An Open Letter to Sam

Dear Sam,

This weekend I hate your town. And yes, I'm aware that this a city and these problems arise in all cities but come the hell on dude.

For example...

Friday night I realized that I had only been in this neon desert for 17 days. It kinda feels like I have always been here. But then I drive the I-15 at night and can see the neon glow of The Strip and it's all Whoa. I live in mother fucking Las Vegas.

I was aware before I moved here that besides Detroit, Las Vegas was the hardest hit area in the US during the recession. The housing bust moved everyone out of their homes and onto the streets and it has the highest unemployment rate in the country due to casino lay offs. But I was never prepared to see was all the random violence. Everyone is in such despair down here. I was anticipating gang violence but I suspect that I am witnessing desperation and survival violence too. Two days before I moved here a man was shot and killed at the Walgreens next door.(I sort of blame the vic for this one though. Who thinks it's a good idea to buy Jordans off the back of a van in a Walgreens parking lot?) And a few days after I got here, an officer was shot but he fired back and killed the shooter a mere 4 blocks from our house. The shooter was a suspect in a murder the day before in North Las Vegas. He got in an argument with his girlfriends son and murdered him with a hatchet. Then he went to K-Mart and bought a chainsaw and cooler in order to dispose of the body. Awesome.

So on Friday Chris and I started making a mental list of all the random crap I had seen in the last 17 days.

1. A man walking down the street carrying a 3 foot piece of rebar over his shoulder. Either he stole it to sell or he stole it to beat some ass.

2. A kid under 12 getting his beat up by another kid in his rock yard. We were at the stop light and it looked so much like A Christmas Story we couldn't stop fricken-frackin laughing.

3. Two 40+ women beating each other up at the bus stop. While the other bus riders sat and waited for the bus.

4. Two cars without license plates weaving through the traffic, caravaning to someplace I definitely do not want to go.

5. At night we have seen a lot of cars that have some sort of darkness over the license plate numbers. You can read the state logo etc. but once you get one car length away the numbers turn to black blurs. We suspect that they are using sandpaper to dull the relective surface? Either way, these cars don't want their plates ran. And we don't want to piss these drivers off.

6. And the absolute worst thing we have seen was a 14ish year old girl, beat up and haggard, during the day when she should have been in school, being led through the cross walk by an older thug. When I first looked at her I thought " Oh that poor girl needs a shower and new clothes." and then light bulb moment! I looked at Chris " He's her fucking pimp isn't he!!???" and Chris said "Oh yeah". Ugh. My heart sank. It still hasn't bounced back up from that actually.

But yesterday Sam??? When I returned back to the house there were 6 police cars, two white vans and the K9 unit going through the apartments across the street. It was 8:30 am.

Then I arrived at my job interview at 9:45 am there were 8 Ethiopians drinking and arguing in front of the bakery. And I'm not being an asshole or a racist. This bakery is situated next to Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant. When I walked through I noticed they were drinking Corona's and whiskey right out of the bottle. In leather jackets. AT 9:45 AM!

But here's the real kicker. Chris asked me to buy supplies to decorate his bosses desk for her birthday so naturally I needed to go to the Dollar Tree. But in Las Vegas they have something called The 99c Store so I thought I would check it out. Turns out this is mainly a grocery store (Ewwww) but since I needed candy it was still a good option.

Scene: Me, looking at Snickers bars. Enter a young couple pushing a very full shopping cart full of Top Ramen, cans of chili, and wafer cookies. It's about a $100 worth of .99 items. Young girl in cut-offs picks up a bag of Fun-Yuns and places them in cart.Young man in do-rag takes Fun-Yuns out of cart and throws them on the floor.

Young man in do-rag: No baby. We're supposed to be eating healthy. NO chips.

There are no words.

I continue browsing. While staring at a rack of .99c Charlie Sheen "Winning!" 2012 Calenders I hear lots of shouting. There is an arguement somewhere. I look around and it's not in the store. It's coming from the parking lot so I don't care. The shouting gets louder and people are heading to the front of the store when it occurs to me. I have rockstar parking and those fuckers better not mess with my car.

I head to the front of the store and while my car is unscathed, a man is not. Two guys are beating anothers ass. Big time. Everyone is staying inside the store and watching through the window. Since I know my car is safe I head to the very back of the store. First, I'm not going to watch this mans murder. And I'm certainly not going to intercede and potentially get myself murdered. And second, I'm not going to get hit with a stray bullet if this escalates. Let those looky-loos up front get hit with a stray bullets.Again, I'm not getting myself murdered. As I head for the plastics department I hear of tires and a  peel out. When I am safely in the back, I get out my phone and text Chris ( BTW, If someone knows how to screencap a Droid X, I would really like to know.)

Me: There's goddamn fighting outside the 99c store. I'm staying inside until the police arrive.
Chris: Welcome to Vegas!

But the police never showed. All those people on the phone were talking to their husbands too. And eventually everyone went back to shopping for Fun-Yuns and Charlie Sheen calenders. I took my purchase up front.

Cashier: Did you see what happened?
Me: I heard it. I wen't to make sure no one was fucking with my car and then I went and hid in the back of the store.
Cashier: Me too. I ain't getting shot today.
Me: Me too girl! People in this town are crazy.
Cashier: Do you know what happened?
Me: No, I was hiding, remember?
Cashier: Oh. What happened was that the guys at (insert urban clothing store name here) saw a guy putting stuff in his car that he didn't pay for. He stole it see? And then he was walking in here so they came over and got in a arguement and then they fought.
Me: I heard tires peeling out? It was the shop clerks who were beating him up?
Cashier: Yeah. His friend was in the car and pulled around and got him away and they sped out.  $24.97 please.

 I told Chris this story when he got home from the hospital.

Me: .... So they didn't get their merch back. It was in the car. They just beat him up and he still got to drive away with it.
Chris: It's street justice. I like it.

So Sam, I am patiently waiting for something good to happen. I dare something peaceful to happen in this town. I'm also sending reciepts for all my lotion and Chapstick purchases for the last three weeks. I realize that my itchy arms are not from the dry desert air but from the literal thickening of my skin.

Cordially,

Angelina K. McKenna

P.S. Attached is the picture of Paul Blart Target Cop on his Tri-cycle I snapped yesterday.