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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

If you would like to receive NLE Media Production’s Newsletter, click on the Newsletter link.  We make announcements about various events and projects we are involved in twice a month.  Our Small Business Forum (sbforum.net) adds regular blogs spotlighting new businesses and organizations in our community.  Be a part of our community.  Join today! 

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the newest member of our forum:  Alba Glass - the creation of David Chis along with his wife, Heather. Recently Adrian Chis has come on board as Sales Manager.

If you are looking for go getters intent on providing quality, reliable service look no further.

They have an excellent website:  www.albaglas.com  you can get a quote online by using their encrypted secure site.  Easy and safe.

Take the time to get to know the people and businesses in your community.  These folks come to your door or wherever your automobile is - saving you the time it takes to book and drive your vehicle in for auto glass repair and replacement.  In this age of high priced fuel, you can’t afford to pass up businesses who come to you.

NLE Media Productions is proud to be associated with The World Arts Foundation, Inc’s annual tribute to the legacy, memory and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Last year we had the honor of shooting some of the footage for this event.  We have recently compiled footage shot by the video team from last year’s production in preparation for the 2008 event.  We have linked a 5 minute version as well as a 22 minute version at the bottom of ths blog entry.  We have been fortunate to work with Mr. Ken Berry and Mr. Michael “Chappie” Grice of The World Arts Foundaton, Inc in preparing these videos.  Some of the philosophy and motivation for this special event is included in the following excerpts:

“Keep Living the Dream; The American Dream of Freedom” is an educational, cultural arts, and historical event designed to serve and inspire local, state, and regional communities through community participation in the 6-hour live program. Our live audience, media broadcasts, and print media coverage ensure maximum exposure.

Emphasis is placed on:

1. Illuminating the contributions of Dr. King through the arts.

2. Coordinating an artistic vision into a community event.

3. Showcasing local and regional talent by featuring civic and community leaders, educators, dramatic vignettes and performance pieces, music, dance, and authentic cultural presentations.

4. Creating positive opportunities for children, families, and volunteers to engage and work together.

5. Building community cohesiveness and pride.

6. Distributing bone marrow and other health information and collecting blood for/by The American Red Cross.

7. Donating canned food to the local food bank.

8. Providing an opportunity for local civic and social organizations to display products and information to improve the quality of life for all community members.

“Keep Living the Dream” is now recognized as the largest tribute in the State of Oregon and has official designation from the National Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission.

See the video:  http://nlemedia.com/MLKT.wmv    (22 minute version) or, http://nlemedia.com/MLKTmini.mov

View Tech Rehearsal 12/08/07:  http://nlemedia.com/MLKTech.wmv

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:

See: http://nlemedia.com/Pages/products.htm

See: http://nlemedia.com/Page/services.htm

See: http://nlemedia.com/NLEmmercial.htm

See: http://nlemedia.com/eventvideo.htm

See: http://nlemedia.com/Video Production Packet.pdf

I have know Sunshine Dixon for a little more than a year and a half now.  If anyone was ever gifted with a name that fit their personality, it is Sunshine.  When she enters a room, the light comes on and regardless of what the day has been - it is new and fresh and bright.  An artist of many talents, she dedicates herself to the task at hand.

From her biography we learn the following:  Sunshine Dixon is a community visionary gifted to find new ways to live outside of the box. She continually uses her creativity to help others move towards their dreams. As an author, spoken word and visual artist this native Oregonian sees herself as a agent of change. She named and co-directs the Art of Change Gallery which is housed downtown in the United Way building at 619 SW 11th.

As a visual artist her powerful works represent the places where she lived, worked, and played: the South; northwestern cities, principally Portland and Seattle; and the Bahamas. Religious subjects, jazz clubs and women are overlapping themes in her work. Sunshine also makes forays into abstraction, with dance associations, and themes of motherhood.

NLE Media Productions hosts a webpage on our site dedicated to “The Art of Change Gallery“:  http://nlemedia.com/UnitedWay.htm

Here are some links to video we have of Sunshine & her work with United Way:  Sunshine  and Art of Change

We have more video of Sunshine and the Art of Change Gallery at:

See: http://nlemedia.com/UnitedWay.htm

You can see other work we perform by going to:

See: http://nlemedia.com/Pages/Showcase.htm

See: http://nlemedia.com/Pages/products.htm

See: http://nlemedia.com/services.htm

See: http://nlemedia.com/eventvideo.htm

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.