online and in-person financial education, and savings incentives into existing summer and school year youth workforce programs.

The model uniquely leverages a powerful teachable moment as youth are earning and managing their own income, often for the first time. After delivering financial knowledge and connecting it to real-time financial action steps, MyPath

Wells Fargo Bank Various locations www.wellsfargo.com

Jaiden Quicksey, Age 11 12 kn&r

DECEMBER 18, 2014

Savings positions youth to connect their personal goals with their finances and achieve behavior change outcomes.

The program places an emphasis on setting and achieving a savings goal which was facilitated by first establishing a savings contract in which they pledged to save at least 10% of their paychecks.

Jr. Staff then participated in three 60 minute financial education sessions.

These sessions were developed by youth, delivered by Jr. Staff participating in the program and accompanied by online activities. The topics of the sessions included financial goal setting; budgeting and expense tracking; the power of compound interest; and an overview of the different types of financial institutions

and products.

Through MyPath Savings Jr. Staff had an opportunity to engage with a mainstream financial institution, United Federal Credit Union, and be the sole owner of a savings/ checking account. The Jr. Staff not only had accounts opened, but they also had access to ATMs and online banking.

Jr. Staff were required to have direct deposit and attained a savings incentive of $100 saving bonus upon completion of program and meeting their savings goal. Almost all of the Jr. Staff met their goals: 80% met their savings goals and 81% completed all of the online MyPath Savings financial education activities. In just over two months over the summer,

the Jr. Staff save about 20% of their paycheck (approximately $115 savings/ youth, with some saving $400 over the summer). The Jr. Staff also increased their financial knowledge, adopted healthy financial behaviors, and saw changes in their attitudes toward their future which is evident from their comments below. This collaborative program is critical to getting improved financial empowerment outcomes

By Ta-Tiana Anderson-Hall, LIT Coordinator & Sabrina Kansara, My Path

Wiegand Early Learning Center

By Kim Stevens- Early Learning Center Director

In the past

2 years we have:

Total enrolled

18% pay full price 27 % on Children’s Cabinet 55% on some sort of BGC scholarship

* Painted the building * Installed Astro turf * Added half walls and doors to accommodate more children * Replaced cribs, cots and bikes to keep up with licensing requirements

58% White 18% Black 15% Hispanic 4% Asian 3% Native American 2% other

* Installed fire escape gate on playground * Opened a second Pre–k class up stairsfully furnished it for 32 additional kids

Chester’s Reno Harley–Davidson (775) 329–2913 www.RenoHD.com

Gildo, Age 10

* Put in a shed * Put in chain link fences to provide safe playground Foster kids & Single parent homes

24 Kids on IEP/IFSP

* Added phone line in lift to keep up with code * Installed eye wash sink to OSHA standard * Purchased new phones, new TV for cameras * Purchased new cabinets in several classrooms

Programs & s partnership 1 READ TO ME partnership with Assistance league & Washoe county school

district which provides one on one reading to each child once a week.

2 NEIS we have a MOU to provide spots for children with special needs 3 CBS work with therapist to provide trauma informed care to children.

4 Music therapy once a week for all kids 5 Partnership with UNR to do ASQ-3 (developmental assessments) on

every child electronically each month.

Our Wish

List

* Staff area with Shelving and counter space to hold teaching resources. * Infant sleep area * Updated outside playground equipment * Laminator

* * * * * * *

Sandbox Art walls Benches around the trees New sensory tables Science tables Baby room dishwasher Outside classroom

American Vapor Lounge

465 S. Meadows Pkwy #9, Next to Flowing Tide Pub (775) 737-9991 • www.americanvaporlounge.com

Danielle Martinez, Age 8 a special advertising supplement to Reno News & Review DECEMBER 18, 2014

2014 kids news & review 13

Boys & b u l C s l Gir ee k c u r T of ws o d a e M

Diamond Peak Ski Resort

1210 Ski Way, Incline Village, NV 89451 • (775) 832–1177 www.diamondpeak.com

Camila & Dorothy, Age 12

T

he film festival correlates direct- film that is presented to a panel of ly with the Digital Arts Program judges. The judges award each film run through the Boys & Girls Club for its best accomplishments. of America. Each year beginning in The movies are shown the February our technology coordinaevening of the festival in midtor runs a one week film camp May. The night of the event there at each of the BGCTM is a Hollywood feel with sites. Each site a photographer takspends the first ing pictures of the Each child day crafting involved in the parents and the their story kids. Each child festival is given and how involved in the an invitation to it will be festival is given the event and is told. Day an invitation to awarded with two the the event and is a Film Festival team writes awarded with a recognition a script and Film Festival reccertificate. begins preognition certificate. paring to shoot The evening concludes the film days 3 - 5. with the “Oscar” awards Finally, the technology ceremony and each site is coordinator edits the film the followawarded an Oscar in different cating week putting the clips together, egories such as best actor, best film, adding audio and visual effects. The best set design, etc. product of each of these camps is a

Wild Island Family Adventure Park 250 Wild Island Court, Sparks • 775-359-2927 www.wildisland.com

Mackenzie, Age 12 14 kn&r

DECEMBER 18, 2014

Boys & Girls Club Movie Reviews

Back from the dead

Bulldogs

“Amazing end. Good quality camera use.” ★★★★

“Talk too monotone. Good job but the whistle was sort of at random.” ★★★★

“The have capture 3 people and won’t let them lave because of the evil people. Amazing end.

Good quality.” ★★★★

Jaysha, Age 12

“Why did you stereotype the demons???” ★★★★

Melody, age 13

Hanna, age 13

“The granitites were ok but the swords were just breaking apart.” ★★★★

“Eventful.” ★★★★

Jeremiah, age 15

Victoria, age 13

Smurfs 3 “Funny.” ★★★★

Jeremiah, age 15

“Cute. Big library. Super sneaky.” ★★★★ Jaysha, Age 12

“Needs better effects. Paint the girls blue lol.” ★★★ Hanna, age 13

“Make more emotions on growing.

Nice whisper. Good screams.” ★★★ Melody, age 13

“The song in the begin is annoying. The screams are loud. Really cute stuffed dog. Funny gaurd dog.”★★★★

Jaysha, Age 12

Negative P90X “I love the basketball séance. Bad team work in my opinion, but the game has some good potential with the passes. But a cheesy acting when the person got hurt.” ★★★★

“Talks in a mono voice.

Victoria, age 13 Good job but the whistle was “Coach didn’t call that double dribble sort of a random thing.”

XD. 5 stars!!!!!!!!!! Great team work.” ★★★★ Melody, age 13 ★★★★★ Hanna, age 13

Victoria, age 13

“Nice area. So mean. Nice weight lifting.” ★★★

Melody, age 13

“Nice greetings. Good motivator.

Nice catch.” ★★★★ Melody, age 13

““Good team work.” ★★★★★ Jeremiah, age 15

Jaysha, Age 12

Victoria, age 13

Jaysha, Age 12

“Weird fears. What’s with the kid in the tube. Wow mean kid. Scary kid with the possession.”★★★★★ Victoria, age 13

“Love the black and white, but the phone kills the 1995.

The librarian has some anger problem. The part with the mad person looking in the camera was ok. Also the part when the kid gets drags away.” ★★★★

“Good acting though. Good attitude. Nice trusting. Nice cheer.” ★★★

Hanna, age 13

“Dolls? Grudge ! Push him! Possesed meeting. Everyone will become possessed…” ★★★★★

“Bored. Needs more work.” ★★★

“Weird code names. Funny moments and cute kids. Funny ending.” ★★★

Jeremiah, age 15

“Good I got some laughter out of it. Comedy is always good.” ★★★★★

Football I like. The work out séance is good. Funny times. Nice catches.” ★★★★★

The school

Hanna, age 13

“Awesome.” ★★★★★

Melody, age 13

The possession

Revenge of average joe Jeremiah, age 15

Victoria, age 13

“LOL that’s so funny. Very funny moves. Bruh. Nice diaphragm work out. Nice crazy dance u got there.” ★★★★

The comebacks

Victoria, age 13

“Cool.” ★★★★★

“its ok when the practice happened. it’s funny with the person running in a line back and forward. The jumping jacks or funny with the bro. Love the background music.” ★★★★★

Victoria, age 13

“Nice screaming action.

Good for trying to get attention. Great job for praying. Nice for acting.

Good backbend.” ★★★ Melody, age 13

“Awesome.” ★★★★★ Jeremiah, age 15

Your death is here “Nice beginning. Good themed music. More emotion. Nice end.” ★★★★ Jaysha, Age 12 “They are being loud and rude.

Nice beginning though. More emotions and more serious voice.” ★★★

“Loud screams. Good teacher for role. Speaks loud in a worried voice. They are tryivng to find the coach and assistance.” ★★★ Melody, age 13

“There was not that much killing.” ★★ Jeremiah, age 15

“Loud screams. Drama with the teacher. Weird ending.” ★★★ Victoria, age 13

“Loud screams. Good teacher!

Speak more fluently. Adorable killer.” ★★★ Jaysha, Age 12

Melody, age 13

a special advertising supplement to Reno News & Review DECEMBER 18, 2014

2014 kids news & review 15

Need 2 Speed

6895-B Sierra Center Parkway, Reno, NV 89511 in the South Reno Target Center (775) 851-7223 • www.n2sReno.com

Jake Odegard, Age 8

Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum 490 S. Center Street • (775) 786–1000 www.nvdm.org

Phillip, Age 11 16 kn&r

DECEMBER 18, 2014

Courtney Shock, age 12

rosemary, age 12

Cheyanne libro, age 13

Kenyon, age 6

a special advertising supplement to Reno News & Review DECEMBER 18, 2014

2014 kids news & review 17

wesley carr, age 11

Kiera hogton, age 11

18 kn&r

DECEMBER 18, 2014

allyson comer, age 10

edea may, age 13

ashton mathew, age 9

killiah libro, age 14

emily, age 7

hannah banuelos, age 10

a special advertising supplement to Reno News & Review DECEMBER 18, 2014

2014 kids news & review 19

nina, age 7

Hailey cleven, age 12

20 kn&r

DECEMBER 18, 2014

brady, age 8

monterrant hernandez, age 9

Dean, age 10

Caitlyn, age 9

jasmine, age 11

elyse peck, age 10

a special advertising supplement to Reno News & Review DECEMBER 18, 2014

2014 kids news & review 21

What I like about the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows I

like the Boys and Girls Club because they are always offering new and fun activities. Donner Springs is where I go and yes it is small. The staff here always manages to help us out with anything that we need especially with homework. My favorite programs from The Boys and Girls Club is SFR (Sport, Fitness and Recreation) and Art. I like those two programs because it shows us what team work is also learning new facts from each other. I feel safe here with the rest of my friends because the staffs are always asking if we are okay or need anything that they’re here for us. If there is anything I need, I know I can always count on them. The Boys and Girls Club staff is my second family, I just love being with them. This is why I like the Boys & Girls Club.

Joaquin Palomino, Age 9, Donner Springs

I

am 10 years old. I have been coming to the Club for 5 years. My favorite thing here is art especially art that involves pastels and chalk.

Savannah Murray, Age 10, Nancy Gomes

I

have been at the Club for about a year a half. My favorite thing to do at the Club is watch movies on fun Friday. I love when we do art projects and coloring stuff.

Jowan Romero, Age 6, Nancy Gomes

I

I

Skyler McAnany, Age 13, Pennington

Justin Robinson, Age 9, Nancy Gomes

come to the club after school, to do my homework and do other things. I enjoy being with other people and meeting other people. I enjoy being in the keystone club and the cool things we have here. I like how we have time to do our homework and then we have rest of the time to do things in the recreation room and work with music.

’m 9 years old and I been at the Club for about 2 years. My favorite subject here is SFR. I think the Club us great and they help a lot of people.

M

y favorite thing about Rollan Melton Boys & Girls Club is the staff and are really nice and Tiffanee is my favorite staff. She is my favorite staff because she does two of my favorite activities: Girly Girl and science. In October for Girly Girl we raised money for breast cancer. We raised $216 for the Susan B. Breast Cancer Foundation. For science we did traveling water using colored cups, paper towels and water. That is why I love this site so much.

Abby, Age 9, Rollan Melton

M

y Boys & Girls Club at the FIS campus is a well developed Boys & Girls Club. This Club also has wonderful staff and LITs that care about what they do. My Club is very creative, the staff make the holidays light up with decorations, arts and crafts, and parties. They also take about half of their day making sure ours was great and safe. We also have very fun with games, outside activities and inside activities. I think the Boys & Girls Club is a good place to be. The Boys & Girls Club means a lot to lots of people including me.

Jordyn Martin, Fernley Intermediate

I

love going to the Club at Hug because the staff make us feel at home. They help us with schoolwork and also encourage us to go for the things we love. I’m glad I joined the Club, and encourage everyone to join, even if it’s not at this site. Since I’ve been a member the trip that was most memorable was the Money Matters Program trip to San Francisco. I learned time management and was able to meet members and staff from other clubs. I’ve only had positive experiences at the club!

Melaia Pouli, Age 17, Hug Teen Center

22 kn&r

DECEMBER 18, 2014

H

i my name is Natalie Jade Lacayo, I go to Project Solution. What I love about the Boys & Girls Club is that it helps my dad because he can’t get off of work to come pick us up so that really helped my dad. I like to come to Project Solution because the staff is nice and I see most of my friends and it is awesome!

My favorite things to do at the Boys & Girls Club is play, do art, and hang out with my friends. Those things help me because art makes me want to be an artist, playing helps me get my energy out and helps me exercise.

Natalie Jade Lacayo, Age 9, Project Solution

W

hat I love about the Boys & Girls Club is that I get to spend time with friends and favorite staff’s like: Tracy, Jose, Luis, Michelle, Alex, Vicky, and many more. What I love about my site at Bernice Mathews is that they teach me to be polite and respectful to others.

My favorite program is National Fine Arts because we get to show our life and dreams in drawings. One of my other favorite things that I look forward to is when we get to sit down in assembly and the coordinator tells us to be GREAT and always use our Great Values but most importantly to be respectful and to teach the younger kids to have respect towards others. I’ve learned that people will respect you no matter what you look like and no matter what you draw.

The reason I love the Boys & Girls club at my school is because I grew up here and every time my birthday passes I feel like the Club gets more and more into my life.

Jaiden Quicksey, Age 11, Bernice Mathews

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i my name is Jack Nady and I go to the William N. Pennington Facility at the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows. What I love about the Club: I think I can speak for every one when I say that we love all the activities here and the staff. What I love about our site: It’s brand new and very clean and has a bunch of different games like, Air Hockey and the brand new computer lab.My favorite program: My favorite program is the technology program we have here. Buttonbass. com is my favorite website because it teaches us how to make different music.

Jack Nady, William N. Pennington Facility

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hat I love about Boys and Girls Club is that they have different activities for the community and us to do like Basketball, Day for Kids and Kick off to summer. My site is the Fernley Teen Center I like that I get to hang out with my friends there and we do a lot of fun things. The staff is really nice to. My favorite program is the Claymation because it was fun and we got to create cool videos out of clay and Legos.

Hailey Cleven, Age 12, Fernley

I

like the Boys & Girls Club because it is SO fun. It’s fun because we get to be with our friends and the staffs are so nice. We play really fun games at the quad (aka dodgeball). In the afternoon on Wednesdays sometimes we get to go to the park. On Fridays we get to watch a movie. We get to do our homework in the afternoon and we earn Club Cash doing hide in seek.

And that is why Boys & Girls Club is the best.

Alex Logan, Rollan Melton

I

come to the club after school, to do my homework and do other things. I enjoy being with other people and meeting other people. I enjoy being in the keystone club and the cool things we have here. I like how we have time to do our homework and then we have rest of the time to do things in the recreation room and work with music.

Skyler McAnany, Age 13, Pennington

I

love a lot of things about my club at Hug! There are always activities to do, the environment is especially welcoming and the staff is great. I love the fact that the staff is always supporting us in sports and our education. The Club always makes me feel wanted, safe and secure. My favorite program is Money Matters. It sounds boring, but we learned so much about how to save money, how to write checks, etc. We even got to go on a trip to San Francisco!

Malina Funaki, Age 17, Hug Teen Center

I

like the Boys & Girls Club because it is SO fun. It’s fun because we get to be with our friends and the staffs are so nice. We play really fun games at the quad (aka dodgeball). In the afternoon on Wednesdays sometimes we get to go to the park. On Fridays we get to watch a movie.

We get to do our homework in the afternoon and we earn Club Cash doing hide in seek. And that is why Boys & Girls Club is the best.

Alex Logan, Rollan Melton

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he boys and girls club helps me out by getting my homework done. I like to hang out with the staff and play around with my friend and new one to have special moments. I also like to enjoy talking to the staff when it’s a bad day but make it better by making me laugh and get me throw the day. The club is best play to hang out with your friends and the staff.

Zuma RomeroLinarez, Age 14, Pennington

15 Minutes with an

L.I.T. Interview with Ashley Herrera

By Ta-Tiana Anderson-Hall

T

he Leader in Training program is a club service based program geared towards members 14-17 years old. LITs are required to contribute 150 club service hours, complete a financial literacy course and a career preparation course; once they have completed these three requirements they are eligible for a paid position.

LITs are dedicated Boys & Girls Club members who want to impact their community. LITs participate in fun, innovative activities and programs that help them become responsible, caring citizens. The LIT program is designed to ensure that members not only graduate high school, but have the skills and tools needed to further their education and careers.

How old were you when you started at the Boys & Girls Club?

I became a member when I was 12 years old.

LITs are dedicated Boys & Girls Club members who want to impact their community.

What is your FAVORITE part about the LIT Program?

My favorite part of the LIT program is meeting and getting to know new members as well as spending time with old ones. I really enjoy the positive environment I get to work in as well as the supportive people I work with.

Ashley Herrera is a senior at Sparks High School. She has been a Leader in Training since 2011. She has held a paid position for the past year and has been a mentor and inspiration to members at our Donald W. Reynolds facility. Herrera is not only an inspiration at the Boys & Girls Club but she has been inspired; she is in charge of the computer lab programming and has shared her thoughts and experiences about the Leader in Training program.

Why did you decide to become a LIT? I decided to become a Leader in Training after I started volunteering at Alice Maxwell Elementary School. A staff member explained the benefits of the LIT program to my older sister and she relayed the message. I enjoy working with the younger kids and when the opportunity to do so as well as get paid for it was presented I couldn’t wait to start.

What advice would you give members who want to be LITs? The advice I would give them is to look into the program as soon as you’re old enough. As an LIT you learn through many different experiences.

The experience is greater than just watching young members; through the LIT program you have help growing up as well as with anything else you need help with. The LIT program is like a home away from home.

Reno Aces 250 Evans Street Reno www.renoACES.com Jake /age 8

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2014 kids news & review 23

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