This is Why We’re Stuck Wearing Shoes

I’ve reprinted articles from the 1950s expressing the joy of going barefoot as a child and bemoaning how that was disappearing.

Here is an article, from 1959, that encapsulates the attitudes that made them disappear.

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Tetanus and Going Barefoot

Tetanus is often associated with rusty nails and going barefoot.

However, there is a lot of mythology associated with both, and I thought I’d sort that out a bit.

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Saturday Comic

I used this cartoon last year about this time of year. I still think it quite appropriate. It’s from Arlo & Janis from September 23, 2002.

Arlo & Janis, September 23, 2002

 

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Barefoot 1491

Let’s take a look at the footwear of Native Americans before Columbus arrived. I’ve been looking at the “Encyclopedia of American Indian Costume”, by Josephine Paterek, and it says a lot about footwear.

I also suspect that she has overestimated things a bit.

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Bygone Times

During the 1950s and 1960s there seemed to be a lot of reminiscences of the pleasures of growing up barefoot.

Here is yet another one, this one from 1955.

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Megapodic Movie Hobbits

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was being shown over the weekend on Encore TV. It is always a good watch, but I was reminded yet again of one of the sillier things Peter Jackson did with the movie.

He put extra-large fake feet on the hobbits.

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Worship in the Parrish

One of the places I like to hike to in Hocking Hills is Parrish Rocks. It has the advantage of being about as spectacular as the nearby big three (Old Man’s Cave, Cedar Falls, and Ash Cave) but that nobody knows about it.

I visited again last Friday.

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Saturday Comic

Here’s one more cartoon about kids going back to school after a summer of going barefoot. In response to last week’s cartoon, Hadashi commented:

You know the common theme I am getting with all these comics is that people actually KNOW that shoes are doing bad things to their feet, they KNOW that the shape of shoes is wrong AND that going barefoot feels much better than wearing shoes, yet in every one they still insist on shoes! And even imply that the FOOT is the problem!

Yes. They know what shoes do to feet, but conformity is more important.

This cartoon is from “All in a Lifetime” published on September 9, 1938.

All in a Lifetime, September 9, 1938

 

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Chicago Going Barefoot

I’m not sure quite what to make about this story. It appeared during the summer of 1915 in the Chicago Herald (though the version I have was in the Kansas City Times, crediting the Herald).

It appears that a bare foot was shocking.

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An Interview

I’m pulling out something from a few years ago, when I first started fighting the Ohio Statehouse when they wanted to institute a footwear rule. You can see all those posts here.

Along the way, I did a few interviews. I recently came across one I did for the NPR program Whad’Ya Know? with Michael Feldman.

It’s rather interesting.

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This Is Your Brain On Clogs

There was an interesting article at the Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies: Nudity is Healthy for Brains and Bodies (possibly NSFW).

In many ways, “nudity” is being “barefoot all over“.

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Church Deacon Disciplined

In 1896 Deacon Jonathan Fechter showed up for church in his bare feet.

He was disciplined by the other deacons.

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Not Kicked Off the Bus After All

Last Tuesday we saw the story of the woman who was supposedly kicked of a Columbus bus for having a broken flip-flip and going barefooted. While she was off the bus she was raped.

It turns out that she wasn’t kicked off after all.

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Saturday Comic

Here’s yet another look at looking for shoes after a summer of going barefooted. This is from “All in a Lifetime” and appeared on September 3 in both 1952 and 1959.

All In A Lifetime, September 3, 1952/1959

The thing is, that girl is of the age when the feet of a growing child are just naturally getting bigger, and by that I mean longer. While there might be some spreading (and muscular growth) from going barefooted, it’s really not right to blame the need for bigger shoes on going barefooted.

 

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Barefoot Spinning

Did you know there is a Facebook group for “Fiber Artists & Yarn Spinners”? Of course you should know that. There’s a facebook group for everything.

Anyways, there was a recent discussion there about spinning (that is, spinning yard) barefoot.

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