Almost eight years, five books and roughly half a million postage stamps later, the shtick is not getting old. People from around the globe continue to send Frank Warren their secrets, some scribbled, some artfully arranged, all on postcards. Hundreds find their way to Warren’s mailbox every day, and much to his liking, there’s no sign of them stopping.
PostSecret, a community mail art project founded by Warren in 2005, invites people to share truthful, previously undisclosed secrets by way of postcards and anonymous notes – ones the project’s blog and books cloak in anonymity, only to expose them to the world.
Sharing a deep secret anonymously with a stranger with no fear of judgment can be cathartic, Warren explained.
“When a project like this finds you, it turns your life upside down,” Warren said, explaining the motivation behind PostSecret’s roots.
“I was hiding secrets from myself, secrets I had kept buried from childhood and this presented a way I could reconcile with parts of my past. In doing so, and in starting PostSecret, I’ve been shocked and thrilled to see how healing this is,” he added.
In a Hitchcock-like fashion, Warren has included a personal secret in each book so far.
What’s been interesting to see over the years, he noted, is how the definition of a secret varies from person to person.
One reader may see a post like “I really want to know what I came to this planet to achieve” and think the secret’s commonplace or redundant. With another reader, these words could resonate. Why someone thinks something is a secret they have to keep is worth thinking about, Warren said.
“Wherever you are in life, you might look at the postcards and really resonate with one or two, and then look at something else and think ‘That’s a secret?’ You might not, but other people might, understand.”
Out of thousands, Warren selects roughly 10 per cent of mailed secrets to publish. The ones that grab him most have a ring of truth, tinged with something idiosyncratic, shocking or even obscene, he said. These he carefully selects, as if to create a story on the blog each week.
The difficulty arises when he receives notes threatening self-harm or harm to others.
“That’s the most painful part of the project,” he said, noting he’s aware he can’t do anything and the burden of that secret is difficult to bear.
PostSecret links to an international suicide prevention wiki, a worldwide directory of suicide prevention hotlines, text-lines and resources available to any individual or organization.
Other secrets that come across Warren’s desk show the significance of small acts of kindness: “Sometimes, I put coins in other people’s parking meters.”
Some make him laugh. Sent on a Starbucks cup: “I serve decaf to customers who are rude to me.”
Sometimes, Warren gets requests from readers asking to disclose the city of origin for a particular note. Of course, he never obliges, but it is funny how people look for and find themselves in others’ secrets, thinking it’s about them, he said.
“I’ve learned there are two kinds of secrets – those we hide from others and those we hide from ourselves,” Warren said.
IF YOU GO
PostSecret founder Frank Warren will be speaking at Western University 7 p.m. Thursday, March 8 in Alumni Hall. A book-signing is scheduled for 8:45 p.m. Tickets are available online through the University Students’ Council and at Infosource.