Monday, March 20, 2006

Feet


For an entire summer my friend Marilou and I went without shoes. Now mind you we lived in a city( we were military brats living in Germany) and that means we walked the city streets, rode on subways, streetcars and buses sans shoes and we're not talking sandals here . We revelled in our calloused, cinder embedded feet as badges of freedom. We could walk on broken glass our feet were so tough. Later Marilou would be deported as a bad example of an American how I eluded that fate I'll never know. Marilou now resides in an abandoned trailer in upstate Maine. She wears Birkenstocks all winter (with unmatched socks I might add) even in 10 feet of snow.

14 comments:

stp-illustrations said...

Good idea, nice style

CRISTOSOVA said...

I am getting curious, an American living in Germany (or should I say two rebels?), a kindergarten teacher in a Russian school, East German cars in a West (?) German City with a huge Bayer sign, a friend now living in Upstate Maine... ah, tell me more :) You two got fun, hippie hair, a total must with the bare feet. Love this!

carla said...

Just another of life's adventures, eh? I remember how cool it was to go barefoot all the time, but I could never bring myself to do it in the city (that would have been New York City for me), although my younger sister didn't seem to mind. I love your story and i love the illustration. Thanks for the little bit of history:>

Kay Aker said...

I really appreciate the kind remarks.The city is Frankfurt which to us was a teenage paradise so much to explore and adventures to be had. We encountered and were befriended by many German kids who really outdid us as far as adventurousness and outrageousness were concerned. Isn't Germany the hippy capital of the world anyway? I'm just sad I don't speak German anymore.

Roz Foster said...

Can we deport Bush for being a bad example of an American? Ha!

Hey, your story reminded me of this IF entry:
http://www.geniusunderground.com/theothereye/moon

The Unknown said...

Great story. I love the way you put the characters on an old photo. Great job.
love

CRISTOSOVA said...

Frankfurt that is! It looked familiar but I would have never known. (I might have passed there occasionally and with shoes on, on my way to find the Römer) Is Germany the hippie capital of the world? I think a lot of Portugese think that because German women often go au natural under their arms... (well, what a topic). Berlin certainly is. My hair on some days also. And I can´t complain about your German sentence either, it is grammatically perfect und you can even do Umlaute ;) It is really nice to get to know some sniplets about people through their drawings!

Roz, but please not to Germany!

Kay Aker said...

Cheney must accompany him. Deport them to Iraq?

georg said...

What a great story & illo! It's sure the two rebels live in another world, in a more colourful world, than the daily Frankfurt! I can imagine your parents didn't like your bare feet in city? In those years I too walked bare-footed, but it was in the country!

Really a clever way to show the two ways of living!

(and thanks for your kind comment at my blog)

TXArtcGal said...

If I could...I would never wear shoes!! Great illo, and I enjoyed your childhood memory!! Fun and unique illo!

Anonymous said...

Love your mixed-media style as well:-)

Tony Sarrecchia said...

Cool style. Very cute characters.

Janet said...

I hate to wear shoes!.....and now, I'm even more curious about Marilou. "abandoned trailor" sounds almost like homeless...but I'm hoping you will tell us she is just eccentric!

Twisselman said...

Walk on broken glass? Yikes! My feet are too tender for that.

Great illustration combined with the photo.

Europe is a great place for walking. A friend and I spent the better part of a summer walking parts of it... but NOT barefooted!