weekend update

this weekend has been the best ever. ive gotten to talk to so many people about barefooting and have gotten almost all good responses. even if people didnt jump up and and throw their shoes away immediately its still nice that they asked questions and didnt automatically judge me.

the first person i talked to about it is danny; i met her on the train going to NYC. a totally rad chick whos into metaphysics, tattoos and cigarettes [although shes too young for the latter two]. we talked about tons of stuff and she asked me a lot about my feet and barefooting. she said she loved being barefoot [who doesnt, really?] and that she'd give it a try! we exchanged numbers and now we're friends!

the next people i talked to were some homless kids [early twenties]. i saw them around 14th st & 5th ave asking for money so i helped them out a little because if i were in their position i'd want someone to help me. it was a guy and a girl; when i gave them the money the girl asked me if she could give me a hug and said "i havent held a twenty in my hand in so long" and hearing that made me so sad, but i was so happy that i could help them out. when she sat back down she was like "oh my god where are your shoes?!" and so i told them that i dont wear shoes! the guy asked me if he could see the bottoms of my feet and so of course i showed them [they were so black from the subway!] and they both thought it was so awesome. good luck to both of them, i hope they get to where ever theyre trying to go.

I had an incident with a homeless man going gaga over my barefeet. he went a little too crazy when he decided he would just help himself to them. not cool. im glad he appreciated them, but touching without asking is not nice!

i also met this woman at the pier off of Christopher street who talked to me for a really long time and asked about my feet and thought that it was a really beautiful way to live. i even convinced her to just take her shoes off and walk around with me barefoot to see how awesome it feels! she let me take a photo of our feet together!

on saturday i handed out transformers 2 comic books to people around university pl and journal square [i think!!] and had at least 30 people ask me where my shoes were and why i was walking around barefoot in the rain. it was so much fun to see their reactions and see how many of them thought it was interesting and didnt give me the usual "eww thats gross" reaction.

the big fun news of the weekend was that i got my feet tattooed with banners that say "walk soflty" and "live freely". i absolutely love them!!! i got to talk to a bunch of people in the tattoo shop about being a barefooter....although sam [who inked me] told me at the end that he has a foot phobia!!! i felt horrible that he had to do two foot tattoos on me! but i guess it wasnt too bad because he told me i had nice feet :)

i got glass stuck in my sole four times this weekend! good thing ive got tough soles and it doesnt even hurt me!!! i only bled once, but i stepped on the shard of glass pretty hard. i just pulled it out and kept walking :)

these are colettes and my feet! she was the really nice lady that i met at the pier.

heres my dirty inky foot after getting the initial outline done on my left foot!

here are my feet all black from the subway and bandaged up after i got back from getting my tattoos! sorry for the bad quality, but the only light was from the one lamp in the room. this blackness is what the homeless kids i talked to got to see!