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By now most of you know that local Oregonian columnist, S. Renee Mitchell has been the object of downsizing as an ever shrinking readership of newspapers in general has swept the nation - not to mention the economic downturn.

I received a very nice letter from Renee several weeks before her column made the official announcement.  Aside from the initial shock, I began to wonder what this means to the many readers of her column.  You may not have agreed with everything she said, or maybe you did.  Doesn’t matter.  What matters is a voice that resonated with the community on so many levels, has been removed from a major source of communications in this city.  There are no words to express the loss this represents.  Life will go on, and we will all collectively forget the richness that Renee brought to our Oregonian.  Just another layer of sadness we’ll bury among the flotsom and jetsom of a tanked economy.  What follows are some excerpts from her letter to me:

Hi Greg,

In case you hadn’t heard: After 10 years at The Oregonian, being
nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, and named No. 1 Commentor in five Western
states by the Society of Professional Journalists, I have taken the
paper’s very generous buyout offer. I officially leave my job on Oct. 1.

I will remain based in Portland, where I will continue to invest my
talents, voice and energy into community building and becoming a full-time
writer on my own terms. (see attached press kit) My various projects
include publishing my first novel, discovering my potential as a
multi-media artist, and expanding my reach as an international speaker,
performer and women’s advocate. I also plan to travel more, record more CDs
(have you bought my new songs on iTunes yet?) and spend more time with
my twin boys, who are living in Detroit with their father. (If you
didn’t know that, here’s the link to my Aug. 20 column:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/renee_mitchell/index.ssf?/base/news/1219191906326940.xml&coll=7
In a few weeks, I will be traveling to Guam, New Orleans and Florida to
speak and/or perform my now-one-woman show, Tangoing With Tornadoes
(www.tangoingwithtornadoes.com)  I ask for your prayers, advice, insight
and referrals for even more paid gigs. I am also available for hire
as a media consultant, graphic artist, grant/proposal writer, copy
editor and ghost writer, among other God-given talents that I want to
share with the world. Please keep in touch!

Keep raising hope,
Renee

    * www.reneemitchellspeaks.com
    * www.linkedin.com/in/reneemitchellspeaks
    * www.youtube.com/sreneemitchellspeak
    * http://cdbaby.com/cd/naenaymusic
    * www.tangoingwithtornadoes.com

S. Renee Mitchell
Columnist, The Oregonian
rmitch@news.oregonian.com
503-221-8142/503-294-5023 (fax)
www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/renee_mitchell

Renee left me with her electronic press kit.  You can access it by going here:  http://nlemedia.com/SRMpresskit.pdf

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The Prophet’s Son trilogy shines a powerful light on the evil that fills the world. It shows how purposeful evil, which lives in the person of Satan, finds its expression in Man’s fallen nature. Yet it also shows how faith in the God who loves us can defeat the devil, who seeks Man’s destruction. It reinforces the hope that if anyone will turn from his sin and seek forgiveness from his loving God, He will save him, as He ultimately saved the story’s protagonist, Phinehas.

Phinehas was the son of a great (fictional) Jewish prophet named Eli, who lived in Jerusalem during the early days of the Persian Empire (in the 6^th century B.C.). Eli called the Jews to repent of their sin or be destroyed. Like all the prophets before, Eli was murdered, as was the rest of Phinehas’ family. As a result, the prophet’s son harbored hatred and bitterness in his heart. As the story starts, Phinehas meets a man named Judas, Satan’s servant, who hated Eli, and who eventually goads Phinehas into making some choices which have tragic consequences for him and his wife and daughter. Prophet’s Son also shows how Phinehas’ evil choices affect not only him and his family, but also his friends and acquaintances; even people unknown to him who live hundreds of miles away in the wilderness east of Jerusalem.

My book is also intended to be searing commentary on our society. In this post-modern, quasi-delusional culture of ours, all types of vile and demented behavior tend to be excused away: she murdered her children because she was abused as a child, for example. And whenever something bad happens, it is always someone or something else’s fault; we have therefore become a society of “professional” victims who can never take responsibility for what happens to us. With this in mind, Phinehas only finds redemption when he takes personal responsibility for the evil things he has done and the tragedy that resulted.

Prophet’s Son was written with a poetic touch. The language is highly descriptive and metaphorical. It is work of art (modest to be sure); but one that requires the reader to invest his mind and soul in it, as does all art. No one who’s been moved by a work of art simply lets it go; rather they reflect on it as it changes them in a fundamental way. The trilogy is not a quick read; but the serious reader will not mind that, because the book will speak to his or her soul. For example, several of my readers have said that the first book, Descent to Darkness, made them uncomfortable because as Phinehas was falling into a deep pit of darkness, it reminded them of times in their own lives when they too stared down into that darkness. But they also found hope and joy as Phinehas comes to terms with the evil he as done (Sojourn in the Desert), repents of it, and then is redeemed (Return to Grace); all by the work of our loving God in his life. One reader said that after she got over her initial discomfort, she literally could not put the book down. She told me that it was one of the most important books she had ever read. My prayer is that this will be the case for many others.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, attended college at the University of California at San Diego, where I earned a liberal arts degree, concentrating in mathematics and the humanities. I have been studying biblical history for many years. I am especially devoted to studying the people and events of Old Testament times. I began writing the Prophet’s Son trilogy in 1996. It was published in 2005. I am currently working on two more books, one an anthology of short stories based on Biblical themes; the other based on Revelation 12, the rebellion of the angels. Both should be available in 2008.

You can find the Prophet’s Son trilogy on line at http://www.ProphetsSon.com and at all the major on-line book sellers. (Search keyword “Kenneth John Marks”.)

   Click Here to View An Interview with the Author

 ProphetsSon@att.net

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  Newly published author, Lisa Arceneaux may have her roots in Texas, but she calls Portland her home.  Her first book, “What Happens When Sinners Pray” has recently been released with a book signing and lecture at Portland’s Talking Drum Cafe & Book Store, 446 NE Killingsworth, talkingdrumbooks@att.net, www.talkingdrumbookstore.com, on August 4, 2007.  Lisa can be reached at:  l_arceneaux@yahoo.com

The book can be purchased at Talking Drum Book Store in Portland as well as at Agape’ Christian Books, 1711 SE Hawthorne Blvd.  Or you can order the book from Lisa by writing, PO Box 12084, Portland, Oregon  97212-0084.

The call of God to preach and teach the Word of God has been on the life of Lisa Arceneaux since birth. Salvation at the age of 8 years old, the door was opened to the call of God, ordained before the foundation of the world.“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” [Jeremiah 1:5]

She has served as a minister of the lay staff, teacher and outreach minister licensed through the Praise Assembly Full Gospel Ministries in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma under the leadership of Apostle/Pastor Fannie M. Wallace. Ordained also as a minister of the gospel to evangelize through the Neighborhood Church of God in Portland, Oregon.

For the past 5 years she has served under the leadership of Dr. T. Allen Bethel of the Maranatha Church of God, in Portland, Oregon.

Her goal is to Teach, Preach, Share, Live, and be an Example for others to be encouraged. To help them to taste, touch, feel, and embrace the awesomeness of how God the Father is, who he is, and understand how to live for Him and live with Him. Her ministry focus is to help others grow spiritually through discipleship and mentoring.

Finally, she spends time as a “Prayer Warrior” on behalf of the Body of Christ.

Lisa Arceneaux is more importantly a Servant of the Lord.

You can view Lisa’s video here:  Lisa Arceneaux

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  Dr. Linda Beed earned her Master of Theology (Magna Cum Laude) and Doctorate of Religious Education from A. L. Hardy Academy of Theology. Following six years of teaching (Black Church History, Thesis and Dissertation Preparation) Dr. Beed retired from the Academy. The student writing handbook she developed is a valuable tool that continues to be used by the Academy students.      Dr. Beed is a veteran Children’s Minister who continues to serve in the capacity of instructor/administrator for New Covenant Christian Center under the leadership of Apostle Tony and Pastor Renee Morris.

      Overcoming experiences that told her what she could not achieve, is the inspiration that drives her to help others. Her passion for teaching and writing the Word is what led to the development of On Assignment. Through this publishing company her debut novel Business Unusual will be released in spring 2007. 

      Dr. Beed serves as Co-Chair of the Faith Based Arts Conference and Co-Coordinator for the AA panels of Romantic Times. She is also a member of the Seattle chapter of the Professional Women of Color Network and American Christian Fiction Writers.

      As a workshop developer and facilitator she has traveled across the country to lend her special blend of teaching and motivation to help inspire others to discover and walk passionately in their purpose. Community, business and faith-based audiences receive uncommonly portrayed truth specifically for the purpose of helping them overcome constraints limiting their potential.  Dr. Linda Beed is a native Washingtonian who resides in Seattle with her husband Bernard.

On Assignment LLC 
3703 S. Edmunds St. Suite 16   Seattle, WA 98118
206.725.9847

http://www.lindabeed.com ; http://www.lindabeed.blogspot.com ;http://www.myspace.com/lindabeed ; lindaonassignment@yahoo.com;

2301 - S. Jackson   Seattle, WA 98144   206 860-9442    

 The book, “Business Unusual” is available at:  http://www.talkingdrumbookstore.com/; http://amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-3487643-8102304?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Business+Unusual&Go.x=12&Go.y=9 

See the video presentation held at Talking Drum Bookstore on August 4, 2007:  Dr. Linda F. Beed

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One year ago this month we started posting videos of our Small Business Forum on the net.  This month and next we are taking time off as we prepare and engage ourselves in a caravan to Boise, Salt Lake City, Bryce Canyon, The Grand Canyon, Zion, Sidona and all places between.  So we have put together a list of speakers we have had over the last year.  It is not a complete list by any means, but it represents the kind of subject matter near and dear to the Small Business Forum.  We start with the first part of Anne E. Denecke’s keynote address from April 2007:

Anne E. Denecke;  Dr. Laura Torgerson;  Renee Mitchell;  Stewart Kent;  John Doherty;  Shareefah Abdullah

At NLE Media Productions we offer many services including the editing that was done in the videos shown on this blog. For more details on what we can do for your business or organization:

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Note:  if you do not see a sidebar on the right of this entry, click on the title “Small Business Forum - April 25, 2007″ to open the sidebar.

Each month NLE Media Productions and Hannah Bea’s Poundcake & More donate their time and effort to bring our community “The Small Business Forum”.  These events are videotaped and provided in streaming form from the Internet at no cost to you.  All of our speakers donate their time and treasure to the forum community free of charge. 

Our topic for the April 2007 forum was “Basic Employment Requirements“, a subject every small business owner needs to know and understand in order to prevent legal hassles with employees, IRS and state regulators.  Anne E. Denecke from the firm of Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP was our keynote speaker.  You can read her bio at:  Http://nlemedia.com/AnneDenecke.pdf .  A PDF outline of her presentation is available for download at:  http://nlemedia.com/BER.pdf.  Since this topic is so important, and Anne’s presentation covered so much information, we are splitting this into 2 different posts.  This post will present some of the Q&A that were covered.  Next post will have the main presentation.  View the Q&A portion at:  http://nlemedia.com/Anne.wmv

The Small Business Forum also exists to showcase emerging buinesses.  Lisa Arveneaux, a newly published author, shared her vision and mission.  Her video can be seen at:  http://nlemedia.com/Lisa.wmv.  Lisa will be having her first book signing at The Talking Drum Book Store located at MLK Jr. Blvd & N.E. Killingsworth on Thursday, June 23rd.

That’s it for this post.  For those of you who have not joined us for one of these forums, why not?  It’s free and the knowledge that is shared is better than anything you could get in the classroom.  Why?  Because real business owners talk about the “real” issues and needs all small businesses have in common.  You may be missing a solution to a problem that has plagued your business.  Join us to share, uplift and network with “real” people.

This forum is all about lifting up small businesses–profit or non-profit. So you can somewhat understand the excitement generated when we were fortunate enough to have Renee Mitchell as our keynote speaker.From her bio we learn:“S. Renee Mitchell is an award winning columnist for The Oregonian, a performance poet, playwright, MBA-trained entrepreneur, graphic designer, artist, jewelry maker, school volunteer and an inspirational public speaker. In May, she was flown to New York City to receive an Ida B. Wells Bravery in Journalism Award for her community work advocating for domestic violence survivors. To read more about the 21 Leaders of the 21st Century, check out www.womensenews.org . Recently, Renee helped create an innovative project to educate and empower African and African American women and their children. She will talk to us about The Healing Roots Village and engage us with a brief performance of her poetry, put to music.” .” thehealingrootsvillage@blackmail.com.” Renee’s presentation was on helping small businesses get media attention. She focused on 6 criteria a story needs in order to be newsworthy: “Timeliness”; “Novelty”; “Consequence”; “Human Interest”;“Prominence”; “Proximity”. Please watch the video and download the PDF files.   See the Video             View the PDF

.”Contact:www.nappyrootspress.com                        nappyrootspress@blackmail.com

Our next speaker, Naim Hasan, is a photographer I met at United Way’s “Art of Change Gallery” first Thursday event last July. You can see his work displayed in an interview I did for that event:   http://nlemedia.com/SunshineDixonWeb.wmv     He had a wonderful story to tell about how he came to be doing photography for a living. Please view the attached video: Naim Hasan VideoContact: Naim@n2htec.comwww.n2htec.comI have been planning for some time now to bring together authors for the purpose of sharing insights, stories and the kinds of issues surrounding writing and publishing. In fact one of the forums coming up will be devoted to this subject. We were very fortunate to have James Gordon show up and speak to us about his passion. Although he and I share the same last name, and have Irish and Scottish roots, we are not relatives. His roots also go back to Egypt. I believe mine go back to Guiness (I‘ll have that in a frothy pint, thank you.). Nevertheless, we both share a passion for publication, production, promoting and composing. See his video: James GordonSee the PDFContact:Gorentine@yahoo.comwww.gordonenterprises.netPamela Weatherspoon spoke to us about her organization: Big Brothers Big Sisters. NLE Media Productions supports through our Small Business Forum groups like this because they deal with the fabric of our community. We have been graced by organizations like the Big Brothers Big Sisters, Sisters of the Community and United way of the Columbia-Willamette. Building up the community takes many hands and voices. Pamela spoke eloquently about this organization and her own background. She is a vibrant and courageous spokesperson: see the video see the PDF Contact: pamela.weatherspoon@bbbs.org                  www.bigbrothersbigsisters.orgThere is this magnificent building on MLK Jr. Blvd. that my wife, Carol and I have admired for some time now. The name on the building at 6360 NE MLK Jr. Blvd is “henry V”. Many who were at this forum had also seen and admired the building, but none of us knew what it was all about. Thank goodness Bridget Sullivan spoke at our forum. She is a producer for henry V and they are all about media and production. But Bridget is also part of the BigBrothersBigSisters organization. You can see her video presentation here: Bridget SullivanContact:  Bridget.Sullivan@henryVevents.com          www.henryVevents.com  Big Brothers & Big Sisters is in need of voluteers for “Earth Day”  see:        http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/vol/214104990.html Lastly, what would one of these Small Business Forums be without live commercials for our sponsor, Hannah Bea’s Pound cake & More, LLC? With a 255 pound “certified” ham as emcee, what would you expect? See the “live” commercial: HAMThat’s it for August. Wait till you see what we have planned for our September 27^th Small Business Forum. We’re not telling–you’ll have to be there.