Posts Tagged ‘exchange’
It’s Earth Day – Go Barefoot!
Today, we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day; which was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1070 to raise awareness about environmental issues around our planet.
Personally, I like to think of Earth Day as an opportunity to reflect on my relationship with planet and the impact we, human beings, are creating on a daily basis – especially in developed and developing areas; which are growing exponentially every year.
Our New Site is Up and Running
Well, here we are! After a month of hard work, I’m proud to present the newly branded and designed Barefoot Canada site.
This new site doesn’t only bear a new interface design, but also takes advantage of a more efficient and flexible back-end system; which will enable me to keep it up to date more easily and effectively.
Make sure to visit often to check out the latest additions to “Foot Notes”, showcasing interesting material about barefooting from all over the internet. Get inspired by our ever-growing collection of photos from fellow barefooters from around the world. Meet and mingle with other barefoot enthusiasts from by joining our Social Network – remember, you don’t need to live in Canada to join!
As expected, this is a work in progress. I’m always on the look for new features and information that will help all of us have a better experience with the site. As usual, I welcome suggestions to keep improving the site.
Keep ‘em bare, keep ‘em happy,
Barefoot Moe
Toronto, Canada
Another Great Interview Experience
Yesterday, I had the pleasure to meet, interview, and go for a fun barefoot outing with Radio Documentary Producer Frank Faulk.
Frank contacted me last week to do a showcase half-hour radio documentary about my barefoot lifestyle. As part of the exercise, he wanted to go on a barefoot outing with me to a commercial place and experience firsthand any potential hassles; so I suggested that we go for coffee at Fairview Mall – located at the corner of Sheppard Av. & Don Mills Rd. here in Toronto, not far from where I live – especially, because I’ve had a couple of “encounters” with security there in the past.
Is the Newest Barefooter in Town a Media Writer?
Yesterday morning, I had an interesting and rewarding meeting with Canada’s Sun Media Corporation feature writer Thane Burnett. In the past 10 years or so, I have been interviewed by numerous reporters but I must admit interviewing with Thane was by far one of the most refreshing experiences of this kind in recent months.
When Thane contacted me to propose the article, he explained he wanted to do a cross-media piece focused on the urban barefooting experience here in the city; which would potentially include writing and video reporting for the different Sun Media publications which includes the Sun family of newspapers, Canoe.com and perhaps Sun TV. Needless to say, both the focus of the story, as well as the potential wide reach, got my attention.
There’s a Lot of Assuming Going On!
After nearly 20 years of leading a predominantly barefoot lifestyle, I keep being amazed by the amount of common assumptions “shoddies” (people who don’t like going barefoot and prefer to be in shoes most of the time) make about us barefooters. What I find most interesting is that all shoddies seem to make the same assumptions over and over; even the ones that claim “Oh, I used to spend entire summers barefoot as a kid”.
This, sadly, goes to show how misinformed we are as a society and how generalized these misconceptions are – even among health professionals and other “experts” such as sports trainers and traditional footwear designers; as well as individuals in positions of authority like police officers, security guards, establishment managers and corporation executives, just to mention a few. Additionally and unfortunately, here in North America, the association of bare feet with lack of education, destitution, and the hippie sub-culture is still very predominant. Therefore, we barefooters face a series of social challenges on a daily basis which make our desire to lead a “normal” barefoot lifestyle rather frustrating at times.
