Highway to Heel

In an effort to receive more input from the Orcas Island community and the students of  Orcas Island High School who don’t regularly write for the school, The Viking Voice will now include letters to the editor. In order to get the ball rolling, the amazingly awesome and brilliant Claire Bishop Martin wrote our paper’s first Letter to The Editor, on the incredibly crucial subject of Devon Mann’s Heelys.

At one point during elementary school, everyone wanted a pair of Heelys. If you had a pair, you were instantly the envy of all of the other third graders, who would bow at your marvelous ability to glide across the floor instead of walking like a peasant. But like all great fads, Heelys eventually fell to the wayside, replaced with far less elegant fads such as Silly Bands and questionable pattern combinations (that one might have just been me). But no amount of uniquely shaped rubber bands or stripes and polka dots could match the coolness of going from walking to skating in mere seconds. Regardless, Heelys were forgotten by most.

Then everything changed when Devon Mann returned from winter break wearing the it-item of 2008. Now most people wouldn’t dare wear something that’s in that strange zone of not-new but not-vintage, luckily Devon isn’t like most people. Immediately the entire school was able to realize the radicalness that is wearing Heelys seven years after they were in vogue. After all, it is much more energy efficient to glide across the floor as opposed to walking, not to mention way more fun.

Despite Devon bringing back the coolest shoes since those weird sneakers that could be pumped up with air, they probably won’t reappear on the feet of Orcas Island teenagers. By wearing them, Devon hasn’t revived a flat lining fashion trend, but rather created her own signature item. An item that, though bright green and black, manages to go with absolutely everything she wears.