Metro
FIRST PERSON
What Happens In
Vegas •••
"Lawyer Boy" moves to Sin City
to learn about deception and how
to guard against it.
Rick Lax at his book signing party at the Rumor Boutique Hotel in Las
Vegas. The model in the hat isn't wearing real clothes but deceptive body
painting by Suzanne Lugano.
Rick Lax
Special to the Jewish News
F
or 21/2 decades, I did every-
thing right.
I grew up in West
Bloomfield and attended Congregation
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, where
I became a bar mitzvah and sang in
the choir. I got a part-time job as a Joe
Cornell DJ, studied political science
at University of Michigan, headed
to Chicago for law school and wrote
a book about it, Lawyer Boy: A Case
Study on Growing Up (St. Martin's
Press; 2008). And then I passed the
Illinois bar exam.
But after that, my life took a turn.
I drove to Las Vegas. At first, I figured
I'd only stay there for a couple of weeks,
but the weeks turned into months and
the months into years. Before I knew it,
I was calling myself a "local:'
Why Vegas?
Here's why: Back in Chicago, as I
was studying for the bar exam, my
girlfriend got conned by a violent
drug dealer. She wasn't one of his cli-
18
February 3 - 2011
ents; she was a naive art student who
thought he was offering her a job. He
told her he was an attorney, and she
believed him. I only found out about
his criminal record from the Chicago
Police Department.
The whole experience put the fear of
God in me. I wanted to make sure that
nothing like that ever happened again
to anyone I care about — or to me, for
that matter. So I moved to Las Vegas
to learn about deception and how to
guard against it.
Las Vegas, you see, is the deception
capital of the world. So many things
about the city aren't real — from the
volcano at the Mirage to the Eiffel
Tower at Paris Las Vegas.
The city is filled with deceivers —
from celebrity impersonators to magi-
cians; from casino hosts who tell high
rollers they'd be happy to oblige their
most obnoxious, demeaning requests to
gambling addicts who tell their spouses
they don't have gambling problems; from
strippers who, for a price, will shed their
clothes and pretend that everything you
say is charming and hilarious to escorts
who, for a price, will pretend that every-
thing you say is charming and hilari-
ous ... and then shed their clothes and
sleep with you.
Over the past two years, I've spent
hundreds of hours with professional
deceivers. I've done 2 a.m. break-
fasts with a 400-pound (male) Cher
impersonator, and I've been called
onstage to assist an Irish hypno-
magician. I've watched a prostitute
pick up a client, and watched a
professional pickup artist seduce
women.
The biggest lesson I've learned
from these encounters is that, no
matter how clever you are, good
deception is hard to spot. People
make awful lie detectors.
We all think we can tell when
we're being lied to, but scientists
have proven otherwise, over and over
again.
One example: University of
California psychologist Paul Ekman
showed videos of people either lying
or telling the truth to professionals
known for their truth-detecting abili-
ties (polygraph operators, robbery
investigators, judges and psychia-
trists).
Ekman asked the professionals to
identify who was lying and who was
telling the truth. None of them could
beat the coin-flip test, meaning, they
might as well have guessed randomly.
Like the professionals in Ekman's
study, I'm no human lie detector. My
time in Vegas has taught me a lot, but
it hasn't made me bulletproof. I can
admit that much.
Still, I'm rarely tricked or fooled.
And that's because I've got a skeptical
outlook on life. If my time in Vegas
has taught me nothing else, its at least
taught me this: Ask questions, probe
for answers and don't rush to judg-
ment. Saunter to judgment.
I decided to share my Vegas
adventures — and the lessons I
learned from them — in a new book,
Fool Me Once: Hustlers, Hookers,
Headliners, and How Not to Get
Screwed in Vegas (St. Martin's Griffin;
paperback).
It's less expensive than being conned.
And way less expensive than law school
— that's for sure. LI
Rick Lax returns home to
Michigan for a book reading/
signing and magic show at
7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, at
Borders, 34300 Woodward, in
Birmingham. The program is
free; signed books available for
purchase. (248) 203-0005.
Super Raffle
Aids Agencies
II-
ast year, JVS, JARC, JCC and
Friendship Circle partnered
in a first-time Super Raffle
to benefit all four agencies. At that
time, Mark Lit, executive director
of the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit, stated, "This
new collaboration is a seed which will
flower into collaborative program-
ming for four of the finest Jewish
institutions in the city."
Said Rick Loewenstein, chief execu-
tive officer of JARC "JVS, JARC, the JCC
and the Friendship Circle had never
worked on a fundraising project togeth-
er. We were facing a downward spiraling
economy that all not-for-profits had to
reckon with, and we needed to think
creatively.
"We sat at the table with the execs
and development staffs of the four
agencies which share our passion for
providing services for people with
developmental disabilities. Each
agency netted over $6,000 in raffle
proceeds. It was a no-brainer to go for
Super Raffle IL"
"The raffle is a fun way for people
to help raise critical funds to sup-
port services for children and adults
with developmental disabilities," said
Barbara Nurenberg, CEO of JVS. "Our
common goal is enhancing their qual-
ity of life and their community inclu-
sion. We share this common passion
and goal."
The four agencies hope to raise
more money for people with disabili-
ties. Tickets are $50; three for $100.
Prizes includes use of private suites
at the University of Michigan, the
Palace of Auburn Hills, Ford Field,
Comerica Park and Joe Louis Arena; a
one-week vacation in a two-bedroom
condo at a Four Seasons Resort in La
Costa, Calif.; and a $500 shopping spree
at Great Lakes Crossing."
Each team is composed of representa-
tives from all four agencies. Team cap-
tains include Jeff Budaj of the JVS board,
Jason Ellis of the JCC board, Suzan
Curhan of Friendship Circle and Lisa
Pernick, JARC.
The drawing will take place 2:30
p.m. Sunday, March 6, at the JCC in
West Bloomfield during the JCC's
Camp Kids All Together (KAT) event,
a day of family fun to support chil-
dren with special needs.
Buy Super Raffle tickets at all of
the participating agencies, or at www.
SuperRaffle.org . 7