Barefoot Thanksgiving break
by Sharleen (Lynn) WL Last year over Thanksgiving break I visited my best friend Sandra (who is also my girlfriend now) in Houston where she goes to school. Yeah, I'm bi and she's lesbian, so after I broke up with my last boyfriend, Sandra and I developed a romantic relationship. Its been great cuz we both have alot of things in common including the love of going barefoot. What kinda sucks is she had to move to Houston. Anyway, I flew to Houston a couple days before Thanksgiving. I was planning to do it entirely barefoot like I did when I was a kid (you can read the story here on the blog if you haven't already - its titled "Traveling Barefoot"), but unfortunately at the gate I was told to put shoes on. So I just wore my flip flops which I put in my backpack. The staff was nice about it though, he just looked at me and smiled. Once I got on the plane I took 'em off again. I walked out of the plane barefoot in Houston, and no one said anything. Sandra pic...
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Thank you Tania for writing the article and posting the interesting picture. I saw a similar sign (without the 'no skirt' part) in Galveston, Texas some years ago but unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me then, and I don't remember the store name.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the national barefoot day. It's really nothing special. It's actually a gimmick for a pro-shoes campaign which is ironic. But like you said, hopefully it will encourage more people to enjoy going barefoot.
ReplyDeleteThe shoe charity thing also gives us a quick excuse when one doesn't have the time or energy to properly promote barefoot health, freedom, and enjoyment.
Usually I will refer a questioner to Dr. Howell's book and/or give them some links to pro-barefoot articles while taking the time to set a positive example. I also show them a few of the newspaper articles that have been published about my wife's and my own bare feet.
But when I'm really in a hurry or have determined that the individual is not worth the time or just plain too closed minded I'll just quickly say "I'm not wearing shoes until...........
-All the troops come home
-All kids have a good pair to wear
-World peace is achieved
-Etc.
Tom's et al has made my life easier and more efficient!
Where YOU live is still much easier, most people over 45 years of age remember many kids as well as adults going almost everywhere in bare feet even in the big city.
We live in a northern U.S. industrial city, and the only time bare feet were seen out and about in town was in the late 60's thru early 70's. Unfortunately most people are either too old to remember, or they are only in their sixties but took part in the 60's so never really remembered much of anything about it.
The "no skirt" part is interesting. It's only a small step away from summarizing it all as "no clothes, no problem!" Not that nudity is so horrible, but it opens up another can of worms.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad we don't have any of those signs (positive or negative) in the Netherlands. It was never really a 'thing' like that. Unfortunately barefooting is very uncommon, but it also isn't as problematic as it is for e.g. Americans. So far I've always been treated like any other customer in shops.
I do catch some attention. You'll certainly get some dirty looks. Especially ironic when smokers do it. But they don't overstep boundaries, and you don't need to build up very thick skin for most interactions that come about to feel positive.
I've also caught some police attention. They seem to think that everything that isn't normal is suspicious. Gah. How liberal. They can't do much, but after a few encounters it does get annoying.
I'm glad there are so many people out there who are also barefooters because my mom thinks I'm a bit nutty for not wearing shoes and going everywhere in my Barefoot Feet. Maybe someday she will think otherwise when my footwear gets as big and well known as Toms!
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