LAS VEGAS GRADUATION-113 DEGREES.

I've been absent this blog since June 5th when I flew out of Newark, N.J. to Las Vegas for my grandson, Mason's, graduation. My webmail would not recognize me from my daughter-in-law's computer, so I could not blog from Las Vegas.


Mom helped him get his cap on straight.


Mason is quiet and resists all the fuss.


Especially when Dad tried to plant a smooch on him.


Las Vegas graduations are different than most. All the area High Schools have graduation in the same conference center building, so we get our pictures at home-INSIDE!  Inside because it is 113 degrees outside on this graduation day. No graduations are  held outside because the weather can literally be deadly. I was sooooo grateful.


The kids load into seats on the floor in the huge auditorium.


Row by row they file by on stage to receive their diplomas and then take their seats. Mason is part of the band so he sits with the band members. He got two band awards. This band was given a rare honor of playing for the Macy's Day Parade and also playing at Carnegie Hall. In short, they are good.


Graduations for all the high schools are held on one day. As soon as one school is finished, the next one begins staging. The Average person and average camera cannot pick out their student from seats in the bleachers as about 800 students are involved, so a camera gets each kid on a four-way big screen at eye level above the event on the floor.


Afterwards, we went to a local restaurant for lunch. Brother Stuart loaned Mason his sunglasses.


Sans gown and cap, this is his Blues Brother's look. Yeah!

One of his Senior assignments was to write his life story with pictures. Mason is very artistic and his reminiscences were written from the heart.  Proud grandma shed a tear after reading it. He'll be attending University of Nevada Reno.

GUNFIGHTERS ENTERTAINING AND HISTORICAL

Sunday, after a hearty Breakfast at Brownie’s Café, we tripped over to the Yuma Territorial Prison to watch a Gathering Of The Gunfighters. They had re-enactment groups from California, Nevada and Arizona at this particular annual affair. They have a three day competition and judging of their skills and costuming. Notable was the knock-up western buildings which, while small, weren’t far from the real time shacks and shanties of old West towns.
Today, Gunfighter groups are so popular they are divided into eras. The 1850’s, the 1880’s, early 1900s. Some are fancy “Dan” gamblers and Shady Ladies, Spanish Vacqueros, and Basque Herders or an outlaw gang or simple western cowpunchers. These groups first competition was in the form of a skit. One depicted the lawlessness of the old West and the repercussions of new rules preventing the carrying of guns into the saloons. Another about western Mayors and Sheriff’s bribing Mexicans to vote for them, even when they ignored them the rest of the year, and so on. It was entertaining even if a bit corny. The costuming was rich. Perhaps the serious competition was slated for later in the day.
I’ve seen gunfighter groups who ply their hobby with such seriousness that the altercation they re-enact is anything but corny. It is so realistic, babies cry, dogs howl and grown men shiver at what the Old West was really like.