Think of yourself as a creative, like to travel and have fun around the world? Then getting into digital photography just may be the answer for you. You probably (in your entire life) is interested with photography, but you are not interested enough to plunge into the world of digital photography. However, if you are prepared to learn more about this art, you can discover more about it at digital photography school that is right for you.Applying for digital photography schoolIf possible, try to apply for famous and respected photography school. The better and more prestigious a digital photography school you can get yourself into, the better off you are going to be because your would-be employer would recognize your talent as you are from a well-known school and they will take your talent seriously. You will have the name of the school as your backing and your path to success will be easier than most people have to go through.However, it is not easy to choose a digital photography school that you can fit into easily. You need to take a bit of time to go through their syllabus and see which one interest you the most. This step is crucial, and this probably is the best tip I can give to you today before you decide to go to any digital photography school. Even though name of the school is important, you still need to consider how expensive the course is and how much money you can spend on digital photography course.After your schooling life: work timeAfter you made it through your digital photography school alive, you need to find work. You need to travel a lot because your client won’t be just in one state, they will request your assistance from all over the country and if you are willing to do so, your schedule will be full of clients. Since you are a photographer, it means that you are going to travel to a lot of interesting places and getting paid for doing job that you loved (and getting an extremely valuable experience too!)As time goes by, you will have more experience and this will enable you to understand what type of photographer you want to be and the exposure you got for yourself increases the chance of you getting hired by big dogs.All most successful and photographers have one thing in common: they have a lot of experience under their belt and that did not come easy. They withstand the tyranny, the stupidity, the ridicule of their clients to be at the top of photography world. You have to be strong and patient if you want to be successful photographer and remember, you have to get the best pictures possible so people will recognize your talent and want you to take their pictures and that eventually will propel you upwards in your career photography career.
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Identifying the Educated Person
Education looked at as a social enterprise deemed essential for human survival, is a formal system extending from nursery school to prestigious universities. This is so in every civilised country in the world. Having gone through the system from infancy to youth and maturity, and acquired a formal education culminating in graduate and post-graduate qualifications, it is fair to assume that the end product would be an educated person. However, this is not always so. The word ‘product’ is unlikely to be associated with a truly educated person. It has the connotations of a process conducted on factory premises. This process, at best, is training for a specific purpose, such as a job, profession, or career. It also has associations of standardisation, which may cater to the ambitions of the vast majority of people. But the truly educated person, is his own person, and is unique. He or she stands out from the crowd. He/she is likely to be well-trained to hold a position of responsibility within an organisation, but that is not what defines him/her.
What distinguishes the truly educated person is his/her independence of thought and strength of character. The mass market does not necessarily enthral such people. For such persons education does not stop with the acquisition of degrees. Education for them is a lifelong process. An educated person is unlikely to be a celebrity. They do not seek publicity at any cost. They are persons of integrity. They usually abide by the society’s norms, but will always challenge them, if they are unjust, or indefensible. However badly or indifferently they were treated during their lifetime, posterity will always accord them their due. Think of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King,and Nelson Mandela. Of course great intellects of the calibre of Newton and Einstein are among the educated. So are those who developed their aesthetic sensibilities through art, music, drama and literature. Who would forget Michael Angelo, Beethoven, Shakespeare, and Tolstoy? What about the philosophers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle? Innovators in any field or discipline, including religious leaders like Buddha and Confucius, were not only among the educated, but they were also great educators.
That brings us to the role of the teacher in education. The teacher does not know it all. As Galileo said, ‘You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself.’ Any other form of teaching would be indoctrination. Telling others what to think is not teaching. On the other hand, as Epictetus, the Greek philosopher said, ‘Only the educated are free.’ Teaching is a collaborative effort as exemplified by the Socratic dialogue. People learn not only from teachers at a school or university but from almost everybody around them starting with parents, close relatives, even neighbours, and continuing their education through books and other media. The educated person is all too aware, that he/she knows very little, and therefore is always prepared to learn.
Increasingly, we are told that we live in a knowledge society, the post-capitalist society. This means that there are such sheer volumes of information now than ever there was on the planet. All this information is embodied in books, databanks, and software programmes, but their possession is not equated with education. It is the educated person who embodies and manages such knowledge in the interests of total global well being. As Bill Gates has demonstrated, with knowledge as the key resource, the educated person faces new demands, challenges, commitments, and responsibilities. We are not talking of ‘polymaths’ here, which is a concept from the past, perhaps only applicable to Leonardo da Vinci. The truly educated person now has to be a citizen of the world with deep and genuine empathy for others from quite different cultural milieu. It helps if the educated person travels to other parts of the world and gains first-hand experience of conditions far from home. ‘Think globally, act locally’ is likely to be the motto of today’s educated person.
To conclude this essay two well-known educators are cited. They have listed what they think are qualities needed which define the educated person. John Taylor Gatto who was once named New York State’s Teacher of the Year lists the following:
1) Establish an individual set of values but recognize those of the surrounding community and of the various cultures of the world.
2) Explore their own ancestry, culture and place.
3) Are comfortable being alone, yet understand dynamics between people and form healthy relationships.
4) Accept mortality, knowing that every choice affects the generations to come.
5) Create new things and find new experiences.
6) Think for themselves, observe, analyze, and discover truth without relying on the opinions of others.
7) Favor love, curiosity, reverence and empathy rather than material wealth.
Choose a vocation that contributes to the common good.
9) Enjoy a variety of new places and experiences but identify and cherish a place to call home.
10) Express their own voice with confidence.
11) Add value to every encounter and every group of which they are a part.
12) Always ask: Who am I? Where are my limits? What are my possibilities?
Adapted from Gatto, John Taylor (2009) Weapons of Mass Instruction, New Society Publishers.
A shorter list from another source reads:
1) Has a deep and genuine empathy, striving to understand others, with the ability to withhold their own judgment until they are sure they do understand.
2) Is sensitive to the psychological, physical, moral and cultural milieu in which they find themselves, showing respect and caring at all times.
3) Has a clear understanding of their own values, wants and preferences without wishing to impose these on others.
4) Is independent within the constraints of collaborative living, in action and thought taking responsibility for the health and well-being of their body and their mind.
5) Understands the connectedness of everything in the world, and even in the universe and so acts responsibly in everything they do.
6) Is congruent, meaning that the person will be comfortable in their own skin, able to acknowledge their own feelings and the feelings of others without condescension.
The Medicaid Buy-In Program
The State of New York’s expenditure on health insurance is higher than other states because of its wider range of benefits and flexible terms of eligibility on New York medical buy-in program, foremost of which is coverage of disabled people who are employed to get Medicaid eligibility, or maintain it, in spite of receiving more income or having more resources which was formerly allowed only for Medicaid card holders.Residents of the Empire State can qualify for a medicaid buy-in program if they:
· are between 16 and 64 years old;
· are full-time or part-time employees;
· have disabilities, either physical or mental, that have lasted or expected to continue for more than a year or result in deaths;
· have passed the medical criteria for eligibility set forth by the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program; and
· receive not more than $53,028 in gross income as an individual or not more than $71,028 as a couple.Available through local Medicaid offices, Elder Law attorney may file the application, particularly for those who are looking into how they may qualify for benefits and what specific benefits they may avail of. Errors in filing the form, filling out information, and non-submission of required documents may lead to delays in or denials of benefits.In cases wherein a spouse applies for Medicaid but the other declines support, Medicaid will provide the benefits to the spouse who is sick but it can also ask contributions from the spouse who is called as “community spouse,” and entitled to some income and resources which have immunity from any claims made by Medicaid. A community spouse may have up to $109,560 in resources and $2,739 from monthly income received from employment wages.However, applicants should take note that the coverage of NY Medicaid does not include children or other members of the family because this program is exclusive and limited to disabled individuals or couples who both have disabilities. A review for disability is conducted by a Disability Review Team of the State of New York to certify that the person applying for the program is actually disabled or has not been certified as such by the Social Security Administration.An individual who doesn’t own assets which are more than $13,050 (or $19,200 for a family consisting of parents and two children) of “nonexempt resources” such as the residence of the applicant, motor vehicle or funds earmarked for burial expenses, any properties other than your existing home and your regular bank account savings is still eligible for enrollment in the medicaid buy-in program.For seniors who were already eligible before the filing of the Medicaid application, they can get reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenditures for health care for up to ninety days. Coverage for seniors start off on a pending basis upon filing the application. In effect, the home care facility or nursing home has to wait to be paid in arrears by Medicaid after the application has been approved (this usually takes several months).If you get right down to it, though, the main beneficiaries of New York’s medicaid buy-in program are disabled people who don’t receive any form of SSI because they:
· Are already recipients of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI);
· Had SSDI but lost their right to it since they got employed;
· Are disabled and qualified to receive SSI but never received SSI; and
· Received SSI previously but have been disqualified for having more resources allowable for SSI.The expanded coverage of NY Medicaid now allows those who are in the SSI program but lost the right to it when they got employment to maintain their eligibility for Medicaid, but under a different work-incentive program called Section 1619 (b) program.New York’s social services counselors can discuss with you the conditions regarding whether or not you are required to pay a premium, but generally, these are the following guidelines required by an application for the medicaid NY program:
· A monthly income of $1,300 or less doesn’t entail payment of a premium.
· A monthly income between $1,300 and $2,167 for an individual and for families with only one child necessitates payment of a premium, the sum of which is 3% of earned income from employment wages and 7% of unearned income that comes from sources like pension of any kind, unemployment benefits, etc.
· For an individual, the maximum total premium payable is pegged at $1,026 for a year.Pregnant women who decide to get an abortion may get Medicaid coverage with Presumptive Eligibility, which gives women coverage easily and begins the same day that the application is made. Individual enrollees who want to quit smoking can avail of Medicaid’s smoking cessation counseling (SCC) coverage, effective April 1st of 2011, of six counseling sessions in twelve continuous months.These sessions will all have to be face-to-face and may use prescription as well as non-prescription products made specifically for smoking cessation (these products are part of Medicaid’s coverage). 48% of smokers, according to the New York Adult Tobacco Survey of 2009, are enrolled with Medicaid or do not carry health insurance. According to University Health Services specialist Wendi Hamm, a nurse, counseling and medication combined could be more effective in enforcing smoking cessation than used either or alone. Medicaid’s expanded coverage of smoking cessation services can be of significant help to New Yorkers in this.”Excelsior,” the Latin word for “Ever Upward” is the state motto of New York, and rightly so, as the state maintains a lower rate of uninsured residents, and consistently at that, in comparison to the rest of the country. New York has extended efforts in streamlining renewals to encourage eligible applicants not to drop out of the program unnecessarily, as well as offering opportunities in facilitated enrollment in the medicaid NY program and spreading eligibility to provide health insurance to all individuals, couples, childless couples and families with children.Those found to be eligible for the medicaid buy-in program are entitled to retroactive eligibility for up to three months. And should you be ill or laid off from your job while in the program, you won’t lose your eligibility because of a “grace period” granted to you for as long as a six month duration period, and you are allowed to have more than one of said grace period for as long as these periods don’t come up to more than six months over a year or 12 month time period (exceeding the grace period as set will negate your eligibility for the New York medicaid buy-in program accordingly).And as if those weren’t enough, a New Yorker who has an employee’s health insurance may be reimbursed by the New York medicaid buy-in program for any amount that he or she paid in maintaining that insurance. The state wherein The Sons of Liberty were organized in the 1760s fulfills the significant role of safety net in the absence of either a state or federal solution regarding universal health insurance coverage.In October 2007, Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) President, Daniel Sisto, cited a HANYS report showing medicaid buy-in program cost increases were the result of enrollment increases over the recent years and not the outcome of increases in the reimbursements of providers or costs of services. And while New York Medicaid spending increased by 54% between the years 2000 and 2005, its enrollment also increased by a near 54.5% during the same duration period.New York’s medicaid buy-in program is considered to be the largest Medicaid program in the country, providing comprehensive health insurance coverage to around 4.9 million New Yorkers. Prescription drugs, nursing home long-term care, facilities that are community-based, vision healthcare, dental care and long-term care in private homes are provided for by NY Medicaid even as the program extends coverage for those largely ignored by other states in the provision of additional benefits.In a study published by The New England Journal of Medicine in July 2012, it showed the states of New York, Maine and Arizona have been expanding the range of their eligibility requisites since 2000. In 2001, New York’s eligibility level rose to 150% off the poverty level, and by all indications, Governor Andrew Cuomo will raise that level up again in 2014 with the Affordable Health Care Act.Delivery of healthcare services in this state is a key factor in the overall healthcare system of New York and its policies have long influenced the progression of that delivery system. Such a delivery is New York’s review of program applications for community-based Medicaid wherein transferred assets prior to application for benefits will not incur any penalties.
And for as long as a senior citizen is qualified in needing long-term care in either a nursing home or private residence, New York’s medicaid buy-in program will cover the payment until the patient’s demise. Quite a throwback to the New York Police Department motto, “Fidelis Ad Mortem,” (Faithful Unto Death), don’t you think?