The Parenting Dad

I recently picked up a copy of the newly released "My Foot Book" by up and coming author Libby. I usually prefer to shy away from mononymous authors and musicians alike as I find it pretentious, but I've recognized the name from some of her concept art such as, "Poopy Diaper On A Bathroom Wall" and "Kitty Litter Clump In My Mouth" so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Upon seeing the front cover, I instantly recognized the artistic genius that Libby is so well known for. Next to the full cover-length cut-out of a foot is an abstract shape that to some may slightly resemble a foot, but may also be interpreted in many ways. Is it a broccoli floret? A broken femur? A clump of kitty litter?

She leaves it up to you the reader to decide. She's saying, "We all know what 'society' tells us a foot should look like, but this is MY FOOT, this is the truth I see behind society's illusion". Fascinating ideas presented on the cover alone had me excited to really dive into this short story and see what other treasures await inside.

Wow, what an amazing poem to open with. Feet are funny are they not? They often go both left and right, as well as to and fro. To the outside observer it may often seem like we're lost, just trying to figure out whether we want to go left or fro. But here is the brilliance in the short composition, no matter what it may look like our feet are doing, they know which way to go. We ourselves might not even understand it at the time, but the feet do!

Adding even more depth to this opening page is the fact that the author decided to use Comic Sans for the script. While largely frowned upon in the editing community, I feel like here she is making another point. What is it? I don't know. I have struggled with this and wrestled with it for almost a week now and her brilliance in choosing this font has surpassed my ability to reason. Great work!

No beating around the bush here. She gets straight to the point. This is my right foot. She just lays it all out there for everybody to see. I find it interesting that although the author is (as far as I know) a Caucasian writer of Dutch decent, what we see here is not simply a white or peach foot. We see a foot of many colors. She doesn't just stand on her own ancestry and history. She stands tall, united with all colors, working together to create a path not just for herself, but for all those who in unison stand together and say, "THIS IS MY RIGHT FOOT!"

Purple has long represented power, authority, and royalty. Here the author show us her strength. I find it quite revealing that whereas the previous foot was many colors, in this painting, she only uses purple signifying just how much strength she has. Truly she is an empowered female and she seeks to motivate and empower the rest of us.

She closes the book with a painting of her left foot. My one complaint about the story is that I feel like she already introduced us to her left foot on the previous page. This just feels like gratuitous foot painting at this point, but perhaps that is all part of her genius.

The left foot or hand has always been considered the weak foot/hand and I think that here she may be playing upon our pre-conceived notions of weakness. Once again, she uses multiple colors signifying unity among us all. I find it interesting that she has used purple too. Even in our left-footed 'weakness' (as determined by society) we can be strong.

Overall, I'd say the debut short story from Libby was magnificent. It was full of imagery and cultural critiques that you just don't find in many writers today.