Okay, since I moved to Vermont I am constantly made fun of for my high heel shoes. Generally I refuse to justify this obsession, but it recently hit me that it is not just the displaced New Yorker-stranger-in-a-strange-land thing. In fact, though I frown on stereotypes, this past winter I realized that this frivolous footwear fascination is indeed connected to my Latino heritage.
I had just finished a long day of errands and I sat waiting for my sugar-free vanilla latte. Bored, I found myself watching people’s feet as they walked in and out. As the sixth or seventh person passed by, it occurred to me that I had never seen such a large collection of practical, comfortable shoes in my life. Mostly due to the brutal New England climate, no doubt. But as I looked down at my black, shiny, Tommy Hilfiger spike-heeled boots, I realized that this was yet another way I did not fit in in my adopted New England state. But I did not always care so much about footwear.
It all changed the year I turned 30 and I made my first trip alone to visit my family in Puerto Rico after my mother passed away. With her loss I noticed things I never had before. Like the intense color of a ripe guava. The way the leaves of the palm trees whipped around with the afternoon breeze. The way family and friends touched so naturally, so warmly. And the shoes. On the second day of my trip I wanted to buy a book by a Puerto Rican author, and my uncle Estéban kindly brought me to Plaza Las Americas. As we were parking, I noticed a long-legged young woman in professional dress walking towards the mall entrance. Her clothes didn't surprise me — women tend to dress up in P.R. — it was the four- or five-inch heeled, brown pumps that she was clicking along on that shocked me. "Tío, do you think she is actually going shopping in those shoes?" He glanced over and replied, "No, she is probably going to work. She's wearing a nametag. I bet she works in the department store over there." Just the thought of doing a retail job in such elegant but uncomfortable footwear was inconceivable to me. I didn't think much more about it until the next day.
Article comments