Character Study
Character Study
The Cornerman
May 3rd, 2012
If you’ve watched a championship fight in the last 50 years, you’ve seen Las Vegas’ Rafael Garcia in the corner. In his trademark Kangol cap, adorned with pins symbolizing the many countries to which the sport has taken him, the diminutive 83-year-old stands out in any entourage. But it’s the unsung work of the cut man that has made Garcia invaluable to such champions as Roberto Duran, Alexis Arguello, Wilfredo Gomez, Edwin Rosario, James Toney, Iran Barkley, and his current famous client, Floyd Mayweather Jr. Read more »
Character Study
The Justice
April 26th, 2012
After eight hours quizzing high school students on their knowledge of the Constitution, you’d think a man wouldn’t want to sit down with a reporter and talk about it more. But to Justice Michael Douglas, 64, Nevada’s first black Supreme Court Justice, any opportunity to talk about what matters most to him—the Constitution, justice, race and equality—is a chance to share what he’s observed from his side of the bench in the last three decades. Read more »
Character Study
Animal Magnetism
April 19th, 2012
Tara Gearin grew up riding on her parents’ Christmas tree farm in eastern Oregon. It was her love of horses that sent her to Oregon State University on the pre-veterinary track. She’d planned to be a horse trainer when an oceanography course led to an even greater passion for sea creatures. But even with a degree, aquarium work is hard to come by without experience, so when Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef had an opening for an education assistant in 2006, Gearin packed her bags for Las Vegas. Read more »
Character Study
The Seed Sower
February 16th, 2012
On any given Sunday morning, Don Fabbi trades his suburban northwest Valley home for a patch of desert in one of the most economically depressed areas of northeast Las Vegas. There, at the Doolittle Senior Center Community Garden, Fabbi can be found doing a little tilling, reflecting on a long life and enjoying the sounds of the neighborhood. Read more »
Character Study
The Climber
January 12th, 2012
As Stephanie Forte sits in her townhome just minutes from the Red Rock National Conservation Area, only her sinewy hands hint at her avocation as an elite sport climber. She is a fierce competitor, having once been named among the top 10 American women in the sport. Last year, at age 43, she became the first woman to complete the “Don’t Call Me Coach” route in the Virgin River Gorge. Read more »
Character Study
The Publicist
January 5th, 2012
Wayne Bernath got his start as a newsman for the Las Vegas Review-Journal in the 1970s, but in the ’80s, as entertainment editor for the Las Vegas Sun and Showbiz magazine, he took a hard turn into the world of celebrities. Soon he was writing pseudonymous tabloid copy for the National Enquirer, starting national teapot-tempests over such matters as Oprah Winfrey’s weight or Magic Johnson’s time with the Crazy Girls. Later still, he was one of the Strip’s busiest publicists, including a 15-year stint as right-hand man to magician Lance Burton. Read more »
Character Study
The Reverse Snowbird
December 1st, 2011
The mountains were always there for Kailee Gielgens; it just took her awhile to see them. Now, she can’t imagine her life without them. Gielgens was in high school when a friend first invited her to take a drive up to Lee Canyon for a day of snowboarding. It didn’t take long for her interest in the sport to escalate into a full-blown passion. Read more »
Character Study
Family Kitchen
November 10th, 2011
In Asian cultures,” Antika Kohengkul says, “your heart always belongs with your family.” That’s why the 33-year-old New York-based risk-management consultant is waiting tables again after 15 years. “Surprisingly, it’s like riding a bike,” she says. Read more »
Character Study
The Conductor
November 3rd, 2011
Taras Krysa, a lanky 42-year-old Ukrainian, has a serious musical mind, a loud, ready laugh and an impish wit. He grew up playing the violin and then spent his young adulthood looking for something besides music that he could do with his life. The experiment didn’t work. Today he is UNLV’s director of orchestras and the conductor of the all-volunteer Henderson Symphony Orchestra—the latter of which he has built in four years from a small civic ensemble into a cultural force in Valley. Read more »
Character Study
The Casino Clairvoyant
October 27th, 2011
When Kileen Kapri-Kohn was a child, her devout-Catholic mother held occasional chats with God and consultations with angels. She thought Mom was nuts. Kapri-Kohn grew up to be a psychic. She and her husband own a shop, Psychic Universe, tucked away in a corner of O’Sheas Casino. And she feels differently about her mother’s conversations with God. Read more »
