Courtesy of Guide Dogs for the Blind
It’s so easy to take our sight for granted—reading, navigating through crowds, being able to glimpse a friend across the room. All of these things, and many more, were a luxury for Milwaukeean Philip DiMeo since his childhood. DiMeo hid his weakening sight from everyone, including himself, relying instead on his wife to lead him around parties and continuing to drive despite numerous wrecks. In Binoculars: Masquerading as a Sighted Person, Philip DiMeo shares his stirring personal account of coming to grips with his impending blindness. Fearing that revealing his condition would close doors to him, DiMeo kept his deteriorating condition a secret for more than 14 years.
As a successful cartoonist and social worker, he feared the consequences of sharing his worsening disability with others. However, once he freed himself from the deception, DiMeo found that more doors opened to him than closed and he was able to embark on a new life with courage, faith and humor. DiMeo’s vision loss and the challenges it brought were in actuality the springboard of good things to come. Binoculars is an inspirational firsthand account of one man’s emerging bravery and self-acceptance. Local readers will be able to picture DiMeo’s vivid descriptions of the Milwaukee of his youth and feel his inner struggle to find success in a sighted world.
DiMeo is a graduate of UW-Milwaukee and has worked as a cartoonist for publications including the Vietnam veterans’ newspaper, The Honey Bucket. His work also been featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He will speak at Boswell Book Co. at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 18.
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Book Happening
Brent Christianson and Tom Montag
2 p.m., April 19
Woodland Pattern Book Center
720 E. Locust St.
Two celebrated Wisconsin poets will perform a live reading at Woodland Pattern Book Center. Brent Christianson is a La Crosse native and retired Lutheran pastor. A Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Triad contest winner, Christianson’s work spans 20 years and has appeared in numerous publications. Tom Montag was named a Wisconsin Commended Poet in both 2004 and 2015. He is the author of several books, including The Idea of the Local and The Big Book of Ben Zen.
