Tag Archives: Writing

Getting to the point

July 17, 2009 8:39 am

It’s never too early to start planning your next writing workshop, particularly if you’re planning to be in Cape May, New Jersey next January 15-18. If you’re inclined towards brief non-fiction (and who isn’t…except for those of us who like lengthy fiction?) you may want to consider beating the crowd and registering now for one of the eight seats in this session:

To the Point: Short Creative Nonfiction – NEW!

Limited to 8 participants

Have an idea for a story or article but not sure how to get started? Have a mix of personal experiences and outside research but don't know how to combine them? Thoughtful prodding, expository exercises, group workshopping and inspired revision will help you build your ideas and notes into a finished 500-2,000 word piece suitable for publishing in a magazine or newspaper. (Led by Dave Schwartz)

via Prose Workshops | Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway in Cape May, NJ.

Visit the Winter Poetry and Prose Getaway site to learn more about this and every thing else that goes on at the Getaway. There are a great many other workshops, including one led by Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Stephen Dunn. The faculty is an incredibly diverse and talented group of poets and writers, so no matter what your literary interest, you should be able to find something to suit your tastes and level.

If you are an educator, you can get professional development credit for attending, and you can even earn graduate credits through Rutgers University. Even if you’re not, it’s a relaxing, rewarding weekend writing retreat that stacks up pretty well next to a weekend in Las Vegas. Registration and a single room package (which includes three days of breakfast and lunch and evening receptions) is $795. If you want to share a room, the price per person drops to $635. Register by November 15 and get a $25 Early Bard discount. That’s not bad for three days of dining, writing, and entertainment. The only extra thing you pay for is dinner. No exorbitant charges for bottle service, no need to try the $20 trick to get a sweet room (most have ocean views), and no worries about getting trick-rolled by your new “friend” who wants to “party” with you. Good times.

There are some great deals in Las Vegas right now, but this is a pretty good deal, too. The Grand Hotel in January is sort of the anti-Strip, so this might be a nice change of pace for some of my readers who usually gravitate to the glitz of the Strip.

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I didn’t write this…not exactly

December 19, 2008 8:36 am

You might have noticed that I do a great deal of writing. Whether it’s the daily blogging, the articles for the Las Vegas Business Press, Casino Connection, and elsewhere, or the books, writing is something that is very important to me, both professionally and because I like to do it.

Since it means so much to me, I try to keep minimum standards in the quality of my prose. I’m not saying that everything I write is flawless, but it generally gets the job done and isn’t egregiously bad. You’ll notice typos in blog posts here, but that’s a failure in execution, not purpose. Generally, I strive to write well.

So imagine my surprise when this quote in the Jewish Times of Southern New Jersey, attributed to me, came into my mailbox:

Where would Atlantic City be if casino gambling wasn't authorized in 1976? Probably AC would be a ramshackle fishing village and a shallow summer retreat. Native David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, said in a recent column he wrote for the Casino Connection, "AC received a Second Chance with gaming, freeing the town from years of decline.The days before the rolling of the dice and the slot machine, were dark days but some residents didn't give up hope," wrote Schwartz, "since without gaming, they argued, the city could not reverse its decline. While casino revenues are down, gamblers are still coming here, in smaller numbers and some monies are coming in." It's still an uphill battle for the town but optimism has not been lost

Honorable ‘Menschen’ | www.jewishtimes-sj.com | Jewish Times of Southern New Jersey.

I honestly couldn’t believe what I read there. Did I really pen something that dreadful? With a sinking heart, I checked out the original Casino Connection article, Second Chances, which was about the 1976 gaming referendum:

The city had fallen far from its former standing as the “world’s playground.” Jobs had disappeared, infrastructure was decaying, and tourism had dwindled. In 1968, at a testimonial for 500 Club owner Paul “Skinny” D’Amato, city power brokers first discussed casino gambling as a cure for the city’s ills. Within six years, they managed to get a measure on the New Jersey ballot.

The 1974 referendum would have allowed casinos to open anywhere in the state after a local vote. But gambling opponents, including clergymen, advised their constituents to vote no, and the referendum failed.

These were dark days, but some didn’t give up hope. A small citizen contingent pressed for casinos. Without gambling, they argued, the city could not reverse its decline. Some considered them impractical dreamers, but they refused to take no for an answer.
Second Chances

I was profoundly relieved that I hadn’t actually written a sentence like, “The days before the rolling of the dice and the slot machine, were dark days but some residents didn’;t give up hope, since without gaming, they argued, the city could not reverse its decline.”

Why am I writing about this? It’s mostly defensive. I don’t want one of my students who I’ve upbraided for poor writing coming back at me with, “Yeah, but at least I didn’t write about ‘the rolling of the dice and the slot machine.’” It’s also professional pride. I happen to still know many people in South Jersey, and I’d hate for something like that to go out there uncorrected.

Usually, when I get mis-quoted, the journalist makes me sound better than I really do: they’ll clean up something like, “oh well you know the uh casino industry, many times in the past, like 1978-82 or 1991-1992, they’ve had hard times, you know” into: “The casino industry, Schwartz claims, ‘has been through hard times before, particularly in 1978-82 and 1991-92.’”

There’s another issue here: I never sounded an optimistic note about “some monies coming in.” I ended the piece on my usual optimistic, slightly ambiguous note, as I said that without gaming, “it’s a fair bet none of us would be where we are today.” That’s true, because I can say with absolute confidence that if Atlantic City didn’t get casinos, there is no way I’d have decided to study gambling.

I ordinarily wouldn’t belabor the point so much, but again, it’s all about professionalism. I partially earn a living through my writing, and I can’t have anything that absolutely sub-standard being ascribed to me without protest. While you’re going to find some clunkers in the thousands of pages worth of stuff I’ve written over the last ten years, you won’t (I hope) find anything that as stupidly awful as that quote up there. Going through the few sentences I really did write, I can name at least five revisions I’d make if I had another shot at it. But at least it’s not moronic.

Much ado about nothing, I’m sure, I’m going to use this in class for a while, so at the very least this post has some real pedagogical value.

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2 new articles

September 11, 2008 11:18 am

I’ve got two new articles elsewhere on the web, including a piece in the LVBP where I ponder the strangely-bifurcated marketing strategy at Paris Las Vegas:

While browsing a popular online travel Web site recently, I noticed something strange: There are two major resort hotels at 3655 Las Vegas Boulevard South. The listing for Paris Las Vegas was nothing shocking, but a bit further was a listing for “Gay Paris Las Vegas,” at the exact same location.

We’ll always have Paris … or will we?

I’ve got about 470 more words on the subject, if you click through.

For you Atlantic City history buffs (properly, I should say “youse Atlantic City history buffs), check out Casino Connection: I’ve got an article on the 1964 Democratic Convention, which strangely enough no one seems to talk about much anymore. It was a defining moment in the civil rights movement and the history of Atlantic City, for completely different reasons.

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Winslow’s 11 2008 is out!

July 11, 2008 9:26 am

And it’s only seven months into the year, too the 2008 version of Winslow’s 11 Guide is out. Well, that’s the kind of devotion I show to something for which I receive faint but welcome praise and no cash. Seriously, I’ve had a lot going on, so getting this out is a real victory for me.
Winslow\'s 11 2008

It’s mostly the same as last year’s guide, but shorter, and with necessary changes. Two restaurants that I liked went out of business, one stopped being good, and several attractions, from the Mirage’s white tigers to the Frontier–are no more.

So enjoy this, because with my workload only getting tougher, I wouldn’t hold my breath for the 2009 version.

Download the pdf right here, or visit the Will Winslow page.

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Casino carpet culture

July 1, 2008 12:41 pm

The new issue of LAB magazine is out (its motto: A wunderkabinet of creative culture. With a cherry on top.), and I’ve got an article in it about my virtual collection of casino carpet.

I knew that if I kept this up long enough, I’d end up in the avant garde of culture and design.

Of course, I’m sandwiched between articles on a collection of macaroni and cheese and one on a pocket protector collection, which I think is right about where this belongs. Great fun all around.

Check out the article here.

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Monsoon wagering

June 16, 2008 7:54 am

I and pretty much anyone else who’s ever seriously studied gambling have often said that people will bet on anything. Some proof to support that contention? I offer into evidence the $1.2 billion Indians reportedly bet on monsoons each year. From Online Casino Advisory:

Itinerant traders spread the tradition of monsoon betting in the 1800s; British authorities banned the practice in 1890. The ban worked as well as most prohibition, which is to say, not at all.

…

Bookies allow monsoon gambling among established clientele to prevent detection by law enforcement. Yet, even with this restriction on play, it is estimated that over $1.2 billion is wagered each year on the monsoon.

Asked the attraction on gambling on the weather, one player pointed out that there is no danger of a fix. Sports gamblers familiar with recent NBA news understand this observation well.

This year the monsoon came earlier than anytime in over a hundred years, raking in profits for bookies. Still, there was a silver lining to all concerned: the early rain signals a bountiful harvest, after a period of poor crop growth. Food supplies both locally and internationally will be positively effected.

Gambling on Rain in India Big Business

I’ll disagree with the contention that “there’s no danger of a fix.” If it’s gambling, there’s a way to rig it. You could, for example, fudge the results from the weather station. You could also take bets and not pay out the winners.

My headline is a riff on Monsoon Wedding, which seemed to be better than trying to invent a pun with monsoon and gambling.

Also, my apologies on inflicting this obviously-not-AP-style prose on you. The kernel of the story is interesting, but the way it’s written is, like something you’ve left in the fridge a week too long, a little off. Is it the over-use of the passive tense? The absence of any quote or any attribution for the information? The fact that only the top third of the jpg loads? It’s all of these, and more.

Since I’m teaching non-fiction writing this summer, I’m attuned to these kinds of deficiencies. Seriously, if any of my students read this, this article is a perfect illustration of what not to do.

I’ve got a philosophical quibble, too. The closing line of the article says that we must remember that gambling is an ancient tradition. I’m assuming, from the context, that the author is a gambling advocate and is using this fact–tradition–to bolster his argument that gambling is good.

I don’t think that tradition by itself is a justification for anything. Lots of things have a long tradition: slavery, misogyny, tribal warfare, wine in a box. That doesn’t necessarily make them something to strive for.

Gambling’s long history isn’t a reason to embrace it. Rather, it’s an illustration of the enduring appeal that it has. Because gambling is popular, it has been around for a long time–not vice versa.

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Behind Poker Face 2

October 11, 2006 11:17 am

Those of you who were at the World Series of Poker last summer might have seen the booth for Poker Face 2. For those who didn’t, here are some excerpts of story in the Baltic Times explains a bit about the photog and the book:

In November 1983, Ulvis Alberts, a photographer who had snapped some of the iconic images of his time – Christopher Reeve grinning widely from his swimming pool, a young Tom Waits, an elderly Fred and Ginger – arrived in Riga. “It was another world, another satellite – no pun intended,” he says. “Think of it: Hollywood! Photographer! In Riga, Latvia. It doesn’t get any better than that, in terms of getting attention, much of it unwarranted.”
…
He shuttles between spending a few months at his home outside Seattle and months at one or another apartment in Riga. He loves the “cocktail of Riga” and keeps changes of clothes in various suitcases left at friends’ places throughout the city.
Recently, Alberts had the idea to publish a book at a printing press in Cesis. “Poker Face 2,” the sequel to a book he published 25 years ago, combines images he took of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas in the late ’70s and ’80s, when it was still a fringe event, with images he took at the poker gathering in the last few years, when it started to enjoy a massive televised audience and celebrity guests like Ben Affleck and Jennifer Tilly. The book is selling online for $275.

The negatives were scanned in the United States and sent electronically to Latvia. About 40 people put the book together, he says. They were doing a lot of work for a little bit of money – “That’s the story of Riga” – and there was one issue that he says made the experience “consciously a little uncomfortable.”
“What did some of these guys think was going on here [in these photographs]? Guys with fistfuls of money. What the f— was going on in America?”
…
Then he turned his eye to the World Series of Poker, which was still a relatively obscure event. Jack Binion ran the tournament at his Horseshoe Casino, and it attracted some modern brilliant outlaws.
There’s Doyle Brunson, a former basketball star in high school, who, after suffering an injury, grew obese and turned his immense energies to becoming the godfather of poker.

Stu Ungar, a prodigy of the game, won the tournament three times. The other characters in the book are generally middle-aged, wearing cowboy hats and boots, but Ungar is a kid in a jumper and a floppy haircut, raking in his chips.
Ungar died young in the late ’90s, after his cocaine habit caught up with him and stopped his heart. And one of the stranger photographs in the collection shows Jack Binion, older, craggier and wiser, embracing the young 20-something, whose eyes are closed.

“It’s the best photograph of Stu I have,” says Alberts. “He looks like a choir boy. He looks like a kid who should be in church. So I used it for that reason. Jack is kinda there hugging Stu. Of course they were close, because Stu brought a lot of publicity to the Horseshoe Casino.” He cropped the picture from a much larger setting and we are left with a melancholic connection between steady, wise old age and brilliant youth doomed to be misspent.

The newer photographs, representative of the multimedia age, have their own poetry too. There’s a series of photographs of Jennifer Tilly being particularly emotive and one of an older Doyle Brunson flashing the wryest of smiles.
Many of the poker players are old and need to move around in electric wheelchairs. Alberts points out a lonely photograph of one empty wheelchair plugged into a wall socket being charged in a hallway at 4 a.m. The chair is a black silhouette against the dim light of late night with some televisions on the side. “It just spoke to me,” Alberts says.
Snapshots of Las Vegas

UNLV Special Collections has a relatively rare copy of the original Poker Face, and I ordered a copy of the new one to round out the collection.

If you’re into poker past and present, Poker Face 2 is a must-have.

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The bones have been rolled

July 22, 2005 9:31 am

The day has arrived…after about a year of research and writing, I’ve finished the first draft of Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.

What does this mean for you, the reader? A chance to do some more reading. Gotham will be bringing the book out next June, so if you’ve ever bemoaned the lack of a one-volume comprehensive history of gambling, you’ll have a few hundred pages of beach reading for ’06. Or something to pass the time with while your friends are playing “just one more hand” at the tables. Unless you’re in Macau, where bringing books into the casino is strictly forbidden, as the word “book” has unlucky connotations. See, you haven’t even started reading, and you’ve already learned something (unless, of course, you’ve been to Macau).

For me, this is the culmination of a lot of work, and the prelude to even more. Right now the manuscript is 768 pages in MS Word, which translates to about 500 in actual book form. I’m guessing that the ideal book will be a bit shorter, so I’ve got some revising to do. This is more than twice as long as Cutting the Wire, which is less than 300 pages in book form.

I’ll be posting more info on the Roll the Bones page as I get it, but here are some little facts:

- manuscript structure: 12 chapters plus prologue and epilogue
- total manuscript pages: 768
- word count: appro. 190,000 (The next time I teach a class and get a student complaining about a 500-word essay…forget about it)
- first use of word “gambling:” page 4, preface

I tried to be comprehensive, so there are section on gambling from all around the world. The thing that should get the History Channel excited, though, is that I even have a paragraph or two on Hitler’s Casino. Seriously. We’ll see if that makes it through the revising.

What’s next? Selecting the photos and revising, then starting work on my next project, which I’d like to see come out in 2008. I don’t have anything in writing yet, but I’m leaning towards a biography for this one. After spending a year writing about everything to do with gambling, I’m looking forward to a more focused narrative.

Thanks to everyone who gave me support during this writing. Doing this website has been a lot of fun, but writing the book, particularly during the past few months, has cut into the time I can spend on it. I’m looking to start reading for pleasure again and getting a few reviews up: I owe Brian Rouff one for Dice Angel, and I’m finally going to start Money Shot. I’m just finishing Deke Castleman’s Whale Hunt in the Desert, which is an interesting inside take on the VIP casino host world. Again, you the reader benefit!

So just when I’m thinking that I’m having a good day Thursday, here comes news that someone else is having an even better day: an unidentified Rhode Island guest at Isle of Capri Biloxi hit the quarter Wheel of Fortune slots for $1,058,459.34. Based on my year of research into 7000 years of gambling history, my advice is to quit while you’re ahead.

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Cutting the Wire is here (virtually)!

June 29, 2005 11:49 am

You can’t read it yet, but you can pre-order it from amazon.com at an incredible price: $16.47 for all 296 pages. Of course, if you want to buy the hardcover for $49.95, I’m not going to stop you.

It’s still under construction, but you can check out my very own Cutting the Wire section to learn more about the book.

I’m really amazed that the book is available this inexpensively. Routledge has raised the price of Suburban Xanadu and amazon, for some reason, has raised it even further. I was starting to think that I was going to be totally priced out of the market.

If you order now, you’ll probably get the book in August. For a sneak peak of the chapter titles, check my annotated table of contents. I’ll be posting reviews as I find out about them.

Amazon.com: Books: Cutting the Wire: Gaming Prohibition And the Internet (The Gambling Studies Series)

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Rolling along

March 31, 2005 9:06 pm

As my regular readers know, writing Roll the Bones has been taking up most of my time for the past few months. I’ve shared a few of the insights I’ve learned, but for the most part I’ve kept the project under wraps.

Today I reached a significant milestone, so I’m making an announcement: I’m two-thirds done the first draft. I’ve finished my chapters on ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and early modern gambling, gambling in the British empire, 19th century European spa gambling, and Monte Carlo.

What’s left, you might wonder? Only, as Borat might say, the U S and A. In other words, I’ve got three chapters in which to condense the history of gambling in America (including, as things stand now, one whole chapter on Nevada gambling history). Once I finish that, I have the 12th and final chapter–about the international expansion of gambling in the 20th and 21st centuries–and then I am onto my next project.

Check out the Roll the Bones page to learn more about my progress, and how you can help.

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