Greetings!
Yes, you read that right: Photomanip MONTH! 
When I first came on board as the Community Volunteer for Photomanipulation, I wanted to have a photomanipulation workshop month, or a "boot camp," to help our community members hone their skills and to help people from outside the community learn more about what we do. Kaz-D had the brilliant idea of turning it into a Photomanipulation Month with Project Educate! So, here we are!
This month will be filled with contests and challenges, games and activities, and lots of chances to win fabulous prizes! We hope everyone will learn something along the way as well. 
About this month
We see this month as an opportunity for all of us to share what we know and build a stronger community. We had originally conceived of this month as "Advanced Photomanipulation Month," but we figured that might be exclusive to a great portion of our community. So, while we plan to focus on mainly advanced topics, we promise there will be something for everyone.
About our theme: Illumination
The community chose the theme for this month: Illumination. This theme has a double-entendre:
It is about LIGHT and, conversely, shadow It is about epiphany, knowledge, and the expansion of the mindWe hope it will not disappoint.
Activities
We have a kick-off party on October 1st (that's today!) at 11 AM dA time (Pacific time). We have a variety of challenges for you to take part in. We think you'll find them entertaining and enjoyable! We have a lot of really fantastic interviews and opportunities for people to share their stories. We'll be telling you like it is in the Straight-Talk Corner. We have two contests that we'll tell you about shortly. We'll give you some tips for manipulating, even if you've never opened up Photoshop (or any other program) before. We'll have historical information about photomanipulation in popular culture. We'll answer all of your questions about photomanip, from how to do light and skin to how DDs are chosen. There will be a Community Forum (date TBA) where we can come together and talk about the things that are going well and things that can be improved in our community. We will have education about using legitimate resources in photomanips. So, buckle up! We hope you will enjoy the ride. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions this month, you can send them via note to projecteducate or to Aeirmid. Happy deviating!
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