North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 34, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 24, 2010 Page: 4 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Special Collections.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Page 4
Arts & Life
Wednesday, March 24,2010
Amber Arnold, Arts & Life Editor
ntdailylife@gmail.com
Organization helps domestic violence victims
By Nicole Landry
Staff Writer
Domestic violence, a
crime that has a varied and
vast history, is on the rise in
Dallas.
On March 9, Dallas Mayor
Tom Leppert spoke at a confer-
ence that dealt with this issue
and reported a 5-percent
increase in a time when
overall crime has been on the
decline.
The consensus of the confer-
ence was that the economy
has had an effect not only on
individuals staying in abusive
relationships but also on the
amount of available resources
for victims of domestic abuse.
Veda MacGregor, founder
and CEO of Sircle of Safety at
Zac's Ridge — a nonprofit orga-
nization dedicated to helping
people who have been affected
by violence — agrees that the
economy could be the reason
people choose to remain in
abusive situations
"It's been going on throughout
history that crime goes up when
the economy takes a dive," she
said. "But domestic violence
stems from things deeper than
the environment."
Sircle of Safety was founded
in 2003. In the first five years,
the organization dealt with
those who were the most
vulnerable in abusive situa-
tions — women and children.
Then, in 2008, it joined forces
with Zac's Ridge, an organiza-
tion that introduced experi-
WE
ARE
PEN
CQNIE
Photo by Alex Scott/Photographer
nternational studies freshman Gabrielle Powers works at the UNT Women's center, which offers services for victims of domestic violence.
mental training to the mix.
Both violators and victims
of domestic violence can take
part in the classes, which are
spread throughout two week-
ends.
SOS at Zac's Ridge is not
the only available resource
for people whose lives have
experienced domestic violence,
MacGregor said, but many
other resources have had
to cut back on the services
they can provide, and some
have even closed their doors
completely.
"Every county in Texas has
domestic violence resources
in an emergency shelter-type
setting," she said. "But because
of the decline in the economy,
those resources were some
of the first to be pulled from
federal and state budgets. A lot
of resources lost funding. Some
are being kept open on individ-
uals' personal savings."
MacGregor said that univer-
sities should offer classes on
how to deal with domestic
violence and the family life
that may have caused it.
People believe they can only
make decisions based on where
they come from and not who
they are, she said.
"We should all be account-
able for our behaviors, but there
is an absence of awareness,
information and possibility,
especially in college, where
students are there looking to
discover who they want to be,"
she said.
Maria Webster, a photog-
raphy junior, said she would
like to see UNT participate
more in the promotion of
domestic violence awareness.
"There's only one thing I
know of, the Clothesline Project,
and there's so much that can
happen in a year," she said.
The Clothesline Project is
aimed at addressing violence
against women. Women who
have been affected are encour-
aged to decorate a T-shirt to
speak out, according to the
Web site.
The Center for Student
Development at Discovery Park
and the Women's Center are
co-sponsoring a Clothesline
Project event from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m. on April 13 at Discovery
Park.
Webster has volunteered
during the Clothesline Project
in the past and said that there
is normally a good turnout,
but she said she thinks more
awareness events should take
place because students don't
think about domestic violence
existing.
Although UNT offer help at
the Counseling and Testing
Center and the Women's Center,
people who experience domestic
violence or who know someone
who has are usually referred to
Denton County Friends of the
Family, an agency that provides
services for those affected by an
abusive relationship.
MacGregor suggests that
such individuals create a plan
to get them to a safe place and
then find someone to talk to.
"Get a voice and tell some-
body," she said.
Students promote literacy among school children
By Stephanie Daniels
Contributing Writer
To promote literacy among
school-aged children, the
Golden Key International
Honour Society is inviting
children from Denton-area
schools to spend an after-
noon reading.
General studies senior and
the UNT chapter's president
Amanda Burgess said she
envisions the literacy day
as a way to give back to the
community.
"We just want to promote
the love of reading and try
to spark them to want to go
to college and continue their
education," she said. "A lot
of those kids aren't thinking
about college that young."
Last year, the organization
began the Invisible Children's
Mission Project, where they
sent books to Uganda. Many
of the children's books that
weren't used for the project
will provide the society with
the reading materials needed
for the literacy day.
"The program didn't accept
some of our books, so we
had a lot of leftover chil-
dren's books," she said. "So
I said that maybe this year
we should give back to our
community."
Last year, the soci-
ety's vice president and
emergency administra-
tion senior Emily Hudson
applied for a $1,000 Golden
Key scholarship to fund the
organization's semester.
"We're getting lunch from
Double Dave's and getting
donations from Sonic and
McAlister's," she said.
full of pencils, erasers and
books for the children who
attend the event.
"We're just going to have
a good day filled with story
" We just want to promote the
love of reading and try to spark
them to want to go to college. "
—Amanda Burgess
Golden Key International Honour Society president
"Borders Books also made us
... a recipient for their spring
book drive."
Hudson said the donations
will help provide a gift bag
circles, where we read to them
and they read to us, and some
arts and crafts," she said.
Hudson said there's also
some room behind the
library where the children
can enjoy recreational games
together.
The literacy day is targeting
3rd and 4th graders from
elementary schools like
Hodge Elementary, Lee
Elementary and Woodrow
Wilson Elementary, but
everyone is invited.
Hudson said she hopes the
first literacy day isn't the last
one the organization spon-
sors.
"We're hoping that it is
somewhat of a success, that
way we can make it an annual
thing," she said. "We're an
academic-based honor
society, so we should support
academic things and what
better than to start at the
ground level with elemen-
tary students and get them
excited about school and
education."
Hudson said her goal is
to give children a thrill out
of going to school as well as
reading a book in their spare
time.
"Reading a book is an
adventure and a lot of
people miss out on that, and
I just hope to pass that onto
someone else," she said. "No
matter what's going on out
there, you can always curl up
with a good book."
The Golden Key Literacy
Day will be from 9 a.m. to 1
p.m. Saturday at the Denton
North Branch Library, 3200
N. Locust St.
Society awards high school students for artwork
Continued from Page 3
The organization also involves
local county high schools through
its annual Denton County High
School Art Competition, which
includes the work of local
students in grades nine through
12 who are enrolled in fine arts
classes across Denton County,
Cox said.
The competition, which took
place on March 4, gave students
a chance to compete and be
rewarded for their work. Four
awards with cash prizes were
given at an awards ceremony
on March 15. The organization
handed out a best of show award
of $100, a first place award of $75,
a second place award of $50 and
a third place award of $25.
The Visual Arts Society of Texas'
yearly exhibit, "Merging Visions:
A Collaborative Exhibition of Art
and Poetry" will open Monday
and Tuesday to celebrate National
Presenting...
LEARNING CENTER
Learning Success
Workshops
Attend tlie following workshops designed to help you become
more efficient with juggling your responsibilities as a
college student.
Time Management
Scheduling & Prioritising.
Test Taking Tips & Test Anxiety
Preparing for exams with less stress.
Note Taking
Skills for listening and identifying concepts.
Graduate School: The Guide to Getting In
Assistance in preparing jbr graduate school.
Learning Styles
Find out your learning strength s.
Dates 8c Times:
Mondays:
Tuesdays:
Wed nesdays:
Thursdays:
Fridays:
the full li
id times.
I p.m.— 2 p.m.
5 p.m.— 6 p.m.
II a.m.— 12 p.m.
5 p.m.— 6 p.m.
10 a.m.— 11 a.m.
rotating workshop descrip-
The Learning Center
University Union, Suite 323
(9+0) 369-7006
www.iiiil.cdu/lc
University of North Texas
Poetry Month.
This project includes poetry
inspired by art and art inspired
by poetry written by members of
the Denton Poet's Assembly The
art and poetry will be exhibited
side by side so the public can see
the relationships between the
pieces.
There are many other educa-
tional and exhibit opportunities
available through the organiza-
tion, including critique groups,
juried and local revolving exhi-
bitions, workshops designed to
educate artists, and group efforts
to get members involved in art
competitions, Hines said.
"The thing that I've enjoyed
most about VAST over time is
the synergy and connection with
other artists, the ability to go to
events where we can collabo-
rate and visit, and be around
one another, and see what other
people are working on," Cox
said.
Photo by Kaitlyn Price/Photographer
The Emerging Visions Exhibit presents a combination of artwork and poetry,
inspired by and reflective of each other. The exhibit will be at both the Emily
Fowler and North Branch libraries beginning April 17.
EWS TO YOU
North Terras Pail'
Traffic Tickets Defended
In Fort Worth, Arlington, Grapevine, Southlake, Hurst, Forest Hill, White
Settlement, North Richland Hills, Richland Hills, Watauga, Haltom City,
Colleyville, Keller, Bedford, and elsewhere in Tarrant County.
ce (817) 924-3236
- 3024 Sandage
Fort Worth, TX 76109-1793
V,8\V¿n°
*No promise as to results
*Any fine and court costs are not included in fee for legal representation
www.JamesMallory.com
Attorney James Mallory
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.
North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 34, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 24, 2010, newspaper, March 24, 2010; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145787/m1/4/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.