By: Martin Yates
While walking through McCarron International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada I encountered this women with a story worth telling. This is Amanda Gomez, a mother, sister and auntie to someone. She works in the Las Vegas Raiders fan apparel store and has been working there for about 2 years now.
"I moved here from Mexico when I was 12, and when I say this has been the most blessed I've been I a long time I mean it. My dad being white and my mom being fully Mexican made it hard for my full family to be here." What made this encounter so interesting, was the fact that she just felt like she needed to get that off of her chest that day. We talked about growing up, sports, weed dispensaries that she may or may not like to visit. The topic of sports was more appropriate for this being that she was working at a football teams apparel store. "Ive loved the raider all my life, even when they were in Oakland my dad would always take me to games and the fans were nuts out there. Fun Fact in the differences between fans in Oakland and Vegas, in Oakland it was more about the culture and toughness. Now the fans are so stuck up and nice" Laughed Amanda. "I still love my team because I am a Raider til I die, but the change in culture sucks personally" said Amanda. We started talking about childhood and she says something that catches my ear. "I lived in Inglewood, California from the age of 12-19" said Amanda, which is crazy because my mom is from Watts, which is a neighborhood not too far from there. We ended our conversation with her giving me advice on how to survive in Vegas, "if your are going to gamble, do it on Fremont St. the Vegas strip will eat you up and spit you out" laughed Amanda.
