WEBVTT

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ma'am , could I just please get your

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name and spell your full name for me

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please . Suzanne de la renta's S U Z A

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N N E capital L A U R E

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N T I I ? S Okay , can you give me a

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little background on how you ended up

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becoming ? Tell me about today's event

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and what led up to getting here ? Um ,

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I'm a filmmaker . I also own the Cinema

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City International Film Festival and

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four years ago Gary Mortensen who was a

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filmmaker here with the Oregon National

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Guard Senate documentary to me called

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This Is War , My board and I watched it .

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We loved it . So we put it in the film

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Festival . It was actually our opening

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night piece . We got a ton of crescent

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publicity for all these brave men and

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women here at the National Guard and I

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developed a relationship with them .

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They came down a couple of times . I

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had several events to raise money and

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awareness for them . I got to be again ,

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very good friends with all of them .

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And I got a phone call a month ago

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saying I was being presented with this

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phenomenal honor and award . So I'm

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hearing gorgeous Oregon note . I said

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gorgeous weather is beautiful , great

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food too by the way . Um , so I'm just

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thrilled to be here and very , very

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appreciative of the recognition , you

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know , so it looks like you had a

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couple of political heads here . We had

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Senator Wyden here . You want to talk

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about that ? Yes , I'm very excited met

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Senator Wyden . He was very

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appreciative of everything that I've

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done as well as my colleagues and

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people that are involved with the film

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festival to raise awareness . And again ,

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it's just been quite an honor and such

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a wonderful day . Sure . Uh , what type

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of awareness ? Uh do you want to raise ?

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Well , I think when people don't know

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this is my , my quote , if you don't

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know something you don't know . So we

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can't blame people for not doing things

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if they don't know what to do if they

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don't know who to contact or they don't

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know where to go . So it's important

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for us to let people know we need help

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with everything . If you're an employer ,

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these men and women need jobs when they

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get back . If you have health care

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plans , they need help with health care .

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Um , support for their families .

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Pretty much the gamble . Even a ride

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home from the airport if that's what

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someone needs on on their way back . So

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it's just about letting people know who

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they can call and where they can go to

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donate things to donate their time and

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help . Great . After seeing the

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movie did , what kind of response do

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you hear from people from the movie ?

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And can you explain a little bit of it

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was very , very well received at the

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festival . It played in the heart of

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Hollywood . Again , so many people

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don't know what's really going on .

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They take a political slant . I don't

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want to be involved with the war . I'm

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far away from it , but it's not so much

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about the war . It's about the brave

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men and women that are over there

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fighting it . And that's what I try to

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focus on and raise awareness for people

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that it's not about necessarily what

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they're doing . It's how they're doing

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it and that's what's so important . So ,

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the documentary was very well received .

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That's great . Again , a little bit

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about how you got the award . How did

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they tell you about that ? How did that

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all come about ? Vince . Sergeant Vince

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shock sent me one line email and said ,

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oh , if you're not doing anything in

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june , we'd like you to come up to

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Oregon because we want to give you a

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medal would be almost fainted . I

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thought he was just inviting me to come

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up for some sort of , you know ,

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partier or some kind of celebration

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with the Oregon National Guard . But

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when he told me that it would be this

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type of trip and award presentation , I

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was needless to say , humbled and

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beside myself . Well , that's great .

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What would you tell anybody that might

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be on the fence about what our men and

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women are doing over there again . It's

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not about what you're doing . It's how

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you're doing it . It's the bravery ,

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it's the valor . It's it's the

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dedication . It's the sacrifice that

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these men and women are making . That

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is what's important . Whether you're

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out fighting a fire in the Bronx or

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you're in Iraq protecting a border ,

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you're sacrificing your lives , your

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families , pretty much giving up

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everything to devote your time to to

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keeping us free , which is important .

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And that's what you want to emphasize .

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Yes , very much so . Okay . Is there

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anything else you'd like to add ? The

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food's great here ? I know I said that

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before , but I'm gonna say it again .

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Portland has the best food . Okay ,

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Great . Thank you .