Really! I did come across this article about my blog on Newsday.com Inside Stories. The reporter, A. J. Carter wrote the following about my blog:
IN HIS SHOES.You know when I answered the Rabbi in the comments I had the last question of his article in my mind also. But then I thought nothing more of it as I do post news as well as shoe related posts. All my posts on the pope has brought so many people here that I exceeded my bandwith at photobucket and I had to upgrade or none of my pictures would show.
The most endearing feature of blogs is also the most inherent weakness: People are free to rant however they want even if they know nothing about their subject.
We were reminded of this when we were directed to a blog titled "The Secret Life of Shoes" that had a string of comments about Long Island-based Love My Shoes owner Robert Yeganeh's recent offer to Martha Stewart of footwear designed to hide the ankle monitor she wears while serving her home-confinement sentence.
The blog string segued from comments about Stewart to comments about Yeganeh's motives in offering the shoes to Yeganeh's character - comments from people who have never met Yeganeh. The gist appeared to be that Yeganeh's motives were either to sell shoes (not so, Yeganeh noted to us) or generate publicity (as we said when the offer was made) and that Yeganeh was a bad person because he once turned down a request from an unnamed charity for free shoes. "I guess it is more important to have celebrities wear your shoes than people who REALLY need them," one blog concluded.
But as Yeganeh noted when he called us from a business trip to Italy, he has donated shoes to the group Dress for Success, which helps women returning to the job market, and he raised money for tsunami relief organizations at a recent event during the Super Bowl.
"People think everybody's after a buck. People think that whatever you do is to make a sale, to corner the market," Yeganeh said, guessing that the criticisms came from competitors. "We never really turn away anybody that is a legitimate, needy organization."
Yeganeh did get support from a blogger describing him as "one of the biggest philanthropists I know ... he is a real mentsch." The blogger described himself as "one of the rabbis of the owner of Love My Shoes," and the signature referred to a Web site of a Hasidic organization in Waterbury, Conn., where Yeganeh said he worshiped one week. "I've got to thank him," Yeganeh said.
Which begs the question: What is a Hasidic rabbi doing on a Web site titled "The Secret Life of Shoes?"
For those of you who missed the Martha Stewart posts and the comments on Love My Shoes here are the two posts that caused all the stir:
Martha Stewart Inspires Shoe Designer : all the comments are here
The post with the actual pictures: Martha Stewart Ankle Bracelet Shoes
Love My Shoes
You can now order the Martha Stewart shoes if you contact them by email.
It's my birthday! My blogs famous! It's my birthday! I am stompin' with the blogs! Okay! Okay before my shoes get any bigger, have your people call my people and we'll do lunch!
What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~
