The secrets are his success

By Kristen Peterson

Thursday, April 10, 2008 | 2 a.m.

A few years ago Frank Warren came up with this crazy notion: All people had rich interior lives. If he could create a safe place where they could share that part of themselves, well, “it could be a real special thing.”

His art project/postcard confessional became a phenomenon — four books, a traveling art exhibit, a lecture series and an award-winning blog that receives more than 1 million hits each week.

Warren, 44, has become a clearinghouse for anyone wanting to unleash his secrets, desires, guilt, thoughts and dreams. A thousand homemade postcards arrive in the mailbox of his Germantown, Md., home each week. He reads each one and selects 20 to post on his blog every Sunday.

Some are heartbreaking confessions about drinking, abuse, loneliness and lies. Some are whimsical, like a confession about not wearing panties to church. Some confess to wasting office supplies, not liking sex, giving decaf coffee to rude customers and experiences with flatulence. Some apologize to family members for not being there, or to childhood friends they’d hurt.

Whether every confession is true is beside the point, Warren says. The postcards are works of art and have layers of truth.

Mostly, he says, “I have accidentally tapped into something full of mystery and wonder.”

But how? Some may never be seen by anyone but Warren.

Warren, who will give a lecture Friday night at UNLV, discussed this with the Las Vegas Sun.

What’s happening here?

One of the reasons PostSecret really resonates with people and people feel comfortable sharing these deep, soulful secrets is because somehow I’ve been able to develop this trusting relationship with strangers where they feel like they can trust you with these deep emotions and feelings that they wouldn’t even tell their friends or family members.

Do you see this as some sort of religious movement?

I’m not a very religious person, but I do feel that through this project I’ve been developing this new kind of faith. For me the project does feel spiritual. Sometimes I feel like people who mail me their secrets are searching for something — maybe greater self-acceptance or absolution or authenticity. People are finding the courage to face a secret on a postcard, then release it to a stranger. That can be the first step in a much longer journey that can be very spiritual.

Are you ever overwhelmed by your role in this?

Yeah, I can’t think about it too much or I do feel overwhelmed. Like today. I’m coming back home, I’ve got a huge pile of postcards waiting for me, e-mails — probably hundreds of e-mails to go through. I know that if I just get lazy for a few days or, heaven forbid, I get sick for a week, it would be seriously difficult to catch up and recover because it’s just me. There is no committee. There is no P.O. box. People mail their secrets to my home. I’m the only one.

There is a huge responsibility, but it’s a huge privilege, too.

How long can you keep it up?

I don’t know. I try not to think of the future of the project because I don’t want to set goals or have an agenda. I just try to make decisions every day that kind of protect what’s special about it. The amazing journey that this project has taken me on has just been so gratifying that I’m continuing to just trust the journey.

Why you?

Part of it is because I put my home address on the Web and on the cover of the book, so in a sense I’m kind of making myself vulnerable in the relationship first so they can feel like they can take that second step. And also I think they see the philanthropic component of PostSecret and the good work that we do for the charities, that we believe people know that when they mail me a secret or share one at an event that it’s going to be treated with respect and dignity in a safe, nonjudgmental way.

So you believe that you have a relationship with these people?

I think I do. I think there is something about that relationship that allows people to feel that they can truly confess these deeper feelings. I certainly feel it with these people.

What have you learned about human nature?

Each one of us has a secret that would break your heart if you just knew what it was, and if we could remember that and remind ourselves of that more often, there would be more understanding, compassion and more peace in the world.

What about secrets?

There are two kinds of secrets: the secrets that we keep from other people, and the ones we hide from ourselves. I’d like to think that PostSecret provides an opportunity for you to learn not just something about a stranger and their own secrets, but maybe even understand something new about yourself that you didn’t know before you picked up a PostSecret book or visited the Web site.

What are the college appearances like?

I usually share funny, inspirational stories from behind the postcards. I have about 20 or so images of postcards that were kept out of the books. They were censored by the publishers so I like to share those with the students. And then I talk about a secret in my own life that I kept from myself for about 20 years that was really the reason I started the project in the first place.

What’s the aim?

When I open the floor for open discussions about secrets it’s most gratifying.

Do people ever just send you postcards from their vacations?

I do receive postcards that look like that, but I think what happens is people’s secrets come off the postcards.

You don’t get anything that says, “Having fun in Provincetown. Wish you were here”?

People send those postcards to their friends. I get the ones with their secrets.