Advertisement Frank Warren hopes you do. In four years, he has collected more than 200,000 anonymous secrets written on postcards for his blog “The PostSecret Project.” Every Sunday, he sifts through thousands of cards with secrets like “Everybody who knew me before 9/11 thinks I’m dead” and “I’m 65, and I still want to be a famous tennis player” and posts them on his Web site www.postsecret.com. Most of those postcards are decorated with artwork or pictures reflecting the secret, which can be funny, shocking, sexual or heartbreaking.
The project started when Warren handed out blank postcards to strangers in preparation for an art show. Within a month, more than 150 people responded to his request for their secrets. Now, 1 million people a week visit Warren’s blog, and he has shared even more secrets in his four best-selling books.
For him, sharing secrets is a way of freeing yourself, and he encourages his audiences to tell one of their secrets at his lectures.
“We have the opportunity to share our secrets like gifts,” he says.
Here are some of his thoughts on the success of his secret collection.
Q: Why do you think the PostSecret project has been such a success?
A: I feel like part of it has to do with the communication technology that is available to everyone. Blogs and virtual networks are creating opportunities for new kinds of conversations — conversations that are more open, more democratic and more self-purposing. PostSecret is self-purposing. It taps into this hidden landscape that we all live in, but we never talk about. People can share a part of themselves that they don’t tell their closest family members and friends. It helps us all feel like a part of a greater community. At times, I feel like I’ve accidentally tapped into something full of mystery and wonder that I don’t completely understand.
Q: Are you ever shocked by the secrets you get?
A: I’m never shocked, but I’m surprised every day. For years I’ve gotten 1,000 secrets a week, and you’d think that we’d run out of secrets. But there’s something about secrets that’s inexhaustible, but still full of vitality. They can be funny, sexual, shocking, hopeful. They can be in the form of an apology, a prayer, and they can be transformative. And I think what really allows them to resonate is that sometimes we think we’re keeping a secret to ourselves, not realizing that so many people feel the same way. And the whole process of writing down your secret and letting it go out to a stranger can be transformative. One of the things I’ve learned is that there are two kinds of secrets: the kind we hide from others and the ones we hide from ourselves.
Q: What is your secret?
A: I have a secret that I kept from myself for most of my life. And I think that in some way, that secret was trying to get out of me in a subconscious way, and it led me to this project. That’s one of the things I share during my talks, and I include one of my secrets in each of my four books.
Q: How has your PostSecret experience changed the way you relate to your teenage daughter?
A: I think I try to be more open and accepting of who she is. I let her know that she’s free to share anything she wants to with me. But if I truly want my daughter to share her secrets with me, the first thing I need to do is share one of my secrets with her and show her my vulnerability. It’s on that foundation that I think we can build our strong, intimate connections.
Q: You’ve won awards for advancing mental health — is that one of your goals, and how do you think the site contributes to it?
A: When I realized how popular the project was becoming — I get more than a million viewers a week — I knew I wanted to do more than put pop-up ads on the site. I made a commitment that I’d never make any money from ads on the site, so for four years we’ve promoted the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, and we’ve raised more than a half million dollars for the help line. Suicide has touched me in a number of ways, through family members, friends, and in my own dark times, and it gives me a real sense of satisfaction that I can move the issue forward in positive ways. Suicide is the most preventable form of death, and the best way to prevent it is to share our feelings about it, share our secrets.
Q: What can we expect at your lecture?
A: At my talks it’s really neat because I share some of the censored secrets that the publishers wouldn’t include in my books — the secret secrets. And I also open it up to the audience to ask questions and to share. And it’s a really powerful time. It brings people together.
INFORMATION:
Frank Warren is on a nationwide university lecture tour. Here is his schedule through the end of the year:
9-18-08 West Chester University, PA
9-23-08 USC, CA
9-30-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore
10-2-08 University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
10-7-08 University of Virginia, VA
10-9-08 University of Buffalo, NY
10-10-08 Vanderbilt University, TN
10-14-08 University of Vermont, VT
10-16-08 Clarion University, PA
10-27-08 Mercer University, GA
10-30-08 Florida Gulf Coast University, FL
11-5-08 University of Missouri, St Louis, MO
11-6-08 University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
11-10-08 James Madison University, VA
11-12-08 The College of Charleston, SC
11-14-08 Illinois Wesleyan University, IL
11-17-08 Eastern Michigan University, MI
11-20-08 LSU, LA
