Left or Right?

There are always two sides for everything. Good and Bad. Up and Down. Left and Right. This is the point where I want to get to it. I am a Left-Handed student, and for all my life, I’ve being experiencing the good and bad side of it. I am not trying to say that I’m different from the others, even though my Mom used to say that we (left-handed people) are more intelligent than the right handed ones.
Years go by and I’ve passed through kinder garden, high school, and now I’m here in college. Believe it or not, I still find myself confronting with the fact that I would go to the classroom and sit in this chair that is not even made for me. So, it is incredible how many times (and I can count this in only one digit) I would get there ready to rock in Math and my chair is not adequate to myself.
Trying to understand the others and myself as well I decided to find different opinions to concern the differences between a left-handed student and a right-handed one. I interviewed Three different students, with Three different cultures, so I could understand their problems, barriers and relate all of that with my real issues.
Arleen V. Franco is a freshman in Valencia Community College. She is 18 years old and majoring in Journalism. When asked about the problems of being a left-handed student, she said: “I have never faced any problems by the fact that I’m left-handed, but back in time when I was going to school in Porto Rico, I have never had the luxury of finding any sit adequate to my needs. Another problem would be eating right next to right-handed people: It’s a nightmare!”
Allison Dickens is a sophomore in Valencia as well. She is 19 years old and is majoring in advertising. When I ask her the same question asked to Arleen, she seemed to have being trough way more difficulties than her classmate: “I found out that when it comes to sports, it’s a real problem. Specifically in my case with Lacrosse, Golf and Basketball. It was really hard for me to learn, since you have to find somebody that teaches you dedicating to the needs of a left-handed person. And just a little tip, if you want to play golf you have to buy special clubs just for being left-handed, and that will cost you more.”
Last but not least. Fernando Pratesi is a sophomore in Valencia too. He is 20 years old and is majoring in PreMed. His case is a little bit more difficult, by the fact that he is considered a “perfect left-handed”, which means he doesn’t curve his hands while writing so it is harder to not erase everything that he just wrote seconds ago because his hands keep going across the paper while writing. Talking with his Mom, I’ve learned something new when she stated: “ I was reading this article back in Brazil about left-handed children and they said something about the position that the mother puts the baby to sleep, influences the fact that he can’t move the hand that it’s located underneath his body, so he/she starts using the left hand to move and be more comfortable while sleeping.”
It’s funny to see all this differences and opinions about being a left-handed student. Most of the time I find myself passing through the same problems that these students have passed through. My other friend from Valencia, Lilian Vieira is 29 years old. As a left-handed student that is majoring in Tourism and Hospitality she tries to find solutions for people like us to feel more comfortable while enjoying vacations, either inside of the hotel facilities or somewhere else. After this trip to the “left” side of campus I found students with the same needs that I have. Some taboos, myths, and truths… But what really counts is to believe that we are MORE intelligent for the evolution of the left side of our brains. Even if just counts for our ego.