Tag Archives: education

From “Yoke”: Lefties this is your day!!!

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Are you left handed?  I am!  And I never knew this was leftie day!  To me this day was always just the birthday of a springer spaniel I had as a girl named Abigail (she was an awesome dog!)

Anyway check out this post from Yoke.  Well worth a read.  When I was her little girl’s age, I did have some teahers who would have preferred I was not left handed.  And these teachers were nuns at St. Mary’s in Society Hill. Fortunately for me, my mother decided to switch me to St. Peter’s at 4th and Pine where they embraced individuality and differences in children. But I digress…here is the Yoke post:

L is for Leftie (Yoke)

Happy Left-Handers Day!

Just another silly day, you say?
Well, nay, nay.

(okay, that is ridiculous).

Left-Handers Day, held
annually on August 13 for the past 23 years, celebrates your right to be
left-handed.

Do you think the days of “forcing” children to be
right-handed are gone?

They aren’t, exactly.

Lily is a leftie.  And while no one has ever forced her to be right-handed, there has been many, many times when teachers have assumed she is right-handed. They’ve corrected her hand. They’ve assumed incorrectly. And before my Lily began asserting herself; she would grow frustrated and just refuse to write.

But, now, my little leftie speaks up (it is all very much like the
American Revolution) for her right to be left-handed. And we’ve had to relearn how to do things to support her development. Like switching the mouse on the computer from right to left; and handing Lily pencils or scissors on her left side. We also turn the paper for her, so writing from right to left, is a little less arduous.

 

….So for today, the 23rd annual Left-Handers Day, I leave you will some fun leftie facts:

  • Only 10-percent of the population is left-handed.
  • Left-handedness is supposed to run in families–neither Mike nor I are lefties. But we have some distant relatives who are.
  • Most left-handers draw figures facing to the right.
  • There is a high tendency in twins for one to be left-handed
  • Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater.
  • Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing
  • Left-handers usually reach puberty 4 to 5 months after right-handers
  • 4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed
  • 1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed – 250% more than the normal level.

 

a good deed

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This is news in Philadelphia primarily.  But it is something awesome and I would like to share it.   Someone I have known most of my life because one of his siblings is a  friend, has donated with his wife on behalf of the family, $16 million dollars to the cash strapped City of Philadelphia for educational needs and programs. I am speaking about John Middleton.

The Middleton family has done a lot of good deeds like this over the years.   Generally you don’t hear about them because they like to fly below the radar.  They definitely don’t toot their own horn. John has always just been hard-working, a nice guy who likes to run.  He has honor.  Just like his father before him, who was awesome and who I adored.

I was thrilled to hear this news, and not in the least surprised.

In the world in which we live, it is nice to know that decent people still exist who do things like this.  And they don’t do it for the publicity, but because it is the right thing to do.

You know, he was just a friend’s big brother growing up.   Still is.  And in spite of how busy he is, when my father died, he was one of the very first condolence calls I received.   It was also one of the kindest calls I have ever received in my life, and still means a lot a few years later.

Today’s news brings to mind a rather famous quote and when you hear about people doing fabulously selfless things like this you realize how unimportant some of life’s other minutia and annoyances are.

 

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

 

Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

 

Posted: Tue, Jul. 17, 2012, 1:38 PM  Middleton family gives $16 million for education

By Miriam Hill   INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The Middleton family, which made its fortune in tobacco and owns part of the Phillies, will give $16 million over four years to the School District of Philadelphia and to other educational institutions for training in workforce and professional development.

 

When Mayor Nutter and John Middleton announced the donation Tuesday at a City Hall news conference, most of the 200 people attending stood up and cheered.

 

“This is a game-changer for Philadelphia and one more sign of the commitment people are willing to make to the city’s greatest asset, our children,” Nutter said.

 

Middleton and his wife, Leigh, will give the money to the School District of Philadelphia, Drexel University, Philadelphia Youth Network and Philadelphia Academies, Inc., both nonprofits focused on career development and training.

 

John Middleton said the gift symbolized his family’s desire to help the disadvantaged and to make Philadelphia a better place.

 

“In every great struggle, there comes a tipping point, that critical moment when an infusion of resources – people, effort and assets – is necessary to prevail,” he said. “For the school district, we believe that tipping point is now.”

 

NBC10: Phillies Co-Owner Makes $16.2M Investment in Philly Schools: Double Play Inc.’s Middleton give millions to improving education in the city

One of the Phillies’ owners and his wife have made a four-year, $16.2 million donation to the struggling Philadelphia school system and other educational institutions in the region.

 

Mayor Michael Nutter announced the donation by John and Leigh Middleton on Tuesday. He says the money will go toward educational needs, workforce training and professional development programming.

 

“This donation will build the educational infrastructure and create learning and workforce opportunities,” Nutter said. “Building a system of great schools and career-oriented programs, we ensure Philadelphia has a 21st-century workforce, ready to compete in the global economy.”