Columns

When introducing the most recent articles in this column, we noted that between annexation in 1846 and the arrival of the railroad in 1879, there were three transformative developments in Las Vegas. We have related two of them, the Americanization of the Old Town Plaza and the emergence of the Romero dynasty.

Video games have spoiled it for many of us. We have grown so inured to realistic things coming toward us that I fear too often we don’t know how to react when danger is imminent.

Let me explain: Many years ago, we brought some friends home from a dance at Immaculate Conception School. Because my dad was the first one on his block to own a genuine adjustable camera (an Argus C-3), he wanted to take a group photo of us.

All my life, April has symbolized for me a “hunker down, tie up loose ends, add another year to your age” month. This year, it turned out to be an inflated caricature of all that.

Years ago, as a developmental studies and education instructor at NMHU, I tried to impress upon my students the need to practice sensible time management. Plan ahead, budget your time, set goals, determine priorities and work toward meeting them incrementally, allowing for potentially unforeseen obstacles. This month, I found myself subjected to my own preaching.

“We wanted to make a difference. We wanted to let the country know we weren’t second-class citizens.”
— Clarence Graham

Spain was an ally to the newly formed United States of America. Every man of the Spanish colonies in the Americas (Spanish and Indian) was asked to pay a $2 war tax to support the American Revolution. In addition to money, the Spanish sent its military. The Spanish navy kept the British out of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. This critical move cut off all reinforcements to Cornwallis at Yorktown in October 1781.