Editor's Note

If not stopped, I will pretty much eat pie continuously in a trance-like state of primal urges being fulfilled.

Whether we’re posting vacation pics to social media or showing friends party snaps on our cells, we’re all photographers these days.

The idea for this month’s feature, “Amazing Arizona,” came out of this random effulgence of enthusiasm — at once singular and choral — from Desert Companion writers at one of our coffee-splashed, bagel-fueled story pitch roundtables.

Las Vegas is a nexus of sensory extremes. In the middle of a broiling desert, we’ve got a string of air-conditioned Strip casinos boasting some of the world’s finest food, splashiest production shows, and, of course, row upon row of clamorous, glittering games of chance.

I do wonder whether this era of immersive digitalia is creating a generational wave of drooly and glaze-eyed slothchildren. I’m happy to see my dystopian pessimism challenged by this month’s feature, “More Than Child’s Play,” by Matt Jacob.

I often compare Vegas to a Russian nesting doll, but one with neon and video poker instead of those lidless, accusing eyes. You get past the touristy shell, the strip mall shell, the sleepy isolationist suburban shell...

My strongest memory of 1989 is from my Las Vegas High School graduation ceremony. There’s actually a photo of the very moment: A mortarboard-topped me accepting my diploma from some Important Education Personage with a standard grip ’n’ grin.

Restaurant Awards indicate a landmark year for neighborhood eateries and fine-dining restaurants well away from the glow of Las Vegas Boulevard. Here’s to the winners!

I tend to prefer navigating cities the old-school way: with my nose in a map half the time. I do not necessarily endorse this method.

At one of our scrummy editorial meetings leading up to this issue, someone asked whether an upbeat Vegas Golden Knights season preview feature might be considered jarring, dissonant, or even tone-deaf appearing in the same month that marks the anniversary of the October 1 shooting.