Larry Gragg is a Curators’ Teaching Professor in the Department of History
and Political Science at Missouri University of Science and Technology. He is
the author of several articles on Las Vegas history in addition to a number of
books and articles on early American history. He is currently completing a book
on popular perceptions of Las Vegas, 1905-2005.
MeHee Hyun, PhD is a core faculty member in the BA program in Liberal
Studies at Antioch University Los Angeles (AULA). She teaches in the areas of
education, social psychology, and sociology, and actively integrates popular
culture into her courses. Dr. Hyun also serves as AULA’s Prior Learning
Coordinator.
Kim Idol has an MFA in Creative Writing and a Masters in Literature from the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Several of her stories have been published in
Danse Macabre, The Portland Review, Toasted Cheese, and Dead Neon (a
science fiction anthology which came out October 2010). He r work has recently
been submitted to the Best New American Voices anthology.
Kathy Merlock Jackson is professor and coordinator of communications at
Virginia Wesleyan College, where she specializes in media studies and
children’s culture. She currently edits The Journal o f American Culture and is a
former president of the American Culture Association. She has published books
and articles on Walt Disney, toys, children in film, and rituals of childhood.
Maria Ernita Joaquin is an Assistant Professor of Public Administration at
University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Joaquin studies organization theory, the
evolution of third-party governance, and the impact of management reforms on
the US federal bureaucracy. Her works have appeared in professional journals
such as Administration & Society, The American Review o f Public
Administration, Public Integrity, and Public Performance and Management
Review. Her forthcoming works focus on digital democracy, mechanisms of
accountability, and privatization. She enjoys birdwatching and poetry.
Lori Kido Lopez is a doctoral candidate at the Annenberg School for
Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. She
studies representations of race and gender in the media through a cultural studies
lens. Her dissertation explores Asian American media activism, citizenship, and
consumer cultures.
Kym Morris was bom and raised among the foothills of the Rocky Mountains
in Boulder, Colorado. After high school she moved to Oklahoma where she
studied English and Education. In 2006 Kym moved to Las Vegas to teach high
school English. She is currently pursuing her MA in Literature at UNLV.