2008 Woodie Awards
Share your 'PostSecret'
Nicole Juner
Issue date: 11/8/06 Section: Entertainment
"You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be a regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything-as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Be brief. Be legible. Be creative." This is author Frank Warren's ongoing request.
Warren created a community art project called PostSecret in 2004. In the beginning, he handed out blank postcards to strangers or left them in public places. He asked that a secret never told to anyone be written on the postcard and then anonymously mailed to him. Warren received an overwhelming response. The secrets were just as provocative as the carefully decorated cards they were on.
He began by posting these secrets to his Internet blog, calling it PostSecret. The Web site became an instant, addictive hit, with Warren updating the blog with new postcards every week.
Since then, Warren has received thousands more postcard secrets from anonymous senders. Each postcard is uniquely different, a 4 by 6 inch work of art. The cards have been featured in galleries, art exhibits, and Warren's first bestselling book, "PostSecret." His Internet blog at PostSecret.com won several awards at both the Webby and Bloggy Awards this year, and New York Magazine ranked it as the third most popular Internet blog.
Several secrets were also featured in the All American Rejects' video for "Dirty Little Secret."
This is how I first heard about the PostSecret phenomenon. I immediately raced to PostSecret.com to check out the latest postcards, and from there I was addicted. Every Sunday I check the site to read the latest group of secrets; each card has its own story behind it.
Most I can't even fathom, others make me laugh, and some make me feel as if I'm not alone. Whether the message resonates with me or not, I enjoy the artistic value of each card.
Warren's latest book of secrets, "My Secret" came out on Oct. 24 and includes amazing never-before-seen postcards from high school and college students around the world. Funny secrets like "My butt sweats when I get nervous" or "I lick the inside of microwave popcorn bags" are mixed with darker, more serious secrets like "I know you didn't rape me, but I convinced myself that you did because I was unwilling to admit I lost my virginity to you."
Warren created a community art project called PostSecret in 2004. In the beginning, he handed out blank postcards to strangers or left them in public places. He asked that a secret never told to anyone be written on the postcard and then anonymously mailed to him. Warren received an overwhelming response. The secrets were just as provocative as the carefully decorated cards they were on.
He began by posting these secrets to his Internet blog, calling it PostSecret. The Web site became an instant, addictive hit, with Warren updating the blog with new postcards every week.
Since then, Warren has received thousands more postcard secrets from anonymous senders. Each postcard is uniquely different, a 4 by 6 inch work of art. The cards have been featured in galleries, art exhibits, and Warren's first bestselling book, "PostSecret." His Internet blog at PostSecret.com won several awards at both the Webby and Bloggy Awards this year, and New York Magazine ranked it as the third most popular Internet blog.
Several secrets were also featured in the All American Rejects' video for "Dirty Little Secret."
This is how I first heard about the PostSecret phenomenon. I immediately raced to PostSecret.com to check out the latest postcards, and from there I was addicted. Every Sunday I check the site to read the latest group of secrets; each card has its own story behind it.
Most I can't even fathom, others make me laugh, and some make me feel as if I'm not alone. Whether the message resonates with me or not, I enjoy the artistic value of each card.
Warren's latest book of secrets, "My Secret" came out on Oct. 24 and includes amazing never-before-seen postcards from high school and college students around the world. Funny secrets like "My butt sweats when I get nervous" or "I lick the inside of microwave popcorn bags" are mixed with darker, more serious secrets like "I know you didn't rape me, but I convinced myself that you did because I was unwilling to admit I lost my virginity to you."