Welcome to my website.
You will find pages of academic writings to explore. So please be tolerant while I gush a little about my new NON-ACADEMIC book, Catching Sight, how a guide dog helped me see myself. The book was published by Beacon Press and released in print, large print, and audiobook on June 16, 2026.
The book is the story of Alberta, a yellow Labrador Retriever born at Guiding Eyes for the Blind and how she grew to become my guide dog. It is the story of the long road I took from denial to acceptance of my visual impairment. I needed to do that before Alberta could change my life. Catching Sight covers a variety of issues including disability and ableism, dog cognition, interspecies relationships, and, of course, ethics. I wrote the book in collaboration with my Guiding Eyes for the Blind instructor, Graham Buck. Graham now runs a private business that builds relationships between dogs and their people, Buck’s Best Dogs.
Catching Sight was recently named one of the 10 adult picks for Dog Days of Summer by Penguin Random House. It has won the 2026 Lieberg-Metz Media Award for how it has made a “positive difference in the lives of guide dog teams.” Guide Dog Users Inc., an affiliate of American Council of the Blind, chooses the annual award recipient.
I am enjoying the different foci reviewers and podcast hosts bring to the discussion with me about Catching Sight. The book has broader appeal than I expected. Some journalists, like Duncan Strauss, host of WMNF Radio’s Talking Animals show, focus on the intelligence of guide dogs and their special brand of partnership with humans. Others, like USF journalist Arielle Stevenson and Black Hills Pioneer journalist Sierra Ferguson track my journey to accept visual impairment as part of my identity. Still others, like LitHub, that ran an excerpt from the book’s second chapter, presents my ethical dilemma of choosing between disclosure and deception. An up-to-date list of podcasts and publications relating to the book can be found here.