Rex Holloway read On the Road at seventeen and never fully recovered. He spent the years that followed doing what the book suggested — moving, looking, talking to strangers in diners and bus stations and parking lots outside casinos, trying to find the version of America that doesn't make it into the brochure.

He studied film at Berkeley because he thought he wanted to make documentaries. He realized halfway through his junior year that what he actually wanted was to write. He has not made a single documentary. He has no regrets.

His idol is Hunter S. Thompson. He has read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas more times than he can count and once, on a dare he will not discuss in detail, attempted to recreate the opening drive. He considers Gonzo journalism not a style but a moral framework — the idea that the reporter is part of the story, that pretending otherwise is its own kind of lie.

He has spent the last twenty years looking for his little slice of America. He has found several. None of them were what he expected. He keeps looking.

Holloway splits his time between Las Vegas and San Francisco for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who has spent time in either city. He joined Spotlight Dispatch at founding. He was the first call made. He picked up on the second ring, which surprised everyone.

He covers national affairs, political accountability, corporate behavior, and the specific category of story where someone very powerful did something very stupid and assumed no one was paying attention.

He was paying attention.

His favorite poker hand is 10-2. For obvious reasons. His favorite artists are Eminem and A Tribe Called Quest, which he considers two different expressions of the same essential truth.

He also runs the Spotlight Dispatch Facebook page. This was not in his original job description. He does it anyway.