PostSecret creator shares his secrets
Creator of Postsecret invented phenomena in an old-school format.
Nov. 7, 2008
PostSecret creator Frank Warren shares a postcard that was mailed to him during his presentation in Jesse Auditorium Thursday. During the event Warren showed and read secret-filled postcards he has collected that sparked a Web site and multiple books.
Freshman Michael Rutz cuts pieces from a magazine to construct a postcard collage before attending PostSecret creator Frank Warren's presentation Thursday in Jesse Auditorium.
Looking at Frank Warren produces an average guy - he wears a casual button-down shirt with jeans and a warm smile. It's impossible to guess that this man created an Internet phenomenon, when, in November of 2004, he started an art project with a following unlike any other.
The art project is called PostSecret, an effort where followers send postcards to Warren on which they write some of America's deepest secrets. PostSecret developed from a blog to a famous music video and then finally turned into three books.
Warren started the project by handing out postcards to random strangers and asking for their secrets. What he got in response was more then he ever expected: Four weeks after he stopped sending out his postcards, Warren still received hundreds each day.
Some of them are funny. For example, just a half hour before the event, Warren received a postsecret in one of the strangest ways yet. He opened up his Chipotle bag and there inside written on the bag was the secret, "I didn't spit in your food."
Others can be serious. Frank said most of his serious postcards are about depression and suicide, and he himself is an advocate for the 1-800-SUICIDE hotline. During a question and answer session following Warren's speech, one student brought up the issue that MU doesn't have an official suicide help group but instead a student-run club that helps with mental illnesses and a suicide prevention week.
"It reminds us of how we are all connected," Warren said.
Warren never runs out of secrets, receiving at least 200 postcards a day, and more than 1,000 postcards a week.
With all those postcards comes a lot of help, as Warren said he and his wife "work as a team."
In choosing which postcards to publish, Warren said he feels as though he is a film editor who edits peoples' lives. He personally reads each card that is sent to him. When asked where he keeps all of the postcards, Warren's response was telling.
"That is my own secret," he said.
The most common question asked of Frank is whether he ever put a secret of his own in one of the books.
"I have one of my secrets in every book," Warren said.
The creation of each card is a work of art in its own way. One of the subjects raised was how Warren came up with the postcard as a medium, as it is a more old-school technique than other options.
"It is perfect, low-tech, so much more tangible, real," Warren said. "It spent time to create."
As part of his literary reputation, Warren is known as "the most trusted stranger in America."
"It puts a lot of pressure on me," Warren said. "I earn that trust and I don't want to lose it."
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- PostSecret creator shares his secrets — Creator of Postsecret invented phenomena in an old-school format.
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