Growing up listening to rock ‘n’ roll radio, I always had my ear tuned to the weekly Top 10 countdown. For many of us Boomers, those hit songs, selected on the basis of radio airplay across the country, were the soundtrack of our youth.

As enjoyable as it was to hear these hits in descending order, with the #1 song played last to goose the excitement, I often found myself disagreeing with the ranking. Why was my favorite song #4 on the chart, not #1? And why was that hot new song that was being played all the time by my local station not on the national charts? These and other burning questions made me question the Top 10 ranking. I knew I could it do better if I’d only had the chance.

So, with the new year fresh upon us, I figured it’s a good time to create my own Top 10 list. But instead of songs, I’ve assembled a list of my 10 favorite Today’s Read stories from the past year, all written by my VM colleagues Mary Kane, Mark Tosh and Gwen Plummer. (Forgive my hubris, but I threw in a couple of my own articles.) I’ve enjoyed reading, and re-reading these articles, and I think you will, too.


1) New Football Documentary Goes Inside ‘The All Blind Fantasy League’



Fantasy football is not for everyone, of course, but thanks to an effort by Yahoo the popular group game for avid football fans is available to people with vision loss and/or issues with their sight. The internet company recently highlighted the efforts it has made to enable vision-impaired fans to take part in fantasy football with its short documentary, “The All Blind Fantasy League.” The documentary provides background on a group of sports fanatics who use assistive technology like screen readers with the Yahoo Fantasy app to connect with their passion for fantasy in a fully accessible way and participate in the ABFL. The league is now in its sixth season.

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2) How the Visually Impaired Can Experience the World of Gaming, Sports and Movies Through the Power of Sound





Have you ever wondered what it’s like for a blind person to experience a movie, follow sports or play a video game? Thanks to the world of podcasts, specifically a program called Twenty Thousand Hertz which reveals the stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds, you are about to find out. In honor of October’s Blindness Awareness Month, Twenty Thousand Hertz recently released a three-part series celebrating the auditory experience of the blind community. Throughout the month of October, the leading podcast about sound has explored the extraordinary worlds of audio descriptions in film and TV, blind sports and most recently, blind gaming.

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3) Digital Eye Strain: Another Pandemic Pain Point



We’ve all seen those notifications and displays on our phones tallying up our average screen time for the week. I don’t know about you, but I find it a bit jarring some weeks to see how much time I am spending on my phone. And I’m sure I’m not alone. Ever since we went into lockdown last March, we’ve all been spending way too much time not just on phones, but on electronic devices in general—including laptops, ipads and TVs. And once you add in children learning remotely on screens, you have a recipe for digital overload throughout the entire family. Here are some eye opening statistics about the rise of Digital Eye Strain (DES) and some advice from several eye doctors on how to combat the problem.

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4) Halloween: A History





Earlier this year, Dr. Fauci told CNN’s State of the Union that he thinks Halloween 2021 is a go. “I think that, particularly if you're vaccinated, you can get out there and enjoy it,” he said, referring to trick-or-treating for kids, and Halloween parties for adults. Last year, Halloween celebrations were muted, with fewer parties and fewer trick-or-treaters all around—and while there’s nothing wrong with a cozy, spooky Halloween at home celebrated with a scary movie marathon, there’s something special about knowing we can get back out there this year and spread the Halloween joy. In celebration of a return of one of the U.S.’s most unique holidays (no one celebrates Halloween quite like Americans do, really), we’re looking at the history of Halloween, and some fun Halloween facts that you can share in the coming weeks.

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5) Summer Reading: The Books People in Optical Are Reading Right Now



With the unofficial start of summer just a week away, what better time to start putting together a summer reading list? Although now that many venues and outdoor activities are reopening to larger crowds, we admit summer reading might not be at the top of everyone’s to-do list this year. Still, there are enough good, thought-provoking business titles circulating right now to capture just about every special interest. For one, we like the premise of “The Future is Faster Than You Think,” which looks at how technologies will “completely reshape every industry and society over the next decade.” Hard to ignore this one, right? (And it’s on the reading list of IDOC’s Dave Brown, as noted in the story.)

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6) As Vaccines Roll Out, ECPs Get in Line





Across the country, COVID-19 vaccine rollout has kicked off. Most states are still in the early phases of vaccination, which usually includes older, more vulnerable members of the population, and certain frontline and health care workers. In many states, those health care workers include ECPs. For many, receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is a cause for hope, joy and celebration. Although we’ve lived through unimaginable terror and grief for the past 10 months, vaccination is a sign both of how far we’ve come and how far we can still go. To honor the science that got us here, many in the optical community have taken to social media to share the news of their vaccinations—and to share what The Cut is calling “The Vaxxie,” or the Vaccination Selfie.

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7) All the News Is Not Bad as Sports Stars Step Up to Raise Eye Health Awareness and Give Back to the Community





Sports stars are often the subject of negative news stories and social media posts, and sometimes deservedly so, while their efforts at community service and good deeds go unnoticed. Yet, there are numerous examples of the latter—most recently a vision care clinic that the WNBA’s Diamond DeShields pulled together in Chicago—and these do not get as much attention. In an effort to flip-flop the news cycle and spotlight a few good-news stories about high-profile athletes, VMAIL Weekend is highlighting a few recent events in which athletes have stepped up to give back to their communities or to support health-related causes.

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8) A Little Labor Day History, and Some Mystery





Did you wake up this morning feeling a little more relaxed, knowing you have a three-day weekend ahead of you? Or maybe you woke up somewhere other than home, celebrating the unofficial end of summer with a trip away to the beach, the woods or to see friends and family. Depending on your job, it’s likely that you’re settling into a long weekend today—something we have history and labor unions to thank for. President Grover Cleveland first made Labor Day a national holiday in 1894, in direct response to the summer of 1894’s Pullman Strike, where railroad workers in Pullman, Illinois (now part of Chicago) organized a strike due to slashed wages and mass firings. As The New York Times reports, activist Eugene V. Debs led the strike, which eventually resulted in tens of thousands of workers walking off the job.

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9) How Dick Paul Became Desmond Drue





What makes a man take on an assumed name and a new identity? There are many reasons. For instance, maybe he’s a criminal who is evading the law, or is in a witness protection program. Perhaps he’s a con man, or even a spy. Or he could be suffering from dissociative disorder. Then again, he might be a performer using a stage name, or a writer doing business under a pen name. The possibilities are vast. I recently learned that the man I’ve known for years as Dick Paul has crafted a new name and persona for himself. Many readers probably know him as a successful independent optical sales rep. Lately, Paul has been showing a very different face to the world, that of Desmond Drue, an accomplished novelist, poet and screenwriter.

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10) From Processing ‘Scripts’ to Reading Scripts: How 3 Ex Optical Lab Owners Found Success in the Film Biz





It’s a plotline straight out of the movies. Three former optical wholesale lab owners leave behind the daily grind of making prescription eyewear to become producers of independent films featuring Alec Baldwin, John Malkovich, Kurt Russell, Marisa Tomei and other big name screen stars. Like the legal disclaimer seen at the start of many movies, this story is based on actual events. In fact, the main characters—Michael J. Rothstein, formerly Hirsch Optical in New York, Mike Palkovicz, formerly of I-See Optical Lab in New Jersey and Greg Ruden, formerly of Expert Optics in Illinois—are real people who are well-known to many in optical. How they landed their dream job is the true story of three middle-aged guys who each sold their successful family business, invested in an indie production company, took a leap into the unknown and landed on their feet.

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