Las Vegas
The Id of the United States, the primal instinct of humankind at its most depraved, sensual, and gluttonous.
Las Vegas is a city of extremes, where human behavior is observed and experienced either at an apex or an abyss. A place where people shake themselves of their mores and just let go.
Visitors to Sin City are encouraged to do their worst, to forget their woes by reaching the bottom of multiple over-priced alcoholic beverages or the indulgence of any other vices, to let their alter ego take over. A place for winners and losers, and I have seen the majority of my life through the lens of the latter.
Las Vegas residents are well-aware of this range of extremes, and often are subjected to the mortifying behavior of out-of-town guests who unleash their inner demons onto Las Vegas Boulevard, intoxicated and in search of flesh to devour. I love this place. For all its honesty about this country, it acts as the Id, the primal instinct of humankind at its most depraved, sensual, and gluttonous.
After years of being deceived and hurt by those I loved, I yearned for this brand of honesty, no matter how vile. Las Vegas makes no exceptions and knows that deep down inside, we're all animals.
With all its quirks and madness, I've quickly come to know the personification of Las Vegas. Its bright lights and glitter often accompany the scent of cigarette smoke and strippers' perfume, that weird watermelon bubblegum smell you find in the specialized lube section of adult stores, morphing into somewhat of a high-end exotic dancer with a colorful past. Sure, she turns out to be much smarter than she appears, yet she’s still wildly unstable and untrustworthy.
When you live in Vegas, you’re not a citizen, but a co-conspirator in the many sins that occur in the shadows of the glitz and narcotics. Las Vegas is a service industry town bent on robbing visitors of dignity and dollars all while smiling and taking drink orders.
It’s a place that responds to the hidden desires of America. After seeing the side of the US that lets its veterans commit suicide by the platoon and squander funds that could feed and house the poor nationwide, I was ready to go to the core of America’s Caligulan empire and stick my fist back through the other side of the plastic flag I was handed. There was a deep-seated desire within me to see the full spectrum of the depravity and beauty of humanity for what it was in this country.
No sugary euphemisms; just bile and brilliance.
After living in Las Vegas for 6 years, I had come to learn so much more about my own demons, my deepest fears and desires, and how to write a new chapter in my life. For all its glitter, kitsch, and depravity, it remains one of my favorite cities in the world.
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