North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 16, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 19, 2013 Page: 3 of 6
six pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Tuesday, February 19,2013
Arts & Life
Page 3
Nadia Hill, Arts & Life Editor
NTDailyArtsLife@gmail.com
Professor depicts life in violent community
Michael Wood
Intern
Beirut, a neighborhood in
Philadelphia, has a staggering
amount of gun violence, pollu-
tion and extreme poverty. It's
the kind of place that might
be depicted in a video game or
demonized in the public eye,
but the nuances of day-to-day
life still happen there.
UNT film professor Eugene
Martin was commissioned
by Temple University in
Philadelphia tq capture an oral
history of this neighborhood in
order to relay it to the rest of the
city and the U.S. He has also
received a grant from UNT to
continue this work. His multi-
media exhibition, titled "Beirut,
Philadelphia," arrived at UNT
on the Square on Monday,
containing photographs and
film footage.
The exhibition features 120
photo prints, 500 digital images
displayed on an array of screens
and 30 hours of video. Ultra
high definition footage of daily
life in the neighborhood, shot
with a RED camera, is projected
inside the gallery. Three video
kiosks display the oral histories.
"My purpose is to docu-
ment a place that is fragile and
isolated," Martin said.
Martin said there is very little
oral history of urban America
as these areas are not as acces-
sible by outsiders. He espe-
cially wants to highlight the
large number of children who
live here in order to defy mass:
media's portrayals of urban
areas containing mostly young
men.
Attempting to use the
utmost care and sensitivity in
his approach, Martin has been
documenting Beirut for six years
now, and his process is inten-
tionally slow in order to forge
real, meaningful connections.
He states it's not his mission to
bring awareness to a problem
or to glorify poverty^ only to
provide a straightforward
portrayal of real life.
Ebony Graves, a high school
student and Beirut resident
Martin interviewed for an oral
history, was asked if she felt she
could make a difference in her
neighborhood.
"No, not really because there's
no big problems," Graves said.
Martin grew up and went
to school in a predominantly
African-American neigh-
Beirut, Philadelphia
February 18- March 9
Presented by the UNT Institute for the Advancement for the Arts and the
Department of Radio, Television and Film. College of Arts and Sciences
Photo by Whitney Rogers/Intern
Film professor Eugene Martin holds a photograph featured in his exhibition "Beirut, Philadelphia."The show will run Feb. 18 - March 9 at UNT on the Square.
borhood and is adept in his
interactions with people who
are different than him. Still,
gaining acceptance and trust
in Beirut was a slow and deli-
cate process but people even-
tually opened up. He keeps his
iirt.ist.ic methods and intentions
transparent and never pretends
to be someone he is not.
"Acceptance is something
that must be earned," Martin
said.
Meredith B u i e ,
Administrative Coordinator for
UNT on the Square, said the soft
opening for the show went well.
"Eugene approached the
director of the gallery with his
ideas," Buie said. "The installa-
tion took two full days to set up
It's a powerful show."
The show will run through
March 9.
Mock mafia game takes over city x>r days
Tim Cato
Senior Staff Writer
The tommy guns may have
been replaced with water pistols
and the knives with plastic
spoons, but make no mistake, the
mafia is as active and dangerous
in Denton as it was in the '20s.
All around Denton from Feb.
7-11, more than 180 students and
graduates: participated in the
community-based game known
as "Denton Mafia."
"We have six families
competing for the city of Denton
through challenges and by
poking with plastic spoons or
using water guns," said Nate
Woodall, a 2012 UNT alum and
judge in this year's game. He
posts challenges online and how
many points each one is worth.
Challenges and kills add
points to a family's total, based
on a predetermined scoring
system. The game has evolved
drastically since its inception
nine years ago by 2008 alum
Cody Kitchens.
Kitchens said he would find
five or six men with magnetic
personalities and tell them to
recruit 20-25 people. They build
their own families and, as the
family's don, are always plan-
Photo courtesy of Dustin McKay
UNT performance graduate student Frederick McKee plays the piano at the funeral of the don of the Aggraziatto family on Friday. The funeral is part of the Denton
Mafia games that lasted Feb. 7-11.
ning possible missions.
"We had heard a vague idea
of this game years ago, and
the college ministry we were
involved in had a lot of guys
who would be in for it, so we
tried it," Kitchens said. "We just
ran around with water guns and
shot each other, The next year
we added points and it has just
naturally evolved into this."
Challenges include earning
points by deciphering clues and
finding golf balls or, for the truly
devoted, traveling to different
states to earn "witness protec-
tion kills:"
For the past two years,
Denton Mafia has partnered
with Vision Ministries, a local
outreach program of Denton
Bible Church. Every pair of jeans
donated to Vision Ministries
earns the family 20 points.
"I knew college kids were
just crazy enough about a game
that they would go and buy
jeans," said Michael Pirtle, the
director of Vision Ministries. "It
was amazing to see jeans that
Still had price tags on them."
Balancing classes and the
mafia is often the biggest chal-
lenge. There are safe zones at
home and work, but players are
not protected walking around
campus.
"It's crazy because the way
that the game works is that
you're not safe going to and
from class so you're pretty
much stressed out all the time
- if you go to class, I should
say," said Spanish senior Aaron
Johnson, the don of the Gorlami
family who won Mafia this year.
"I actually went to all of my
classes during Mafia week. It's
hard to even pay attention in
class - luckily they did it over
a weekend."
As the don, Johnson was
sending texts, strategizing and
going on missions from the time
he woke up to the time he went
to bed. He said it was all worth
it in the end, and that he'd defi-
nitely play again next year.
"There's something really
awesome about being paranoid,"
Johnson said.
For more information, visit
mafia.onoj .com.
North Texas I Daily
Student Service Fee
Advisory Committee/Group
Proposal Presentations
Date: Friday, February 22, 2013
Location: Chestnut Hall, Room 120A
Time: 8:30 AM
North Texas Daily
News To You
^^^^™>Since 191
Englisl LonuersaHon Llass
Perfect for Practice and! Further fcuidly
Located in
the Refuge Ministry Center
We Provide Transportation!
ForMorelnformation:
BRAYLAH
/ /
BLAKELY
GOODWIN
FRESHMAN
SOPHOMORE
NORTH TEXAS WOMEN' S BASKETBALL
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 2QTH
VS. FLORIDA ATLANTIC AT 7 PM
MEN VS. FAU AT 7 PM
THURSDAY FEB. 21ST
STUDENTS RECEIVE FREE ADMISSION WITH ID
940.565.2527 • 1.800.UNT.2366
MEANGREENSPORTS.COM
NORTH TEXAS^LBASKETBALl
SIGN UP TO WIN PRIZES AT
MEANGREENREWARDS.COM
FOLLOW MEAN GREEN SPORTS ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
UPCOMING GAMES
WEDNESDAY FEB 27
WOMEN VS. ARKANSAS ST @ 7 PM
THURSDAY, FEB 28
MEN VS ARKANSAS ST @ 7 PM
UNT
UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH-TEXAS
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Harvey, Holly. North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 16, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 19, 2013, newspaper, February 19, 2013; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth336919/m1/3/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.