“One day in a class I was teaching in Las Vegas my students spoke of their lives. Their stories were so shocking… stories of being robbed by their parents, of raising themselves, of watching the disintegration of whole families as their members succumbed to the numerous addictions endemic to the city. It wasn’t just an isolated few. Around three-quarters of the class spoke in that vein. How could such things happen to innocent people in the midst of so much money and frivolity? What is it about us that demands that such a place exists?”
That’s author Timothy O’Grady talking about teaching in Las Vegas. O’Grady interviewed 10 of these courageous, candid students for a book — Children of Las Vegas — that tells the searing, disturbing, necessary story of the other side of Las Vegas, where the glitz is a distant vision. The project includes extraordinary photos by the great New Yorker photographer Steve Pyke. Check out the video below — and consider helping bring this book to life. There’s so much life in it.
