Howard 1

Camille Howard
Ms. Gardner
English 10h/Period 6
27 January 2016
Reading Afoot
Get your feet off the couch! They reek! my mom shrieked.
Mom, my feet do not reek. They smell like five hours worth of team spirit, I said
with a smirk plastered on my face. To be fair, I would have been offended if my mom had not
been mortified with my feet. I had just arrived home from dance, so my feet were hot off the
frying pan. If my hooves did not stink, then I did not work hard enough at dance class. After all,
there are 250,000 sweat glands in a pair of feet. Sweat glands in the feet excrete as much as a
half-pint of moisture a day (Foot Facts). Gross!
There are philosophical meanings behind feet, which are similar to palm reading. Foot
reading has been practiced in India and China for more than 5,000 years. Indias oldest
mythological poem Ramayan has a scene where Ramas wife, Seetha, describes about her foot
reading to a demon woman, Trijata. (Jane Sheehan)
Fashion dictates that only people with dainty metatarsals may have the right to wear
strappy sandals. I have wide feet so Im stuck with Crocs. Dancing has not helped my wide feet,
but my wide feet have helped my dancing. I am able to stay grounded through my transitions.
Having wide feet is a sign that I am always on the go, and I cannot sit still for a minute! That is
why my mom placed her restless platypus in dance classes ten years ago.

Howard 2
Being born with high arches is a plus in the dance industry. The arch is what makes a
pointed toe so beautiful. I receive commands from my dance teacher, Natalie, almost every day
about my feet:
Point your toes!
Dont sicle!
Stretch through the arch, down through the toe!
She frequently reminds me about working my feet because I was born with an extremely
flexible body, which includes my feet. My arches are very high which makes my life easier when
it comes to pointing my toes- if my feet are not working, then I am definitely slacking off. The
Chinese believe that having high arches means that I am independent. However, I can sometimes
be considered anti-social The need for business and routine will often not include the presence
of other people and can sometimes lead to isolation.
My second largest toe is very long- proving my compulsiveness, but also my leadership
skills. I have a routine for every day perfectly scheduled. If I know my routine will change the
next day, then I make an altered schedule. Since I cannot wiggle my smallest toe separately from
my fourth largest toe, that indicates I adore routine and predictability. However, that does not
mean I am not adventurous or rebellious either. My smallest toe faces the side instead of up; this
strange trait explains my unconventional personality. In simpler words, this means I am very
bizarre, and at times, I can be unpredictable.
At a competition last year, I had played a stuck up, snobby, and overly confident
character in our tap routine. The other three girls, Olivia, Isabel, and Aislynn, were genuine, cute,
and chummier than who I played. Luckily for me, I never broke character or else this could have
been embarrassing: as I was tapping, acting high and mighty, my feet slipped from under me. I

Howard 3
immediately jumped up again, and then resumed tapping. I cast Olivia- who was dancing next to
me- a heinous look, acting as if she pushed me. Boy, did everyone get a kick out of that fall. The
judges had even commented, Uh oh oh, nevermind she was supposed to fall, for a minute I
thought that was real! and our dance placed overall in the competition.
My toes are clawed, meaning I have to try to relax. For most people, this is not a hard
action to perform. I was at ballet class the week before finals in tenth grade, and while warming
up at the barre, I had collapsed because of pain in my stomach. My anxiety and stress had taken
me to the hospital. My mother assumed it was appendicitis, but nope, my pipes were just clogged
up. My doctors had told me to relax because all of the stress happening to me on the outside was
affecting me on the inside. Since I am so scheduled and structured, I tend to eat very simply:
designated foods, at designated times. This was, and still is, the second problem. My toenails are
rigged, and having rigged toenails indicates a poor digestive system, and high stress levels. I
appear to be relaxed for the most part, but I have gears on the inside of my head that are
steaming all day, every day.
To this day, I am not positive where my misshapen feet will guide me. Maybe, my feet
will guide me on stage to my first Broadway show, where I will slip and fall on stage. My feet
take me to where I want to go, but I will stumble many times on my journey, and at my
destination. That is just life.
Feet do not only take us to where we strive to go, but they are also a map of who we are,
and who we want to become. Our footprints are the past, but every present step we take leads us
to the future.

Howard 4
Works Cited
"Foot Facts." The Most Comprehensive Source of Foot Health and Foot Care Information (foot
Pain, Heel Pain). CMTA, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.
Sheehan, Jane. "Foot Reading : Basics, Tips and Secrets - Palmistry." Vedic Astrology Ayurveda
RSS. Vedic Astrology & Ayurveda, 02 July 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.