SPOILED HEAT a litany
- added March 22, 2008
- 9 responses
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- Fenlon
- added this
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This is a deeply personal non-linear documentary piece of witnessing to the losses that still linger in the capital of the Rust Belt, Pittsburgh, PA.
I am an artist and poet. I moved to Pittsburgh in 2002. Every day I meet echoes of the losses of the steel industry. For a while I thought I was going crazy, witnessing patterns of behavior that didn't make sense to me, particularly from people in their 40's and older.
Others 'Burgh newbies have told me about adapting to sometimes-insular local behavior patterns. They noticed the odd sensitivities of some of the people who, we later learned, stayed when others left*.
Synchronicity has introduced me to people who tell me their stories. Perhaps because I am an outsider, who will not be hurt revisiting my own pain.
I shot the video and stills in Braddock, PA, a former mill town neighboring Pittsburgh and fighting for its life. I was introduced to Braddock by a local film production competition hosted by the honorable Mayor John Fetterman. His motto for the city, which lost 90% of its population to the industry loss, is: Destruction breeds creation. Create amidst destruction.
To learn more about Braddock, take a look at http://www.15104.cc/
To see more of my art work, go to http://www.drawclose.com
* - Pittsburgh has lost more than half its population since 1970 (the diaspora). People moved all over the country. The reason there are Steelers fans at every NFL Steeler away game is not because the fans travel. It is because the fans live in that city.
I am an artist and poet. I moved to Pittsburgh in 2002. Every day I meet echoes of the losses of the steel industry. For a while I thought I was going crazy, witnessing patterns of behavior that didn't make sense to me, particularly from people in their 40's and older.
Others 'Burgh newbies have told me about adapting to sometimes-insular local behavior patterns. They noticed the odd sensitivities of some of the people who, we later learned, stayed when others left*.
Synchronicity has introduced me to people who tell me their stories. Perhaps because I am an outsider, who will not be hurt revisiting my own pain.
I shot the video and stills in Braddock, PA, a former mill town neighboring Pittsburgh and fighting for its life. I was introduced to Braddock by a local film production competition hosted by the honorable Mayor John Fetterman. His motto for the city, which lost 90% of its population to the industry loss, is: Destruction breeds creation. Create amidst destruction.
To learn more about Braddock, take a look at http://www.15104.cc/
To see more of my art work, go to http://www.drawclose.com
* - Pittsburgh has lost more than half its population since 1970 (the diaspora). People moved all over the country. The reason there are Steelers fans at every NFL Steeler away game is not because the fans travel. It is because the fans live in that city.
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The making of a modern "Ghost Town" in intimate prose. Certainly worthy of airtime.
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Martin a film by renowned horror director George A. Romero follows a modern vampire from rustbelt city to rustbelt city starting in my native Indianapolis and a slow train ride to Bradock. I haven't seen it but I want to. I can relate, I would recomend it to you nonetheless. It was a film made to comment on urban decay which you have done in a poigniant manner. Spoilt Heat indeed.
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Wow, you just finished this recently. I liked how the mood kept shifting from prose to poetry and back to prose. I grew up in Ohio, Akron, so I understand the uncomfortable beauty of a city that once was.
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- humboldtkid
- 6 months ago
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This is wonderful--the bird at the end, and all the visuals are perfect.
Your voice has a tentative, lilting quality that gives the reading an emotional instability that suits the subject. -
Awesome and crushing. Like any self respecting Pittsburgh art.
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- ambulantic
- 6 months ago
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For more on Pittsburgh and its economy, young people, and direction check out out POD, (Steel) Cities of the Future.
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- ambulantic
- 6 months ago
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love the stills and soundtrack. I also liked how you keep the sound of wind throughout the entire piece, a haunting element to the dilapidated nature of the town. very nice work...greenlight
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- matt_fisher
- 6 months ago
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an amazing, personal look.
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I love this pod. It captures every aspect of my once great steel city of Gary, Indiana. I can really only read about how great it was because it was over before i ever personally began to know. Everyone either moved or commuted to neighboring Chicago leaving the poor mismanaged city to rot. Rustbelt is a spliting image of Gary with abandoned houses, high crime rate, and no jobs (which is what everyone complains about). Even the kids don't want to be here in Gary schools because of our below par facilities so most of them transfer to outer schools overcrowding merriliville high and portage high. By the way the lunch's in gary high schools SUCK! We are served the same unhealthy crap everyday and the breakfasts are pure garbage. Pizza and strange aftertasting apple juice, disgusting. And the thing is that the lunch program was said to have had new and nutritious lunch menu's by the start of last year. It's still garbage lol. Yeah I don't mean to make this sound like a rant but there's just alot to complain about in Gary. I can't say i been through the pain of seeing a city fall apart but as an african american, 16 yr old male im living in the aftermath and I just gotta play the hand im dealt. It could be alot worse.
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