Calendar Notes

August 3, 2013

Business, Education, Entertainment, Feature

Keisha Nicole’s

Anti-Bullying Back to School Makeover Campaign

5 Students will be selected to spend a day with Kevin Ware, Monique Reid and radio personality Keisha Nicole.

Log on to KeishaNicole.com and submit your essay!

Winners will be announced at the 3rd Annual Supply A Dream Block Party!

Come out for a family event.

A party for higher education!

Filmmakers Converge on Rhode Island

SOURCE: HP Digital/U.S. Embassy

Rhode Island may be the smallest U.S. state, but the Ocean State is making big waves in the film world. Considered a portal for the best of independent cinema, the Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) brings celebrities, award-winning filmmakers and enthusiastic audiences from around the world to Providence, Rhode Island, every summer.

Through its affiliation with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, RIIFF is a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards for short films. Started in 1996, it has also become a leading juried competition showcase for international independent filmmakers.

Taking place August 6–11, the 2013 festival will give filmmakers and film buffs the opportunity to exchange ideas in discussion forums, master classes and colloquia. In 2012, RIIFF screened more than 200 cinematic works from 51 countries and 34 U.S. states; of these screenings, 28 were world premieres.

Spirit of Small Business Awards

Thursday, August 15, 2013 (11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.)

Bacara Resort & Spa

8301 Hollister Ave., Goleta, CA

Source: SBA – Los Angeles District Office

Join us as we celebrate entrepreneurship and recognize the accomplishments of small businesses at the 11th Annual Spirit of Small Business Awards. The Los Angeles SBA District Office and Pacific Coast Business Times are pleased to announce the 2013 award winners.

The Spirit of Small Business honors businesses of fewer than 100 employees in these categories: East Ventura County, West Ventura County, Santa Barbara County Retail, Santa Barbara County Construction, Central Coast, Green Business, Minority-Owned Business, Women-Owned Business and Exporter of the Year.

Meet the Spirit of Small Business Award Winners

Michelle Senna, owner of Master’s Donuts in Oxnard, CA, a Cambodian refugee, and a Spirit of Small Business 2013 award winner for Minority-Owned Business. (Alex Drysdale, Business Times photo)

East Ventura County – Conejo Awards, Tammie Helmuth, president and CEO

West Ventura County – Tequila Alquimia, Adolfo Murillo, president

Santa Barbara County Retail – Botanik and Amelia Jane, Erin Taylor, founder and owner

Santa Barbara County Construction – Joel’s Roofing Co., Joel Grusinski, president and owner

Central Coast – Aviation Consultants Inc., William Borgsmiller, owner

Green Business – Vapur, Jason Carignan, co-founder

Women-Owned Business – ABC Kids Preschool and Childcare, Alma Farrel, owner

Exporter of the Year – Cold Steel Knives, Lynn Thompson, founder and president

2013 Spirit of Small Business supporters include: Business First Bank, Blaze PR, Economic Development Collaborative – Ventura County, California SBDC Los Angeles Regional Network, American Red Cross, Santa Barbara City College Foundation, Limoneira, Montecito Bank & Trust, Wells Fargo, Lanspeed, Cox, Pacific Western Bank, Union Bank, Verizon, California Lutheran University and Community West Bank.

Cosponsorship Authorization # 13-0914-123: The U.S. Small Business Administration‘s (SBA) participation in this co-sponsorship is not an endorsement of the views, opinions, products or services of any cosponsor or other person or entity. All SBA programs or cosponsored programs are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable arrangements for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least one week in advance. Contact: Patrick Rodriguez, Public Information Officer, 330 North Brand Blvd., Suite 1200, Glendale, CA 91203, (818) 552-3222,

patrick.rodriguez@sba.gov.

September 13, 2013 – 7:30 P.M.

You won’t believe your eyes! THEATRE OF ILLUSION is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Described as modern-day Houdinis, the Spencers present a big, high-tech stage show that combines drama, comedy, romance and suspense with elaborate illusions. By blending the theatrical elements of a Broadway-style production with the high energy of a rock concert, these artists take their audience on a journey to the brink of impossibility… and back again. Using magic much like a storyteller uses words, Kevin Spencer fuses this family-friendly production with a gamut of emotions. And with the skills of a master showman, he creates a world where nothing is impossible and anything can happen.

Coming Up @ The Center

Back to (Creative Writing!) School

Writers looking to fine-tune their skills with the help some of Miami’s best writers can take advantage of a series of workshops The Center is presenting starting September.

The topics covered include everything from flash nonfiction to writing a novel “the TV way.” The featured writing teachers are David Beaty, whose short story “Ghosts” was included in The Best American Mystery Stories, 2000; M.J. Fievre, whose short stories and poems in English have appeared in Haiti Noir from Akashic Books, 2011; Anjanette Delgado, whose first novel The Heartbreak Pill won Best Romance in English from the Latino International Book Award; and Adrian Castro, recipient of a USA Knight Fellowship in 2012-13.

Questions? E-mail or call Nicole Swift: nswift@mdc.edu or 305.237.3298

Thursdays: September 12 to November 7

6:30 – 8:30 p.m. | Registration $170

Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus

Miami Noir: A Fiction Workshop with David Beaty

Saturday: September 14

10 a.m. – 1 p.m. | Registration $60

Miami Dade College’s Koubek Center

Clase Magistral de Análisis y Creatividad Literaria con Edmundo Paz-Soldan (IN SPANISH)

Tuesdays: September 17 to November 5

7:00 – 9:00 p.m. | Registration $170

Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus

Flash Non-Fiction with M.J. Fievre

Wednesdays: September 18 to November 6

6:30 – 8:30 p.m. | Registration $170

Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus

Finish Your Novel the TV Way! with Anjanette Delgado

Saturdays: September 21 to October 12

10 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Registration $100

Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables

The Poets’ Place with Adrian Castro

Q&A with Esmeralda Santiago, 2013 Miami Book Fair Author

This workshop will focus on how to establish a writing discipline, how to structure a novel, and how to avoid writer’s block. We will discuss mind-mapping and how to use it. We will explore researching methods, archiving practices, and organizations of facts for fiction. There will be daily assignments, so bring writing materials and devices.

Esmeralda Santiago is the author of the critically acclaimed memoirs When I Was Puerto Rican, Almost A Woman—which she adapted into a Peabody Award-winning film for PBS Masterpiece Theatre—and The Turkish Lover. Her first novel America’s Dream was made into a movie with Edie James Olmos. Her new novel CONQUISTADORA has been described as an enthralling epic that illuminates the life of one extraordinary woman, and the great sweep of Puerto Rican history.

Want to register? Click here for instructions.

Date and Time
Wednesday – Friday, November 20 – 22
2 – 5 p.m. (This is a non-credit course).