Memphis, TN – Well Seasoned: Savoring Life’s Lessons (Inspire on Purpose) perfectly chronicles the seasons of life through the inspiring prose and the lens of photographer and writer, Rebecca Webb Wilson. When Rebecca’s parents gave her a gift of a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye years earlier, they had no idea it would lead to a lifetime of travel and a yearning to capture the perfection of nature and diverse cultures of people in faraway lands.
For Rebecca, it all began as a young woman when she used her camera to photograph hawks along the expressway in her hometown of Memphis. While her first job as a flight attendant for PanAm cultivated a love of travel, it was her innate gratitude for the unexpected joys revealed in nature’s seasons that fostered her love of photography. Sprinkled with thoughtful quotes and tidbits of poetry, Well Seasoned is about the people that touch our lives, for a moment or forever, and pairs nature’s seasons with the seasons of life allowing readers to view the aging process differently and discover their own ‘Aha’ moments within its pages.
The author’s unconventional and uplifting philosophy, paired with vibrant, full-color images of places, nature and people, easily transports readers to magical locations around the globe, sharing her journey as she climbs Mount Kilimanjaro and the Swiss Alps part of the Haute Route, or taking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Encouraged to reflect on our own memories, we Rethink, Remember, Renew.
Rebecca attended law school at the University of Memphis and served several years as an Assistant United States Attorney. She founded a youth leadership program in Memphis called Bridge Builders, which to date has had 21,000 participants from surrounding public, private, and parochial schools. Named one of Memphis Woman Magazine’s ‘50 Women Who Make a Difference,’ she also received the Legends Award from the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis in 2010.
A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Rebecca serves as a member of its Board of Trust and also serves on the board of directors of Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation. She lives in Memphis with her husband and they share their time between two sons, two daughters, and nine grandchildren. For more information on this accomplished photographer, author and dedicated humanitarian, visit: www.hawkeyenature.com.
Well Seasoned: Savoring Life’s Lessons Publisher: Inspire on Purpose ISBN # 978-0-9898008-6-0
New York, NY – It’s a genre worth exploring again. The Dollhouse Mirror (Plum White Press) invites us to stop and wander over each page, and linger in that moment between dream and reality. Within that world, readers find many of the things they thought were only fantasy are more real than they imagined. Kirkus Reviews recently said “beauty and terror frequently intersect throughout his poems, often with clever and engaging results….[these are] Compact poems replete with stunning and visually arresting images….”
From the burning carnality of love to the mystical attraction of nature, this exquisite collection of poems leaves a lasting impression that will catch at you at the most unexpected moments. Being transported into a semi-dream world while reading the poetry, away from the distractions of everyday life, it becomes a place to let imagination flow.
Frank Watson was born in Venice, California and now lives in New York City. He enjoys literature, art, calligraphy, history, jazz, international culture, and travel. Other publications include Seas to Mulberries, The dVerse Anthology (editor), One Hundred Leaves (translator and editor), Fragments (translator and editor), and Poetry Nook (editor). His work has appeared in various literary journals, anthologies, e-zines, and literary blogs.
Watson has more than 60,000 followers on Twitter (@FollowBlueFlute) and his site, www.poetrynook.com, contains a database of over 230,000 classic poems, and features his work as a poet, translator and editor, offering an incisive, lyrical and penetrating glimpse into ourselves and our world through the genre of poetry and micropoetry.
For more information, see http://www.poetrynook.com/user/frankwatson
The Dollhouse Mirror Plum White Press Available from the author’s website http://www.poetrynook.com/store and online at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P30L9TS?btkr=1 $6.99 ISBN-13: 978-1939832122
Lawrenceville, GA, – “Mr. Scott I spent almost 45 minutes to an hour online looking up how to kill myself … I almost ended my life. When you came and you gave that speech, I was crying inside. Because I knew then and still know now that my life has meaning. I am important and I do deserve to live.”
For nearly 200 days a year, Manny Scott is on the road talking to educators, teens and young adults, illuminating their value and their potential. With Your Next Chapter: How to Turn the Page and Create the Life of Your Dreams, Manny Scott gives us all access to a powerful and transformative process, one that enabled him to overcome the incredible odds stacked against him.
Your Next Chapter is real, easy to read, and extremely practical, but not simplistic. It touches on topics relevant to all, including how the poor stay poor and the rich get richer; how to eliminate and replace self-sabotaging beliefs; how everything in life is a wing or a weight; what the difference is between being “in love” and being “in lust,” and so much more.
This book is for those who have a feeling in their hearts that they were made for something greater, and who are determined to take hold of more—more hope, more happiness, more peace, more purpose, more success, more money, and more love.
Manny Scott’s story is told in part in the 2007 hit movie, Freedom Writers; he has energized over a million leaders, educators, volunteers, and students. From inner-city youth to business executives, Manny has learned to speak, and command, the language of his audiences with relevant, riveting, and compelling messages, moving them from cheers, to laughter, to tears, and go-forward determination.
By age 14, Manny had missed 60-90 days of school every year and had dropped out. Before he was 17, he had lived in 26 places, and his best friend was brutally murdered. Sensing that the end of his life was near, Manny sat down on a park bench one day and considered how he would make others feel the depth of despair and anger roiling in his soul. Then a complete stranger sat down beside Manny and connected with him, encouraged him, and inspired him to write a different story—to create a new life.
In 2007, Manny Scott founded Ink International, Inc, an educational consulting team that is preventing thousands of suicides, raising student achievement, and improving teacher effectiveness. He is now happily married, a doting father of three, a pilot, a Ph.D. student, and one of the nation’s most sought after speakers.
For more information, visit: www.mannyscott.com
Your Next Chapter: How To Turn The Page And Create The Life Of Your Dreams Available at Amazon and the author’s website: http://www.mannyscott.com/products/your-nextchapter $19.99
“One of the best meditation guides in years. Clear, uncomplicated, inspiring, and straight from the heart of a true expert who’s been there. Highly recommended.” ~ Larry Dossey, MD, author of Healing Words
Minneapolis, MN, – Among primers on meditation, Meditation as a Way of Life: Philosophy and Practice Rooted in the Teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda is unique in that it uses the universally applicable teachings of Indian yogi Paramahansa Yogananda to guide readers who treasure inner growth and are looking for reliable direction for how to achieve it in an authentic and sustainable way, offering specific, time-tested principles and how-to exercises for cultivating the mental, physical and spiritual aspects of a meditation-based spiritual life from a classical yogic perspective.
Rev. Alan L. Pritz, a disciple of Yogananda, distills the teachings of many other spiritual traditions and religions, including Christianity, into an interfaith perspective that will appeal to all seekers of the Divine. Specific elements include foundations of spiritual practice; benefits of energy-building exercises, affirmations, and healthy life-style regimens; instructions in mantra practice and inner-sound meditation; techniques for effective prayer; and guidelines to measure inner practice.
Throughout the narrative, Rev. Pritz adds touching and sometimes humorous personal stories, speaking to the reader authentically as a fellow practitioner rather than a master or guru. He concludes the book with an appendix that contains a discussion about the differences and similarities between spirituality and religion.
The accessible narrative and universal themes in Meditation as a Way of Life make it enjoyable to read and life-enhancing to apply.
Rev. Alan Pritz is an Interfaith Minister, meditation teacher, spiritual counselor / life coach and consultant who’s trained in and taught inner sciences for over 40 years. Inspired by the universally applicable teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, Rev. Alan helps individuals and organizations address spiritual growth or work/life issues from a higher perspective framework. He also leads Sunday Morning Meditation Services in Minneapolis. For more information about his activities visit: www.awake-in-life.com.
Meditation as a Way of Life: Philosophy and Practice Rooted in the Teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda By Alan L. Pritz Published by Quest Books ISBN 978-0-8356-0928-9 $17.95 paperback 288 pages To order online: http://tinyurl.com/nte9lqg
Claretta White’s life definitely prepared her for a career in the arts. She was born into a family long active in architecture, music, stage, design and dance and her mother was a couture designer whose clothes were worn by movie stars of her day. Claretta grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and studied dance dramatics, violin and piano, and as a child participated in theater and performing arts. After high school she moved from Tulsa to Los Angeles and appeared in motion pictures where she met her husband – famous film director and producer, Sam White, and their amazing marriage gave them two children and lasted 63 years until her death in 2002.
Claretta’s painting began as a creative outlet while raising her family. Her love of ballet became the subject of much of her work, and her personal experience with this expressive art adds such a sense of realism to her paintings. She studied various painting techniques under the auspices of the late Ruby Usher, Leon Frank, Nicolai Fechin and Sergei Baumgarten. This well-known California Impressionist won over twenty awards in competitive exhibitions around the country and her studies of flowers, landscape and clown portraits express not only her joy in life but the torment of inner sadness.
Claretta White’s work was featured in a series of educational books on painting by Walter T. Foster, himself a well-known artist, and she also wrote two books of her own; ‘How to Paint Dancers’ and ‘How to Paint Still Life’ and anyone purchasing one of her paintings from the website will receive a complimentary copy of the book the study was made from. Claretta’s paintings have consistently held their value and appreciated over time yet still remain very affordable. Their beauty would enhance any surroundings from hotels and restaurants to corporate art, personal collections, and galleries.
Please visit the website where the beautiful work of this extremely talented artist can be purchased at: www.clarettawhite.com .
Alexandria Lowitzer, Ali to her friends, is an active 16-year-old who loves to text on her cell phone and play softball. She has been missing since April 26 after getting off the school bus near her home in Spring, TX.
SPRING , TX – Alexandria Lowitzer seems to have vanished without a trace.
No phone calls, no text messages, no good-bye letter to indicate she was upset and wanted to get away from things. No obvious reason, anyway, for her to be upset.
The last time anyone saw the 16-year-old teen from Spring, she was getting off the school bus April 26, only a few feet from her home on Low Ridge Road.
Since Saturday, May 1, the Laura Recovery Center for Missing Children, a non-profit organization based in Friendswood, has organized a massive onsite search effort that has so far drawn approximately 200 volunteers to comb the extensive wooded area behind the Lowitzer residence.
“We had a horse team out in the woods through the Greater Houston Search Dog Team, and they also brought a dog to do some tracking and trailing,” said Bob Walcutt, executive director of the Laura Recovery Center, which was contacted by Ali’s family. “So far we have nothing to hang our hat on. We had some tips, different leads, but nothing concrete.”
The Houston Police Mounted Patrol covered a large portion of the wooded expanse, assisting Precinct 4 Constable’s deputies and Harris County Sheriff’s officials in the recovery effort, Walcutt said, and two men volunteered to search the area on ATVs.
“We’re literally covering areas where someone could take a person, commit a crime and [leave] them – large wooded areas, ponds, creeks,” he said. “Around here, there are a lot of places like that and so far we have found nothing. We’re still no further along than we were on the first day.”
RUNAWAY – OR NOT?
Walcutt said his organization generally doesn’t get involved in runaway cases, which was still the current status assigned to Ali’s disappearance by law enforcement as of Friday.
“If we knew for sure this was a runaway, we would not be physically here right now,” he explained. “But Alexandria apparently lives on her phone, uses her text messaging all the time. When she left, everything stopped once she got off that bus. Everything. There has been no activity on that phone since then, which leads to the possibility that something may have happened to her at that point.”
Shaye Vaught is a friend of the Lowitzer family. Her own daughter and Ali are good friends, and over the years Ali had become a part of Vaught’s family as well.
“I love Ali to death; she’s like a third daughter to me,” she said. “She used to be in my Girl Scout troop, and it was nothing to have Ali come in the door behind my daughters after school and stay for dinner.”
Vaught, who volunteered at the Laura Recovery camp all week long, described Ali as a good kid, very sweet – a kid who would never run away to leave everything, and everyone, she loves behind. Those who know the teen say for her to miss her softball team’s season tournament and her best friend’s 16th birthday party is out of character.
“She’s a teenage girl, sure, but she’s not in any way a troublemaker,” she explained. “She was very excited about her job at Burger Barn. I think she really liked the work. She constantly called them to pick up extra shifts.”
In fact, officials believe Ali was on her way to pick up her paycheck from work, only half a mile from her home, after she got off the school bus.
Vaught said law enforcement could dedicate more resources to the search for Ali if her status were updated to “endangered.”
“It’s disheartening that she’s still listed as a runaway,” she said. “It would step things up a notch.”
Walcutt said law enforcement continues to conduct its investigation and at this time there is no hard evidence that foul play is involved. At the same time, he said, the complete lack of activity on Ali’s cell phone was enough to convince the Laura Recovery Center to get involved.
“My best hope is that she is a runaway,” he said. “In that case, she can come home and be safe and well. If she’s not a runaway, then all bets are off. In 99 out of 100 cases, everything turns out fine, but it’s that one percent that’s worrisome. Bad things do happen.”
If you have any information concerning Ali please contact: Contact: Dawn Davis – Laura Recovery Center at 906 Anna Lane, Friendswood, Texas 77546 – [email protected]”>[email protected] – 281-785-1268 – or 281-482-5723, www.LRCF.org
The Laura Recovery Center is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, that was founded in Laura Smither’s memory. The Center focuses on Education, Search, and Prevention in the area of missing children, has offered free abduction prevention programs to over 200,000 children throughout the greater Houston area, worked with approximately 1,450 families with missing loved ones, and has organized 95 community searches for abducted children nationwide. The Center trains law enforcement at the Houston Police Department training academy and other agencies in Texas, and distributes educational materials and child ID kits.
Digitex Corporation of League City, Texas, has been named one of the country’s Elite Dealers by OfficeDEALER magazine. The award is presented annually by the magazine to the top office equipment, office products, and office furniture dealers in the U.S. According to publisher Rick Kunkel, the 110 dealers presented with the prestigious 2008 Elite Dealer awards were selected from a record number of entries. “It takes something special to stand out as an Elite independent dealer in 2008,” Kunkel said. “Among Elite Dealers, success is not about surviving, it’s about thriving – even in tough economic times.” A profile of Digitex Corporation is included in the August 2008 issue of OfficeDEALER magazine.
Digitex Corporation was founded in 1996 by Mark Kinley. As the area’s leading provider of state-of-the-art office equipment, the company has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past ten years and now has 31 employees. The dealership provides a wide range of copier, facsimile, and related supplies and service and it a major supplier of Ricoh, Canon, & Kyocera office equipment.
Mark Kinley, president of Digitex Corporation, stated, “This prestigious award from the industry’s leading publication underlines the importance that we place on serving our customers and being an important part of the community. This recognition is a real honor and tribute to the many dedicated employees of Digitex, and we’re proud to be a part of this elite group of dealers.”
OfficeDEALER magazine is a national publication that serves more than 13,000 subscribers involved in the reselling of office supplies, office furniture and office equipment. The Elite Dealer award is based on a company’s superior sales and marketing, dedication to customer service, community envolvement and the ability to provide customers with unique and innovative solutions. For additional information about the magazine, visit their Website at http://www.allthingsoffice.com/
Come join us for Digitex Discovery Day on October 9, 2008 and discover what Digitex can offer you with our innovative Document Solutions. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity for understanding, food and fun!
