Namanjii Giizhigad

What do United States President Barack Obama, Hawaiian Senator Daniel Inouye, filmmaker Spike Lee, "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening, award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg, actress and United Nations High Commission on Refugees ambassador Angelina Jolie, and former professional and Olympic boxer Oscar de la Hoya all have in common? (Hint: it has to do with noongom.)

Noongom (today), August 13, is International Left-Handers Day, a awareness raising day that originally began in the United Kingdom to call attention to the challenges faced by the approximately 10% of the population who are"lefties" in a society predominantly engineered to right-handedness.

The Handedness Research Institute was started by Indiana University anthropologist Martha K. Holder, whose personal Indian University site contains a list of famous left-handed individuals.

According to Nichols and Nyholm's A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe, namanjii is the Anishinaabemowin term meaning to be left-handed. Namanjinik is the word for left hand.

While lefties are sometimes left out of a lot of designs (think of those single-sided desks in many classrooms), they should get some love noongom and a lot more consideration in the future.

Notable fictional left-hander Ned Flanders, created by notable real-life left-hander Matt Groening (Image found online at the Leftorium)