to (raising) hell and back
Raising Hell is gone. We let the domain name on the site lapse (though, to deflect fault, someone registered the name for us with godaddy ages ago and I'm not even sure if that person still exists. So we had no way of knowing the domain was expiring).
I'm not that upset about it and I don't think Mig is, either. We both have a lot of things on our plate and taking care of and posting at yet another site was more like a chore than fun adventure it started out to be. Plus, our kids are older now and they are more infuriating than funny, more mature than mirthful. There's only so much mileage you can get out of your kids' antics.
We had a good run. Raising Hell was quite popular in it's heyday. We were a Yahoo! pick of the week, an MSNBC site of the day and mentioned in magazines and newspapers worldwide.
It was fun to tell stories about kids that you wouldn't find in most parenting magazines or websites. While one magazine ran an article about finding the right daycare or did a QandA with the leading expert on post-birth traumatic syndrome in newborns, Raising Hell was addressing important issues like finding flowers in your kid's vomit and whether or not wearing your sister's dress will make your penis disappear.
We had many fine authors join us at RH over the time it existed. I'd like to thank all of them for making RH the success it was. Please write me if you would like your archives. Stacy from Hosting Matters dug them up for me and we have them all in one place, saved for posterity and future embarassment of our children. Oh, I recommend not using my rhzine address, as it doesn't work. Sure, laugh and say that's obvious, but I tried mail Mig three times today before smacking myself in the head.
I've got quite a collection of stories saved from RH. I think they would make a good, funny book about parenting. That is, if the people reading it had a really good sense of would laugh at an essay informing you that if babies could talk, your son would be saying, And the next time you change me in front of all those cute girls on the playground, I'm going to take a wizz in your face. Aside from juvenile humor, the book would also feature a series of serious essays as well.
I'm going through all the RH archives and pulling out what's mine. Then I will go through the process of picking and choosing what to put in the in pile and what goes in the out pile. Then I'll find out how to stalk, bribe and blackmail book editors and publishing honchos until they relent and publish your book.
If anyone would like to give me a hand - and an outside opinion - in determining what's publishable and what's not, just let me know. I'd be happy to compensate you somehow. I'm also going to include in all the RH posts some of the better posts I've written here about my kids.
So, any agents out there? Publishers? Professional blackmailers?
_________
Here's one of my favorite pieces from RH. It wasn't really something I wrote, as I was just transcribing an overhead conversation. I heard this exchange between a father and his five year old son while waiting for DJ to get out of school one day. It was about two or three days after 9/11, when we were all still in that state of suspended disbelief.
cloud eaters
(The boy was the first one out of the school door as the afternoon bell rang. He jumped into his father's arms, like a scene out of a commercial for life insurance)
Dad: What did you do today?
Boy: The same. Looked out the window.
Dad: What did you see?
Boy: The same. Giraffes.
Dad: What were they doing?
Boy: The same. Eating the clouds.
Dad: (silence)
Boy: That's why it was nice out today. I made them eat all the clouds.
Dad: Good boy.
I love how the father indulged his son's whimsical imagination. Or maybe he just wanted to believe that we could make our clouds disappear just like that.
I love how the father indulged his son's whimsical imagination. Or maybe he just wanted to believe that we could make our clouds disappear just like that.
Comments
Bummer, I liked those stories. Is that where the "Do not pee in the Millennium Falcon" story lived? If so please repost it here!
Posted by: Analog Mouse | April 10, 2004 02:50 PM
That's too bad. It was a great site. I didn't explore over there nearly as much as I should have, but the parts I did read I enjoyed tremendously.
You think I could rent that kid's giraffe to eat some of my clouds?
Posted by: Sunidesus | April 10, 2004 04:45 PM
I'm sorry to hear that Raising Hell is gone. I found the stories amusing, sometimes even terrifying when I looked down at my then-infant son. I'd always thought, too, about submitting something someday, but my son, now only 3, wasn't quite at the age where I thought the stories I could tell might amuse anyone other than his parents.
Maybe in a few years, parents will revive Raising Hell with your blessing :)
Posted by: Mariann | April 10, 2004 09:01 PM
I'm an editor, sweetie. Email me.
Posted by: Meryl Yourish | April 11, 2004 01:28 AM
It was a lot of fun while it lasted.
Posted by: mig | April 11, 2004 02:27 PM
at the very least, some of those stories could get you published in something like the Chicken Soup For the _____ Soul (insert kid's, parent's etc.) - I LOVE those books and to see the infamous Michele in there would be incredible....
"I knew her when...."
Posted by: Jim S | April 12, 2004 03:45 PM
Thanks, Jim but not exactly what I was going for. I don't think I've written very many heartwarming stories.
Maybe I should start.
Posted by: michele | April 12, 2004 03:49 PM
I loved Raising Hell. I found it late, but took a good week and read each and every one of those stories. I felt like I got a glimpse into the lives of Miguel and Brian through that site, much like I feel like I get that glimpse into Michele's life here. I would love to do anything to help with the book. Reading, weeding through, grunt work, you name it. No compensation needed, I already work for a non-profit. I just loved those stories. Contact me if you would like some help.
Posted by: meredith | April 14, 2004 06:01 PM