Of brothels, and cheerleaders and our country as a casino

Dennis Hof, center, and Heidi Fleiss, right, react after receiving election results June 12 in Pahrump, Nev.
David Montero / Los Angeles Times

If it’s not all juxtaposition, she asked, what is the binding agent? - Forrest Gander

It's beginning to feel like summer.  Rebel Girl has begun to read the morning newspapers (two!) and linger over them. She has even begun to write. The time and the newspapers have given her lots to think about. Her goals? A draft of a story or essay or poem - one per week.  We'll see if she can keep up the pace and her promise to herself. Still, she already feels mildly successful.

This week she was inspired by election results last week which included the the victory of Dennis Hof, the self-proclaimed "Trump from Pahrump," who may very well be headed to the Nevada statehouse.  David Montero's article "Dennis Hof: A pimp, a brothel owner, a businessman and now GOP nominee in Nevada" in the Los Angeles Times tells the story which evoked a great deal in Rebel Girl.  She could have gone in the direction of her own time in Pahrump in the 80s and 90s, but instead she went to her childhood and her fascination with the word "brothel."  

The moody result was picked by by the Los Angeles Review of Books and published online today. (That's pretty big," remarked her son who is not easily impressed. Most sixteen-year-old are not impressed by their parents.) Check it out below and click to read it in its entirety. It's all of two tight paragraphs. A meditation, an excavation. She hopes LARB might be interested in some of her other work.  She's got a few things started: one about the death of Ronald Reagan, the other about an educator who, all in good fun (ha ha ha) disseminates links to photos of a rival college's misbehaving cheerleader squad. We'll see. 

Jean Honore Fragonard, The Stolen Kiss

"Brothel"

Brothel owner and reality TV star Dennis Hof advances in Nevada election. “Call him a pimp. A brothel owner. A businessman. Now call him the Republican nominee for a Nevada State Assembly seat…Hof, who has billed himself as the “Trump from Pahrump,” nabbed the endorsement of Nye County’s Republicans.” –David Montero, Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2018

The “Trump from Pahrump.” A brothel owner.

As a child, “brothel” was one of the words that fascinated me. I found it in the books my mother stuffed under her bed, the ones I was not supposed to read but did anyway when she was at work. She was at work a lot. I found it in the paperback books I bought at the corner liquor stores, the ones I found on the spinning racks by the magazines. (Remember when liquor stores sold books? The corner liquor store was my first bookstore. This was in the early 1970s.) I favored Tudor romances, Henry the VIII and his doomed wives. I especially liked the court intrigue, the young women on the margins, the virtuous servant girls and meek attendants who caught the eyes of courtiers (another romantic word!), the ones who had fine ankles and slim necks and who could, despite their humble origins, sing a light air, play a lute, or embroider a fine stitch.

To read the rest, click here.

We at Dissent hope your summer is going well, where ever you are.

Do let us know if there is something we should know.

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