Frank Warren shares secrets with Miller audience

By Laura Citino
Western Herald

There is an old saying that secrets are no fun for anyone. Frank Warren refuted that this Wednesday when he brought his Internet blog phenomenon, PostSecret, to Miller Auditorium at Western Michigan University.

Before the show even started, the lobby was crowded with people, the majority of whom were college and high school-aged. Many patrons were purchasing the latest PostSecret book, the fifth to be published, titled “Confessions on Life, Death, and God” which recently went to #1 on the New York Times Bestsellers list.

The show began with a familiar clip: the All American Rejects’ 2005 video for “Dirty Little Secret” which featured real PostSecret postcards, and caused the blog’s popularity to subsequently sky-rocket. To the sort of wild applause often reserved for rock stars, the project’s sole curator and found Frank Warren took the stage.

“Hi, my name is Frank,” he began, walking on stage in a plain black turtleneck and sneakers, “and I collect secrets.”

The tone was instantly relaxed and close, a meeting between friends and comrades for a common purpose. Since beginning in January 2005, PostSecret has expanded beyond a picture blog, the likes of which are omnipresent on the Internet. Warren’s brainchild reaches out to the larger community with its regular events and collaboration with Hopeline, a 24-hour suicide hotline.

PostSecret is simple in concept, but complicated in its social implications: people anonymously write down their secrets onto creatively-decorated postcards and send them to Warren, who then posts them on his Web site, www.postsecret.com.

The secrets on this online art community range from sexual deviancy and mishaps to deep family secrets, to the irreverent idiosyncrasies present in everyday life.

During the event, Warren discussed how and why he started PostSecret and how the project evolved from what the self-described “accidental artist” called a “communal art project,” to an online blogging phenomenon. At the time, he was working as a volunteer with Hopeline at 1-800-Suicide and was inspired by the great work accomplished by that organization to offer strangers a safe place in which they could divulge troubled memories, hopes, dreams, and secrets in a creative format.

He started printing off his own postcards and handing them out to people on the street.

“I started receiving a handful of postcards every day,” Warren said. “Then the idea spread virally online.”

The events themselves evolved naturally from his book signings about two years ago. Things did not start out easily for Warren, who is not a natural performer or a trained speaker.

“I used to be terrified to speak publicly,” Warren said. “It used to just be, ‘Get through it if you can.’ But I realized that you don’t want to be too polished. People connect to you more.”

On-stage that could not have been more apparent. Sitting on a simple wooden stool with his computer on a side table, Warren’s tone was conversational and friendly. Each secret he discussed was projected on a gigantic screen behind him for the audience’s benefit.

The audience sat with rapt attention, laughing at times and maintaining almost reverent silence as Warren discussed the very real consequences of secrets, suicide, and depression in our modern culture. He also brought a message of hope: the “idea of having a crazy idea.” Warren encouraged the audience to start projects and groups online, like he did, and see how far their ideas could take them.

One interesting aspect of the event involved the so-called “banned secrets,” those secrets which were deemed too inappropriate by Warren’s publishers to be included in the PostSecret books, whether because of copyrighted images or pornographic material.

“One of America’s biggest secrets is censorship,” he told the audience.

For him, the possibility of explicit content in the secrets is simply the nature of the beast.

“The thing is, these are authentic secrets and they are secrets for a reason,” said Warren.

The anonymity of the Internet allows both the secret tellers and secret readers a freedom of conscious to express themselves. That comes with the territory of a changing society, where technology allows for both the distance of anonymity and the closeness that comes with freely sharing the most intimate parts of ourselves.

Warren believes that sort of paradox generates an empathy between strangers that is almost impossible in real life.

“On the Web, it’s like the wild wild west,” said Warren. “You realize how society is changing. People are rewriting the rules. With this project I accidentally tapped into something full of mystery and wonder that even I didn’t fully understand.”

For the second half of the event, Warren asked for the house lights to be brought up and microphones to be carried to the front. It was time for some secrets from the audience.

What followed felt like large-scale group therapy, as members of the audience spoke of their gratitude for an outlet like PostSecret during difficult times and allowed us all into their most secret of secrets.

The secrets themselves included an art school reject revealing how she modeled nude to pay for school, a newly minted Marine expressing his terror before being shipped abroad, tales of infidelity, forgiveness, life and death.

After each emotional secret, Warren would simply thank the person for his or her secret and lead the audience in applause.

“The release of a secret can be a transformative experience,” said Warren. “It is a very significant process.”

As each volunteer wandered back to their seat after purging their secret, it was amazing how those nearby embraced them with open arms. Even after telling an embarrassing secret or one of their own expense they were not pushed away or ostracized, instead drawn even closer into the fold of their friends and nearby strangers.

Because of his unique project, Warren has been privy to the private lives of thousands of strangers who trust him with their deepest secrets. His favorite secret remains not one that plumbs the depths of tragedy or darkness. Early on he received a Starbucks cup in the mail, on which that particular secret-teller had scribbled, “I serve decaf to customers who are rude to me.” For Warren, that sort of everyday secret is what embodies the spirit of his project.

“The secrets help us recognize those same sorts of things in ourselves,” he said. “They remind us that our own lives are really interesting.”

Warren’s parting words to the crowd were, like the PostSecret project itself, simultaneously simple and meaningful: “Free your secrets and be yourself.”

After the show, Miller Auditorium’s lobby immediately filled with audience members standing in line for Warren’s book-signing and to grab a picture and maybe a private word with the so-called “most trusted stranger in America.”

“It was awesome,” said senior Alison Corak. “I wish I had told a secret. I almost did.”

“I’ve never been to the Web site,” said WMU senior Erica Rea, who had only a slight knowledge of Warren’s project before the show. “But I’m definitely going to start going now.”

Warren brought his PostSecret event to WMU with the partial sponsorship of the Campus Activities Board, who always keeps an ear open to what sort of events students want to see.

“Last year we did a huge student survey. Buzz always gets back to us,” said Adrienne Light, president of CAB. “Everyone’s been asking for [Warren]. He has a huge fan base.”

“It reached out to more than just WMU students, too,” said Kim Boboltz, officer of external relations for CAB. “It went out into the community.”

As audience members energized and entertained by the night filtered from the auditorium to the lobby and out into the cool Michigan night outside, it was more than clear that Warren’s heartfelt words and wisdom still resonated with all. Perhaps the final words projected on the screen still clung to each as they went forth into the world:

“There are two kinds of secrets: those we keep from each other, and those we keep from ourselves.”

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Posted by heraldstaff on Nov 6 2009. Filed under A & E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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