How A Typewriter Made A Writer Out of Me

This is what a typewriter looks like if you are born in the digital age.

As a child I was always going the extra mile towards perfection, especially in school. If there was an assignment I had to make sure it was unique and I would do more than what was asked from me. In retrospect, this was a huge red flag regarding my anxiety-ridden adult life. But that’s another story to tell. For now, it is all about how my push towards uniqueness made me fall in love with writing without knowing, and it is all thanks to my dad’s old typewriter.

In my days, Word or any other form of writing software was not yet heavily used. So, we did our assignments the old fashioned way; writing with a pen on a lined piece of paper. So where does the typewriter come into all of this? Well, I once had an assignment on the Egyptians when I was in Year 6 and at that time Mr. Google was not even created so research was done using books- encyclopedias- the fact-based, accurate and compiled volumes of books, remember? To put it in perspective, encyclopedias in my days is what Wikipedia is now, except that encyclopedias weren't written by amateurs.

I would go to the basement in our house where my dad hid so many valuable treasures- such as antiques, one-of-a-kind die cast models, old books and much more. To me they were treasures and I always loved to sit in his office and just go through all of his collectables. One collectable that became my trusty partner in my quest for uniqueness in front of my teachers and peers was the typewriter.

I fell in love with the sound it makes as I type, the rolling of the paper and the gun-like salute noise that tells me that I have written enough for one line and the way the bar moves from left to right and back to tell me I can start a new line.

In my twisted way to become different and one-up my classmates, I realised that I enjoyed sitting on the typewriter and playing piano with its keys and buttons. The typewriter was my introduction to writing. I was not interested in being unique anymore, I was interested in writing and getting an audial orgasm (well at that time I was too young to have orgasms) from the sound the typewriter would make. It was as if the typewriter and I were communicating; my words and its sounds.

So, thanks to my dad’s treasures and a weakness in my personality, I knew that I wanted to be a writer but that would take me eleven years to realise.

Famous Lefties

Hello, hope everyone is doing well. There is a surprise post coming out this weekend and i am very excited about it. I wish I can tell you but I need to keep it under wraps. Hoping that you will like it :)

Today's post is going to be short and sweet.

Did you know that.....

These US Presidents were and are lefties

James A. Garfield  (1831-1881) 20th
Herbert Hoover  (1874-1964) 31st
Harry S. Truman  (1884-1972) 33rd
Gerald Ford  (1913-    ) 38th
Ronald Reagan  (1911 -    ) 40th
George H.W. Bush  (1924-    ) 41st
Bill Clinton  (1946-    ) 42nd
Barack Obama  (1961-    ) 44th

Miscellaneous Lefties

Alexander the Great
Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor
Julius Caesar, Roman general
Napoléon Bonaparte , French emperor
Josephine de Beauharnais
King Louis XVI of France
Queen Victoria of England
King George II of England
King George VI of England
Prince Charles of England
Prince William of England
Fidel Castro, Cuban leader
Nicole d'Oresme, mathematician
Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer
David Rockefeller, banker
Helen Keller, advocate for the blind
Edwin Buzz Aldrin, astronaut
Cecil Beaton, photographer/costume designer
Dave Barry, journalist
David Broder, journalist
Edward R. Murrow, journalist (my favourite journalist actually)

Ted Koppel, journalist
Forrest Sawyer, journalist
Ray Suarez, journalist
John F. Kennedy, Jr., lawyer/publisher
Caroline Kennedy, lawyer/author
Ron Reagan, son of Ronald Reagan
David Letterman, host
Jay Leno, host
Lenny Bruce, comedian
Richard Simmons, exercise guru
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Matt Groening, cartoonist
John Dillinger, criminal/bank robber
Boston Strangler (Albert Henry DeSalvo), serial killer
Jack-the-Ripper, serial killer Bart Simpson, cartoon character

The Medium is the Message- Marshall McLuhan

Lefty Authors
James Baldwin, novelist
Bet Bowen, horror novelist
Peter Benchley, novelist
Lewis Carroll
Richard Condon, novelist
Marshall McLuhan- media students you know who this is.....H.G. Wells

Lefty Musicians
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, composer
David Byrne (Talking Heads)
Glen Campbell
Natale Cole
Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
Phil Collins (Genesis)
Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins)
Dick Dale (guitarist)
Don Everly (The Everly Brothers)
Phil Everly (The Everly Brothers)
Bela Fleck, jazz musician
Glenn Frey (the Eagles)
Judy Garland
Thomas Hedley, vocalist/musician
Jimi Hendrix
Isaac Hayes
Tony Iommi, guitarist (Black Sabbath)
Albert King, guitarist
George Michael (Wham!)
Peter Nero, conductor
Robert Plant (Led Zepplin)
Cole Porter, song-writer
Lou Rawls
Seal
Paul Simon (Simon & Garfunkel)
Tiny Tim
Rudy Valee
Lenny White, drummer
Paul Williams, song-writer

Lefty Artists
Albrecht Dürer
Michelangelo
LeRoy Neiman
Raphael

 Lefty Athletes
Carmen Basilio (boxing)
James "Gentleman Jim" Corbett (boxing)
Marvin Hagler (boxing)
Oscar de la Hoya (boxing)
Reggie Johnson (boxing)
Johnny Herbert (Formula 1 driver)
The late Ayrton Senna (Formula 1 driver)
Valentino Rossi (motorcycle racer)

The late Ayrton Senaa

Now I didn't bother with left handed celebrities because the list is endless. But, here is a a couple of well-known lefties

Oprah Winfrey

Sir Paul McCartney

Jerry Seinfeld

Sir Paul McCartney

Bruce Willis

Marilyn Monroe- oh yeah

Julia Roberts- Even Pretty Woman is a lefty

Sarah Jessica Parker- Sex in the City wouldn't be the same with out a lefty Carrie

These are only some of the lefties that walk amongst us. And they call us a minority; I can hardly believe it.

Till the next post, have a lefty day!

Don't Blame It On Myself...Blame It On My Left Hand

How is everyone enjoying the lovely dusty weather? (applies only to people in Kuwait, Saudi and the UAE) If others are having a lovely clear day, then we are jealous.

Anyway, today, I want to talk to you about the health risks associated with being a lefty. Of course, you are rolling your eyes, that is you righties, and saying what a load of nonsense. This is not a propaganda aimed at righties to change their wicked ways and create a tolerable and clumsy-free environment for their fellow lefties. Not at all. (those who know me well, must have figured out that I am being sarcastic, and for those who don't, welcome to Danah's sense of humor)

Seriously, though, there has been studies on the lefty gene and how it can influence a person's behaviour. The correlation between bbehavioural discrepancies and left handedness goes back to the notion that Jack the Ripper was a lefty therefore he was a disturbed person. Or that most psychopaths are of lefty orientation so that is why they are abnormal. To some, like me, the justification for Jack the Ripper's heinous crimes is because he is a lefty is ridiculous; to others, he serves as a real scientific conundrum.

Researchers now are recognising the scientific importance of understanding why people use one hand or the other to write, eat or toss a ball. Environmental factors—especially stress—in the womb may play a pivotal part in determining hand orientation. Babies born to older mothers or born at a lower birth weight are more likely to be lefties, for example. And mothers who were exposed to unusually high levels of stress during pregnancy are more likely to give birth to a left-handed child. Mother will be hearing from me shortly after I finish this post!

Source: A review of research, published in 2009 in the journal Neuropsychologia, estimated that about 25% of the variability in handedness is due to genetics.

Left-handedness appears to be associated with a greater risk for a number of psychiatric and developmental disorders, such as dyslexia, ADHD and some mood disorders. I am learning a lot about my demented self. So my anxiety, mood swings and my dyslexia in numbers could be because I am left handed...Great! No wonder my brothers used to call me Katie Kaboom, watch the video below and you will see what I mean.

*Video courtesy of  AntiCuras from YouTube on Nov 7, 2006.

Lefties don't have it worse than righties. Sickness is blind to our handedness orientation. However, there are some factors that make us lefties prone to some disease than our lucky righty counterparts. The important thing is to recognise these 'medical hiccups', as I refuse to be labelled as 'mentally unstable', and try and work your way around them.



Cutie in disguise?
Photo courtesy from http://www.mylot.com/

To end this somewhat sad post, I would like to share this picture of a lefty cutie pie.  How can you think that this cutie pie may end up becoming something not so cute or nice? (Well, it depends on what she is drawing!)

So what if we have a high chance of going psycho on people or that we face learning roadblocks. If science says we are that way, then science has not met 'willpower'. You can always change who you are as long as you know what you might become if you don't. So dear lefties don't be discouraged that we are thought of as psychos and righties, don't fear us to discriminate against it. The discrimination you are showing us everyday is enough thank you.

Until the next post, have a lefty, (kaboom-free) day!

"Only lefties are in their right minds"

Hi everyone, hope you guys had a good weekend.

Weekends, the way time teases us into believing that we have free time to sleep, play, shop, or do chores in my case. The weekend is nothing more than the preparation for a tedious weekday. It's a lazy Sunday afternoon and I am thinking of how to put my best foot froward, that is my left foot of course, when it comes to dealing with work demands.

Lately, I'm finding myself swamped with work that seems to be a total mystery to me; not because it is difficult or that I am inexperienced, but rather I struggle with the execution. I tend to do things that are inexplicable to righties. Only those who are lefties would understand why I would read from the bottom up or colour coordinate similar things that righties might not get the connection.

I find it very difficult to do things the righty way when I already have a bulletproof plan that gets me results. So if you have ever experienced doing something your way only to have someone, a righty, in my case, shoot it down, you better understand the dynamics of left and right brain hemispheres.

Let me school you on the lefty and righty brain. Think of your brain as a circle that has an imaginary line down the middle. The line, though imaginary, strictly separates behavioural and motor skills of a person. The brain is "cross-wired" so that the left hemisphere controls the right handed side of the body and vice-versa and hand dominance is connected with brain dominance on the opposite side.

Image obtained from http://www.lefthander.com/

Here is a good trick to remember what side is your most dominant.

"Only lefties are in their right minds! " Get it?, right minds....

The left hemisphere (RIGHT HAND CONTROL) controls Speech, Language, Writing, Logic, Mathematics, Science, this is the LINEAR THINKING MODE.

The right hemisphere (LEFT HAND CONTROL) controls Music, Art, Creativity, Perception, Emotions, Genius, this is the HOLISTIC THINKING MODE

Let's take a quiz on which side of the proverbial brain fence you sit on.
http://www.web%20us.com/brain/braindominance.htm

Now, even though I am a hard core lefty, there are still some features of the left brain that I excel at. For example, language and writing are my strong points. My test results showed that I am a left brain person, which is more or less suited for a righty. The results are only indicative of how people function with certain areas of their brain becoming more dominant than the other. It is not set in stone.

My test results:

You responded as a right brained person to 1 question, and you responded as a left brained person to 17 questions. According to the Hemispheric Dominance test, you use your left brain the most. The summary briefly describes your dominance type. Some of the traits associated with the left side of the brain are listed in the table. Not all of the traits will apply to you. Remember, we use both side of our brain, but your left sides gets the most exercise.

Type of Cognitive Processing	Brief Description
Linear	Processing information from part to whole; in a straight forward logical progression.
Sequential	Processing information in order from first to last.
Symbolic	Processes symbols an pictures; likes to use letters, words and mathematical symbols.
Logical	Processes information piece by piece using logic to solve a problem.
Verbal	Processes thoughts and ideas with words.
Reality-Based	Processes information based on reality; focuses on rules and regulations

Just because you are a lefty or righty does not mean that you are categorically a left or right brain person. Some characteristics can overlap and the important thing to understand why you think in a certain way or do things differently from others. Understanding how the power of your left or right justifications can help you become more aware of the differences that occur between you and your family, friends, significant other and with your work colleagues.


Yet another thing humans need to understand to make this world a more tolerable and efficient place.

That is all, have a lefty day!

Lefties in Images

A lefty filling out a job application

Hi everyone,

As today is the beginning of the weekend; I thought less is more with today's post. I will be showing you clippings of random observation of lefties in the UAE newspapers.
It is the reason behind starting this blog. As a minority lefty, I find it refreshing to see lefties like me. It first started with only one photo then it got a bit pathological but hey I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my obsessive compulsive behaviour.

Enjoy the photos and until the next post, have a lefty weekend!




Two lefties in one photo...that is twice the average



Lefty in a suit

H.H. Sheikh Nayan Bin Mubarak is a lefty

Two lefties...again

Lefty student in a midterm exam



*Please note that all the images publishe are taken from UAE newspapers and no intention of copyright infringement was meant.

Do they teach that to lefties in cooking school?

Hi to those who are bothered to read my blog, hope you are well. Yesterday after an intense workout session at the gym, I was very hungry and ready to eat anything that was remotely edible. I was craving shrimps and especially a specific shrimp dish my mum makes...yuuuuum. I wanted home cooked food and I was channelling my mum as I whizzed around my kitchen, getting things from the fridge with one hand and shutting a drawer with a good old kick while getting a pan then doing a mini bear walk to clean up spillage. It was a event in itself.

I was possessed by the foodies spirit and I was trying to make sure that the dish is spot on mama Karam style; stirring the onions in the same way she does and transporting the powdered spices from their dormant jars to the bubbling and simmering pan, when I had to drain the vegetables I had boiled earlier. As I was taking the pan off the stove and starting the initiation process of my steamy veggie facial, I burnt myself with the steam and the clear liquid lava that was the boiling water.
Straight away I said to myself, "damn those righty pans. Can't they make a lefty pan so I can bloody well drain something without risking 3 degree burns?"

Even though I had a burnt finger, the pain of my rumblig stomach asking for food overshadowed the pain in my finger caused by the inconvenient righty pan.

Word of caution: anyone who is cooking should take care, lefty or right, but for you lefties that have numerous steam burns, wear gloves or let someone else do it for you, preferably a lefty.

Until the next post, have a left day!

Can a lefty draw a straight line?

Hello lovely people, how is every one?

So this is day 2 of my lefty blog and I have loads to talk about so it will be hard for me to shut up. It's 20 minutes to 6 p.m. (UAE time) and I am rushing to get last minute work squeezed in before I head to the gym.

Today I want to discuss with you something I mentioned yesterday; rulers. So I was given the tedious task of ensuring the trim and bleed sizes of an ad are correct. FYI, trim and bleed sound gory and violent, I wonder how they coined these terms to describe dimensions of a paper. Anyway, I had to measure every line and every height and width a flat A4 paper can have. I was drawing lines that were not straight and feeling uncomfortable with that formidable blunt blade-shaped plastic. You don't believe me? I will show you. Look at the photo I attached.

It's sad but I know that I do not need to use rulers every time and if I do, I will make sure that there is a righty next to me to show me the proper way to hold and use an inconvenient tool that was not designed for my lefty hand.

Isn't it strange to adapt to things you are not comfortable or you are forced to adapt to something you don't know how to properly use? I guess it's part of life and there is no need to be a drama queen or king and complain about it. However, what fascinates me isn't the fact that you succumb to using things that otherwise are obsolete or useless to you but how people judge you for not knowing how to use something that they know how to use.
I'm signing off, but I want you to try this out, use something that you are uncomfortable using and see how it feels to be a lefty in a righties' world. Send me your experience.

Until the next post, have a lefty evening.