i am lotus

Hey! Remember the other day when I got all excited in comments about the idea of starting an Anonymous Blog so that all of us could always have somewhere to go to blog about whatever we want to? Really, I was very excited about it. And so were you guys. I wanted to make a safe place where anything was okay. A place where comments were moderated, and nothing ugly ever got back to the author. A place where people could go and read real, piece of your heart posts by wonderful people who need an outlet for their work.

I was in the process of making that place, when I found out that there are a few similar places… like Blog Share and Post Secret. But those are different! So I kept working.

Then I found out that someone was already way ahead of me.

I like to call her ‘Catherine the Great’ in my mind, but her official screen moniker is Her Bad Mother. You may have heard of her?

The point of “AnonyBlog” as I was calling it, was to give us all a place to go. It wasn’t to duplicate one that already existed.

So, friends, I have wonderful news. We already have somewhere to go! It’s called, “The Basement” and it’s there for us to write about anything our hearts desire. No names (unless we want to give them) and no pain. Just catharsis. Just freedom. Release. So think of it as AnonyBlog, and please go. I know I’m going to. And if you feel more comfortable submitting your post to me in email, I’ll be happy to pass it on to The Basement for you.

I asked Catherine to tell you about it herself, and she most graciously obliged. In her words…

Once upon a time, I needed somewhere to write freely, anonymously. So I set up this secret clubhouse, in which secrets would be shared and virtual cigarettes and liquor sneaked. A safe place to tell stories that I couldn’t share publicly. But then I went and left a trail of wine bottles for everyone to follow – I wrote about it and promoted it and basically said to the world oh hai I can has super secret blog space and tell u all about it?

I discovered very quickly that I can’t divulge my own secrets in my basement lair – everyone who reads me knows that it’s there. But you can divulge yours there. If you want to. If you need to.

When I posted, once upon a time, about wanting to write freely – to get the shit out, to get the shit figured out, to get support – so many people responded with resounding ‘OMG, me toos.’ So many of you said, in comments or in e-mails, that you’ve struggled with the desire and/or need to tell stories that you were reluctant or afraid to tell on your blogs (the very same things that so many of you, recently, have been saying to dear Lotus, too.) For the same reasons that I’ve been reluctant: because it would expose too much. Because the wrong person might read it. Because it would darken up an otherwise light and cheery space. Because you just don’t feel comfortable saying whatever it is that you’re yearning to say on the front porch of your blog home.

So the Basement is for you. For you to tell your stories, the ones that you can’t, for whatever reason, tell on your own blog. It’s for you to tell your secrets or your scary stories or the feelings that you just haven’t worked out fully enough to blog publicly about. Maybe you’ve got some funny stories that you just don’t want everyone to hear. Or maybe you just want to solicit feedback or support on something that is just too weird/icky/loaded to put on your blog (was anyone else afraid of shitting after giving birth? Of sex? Anyone else bleed for 6 weeks? Anyone else forget to buckle baby into car seat? Watch baby fall off bed? Anyone convinced that they’re irretrievably physically/emotionally/mentally messed up? The worst mother ever?)

Maybe you just want to chatter nonsensically about the latest gossip without cluttering up your own blog. Or maybe there’s something more serious that you want/need to work out on the page, something too dark or touchy or weird for public airing (I’m scared to take meds/not take meds/have another baby/not have another baby/think about my miscarriage/not think about my miscarriage/yell at my mother/not yell at my mother.) Or maybe you just want to bitch about your in-laws. (Which you of course would never do, because they are all delightful.)

The Basement is open to one and all. Anyone who wants to talk/share/story-tell/rant off-blog, this is the place. Come on in.

So, let’s all go to The Basement together, shall we? It will be like a party where we can hear each other with perfect clarity, but no one has to see each other. (So you don’t have to worry about fixing your hair or what you’re wearing.)

I’m going to go in my underwear, just in case you were wondering. Just cause I can.

Hope I read you there.