Those who carry a lens between them and the world.
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Latest Posts
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Glasses, Bullying, and Seeing Things Clearly Pt. III
I still take my glasses off occasionally and look at Christmas trees, just to see the sight I did before glasses. In 1992, I decorated my private-duty patient’s little Christmas tree, feeling like a 40-year-old kid. The next day, my patient was in her bed, and I was in the chair on the other side…
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Glasses, Bullying, and Seeing Things Clearly Pt. II
At home, I ran through the house to stand on the back porch looking north at the Ball Brothers factory, hundreds of feet away. I saw every leaf on every tree for miles around (well, almost miles), every petal and color on every flower, all the rocks in the railroad beds. I said, “Mammaw! I…
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Glasses, Bullying, and Seeing Things Clearly Pt. I
In January 1961, my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Singer, recognized that I needed glasses from watching me squinting constantly. She sent a note home, but my grandmother didn’t get me tested until school was out. I don’t know why she waited so long, but I finally saw an eye doctor in June. I sat in the…
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Unable to See Clearly Pt. II
I didn’t get to use this technique until I was 25. I was working on my doctorate, and I was teaching part-time at a community college. I was talking about some essay or short story, I don’t remember what, and I took off my glasses to make a point. My moment had finally come, and…
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Unable to See Clearly Pt. I
I didn’t start wearing glasses until I was a junior in college. I probably needed them for a year before that, but I always made excuses for my poor eyesight. I was in college, so I argued that my eyes were just tired because I was, even if I had slept for 12 hours the…
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Insight
When you put on the wrong glasses, you see confusion. Until now an abstract noun, in this blur it is clear. Remove the offending lenses and return to that other fuzziness, familiar to you since age ten when the world lost its straight lines. Find the right pair and get back to as good as…
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Better Up than Down the Staircase Pt. II
I make it about halfway down the first flight. I’m embarrassed, without the confidence to continue. Suddenly, one woman loudly exhales and whispers up the stairs, “Take your time, dear. I’m having a terrible time determining where to put my foot down. And with these heels, it’s even scarier. I never realized bifocals could not…
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Better Up than Down the Staircase Pt. I
“Please go on without me. I’ll see you down in front,” I tell my companions even though I don’t know how I’m going to safely make it. It’s either that or land on top of them. My bifocals are not the ideal accessory for this three-flight descent. And these shoes! A disastrous combination when trying…
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True Anecdote
My true anecdote is this. During the day, I went to the store and bought several items. Included with them was a small square barcode with an adhesive backing on it, and somehow this got left on the dining room table. That evening I was at my friend Tom’s house. When I needed to clean…
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The First Pair
Looking for your glasses, I have become familiar with the floor of your classroom. Squatting by red and blue shelves, I find Scrabble tiles, mostly E’s, and pencils with broken tips. The room is dusty. I try to imagine what obscure spot would look inviting to a child sniffling because he must practice cursive T,…
