"No one knew I could hardly see until I was eight years old, not even me Then my second grade teacher caught me cheating on flash cards. Even eyeglasses, with lenses thick as Coke bottle bottoms, still left me legally blind." "Friends ran off and I could not see to follow. My father was chronically angry, Mother turned out not to be the saint I imagined. Only magic and an enduring optimism saved me from a desperately twisted sense of identity...