I think that when people live in an environment that is extreme in any fashion, it polarizes the people to live in one extreme or the other.

Or at least it forces them to consider the extreme and make a decision about whether to live in accordance to said extreme.

Sometimes the extreme is so repugnant that the people make efforts to live in quite an opposite fashion.

I’ll admit that my time at Hunter College surprisingly left me with much more conservative views than when I first started at that school. Perhaps it was the fact that I was not able to attend some club meetings because the signs were in Chinese or because the Nation of Islam always directed scathing insults to the white kids as they walked by. Or that I was forced to take a Black History in America class but that there was no requirement to take a class about the history of my own heritage. I know more about Malcolm X than do about Queen Isabella.

(I swear there is a point to this digression.)

So when I entered Hunter, for example, I believed in Reparations for slavery (a proposal by some in the United States that some type of compensation should be provided to the descendants of enslaved people) would heal the wounds of the past and make up for the damage that was done.

Leaving Hunter, however, I realized that it wouldn’t really solve anything. No anger would be healed. People would still be pissed… Except now they would just get money for being pissed. (And on an energetic level might even grow the pissyness by virtue of giving attention to it.)

(Ok, maybe I have digressed a bit far. Pretty random blog post, huh?)

Anyway, one would think that the residents of Las Vegas would be wild and crazy people that live debaucherous lives and spend all of their money and free time on the strip.

One would think that they are of low moral character and devoid of any spirituality.

I HAVE FOUND THAT THIS IS QUITE THE OPPOSITE HERE IN VEGAS.

Yes, people in Vegas, to my experience, do know how to party, but all of the lifestyle indulgences people associate with Las Vegas are not typical in the day to day life of a Las Vegan (I think Las Vegas people should be called Vegans… just to confuse Las Vegas residents with the crunchy people that don’t eat meat).

So Vegans don’t judge. That’s the coolest thing I have found around this city so far.

You want to drink everyday? OK.
You strip for a living? How’s that going for you?
You pick up hookers on a regular basis? I recommend you use protection.

But there are very few people beating the bible and saying such-and-such activity is wrong. Some might say that a behavior is impractical, such as the John getting a disease because he didn’t use protection… that would be impractical to his lifestyle… but not morally wrong.

Coming from Los Angeles, where wearing the wrong color shoes with an outfit could grounds to be outcast from the tribe, the (Las) Vegan mentality is very, very refreshing.

I have met more virgins here than anywhere. People saving themselves for love or marriage.

I have met more church-goers than in any other city I have ever lived in. And I’m talking about the REAL church-goers… the ones that enjoy it and really want to be there… not because they think it saves their soul or because they feel guilty if they don’t go, but because it feels good to them.

About half of my friend here don’t drink. In most other cities I have lived in about 1% of my friends didn’t drink.

So my point is, in the midst of the phrase “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” there are the residents that STAY IN VEGAS and partake in none of the tourist activities.

I think also that being able to do ANYTHING ones hedonistic heart desires makes it less of a draw.

Before I lived here, I never agreed with the argument that people want what they can’t have and that the repressing ones urges lead to stronger and more f-ed up urges.

But I see the truth in that statement now that I’ve been in this town a while.

My friends and I can do anything… ANYTHING… in this town. Yet we chose to play flag football and check out swap meets and go to SkyMania.

SKYMANIA!

Good, clean, wholesome fun..

In the City of Sin.

Pretty Ironic, Huh?