Yet another post about free speech? Where are the technovikings? They are coming up, no worries.
It started with an art project by a man named Frank Warren. It was supposed to be fairly local. Random postcards sent to people or left lying around where others could find them. On the postcard was an invitation. Do you have a secret? If so, send it anonymously to Frank Warren. A simple concept, to be sure. It was just an art project, so it wouldn't matter much if nothing came of it. 4 books and 250,000 postcards later, PostSecret can be deemed a success.
But, you ask, what is it?
It's just what I said - people draw or pull an image or postcard and use that as a background, while they write, type, or use cut-out magazine print to form a deep, dark secret of theirs. There has been rape, betrayal, love lost and found, funny, sad, and moving secrets.
The website for PostSecret can be found here, and it's updated every Sunday. Be warned, there is the occasional nudity (as of today, there is an image from a movie were Kate Winslett appears in the nude - you have been warned.)
Secrets that have been on the website, along with those that have never been seen (Warren obviously receives too many each week to put them all up), have been collected into four books, comprised of an introduction and postcards, with the occasional email thrown in.
Warren is also touring the country, mostly visiting colleges, with an exhibit on both the postcards and how and why people keep secrets.
Also of note, DeviantArt tried to do something similar, to limited success, but was noted as being somewhat of a "copycat." However, for DeviantArt, it being a website where the user uploads their art, the secrets were not just limited to the size of a postcard. Rather, they could be as large as the user wanted.
Either way, this is expression of free speech in its finest form - being able to give away a secret, saying whatever you want, with no repercussions - everything is anonymous.
Also of note, the band All American Rejects used postcards from PostSecret in their music video for "Dirty Little Secret." That's some exposure, right there.
And one more thing...MySpace awarded $10k to PS for their awesomeness and helping society (there is usually a suicide prevention hotline at the bottom of the PS blog, along with a story of someone who used it and thanks PS). They put this towards a suicide prevention society. Yeah, Frank Warren is pretty badass.
Next time...well, I don't know what I'll talk about just yet. Perhaps memes or something.
Can't stop the signal.
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wow, is all i have to say about this post. i have never heard of frank warren before reading your piece, but he is definitely a bad ass. i know a couple of people hear on campus who have tried to kill themselves in just the past year. i also have a close friend who tends to hold in his emotions and has problems opening up to his friends. i tell him all the time that he needs to tell someone about what he's going through, simply for the purpose of getting it off his chest. although he has in turn opened up significantly towards me, there is still alot i feel he is keeping inside. i think an anonymous site like this could be very helpful towards him.
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