Login

Very little is a given in this world; in fact, we’re often told the only thing you can count on is death and taxes however there is another incontrovertible fact about humans. We need food. But beyond basic sustenance, food plays an indelible part in our lives and it touches not only our biological needs but also our social and emotional needs as well. 

A birdcage of freedom. A grand literary conundrum, it’s true. Maya Angelou’s great poem may spring to mind, but I mean Yeats and his Byzantium, a place of spiritual fulfillment where what’s crucial to your soul sings out to you from a golden bough of what you need, what will get you there, and what awaits your arrival. Such a place exists at The Writer’s Block, a bookstore in Downtown Las Vegas.

Sometime during the peak of Pioche’s boom, Athe Meeks, returning from delivering a load of timbers to a mine, was suddenly startled by two men with weapons drawn. The pair rushed out in front and forced Meeks’ mules to a stop. The highwaymen ordered him to show his hands, but he would have none of it; instead he pulled his six-shooter and shot Al Miller, one of the would-be robbers, dead. The second desperado, known as Little Frank, fired a wild shot at Meeks. He returned the favor, and his shot hit its target—Little Frank was found a little way down the road, also dead. Although most times it was the banditti who came out on top, this was just one of the scenarios that played out between robbers, cattle rustlers and horse thieves, and those delivering their goods to customers in Pioche.