All Work Has Dignity -and- The Laborer Is Worthy Of Their Hire

A long-time & dear friend recently shared this thought: “If you’re going to say something about people lacking career aspirations, make sure you’ve created opportunities for advancement and not merely encouraged people to work from Engineer II to Engineer III.”

My thoughts follow:

While I am in an ethnographic & demographic majority, I am simultaneously in an educational & professional minority. However, for as long as I can remember, I have NEVER ceased advocating for educational attainment, either through Vocational Education – and that word, “vocation,” is one we have improperly derided, though it has ALWAYS had greatly esteemed meaning. So let us instead, use the OUTSTANDING and more descriptive term “Trades.”

Now… I have NEVER ceased advocating for educational attainment, INCLUDING Trades!

ALL work has dignity! And “the laborer is worthy of their hire.” And that is PRECISELY what those who purport to promote employment do NOT do by deriding & belittling

Which Are The Best & Worst States For Registered Nurses?

Like most segments of the economy, the nursing industry is in a state of significant transition under the weight of major socioeconomic dynamics — from the aging U.S. population to the student-loan crisis to concerns about the future of key entitlement programs. But such concerns are not unique among recent graduates, regardless of industry.

More specific to nursing professionals are the various day-to-day demands placed on them, such as mandatory overtime, overstaffing, unionization and allegations of systemic disrespect. Despite those challenges, however, aspiring nurses have much to look forward to upon certification. Nursing occupations are some of the most lucrative careers with the lowest unemployment rates in the U.S. In fact, the industry is expected to grow at more than double the rate of the average occupation through 2024.

With such bright projections, WalletHub’s analysts took stock of the nursing industry to help registered nurses, particularly the newly minted of the bunch, lay down roots in areas that are conducive to both personal and professional success. We did so by comparing the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 18 key metrics that collectively speak to the nursing-job opportunities in each market. Below, you can check out our findings, expert commentary on the state of the nursing industry as well as the methodology we used to conduct this report.

Best & Worst States to Practice Nursing in 2014

To be certain, there’s plenty of misunderstanding about what exactly Nurses do, and who exactly Nurses are.

So, to clear the air, let’s set the record straight, and get a quick backgrounder before diving into the deep end.

In whatever state they choose to practice, all 50 states requires all Nurses to be licensed before they begin practice. Licensed Vocational Nurses (LNVs) are considered technicians, while Registered Nurses (RNs) are professionals.

The LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse), which in some states is called LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse), most often has earned a certificate in less than a year, and has a significantly different educational track than a Registered Nurse (RN), even when the RN has an ADN (Associate Degree Nursing). The RN utilizes critical thinking skills, and the responsibilities the RN has are more complex, and therefore always supervisory in nature over the LVN/LPN. Because of the complexities and advances in healthcare, and patient care, LVNs are NOT permitted by license to do the same things as a RN. Pay, of course, comes along for the ride, and RNs are paid more.

Registered Nurses may begin practice by earning an Associate’s Degree Nursing (a two-year degree) typically at a Junior or Community College, or by earning a Bachelor of Science Nursing (BSN), a four-year degree most often earned from a University. Both the ADN & BSN must pass the NCLEX – the National Council Licensure Examination – before they can practice Registered Nursing.

Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) are BSN-prepared RNs whom have obtained additional education and training, typically a Master of Science Nursing (MSN) in a specialty area of Nursing practice such as Gerontology (specialized care for the elderly), Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP), Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP), Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP), Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), etc. Frequently, following earning their MSNs, APNs have also obtained National Certification in their area of specialty, and many have prescriptive authority, depending upon the laws of the state in which they practice. Because they have more education, more experience, and more responsibility, they are also paid more. APNs may also continue education and training to the doctoral and post-doctoral levels.

In some states, APNs are allowed independent practice, and are not required by law to be supervised by a physician. Other states have laws that limit practice of APNs – even though they may be Board Certified – and require physicians to collaborate with them, or in some cases, to oversee their work. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia all allow APNs to practice independently. Alabama is one such state which does not allow Board Certified Advanced Practice Nurses independent practice. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, “in at least 45 states, advanced practice nurses can prescribe medications, while 16 states have granted APNs authority to practice independently without physician collaboration or supervision.”

There’s an entirely different can of worms when comparing the practice of APNs and physicians. One of the ways they differ, are that

A Father’s Day Essay

This year, 2014, my Pop will begin his 82d year of life in good health.

I am blessed, fortunate, happy and to be envied to have him with me now. Some of my peers’ fathers have been long departed.

A friend once said to me that “we never truly become men until our father dies.” In that sense, I suppose I’m still a youth… even though my teen years have been long departed.

My Dad – When he looked at this photo, he said with a smile, “Who’s that? I’m going to have to get a new mirror!” I love my Pop. He’s a swell fellow – a real gentleman – with quite a life’s story! Raised in poverty in rural West Alabama, he knows how to pick cotton by hand, remembers when electricity came to his family’s house, the electrician’s name who wired their house, and so many other hard-scrabble stories of a life unknown to many of us in this day & age.

My dad is a Southern man. Having grown up in abject poverty in rural West Alabama, he was not merely acquainted with “everything but the squeal,” but was intimately familiar with a very real daily struggle for existence, where food was precious, and life even more so.

On occasion, I still hear him recall with utter amazement how much food he saw wasted – literally thrown into the garbage at San Diego Naval Station – where he attended Basic Training before shipping off to serve in the Korean War aboard the U.S.S. Juneau – CLAA-119, also known as “The Galloping Ghost of the Korean coast.” To his then-18-year-old eyes it was a culture shock which he remembers to this day. In his first day there, he saw more food thrown away than he had ever seen in his still-tender life. The adage “waste not, want not” is practically embedded into his DNA.

For those unfamiliar with the term “everything but the squeal,” it refers to the use of every part of the hog for food, and material. Nothing would be wasted. The fat would be rendered into lard, some of the meat would be preserved by smoking, while some parts were made into sausage. It was also time in which neighbors would help one another in the preparation of the animal. (If you’re interested in seeing & reading about some of the various aspects of hog butchering, see here.) It was only many years later that electricity came to my dad’s house – and he remembers the electrician’s name, and date the house was wired.

I recall tales he shared with me of his youth of “hog killing time,” which refers to the first enduring snap of cold weather, which was the proper time to slaughter a hog because the preservation of it’s parts would be more readily facilitated. That is, spoilage would be significantly reduced, because it could be stored in cooler conditions. Their “refrigerator” was an ice box – literally. ‘What’s an ice box?,’ you may ask. An ice box is literally a box into which a 100 pound block of ice was placed to cool food items. Not many items, mind you, because the creek was still a location where food items which readily spoiled were placed. Milk, dairy, meat and select other foods were regularly stored in a special box made to keep critters out, and keep food cool by the running water.

Naturally, not having electricity also meant that the meals were prepared in a “wood cook stove,” literally an implement which had to be tended night and day by his mother to prepare the family meals. Temperature regulation was achieved by moderating the amount of wood, the type of wood (seasoned dry or unseasoned green), and the variety of wood (species, such as oak, hickory, pecan, birch, pine, etc.).

Suffice it to say, his was a hard scrabble life. And it’s certainly neither joke nor exaggeration to say that they were so poor, someone had to come from Washington to tell them there was a Great Depression going on!

Dad honored his father and mother. He was

#DontDoubleMyRate: How a Passive Aggressive GOP Congress Damages Our Nation

The Twitter hashtag #DontDoubleMyRate has been trending, off and on, for the past several weeks.

Naturally, the GOP faction, led by Speaker of the House, John Boehner, claims they “appreciate” college students, and “sympathize” with their predicament – which is a crippling blow to our nation, to students, and to universities, public and private, throughout the union.

However, their inaction – more accurately described as passive aggressive behavior – their actions are neither stalwart nor honorable, for they steadfastly refuse to collaborate to do the Good and Right Thing by the people. By claiming they desire to help, and then through their inaction, they actually damage the entire nation.

That type behavior, formerly formally diagnosed by the mental health professionals as “Passive Aggressive Personality Disorder,” is a chronic, long-term condition in which a person seems to actively comply with the desires and needs of others, but actually passively resists them.

People with this disorder resent responsibility and show it through their behaviors, rather than by openly expressing their feelings. They often use procrastination, inefficiency, and forgetfulness to avoid doing what they need to do or have been requested by others to do.

Common characteristics of Passive-Aggressive personality disorder include:

• Acting sullen
• Avoiding responsibility by claiming forgetfulness
• Being inefficient on purpose
• Blaming others
• Complaining
• Feeling resentment
• Having a fear of authority
• Having unexpressed anger or hostility
• Procrastinating
• Resisting other people’s suggestions

A person with this disorder may appear to comply with another’s wishes and may even demonstrate enthusiasm for those wishes. However, they:

• Perform the requested action too late to be helpful
• Perform it in a way that is useless
• Sabotage the action to show anger that they cannot express in words

The nut of the whole ordeal is that people who exhibit such behavior are inherently selfish, non-communicative, manipulative, and greedy.

And there you have it, Passive Aggressive Behavior.

It’s the perfect definition of the Republican Congress.

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Oregon Explores Novel Way to Fund College

By DOUGLAS BELKIN Updated July 3, 2013, 12:25 a.m. ET

As lawmakers in Washington remain at loggerheads over the student-debt crisis, Oregon’s legislature is moving ahead with a plan to enable students to attend state schools with no money down. In return, under one proposal, the students would