LeftyByDefault.com – Laura Overstreet

My grandmother passed away very late at night on September 25, 2011. My grandma was an awesome woman who occasionally made me want to scream, and I was occasionally the heavy with her in the past few years. I came into my identity as a hard ass crip chick and she became more and more [...]

I have not posted in several months, but fear not, I am well and busy teaching.  I have at least one post I am itching to write, but it will have to wait a bit longer.  In the meantime, I encourage you to read two new posts from my dear friend, Alida Brill.  The first, [...]

Lately, I have felt silenced and trapped.  Indeed, I realize now that these are feelings that I have long had but only in the past few years have I felt empowered and knowledgable enough to release them. However, I cannot – at this time anyway – write the words and expose my truth in its [...]

I love TV. I always have. Instead of taking naps with my mom and brother when I was little, I used that time for watching soap operas. That’s right. I started at 3 years old watching All My Children, One Life To Live, and Guiding Light on a little black and white TV with a [...]

In my regular presentations and discussions about disability awareness to college students, I am often asked about the best ways to help a person with a disability or to ask if we need help.  Occasionally, parents are looking for ways to help their children talk to other children or adults with disabilities.  I usually tell [...]

My first semester of teaching has reached its end. I have spent the last week in something of a fog of mindless activities, largely coming off of such a mindful few months. I have learned, and will continue to learn, that new chapters in the books of our lives hardly turn out to be what [...]

“Twenty/20″ I like numbers. I like what they tell us, what they signify, their symmetry, and how they have occupied my time over the years. Dates and anniversaries are the epitome of the power of numbers for me. I’m one of those people who can tell you the dates of almost any significant thing that [...]

Last Wednesday evening I wasn’t feeling great, thought I was just tired from working hard for several days.  As I got ready to go to bed though, I noticed that the tiny aches I had all day were now accompanied by the feeling of a fever.  I checked, and sure enough, it was 99.7 degrees. [...]

Social media. It is a way of life for most of us these days. Who would have ever conceived of common usage of the word “tweet?” Now we use it as a verb and we’re not even chirping like little birds! Social media is a big stinking deal. Even my mom’s on Facebook, people. This [...]

Last week I got some big news – I’ll be teaching at Kennesaw State University in the fall!  I will be a part-time instructor in the Human Services program and will teach the Human Socialization class.  I am beyond excited!!  This was my favorite class in the curriculum when I was a student and the [...]