Las Vegas soccer is divided into two worlds: the ligas americanas and ligas mexicanas. Can they learn to speak the same language — and create another soccer star? We had crossed a border in the Las Vegas Valley, less than 10 miles from our house.

Hope your schedule's open, because we have big plans for you.Classical concerts.

The dancer - Bernard GaddisHe's leaping outside the box with his visceral - but disciplined - approach to danceIt's a waltz, to be sure, but, oh, how we get there: Snapping their fans open with a confidence that startles, the female dancers confront the audience with a supermodel strut and a sensual roll of their bodies. This recent rehearsal at the Las Vegas Contemporary Dance Theater studio in Holsum Lofts is for a historical piece about Henry VIII's reign.

Short of building a giant fence around the city, here's how you can help keep our best artists working -- and thriving -- in Las VegasI like to think I know a bit about art Not too much; I wouldn't last 30 seconds in the ring with a bruiser like Dave Hickey, the genius critic who famously blew town not long ago. But I can wander into a gallery and have enough sense of what I'm looking at to bore my family with explanations that may actually have some merit.

When Las Vegas turns 100 next year - really turns 100, not play-pretend turns 100 at the whim of a history-fudging mayor - it'll also mark the 100th birthday of culture in Southern Nevada. The Mesquite Club will mark its 100th anniversary in February.

Why should New York City get to have all the fun? Last year's Fashion's Night Out event featured parties, special appearances and lots of champagne. This year, cities around the world - including Las Vegas - get in on the Vogue-sponsored fun.

We have reliable intel that every girl's crazy about a sharp-dressed man. Sartorialists in training can always fall back on a classic suit, but when you need to stand out, turn to San Giorgio Shoes (770-3597), a men's accessories boutique at the Wynn Esplanade.

Nearly a year after domestic partnerships became legal in Nevada, the GLBT community is learning to wield its newfound cloutWhen Senate Bill 283 passed last year, it provoked little more than a shrug from many Nevadans. Now, a year into the life of the Domestic Partnership Act - with interest groups planning their strategies for the 2011 Legislature - its far-reaching effects on individuals and institutions are coming into focus.

Niki Sands' paintings can be vibrant (cubistic portraits that hum with a sanguine stillness) or ethereally morose (her works in which a gloom-clouded face ponders some grave idea). But what binds the two dominant moods of her work is their overriding silence.

Long before there was culture in Southern Nevada, there were woolly mammoths stomping all over everything as they fled hungry cavemen wielding spears and barbecue sauce. Today, the proposed Tule Springs Ice Age Park in North Las Vegas commemorates that era as proponents urge Congress to declare it a national monument (and hopefully short-circuit NV Energy's proposal to build a power transmission corridor through the massive, ancient fossil bed).