Columns

This week is the best time of the year. Other seasons are great, but nothing beats the first weeks of fall.

Halloween features long nights and short days, and the probability that imaginations become bizarre. Most people like to be scared, and Halloween’s a perfect occasion for that.

Here’s why this season is great:

Things change. We leave the house early, often needing to scrape our windshields. We don a coat because of the icy car seats, but by the time we arrive at work, it’s time to turn on the AC.

Vicente Silva came to  Las Vegas in 1875 from Bernalillo, in Sandoval County. He soon opened, on the south plaza, a saloon and gambling house known as the Imperial Saloon. Silva’s wife Telésfora and her brother Gabriel Sandoval helped run the raucous saloon, which was open round-the-clock.

Late last week, as soon as I read that more “Occupy” protests were being organized in New Mexico, including one each in Taos and Santa Fe, I immediately wondered why one has yet to take place here in Las Vegas.

After all, we’re about as left-wing a town as you’ll find in this state, so why are protests being staged elsewhere but not here?

My mommy told me a hundred million times not to exaggerate. But I continue to do so. When something is outrageously expressed, we can always say, “Well, you ought to know I was exaggerating, deliberately.”
For example, when we say, “We’ve been waiting for hours for Amtrak to arrive ...“ (Well, that would be accurate.) Let’s say instead, “We’ve been waiting for hours for the Rail Runner.” That’s an exaggeration.