My Stuff, Lately

Nobody will ever accuse me of slacking off at the end of my Vegas run. In the past week alone, several significant pieces have appeared, but two in particular are worthy of highlighting:

* JOCKEY CLUB 4EVA: The cover of the Las Vegas Weekly is an assessment of this little eyesore of a timeshare complex run by understandably grumpy people and it's weird relationship with all the massive towers, most specifically the Cosmo, that surround it. As I am writing this from charming Ely, Nev., I can assure you I appreciate history and revere what's come before, but as a business model the Jockey Club portends the future of Vegas in a not-so-good-way. Check it out.

* HYDEIA BROADBENT, FORMER CHILD STAR: Fifteen years ago, North Las Vegas resident Hydeia Broadbent addressed the Republican National Convention as a 12-year-old with AIDS who stopped the show and forced the religious right to hit pause on the culture war for a split second. She became the most famous youth HIV/AIDS activist in the world, filling a niche vacated by the deaths of Ryan White and Pedro Zamora. I profiled her for an award-winning cover story in Poz Magazine back then, but what's become her since? Well, she's 27 now, barely speaks to her mother and is trying her best to recover from a childhood in the spotlight during which nobody really thought that she'd ever live to be an adult. It's messy and fascinating, and I'm pleased Desert Companion gave me the space to tell the story.

In addition to all that, there's also my column in the Weekly assessing the changes at the Plaza and a feature in Desert Companion on the largely unnoticed 100th birthday of the late William F. Harrah. And other stuff, too, but I can't think of it at the moment as I've gotta get in the car and head to Eureka. But there's some stuff to chew on for your Friday.