Lessons From Left Field: The Culture of Auburn Avenue

Posted May 3, 2017

External Article: Georgia Public Broadcasting

Nick Tippens (graduate student, Digital Media) and Ali Yildirim (undergraduate student, History, Technology, and Society) in the Design and Social Interaction Studio, a lab affiliated with the Digital Media program in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, were interviewed in “Lessons From Left Field: The Culture of Auburn Avenue” by Georgia Public Broadcasting. Tippens and Yildirim discussed Came From Nothing, a documentary they produced about Aurburn Avenue local Benjamin “Big Mouth Ben” Graham. Nassim JafariNaimi, Design and Social Interaction Studio director and assistant professor in LMC, was also interviewed in the piece. 

Excerpt:

A class at Georgia Tech focuses on the history and community of Auburn Avenue in Atlanta. The neighborhood was home to Martin Luther King Jr. and an important setting for the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Now, Georgia Tech students are documenting that community, while trying to raise awareness of issues there. We speak with Professor Nassim JafariNaimi, and students Nick Tippens and Ali Yildirim.

For their final class project, Tippens and Yildirim produced a documentary about local Benjamin Graham, who goes by "Big Mouth Ben." Graham kicked a 17-year drug addiction, and opened his iconic store on Auburn Avenue. The documentary about Ben and his wife Tanya is called "Came From Nothing," and premieres Thursday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the APEX Museum in Atlanta.

For the full article, read here.

Related Media

Design and Social Interaction Studio with Benjamin “Big Mouth Ben” Graham