Published in the Contra Costa Times
By Casey Capachi
6-footer embraces her height
JULIA ROBERTS once said, “I’m too tall to be a girl. I’m between a chick and a broad.”
Just like Roberts, who I might add is only 5 feet 9 inches, I feel like a cross between fabulous and huge every day of my life.
Standing at 6 feet for the past two years of my life, I now embrace my height. But it wasn’t always so.
At the start of fifth grade, I had to buy a uniform for the Catholic school I would attend. It was at the uniform outlet that I realized how my size affected my choices.
Clothes that fit me around the waist weren’t long enough for my legs and clothes long enough for legs were too roomy elsewhere. My mother kept going back and forth from the racks to the dressing room with pants for me to try on. We ended up going to the neighboring outlet to find long enough pants. It was then that my body consciousness began.
High heels are the also unfortunate no-no for glamour pusses like myself. I mean, it’s just scary when I wear heels. Period. But considering I have the whole point of high heels — height — I now relish the fact that I can wear flats to prom.
Besides fashion issues, my height has affected my posture. I believe all tall girls develop bad posture because they think it makes them look less suspicious of being a “tree.” Trust me girls, craning your neck one centimeter down doesn’t bring the boys to the yard.
When you are so tall, it feels like you’re under a microscope, like everyone is sizing you up and trying to figure you out. I especially feel like I’m in a fishbowl when I visit my family. When I walk down the street, people will just stop and stare at me like I’m a creature they have never seen before. It’s so weird it makes you want to shrink with self-consciousness.
But despite going against societal norms, I wouldn’t want to be shorter if I could. I came to this realization while playing volleyball. I was always noticed at tryouts because I was tall, and up until other girls caught up to my height, I didn’t have to work as hard as they did to get playing time.
There is also something so powerful and, hey, even beautiful about a tall woman, since the mythical Amazons to the current rendition of them: Victoria’s Secret models. Maybe it’s the never-ending legs or just the fact that you make heads turn, but height is power. I have the power to look down on people, literally, and even the power to choose colleges because they want tall girls to play their sport.
The only thing missing from this great height equation is a tall male … oh well, can’t have it all.
I realize that everyone has insecurities about her body. It’s the only thing anyone can truly call their own. I have come to terms with the fact that I will always be too tall to wear adorable pumps, but that I will always stand above the crowd.
I do have one question though: When will it be my turn to be in the front of a group picture?