we'll be your alibi

I rarely wax philosophical here on your friendly neighborhood satirist.blogspot.com but
you see, there are things i need to clear up about vegas.

everytime i tell people where i'm studying, the same old jokes ensue. they stopped being funny about a year ago. no, i'm not here to study gambling. no, i don't party all night at tao with paris hilton. and unfortunately, there are also no strippers parading around all of las vegas carrying slot machines on their back selling sex.

this topic came up in literature class a few days ago, and john, my lit professor put it best when he said.. vegas is a city of dreams. a classmate was way harsh when he said.. its a city built on losers.

i liked john's version better.

and that's just what vegas is.. a city built on fantasies and dreams.

when you guys see vegas, you see the strip. the fantastic glimmering lights.. where you can be all over the world in just one tiny city.
but..
did you know that UNLV is just right next to the strip? do you ever see that on ads?
where are all the lights from summerlin and green valley and the places surrounding the strip?
vegas is portrayed as a dome, that dims out toward the end of the strip.
our city tagline is "we'll be your alibi" and "what happens in vegas stays in vegas".. with a lot of nudge nudge, wink wink action.

but that's not las vegas.
you may be surprised but it's a conservative town, it's a religious town.. heck. they vote republican. a majority support guns, they're anti-abortion.. and there are a lot of churches around. not just wedding chapels, but real actual churches.

this image of vegas you see is a large gimmick.. to me at least.
but of course there's no debating the fact that sex is a huge part of what the city is. there are gargantuan billboards advertising massages. and flyers all over the streets promoting scantily clad girls with the most absurd taglines

when you live here, the strip is but another street
the lights just become part of the city you know and love
the big billboards and blatant ads are just another facet of vegas you laugh at

over and above all, 'sin city' is a tourist attraction but... las vegas is home.