Ms E I am left handed also. I got that way because I sat across the table from my father at family meals. He was a righty and so I always used my left ( his right) hand because I copied everything he did. The only lefty in the family and right side oriented otherwise. A lefthanded with an asterisk! Lol
Lorraine Evanoff: What Tom Tolman did was not unusual. In a similar mirror image way, I copied the way my dad parted his hair. Which meant that, for a right hander, I part my hair on the wrong side.
I never even gave that a thought until I was in my '40s. But no right handed person I know parts his hair like me.
Isn't human nature amazing? That's why I began this piece by saying we didn't realize how being lefty effects us growing up. Our instincts take over and we adjust accordingly. It s so pure and beautiful.
Nice. That's like Mickelson whose dad told him to golf lefty, but a bunch of naturally lefthanded pros golf righty, like s Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Nick Price, Jordan Spieth, Curtis Strange, Johnny Miller and Greg Norman.
Quite the ambidextrous club I’m finding in here today Lorraine. At adolescent catholic school I was scolded for writing with my left hand, so I used my right. I used both hands for nearly everything including golf, baseball, football and hockey and hoops. A hemorrhagic stroke at 49 left my left side useless, years of pain and torture have rehabbed what was once neglected as normal. Excellent piece and some fun pics, Sla’inte!
I as well, am a lefty and was not appreciated by the teachers in school who tried to convert me to write with my right hand. I failed penmanship. I also got my hand dirty all the time from rubbing it over the ink on the paper. Boo Hoo. But I excelled in sports! Hit home runs all the time so the heck with penmanship. And I loved oil painting. So it didn't matter if I wrote with my right or left hand.
Taken from Google search: Eight of our presidents have been left-handed.
Also being right-brained which I very much am puts me in a kind of cousin relationship with lefties; in my case I am neurodivergent which tends to be centered in the right brain but not completely...
"Various theories about why left-handers are overrepresented among U.S. presidents have been proposed. Biologist Amar Klar studied handedness and determined that left-handed people, "...have a wider scope of thinking". In a 2019 Journal of Neurosurgery article Nathan R. Selden argued that since left-handed people are right-hemisphere–dominant individuals, this might make presidents, "more effective leaders or at least more effective political candidates". A University of British Columbia psychology professor, Stanley Coren, authored the book The Left-Handed Syndrome, in which he claimed that "left-handers actually have a profile that works very well for a politician". In a 2021 Business Insider article titled, "From Barack Obama to Julius Caesar, here are 12 world leaders who were left-handed" reporters Alexandra Ma and Talia Lakritz state, "According to some research, lefties may be more creative, be better at 'divergent thinking' — generating new ideas based on existing information — and face challenges better."
Wow that's amazing! Thanks for this, Robin! One of the pieces I linked said Einstein and other geniuses were lefties too!
BTW, for me the term neuro-divergent is new, but like misophonia (which I also think is related to the spectrum) it seems I might also be somewhat neuro-divergent.
I am a lefty, born in 1958. I’m lucky I wasn’t forced to be right-handed. I was on the cusp and that could easily have happened. I do a lot of things with my right hand because like all of us, I had to learn to adapt to a right-handed world. I am somewhat ambidextrous except for writing. I am very right sided, and that has caused a lot of physical ailments, especially as I age. I have arthritis in my hands, mostly from too many years working with computers; it’s worse in my right hand. But I’ve always been glad to be left-handed. I think it gives us a perspective on things right-handed people don’t have.
You and I were on the cusp then, my mom did not let my public school teachers try to "correct" me. I agree, after realizing my brain worked differently, I appreciate my lefty perspective of the world. Thanks for commenting Paula!🙏🏻💙
I do not think I knew you were a lefty. I’m also a lefty yet I eat right handed because my father didn’t want me to be left handed. I do a lot of things right handed and if I practice for a few minutes I can write right handed. You can’t read it but you can’t read my left handed writing either. Penmanship was always a bad grade for me. We recently had international left handers day. I only found out about It because a friend sent me an e-card of congratulations. I’m the only one in my family that is a lefty and I’m the only one interested in philosophy, physics and poetry. We are blessed to be left. Finally, lefties tend to show more ambidextrous ability. That probably is evolutionary as it saved us from being killed by righties who thought being left was a sign of the devil.
That's a big thing we have in common, Jim. Wow! Yes I think International Lefthanded Day was August 13th.
I can relate to so much you're saying, I think a lot of my tendency to be more cerebral comes from being lefty. It sounds like you had a lot more pressure to be righty than I did. I force myself to do certain things righty, like using a ten key and computer mouse because they're designed for righties. Water fountains are also righthanded.
Once I asked an art store staffer if many artists who bought supplies there were left-handed; she said most of them were. This was about 7 years ago, when we still had to sign credit card slips, so she saw which hand most customers used to sign.
Nothing in particular. I was there with a left handed photographer friend and just thought of asking about it. The creativity you mentioned associated with left-handed folks reminded me of that story.
I get injection which hopefully will help reduce inflammation, but my condition is such that I just have to grin and bear it. I will not do narcotics. What bugs me most is the involvement to all the different nerves in my limbs. Onward and upward everyday. I tingle a lot. Ha!
My daughter, who is now a Registered Nurse, God love her, says, " suck it up. She's seen so much worse. I know. but crap it get tiring, Sameo sameo, day after day waking up and looking forward to the first step on the floor hoping I don't land on it face first.
Just discovered Starbucks Espresso in the tiny can on Amazon. It's my new "kick start" in the morn. It really works for me and I don't have to get dressed to go out to get it. It's delivered by the case! Great cold! Refreshing wake up too.
My daughter always told never to look up the drug, so I just did. Oh! Gee Whiz. Now I know why she not to. Anyway, I won't stop because it does help with the pain.
I enjoy my Chardonnay now. That's my safe choice. Vodka with cranberry juice is yummy and helps the pain but I have to be cautious. I don't drive but my being unsteady because of my spine is an issue. I do look forward to "toddy time" some days.
I understand that hand dominance is determined by which thumb is on top when you naturally clasp your fingers together. I show left-thumb top. I write right hand but I weirdly turn the paper perpendicular and write up! Here’s a great resource by Carla Hannaford,
The Dominance Factor: How Knowing Your Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain, Hand & Foot Can Improve Your Learning. I used it when teaching middle school to introduce ways to think about how we are similar and unique as a community.
When I interlace my fingers or clasp my hands together my right thumb is on top. I write and do everything else left handed so I guess that is the opposite of you?
But you turn your paper like a lefty! When I write on paper, people literally say, "You're writing upside down!" It looks so funny to them but feels normal to me.
I looked up that book, is this the one? Thank you!
Yes, that is the book. It is fun to go through the process of self discovery with regard to body part dominance; eye, ear, leg, arm and how the combination relates to your learning and experiences.
I wonder if our combination of eye and hand dominance results in the paper tilt as an accommodation? I am left eye dominant but I write right handed, though I am left hand dominant. I now bowl and golf left handed and likely would have done all sports left handed if offered.
Both my boys are lefties. Their dad is ambi and I am a bit as well. Still have never figured out though where that left handed gene was lurking in the pool though.
I am the eldest of 8 children. I have 24 nieces and nephews. Only my two children are both left handed plus one nephew (because he's a mirror twin) 🤷♀️💞
Right now, I am just tickled that I have met so many fun people on Substack. While I have difficulty finding sleep lately, I don't seem to mind at all. Politics be damned!
Wow! I wonder if your computer has been hacked? My mom's computer was literally taken over by someone! I had to delete her entire Mac account and create a new one. You could literally see the person taking over her computer!
Ms E I am left handed also. I got that way because I sat across the table from my father at family meals. He was a righty and so I always used my left ( his right) hand because I copied everything he did. The only lefty in the family and right side oriented otherwise. A lefthanded with an asterisk! Lol
Whaaaa! That's amazing and adorable how you copied your dad to become Lefty. That's a new one. 🥰
Lorraine Evanoff: What Tom Tolman did was not unusual. In a similar mirror image way, I copied the way my dad parted his hair. Which meant that, for a right hander, I part my hair on the wrong side.
I never even gave that a thought until I was in my '40s. But no right handed person I know parts his hair like me.
Isn't human nature amazing? That's why I began this piece by saying we didn't realize how being lefty effects us growing up. Our instincts take over and we adjust accordingly. It s so pure and beautiful.
I golf, kick and otherwise do everything else as a right. Left handed throwing and batting did help me as a first baseman in college. Thanks Dad! Lol
Nice. That's like Mickelson whose dad told him to golf lefty, but a bunch of naturally lefthanded pros golf righty, like s Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Nick Price, Jordan Spieth, Curtis Strange, Johnny Miller and Greg Norman.
It used to be difficult to find lefty clubs.
Ha ha ha! Charlies this post has been delightful! Maybe we're on to something 🥰
Quite the ambidextrous club I’m finding in here today Lorraine. At adolescent catholic school I was scolded for writing with my left hand, so I used my right. I used both hands for nearly everything including golf, baseball, football and hockey and hoops. A hemorrhagic stroke at 49 left my left side useless, years of pain and torture have rehabbed what was once neglected as normal. Excellent piece and some fun pics, Sla’inte!
Patrick. What a story of courage and survival. Were you able to do PT to regain use and ameliorate the situation?
I as well, am a lefty and was not appreciated by the teachers in school who tried to convert me to write with my right hand. I failed penmanship. I also got my hand dirty all the time from rubbing it over the ink on the paper. Boo Hoo. But I excelled in sports! Hit home runs all the time so the heck with penmanship. And I loved oil painting. So it didn't matter if I wrote with my right or left hand.
Yes, we dragged our hands across the pencil on paper and got smudged hands. Boo hoo!
I'm happy you persevered with your natural talents Samantha!
I'm sorry if my bitchiness offended you, It was my defense as a child when growing up in Chi. I was a brat.
Offended me? Never!!! Love you Samantha!
And, i was not an evil one as some believed!
Thank you.
🥰
I meant to write pencil. Sorry. Being a dyslectic came naturally for a lefty like me. I had a HORRIBLE time with math. Left, right, up, down, Oye!
I can related!
I SPELED "OYE" WRONG, DIDN'T I? OY... And, I'm neurotic too...
Taken from Google search: Eight of our presidents have been left-handed.
Also being right-brained which I very much am puts me in a kind of cousin relationship with lefties; in my case I am neurodivergent which tends to be centered in the right brain but not completely...
"Various theories about why left-handers are overrepresented among U.S. presidents have been proposed. Biologist Amar Klar studied handedness and determined that left-handed people, "...have a wider scope of thinking". In a 2019 Journal of Neurosurgery article Nathan R. Selden argued that since left-handed people are right-hemisphere–dominant individuals, this might make presidents, "more effective leaders or at least more effective political candidates". A University of British Columbia psychology professor, Stanley Coren, authored the book The Left-Handed Syndrome, in which he claimed that "left-handers actually have a profile that works very well for a politician". In a 2021 Business Insider article titled, "From Barack Obama to Julius Caesar, here are 12 world leaders who were left-handed" reporters Alexandra Ma and Talia Lakritz state, "According to some research, lefties may be more creative, be better at 'divergent thinking' — generating new ideas based on existing information — and face challenges better."
Wow that's amazing! Thanks for this, Robin! One of the pieces I linked said Einstein and other geniuses were lefties too!
BTW, for me the term neuro-divergent is new, but like misophonia (which I also think is related to the spectrum) it seems I might also be somewhat neuro-divergent.
I am a lefty, born in 1958. I’m lucky I wasn’t forced to be right-handed. I was on the cusp and that could easily have happened. I do a lot of things with my right hand because like all of us, I had to learn to adapt to a right-handed world. I am somewhat ambidextrous except for writing. I am very right sided, and that has caused a lot of physical ailments, especially as I age. I have arthritis in my hands, mostly from too many years working with computers; it’s worse in my right hand. But I’ve always been glad to be left-handed. I think it gives us a perspective on things right-handed people don’t have.
You and I were on the cusp then, my mom did not let my public school teachers try to "correct" me. I agree, after realizing my brain worked differently, I appreciate my lefty perspective of the world. Thanks for commenting Paula!🙏🏻💙
It is fascinating. As for myself I’m right side oriented, but I can use my left for a lot of things. Including fighting southpaw lol.
According to one of the links I included you are in the 1%!
Thanks for commenting Rue!💙
It is fascinating, though I might not be fully ambidextrous, I do enjoy being able to pull a switch up to surprise folks 😏 when possible.
& you’re most welcome. 👍🏽
Me too, I like playing lefty then when I putt people look at me sideways 😆
One of the best feelings.
I do not think I knew you were a lefty. I’m also a lefty yet I eat right handed because my father didn’t want me to be left handed. I do a lot of things right handed and if I practice for a few minutes I can write right handed. You can’t read it but you can’t read my left handed writing either. Penmanship was always a bad grade for me. We recently had international left handers day. I only found out about It because a friend sent me an e-card of congratulations. I’m the only one in my family that is a lefty and I’m the only one interested in philosophy, physics and poetry. We are blessed to be left. Finally, lefties tend to show more ambidextrous ability. That probably is evolutionary as it saved us from being killed by righties who thought being left was a sign of the devil.
That's a big thing we have in common, Jim. Wow! Yes I think International Lefthanded Day was August 13th.
I can relate to so much you're saying, I think a lot of my tendency to be more cerebral comes from being lefty. It sounds like you had a lot more pressure to be righty than I did. I force myself to do certain things righty, like using a ten key and computer mouse because they're designed for righties. Water fountains are also righthanded.
I remember watching my two lefty kids trying to learn to write with the awkward pencil holding (and the phonetic spelling). 😉
Two lefties, wow, Leslie!
Lorraine, my entire family is left-handed. Are we, THEM??? One never knows. Tee hee.
That's truly rarissime!
I knew I had read somewhere that it was thought that I was an evil one. ME, I'm just a pussy cat!
Once I asked an art store staffer if many artists who bought supplies there were left-handed; she said most of them were. This was about 7 years ago, when we still had to sign credit card slips, so she saw which hand most customers used to sign.
Wow!! How cool! Okay I have to ask, what kind of supplies, like a palette with the hole for left handers?
Nothing in particular. I was there with a left handed photographer friend and just thought of asking about it. The creativity you mentioned associated with left-handed folks reminded me of that story.
That's a great story. I love that, Sally.
I get injection which hopefully will help reduce inflammation, but my condition is such that I just have to grin and bear it. I will not do narcotics. What bugs me most is the involvement to all the different nerves in my limbs. Onward and upward everyday. I tingle a lot. Ha!
Samantha and DelBoy, you're so tough and graceful. Dealing with pain is the worst. I'm sending good energy. 🥰
My daughter, who is now a Registered Nurse, God love her, says, " suck it up. She's seen so much worse. I know. but crap it get tiring, Sameo sameo, day after day waking up and looking forward to the first step on the floor hoping I don't land on it face first.
Never golf, but tennis. I now have issues with my spine to deal with so that's out.
Oh tennis was my first love. I miss it.
Love our gab fest!
Just discovered Starbucks Espresso in the tiny can on Amazon. It's my new "kick start" in the morn. It really works for me and I don't have to get dressed to go out to get it. It's delivered by the case! Great cold! Refreshing wake up too.
But i am a fan of Gabapentin. Cannot do without that.
Also, vodka, but only occasionally. I'm bedridden for the most part because I have no stability. Another word for dizziness due to nerve involvement.
Oh I have to look up Gabapentin.
My daughter always told never to look up the drug, so I just did. Oh! Gee Whiz. Now I know why she not to. Anyway, I won't stop because it does help with the pain.
That was a good decision. I'm trying to cut back on my wine consumption.
I enjoy my Chardonnay now. That's my safe choice. Vodka with cranberry juice is yummy and helps the pain but I have to be cautious. I don't drive but my being unsteady because of my spine is an issue. I do look forward to "toddy time" some days.
I understand that hand dominance is determined by which thumb is on top when you naturally clasp your fingers together. I show left-thumb top. I write right hand but I weirdly turn the paper perpendicular and write up! Here’s a great resource by Carla Hannaford,
The Dominance Factor: How Knowing Your Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain, Hand & Foot Can Improve Your Learning. I used it when teaching middle school to introduce ways to think about how we are similar and unique as a community.
C3 how cool! What a fun conversation!
When I interlace my fingers or clasp my hands together my right thumb is on top. I write and do everything else left handed so I guess that is the opposite of you?
But you turn your paper like a lefty! When I write on paper, people literally say, "You're writing upside down!" It looks so funny to them but feels normal to me.
I looked up that book, is this the one? Thank you!
https://www.amazon.com/Dominance-Factor-Knowing-Dominant-Learning-ebook/dp/B00C0UQGMY
Yes, that is the book. It is fun to go through the process of self discovery with regard to body part dominance; eye, ear, leg, arm and how the combination relates to your learning and experiences.
I love this subject, will check it out, thanks again C3!
Lorraine,
I wonder if our combination of eye and hand dominance results in the paper tilt as an accommodation? I am left eye dominant but I write right handed, though I am left hand dominant. I now bowl and golf left handed and likely would have done all sports left handed if offered.
Both my boys are lefties. Their dad is ambi and I am a bit as well. Still have never figured out though where that left handed gene was lurking in the pool though.
Wow! That's very rare. You guys could be a test study, SPW!
I am the eldest of 8 children. I have 24 nieces and nephews. Only my two children are both left handed plus one nephew (because he's a mirror twin) 🤷♀️💞
Wow! That's so cool about mirror twins, TIL!
In my family, I'm the 3rd of six kids, I have 36 1st cousins last count, and only me and one cousin are lefties.
So weird how it turns out. Crazy you have so many first cousins!
Yes, raised Catholic in the midwest, lots of "Irish twins" 😆
We were Lutherans but my Mom (8 kids in 11 years) reminded us that the pill wasn't available until the 60s.
Do the teachers not realize they set the tone in regards to how the other students respond to those lefty's? I had stupid teachers.
I had none of that, born in 1962, public school, maybe it was over by then.
I let the cat out of the bag and dated myself didn't I?
Right now, I am just tickled that I have met so many fun people on Substack. While I have difficulty finding sleep lately, I don't seem to mind at all. Politics be damned!
Oh that's a great point, there's no lack of interesting, informative and entertaining friends here, including you Samantha!
What a lovely note to end with. Until the morrow, sweet dreams patient friend. The Cat in a bag.
I just like him. He makes me smile. One of the few politicians who do.
I think the sneaky one is back. Another post just magically disappeared midstream. Humm. I don't even have to mention his name anymore.
Wow! I wonder if your computer has been hacked? My mom's computer was literally taken over by someone! I had to delete her entire Mac account and create a new one. You could literally see the person taking over her computer!
I it's very possible and I bet it's someone in his family. I don't know how to fix this mess. I've already changed my password.