A Croc of Shoe

Wow...are YOU ever an angry little person!

Lighten up, hon...they're just footwear. Nobody said you have to wear them, we live in a world where we are spoiled for choices, and you can make yours to wear whatever you want.

Isn't that GREAT??

So take a deeeeeep breath, Starshine....relax....and try hard not to look at me in my comfy Birkies or heaven forbid, my $7.00 Crocs knock-offs I got at Longs so I can wash my dogs without having to go barefoot outdoors as I do it.

And you might re-think your cruel remarks about teenagers at their awkward, pimply stage of life; you come off like one of those snotty, nasty cheerleader-type princesses who drive kids to hang themselves in closets.

I'm just sayin'.

Try decaf and try to get over yourself.

Have a nice day!

Let me get this straight: shoes are there at the end of your legs to make a fashion statement... that is their sole purpose and if they don't look smashing (and cost a bundle) then they are failing at shoeness... Comfort, utility, all those things are red herrings that people throw out when they want to get you to wear things so they can laugh at you later.

I mean, I'm not saying they should be worn with black socks, mind you, but the shoes themselves are blameless there.

I think I'll buy a pair just in the hopes of offending your ilk.

Man, Holly & Mooseo need some Satire Therapy. Now I know what Joel Stein of the LA Times means when he says he gets hate mail for making fun of everything.

I have to confess, I cringe when a good friend thinks a pair of day-glo Crocs qualifies as evening wear for dinner out on the town... but hey, at this age, I've learned to suck up secondhand embarrassment. I also have to confess that I'm more than tempted to buy a black pair of the non-holey Crocs -- they don't look half bad and might actually be as comfy as everyone says. You might catch me wearing them at Trader Joes, but don't worry, not at Opal or Seagrass.

Sorry, Starshine, but even if these go the way of the dodo, they're sure to be replaced in a couple years by the latest fugly incarnation of Birks or Tevas.

"As attractive as a gawky, pimply teenager at the apex of his awkwardness"

It must be nice to be blessed with the good looks that you have. Pulling four aces in the genetic lottery of life doesn't entitle one to make fun of those who don't measure up to society's superficial standards.

I hope your sons never have to go through what so many of us who had acne as teenagers had to go through, and if they should be afflicted with this, I hope you have a more compassionate attitude toward them than you do on those kids you make fun of in this article.

Kids today have enough issues to deal with and don't need to read this sort of callousness coming from someone who I would think should be more enlightened.

What's next, making fun of flat-chested girls?

As I'm sure you are aware, billclausen, Starshine is an equal opportunity fun-maker, and has mentioned flat chests before.

I read her comment as a reference to that the universally shared period of gawkiness and self-consciousness -- physical, mental, and social -- only a handful of teens avoid.

And based on her consistently insightful writings, I'm guessing she had her moments as well.

mmm-mmm-mmm....life imitates Junior High in the Santa Babylon Blogosphere yet again.

Good job kids, reliving your pre-teen snotty behavior of gathering in the locker room to pick on the less-beautiful and less fortunate.

If this is "insightful writing", I can just imagine what a thrill y'all must get from graffiti on public restroom walls!

No Binky...sweetheart...this is not "fun" and she isn't throwing her lot in with you or anyone else who suffered as a gawky kid...she's laughing at you.

And you too, Allegro; just because you hang out in places I've never heard of (well, except for Trader Joes, which is an overrated, overpriced grocery store) doesn't make you special or immune, either. Do you like being pointed at and made fun of?

Do you all really enjoy being zinged by the latter-day incarnation of a bratty cheerleader who thinks she is all that and a sack of chips? How about if your kid came home devastated because some other kid made "fun" of him or her?

Is that funny or entertaining?

Where do we draw the line and have the courage to say that racist jokes and "making fun" of shy kids with pimples are just not funny?

Or does mob mentality rule so completely that even when we aren't face to face, we haven't the integrity to stand up and say "that's cruel."?

I guess your parents just didn't raise you with any manners or compassion whatsoever. Too bad you are choosing to carry on living out your misspent childhoods unto adulthood.

Have a nice day!

Binky writes: "As I'm sure you are aware, billclausen, Starshine is an equal opportunity fun-maker, and has mentioned flat chests before.

I read her comment as a reference to that the universally shared period of gawkiness and self-consciousness -- physical, mental, and social -- only a handful of teens avoid.

And based on her consistently insightful writings, I'm guessing she had her moments as well."

Binky: First of all, speaking negatively of someone's physical appearance--which is something a person has no control over--is not "fun-making", at least for the person to whom the comment is directed.

As for your second paragraph, I read it as her sharing her opinion that those with acne are unattractive because that is what she said, straight, plain and simple, unless up is down and New York is on the west coast.

As for her having insightful writings, of course she has written insightful things, but that has no bearing on the issue at hand. Of course I have no idea what Starshine looked like as a young adolescent. If she "had her moments" as you say, then she should know better than to perpetuate the pain she experienced on others, so based on that I doubt if she did have "her moments". You can also define what "moments" are: One version of this can simply be not getting attention from someone you have a crush on, which if painful enough, and another can be being told your ugly and gross and being picked on and laughed at by other kids. (And in the case of this article, an adult)

I know the feeling of being made fun of for having acne, and excuse me for saying this...looking a little too ethnic. Thank God I came through it in part because I had people around who knew what I was going through and I'm fine now so no, I'm not complaining, but I'm thinking about kids nowadays who don't have the support systems that we who were kids in decades past had. Add to that all the crap bullies can spread on the Internet on My Space pages about other kids. In short, alienated kids do NOT need such cold-hearted, even you some would consider it "honest" commentary.

I want any kid who is reading this blog who doesn't measure up to society's superficial beauty standards to know that there are those of us out there that know what you are going through, we've been through it, and survived and become better people for it and that they should not allow themselves to be defined by the comments Starshine wrote in this column.

There is the old saying "the pen is mightier than the sword" and I hope Starshine recongnizes the power her words can have--good or bad.

With all of its efforts to promote itself as a publication that understands the plight of the oppressed segements of our society, I would think the editors of The Independent would frown on such lack of sensitivity.

Over and out. B.C.

I wonder if a male columnist writing for The Independent making the sort of comments about the physical appearance of teen aged girls that Starshine had made about teen aged boys would have gotten off the hook without any criticism from the bosses that run the paper.
Kinda makes me wonder.

Er, Bill, it says "gawky, pimply teenager". No gender specified.

Totheaverageman: The quote goes as follows: "As attractive as a gawky, pimply teenager at the apex of HIS awkwardness" (Emphasis mine)

Ah, yes. Well, then she was probably referring to me. I also like to wear black socks with my shorts while I watch the Olsen twins on TV and cut my hair with a flowbee. If I wasn't so busy, I would probably be horribly, horribly offended.

I think some of you here are taking this way too personally.
Seriously.

You all might feel differently, if the shoe were on the other foot!

Then again, maybe we shouldn't say anything, until we walk a mile in each other shoes. . . .(aw, you KNEW that was coming)