During my senior year of high school I wrote for the school paper. I had some pretty interesting articles, including documenting the rising trend of shopping at the Salvation Army and a fairly controversial piece on homosexual students at the school. I also had my own column, which I won a New England Scholastic Press Association Special Achievement Journalism Award for. It’s one of the only pieces I have managed to save from all of the columns I wrote, and now you get to read it!
And now, Throw-back-Thursday presents: Painfully Fashionable.

Right now, as I write this, I am wearing 4 and ½ inch heels that are as thick as my thumb. It feels as though the balls of my feet have been thrust into a bucket of tacks, each one carefully plunging into my flesh, causing me great pain. And this is the most comfortable pair of heels I can find.
I am doing this so that by the time prom comes around I will not be able to feel my feet, and so will be able to wear a pair of heels for one single night. Not even an entire day, mind you. Just for one short night.
So as I have been walking, balancing, and falling in these stilts I have also been asking myself, why is this torture such a necessity?
Why do people have to do stupid things to look cool, like forcing their feet into painful shoes?
It’s not fair. My feet are in pain so that my legs can look like a dollar and a half, and I can reach my prom date if he’s tall.
That is it.
Actually, I’m a bit in awe of the girls who wear these twin ambassadors of pain to school. I also fear for their safety, seeing as so many girls have bad balance and fall down stairs.
These “shoes” are almost status symbols as well. I’m never scared of a girl in flats, unless she is on the football team. But if some little freshman with 5 and ½ inch stilettos comes over, especially if I’m in a corner, I’m going to be a bit frightened.
Maybe it’s the height. Maybe it’s the fact that they can, in fact, wear these things that they call shoes on slippery linoleum.
Nevertheless, fear strikes my heart when they come clomping down the hall (yes, clomping) and I am comforted when they walk by, and don’t chose to challenge me to a brawl after school outside the Steve White gym (which would be a bad choice anyway, seeing how it’s so close to guidance).
Then there is the fact that some boys (Yes, boys. We’re still in high school here.) Find girls in heels more “assertive”. Translated, “assertive” equals “hot”.
So are these girls at the advantage? Not necessarily. Star of the hit show The OC, Mischa Barton, has become infamous for wearing ballet flats out and about, and many a boy find her quite the ticket.
More and more magazines, including In Style and Glamour, have been featuring flats in their “what to wear” sections.
And why not? They can be dressed up with sequins and fancy patterns, or dressed down using shiny material and ballet inspired bows.
Now that the public can see that there are more options than the twin ambassadors of pain, why not wear flats to the prom?
Maybe I should start a revolution. Maybe I should wear the cutest flats ever created and be the bell of the ball. Maybe I should get a shorter prom date.