Interview with PostSecret.com Founder Frank Warren
Yesterday I posted Amy Copperman’s feature on PostSecret.com and the latest book of confidential confessions by its founder Frank Warren. As promised, here’s a Q&A with him. If you haven’t checked out the site, definitely do. It’s beyond captivating.
Q: You mention in the introduction of PostSecret that you started the project in 2004. Where did the inspiration for the project come from?
A: I believe that I began collecting people’s secrets in order to better understand my own (although at the time I was unaware of this). Not long after receiving anonymous secrets, I got one that led to an epiphany. I saw a postcard that described a humiliating childhood event that was similar to one that had occurred to me over 3 decades ago. I had been blocking it out but when I felt this stranger’s courage in sharing his story, I was able to find the strength to face my own secret. I told my story to my wife and daughter and then wrote it on a postcard and mailed it to myself. It is in the first book.
Q: Tell us about the time in your life when you began the project. How old were you, were you in school, married, children, where were you working, etc.?
A: I was 40 years old when I started PostSecret. I had faced a crisis in my life a few years earlier and found by throwing myself into postcard art projects I was able to find some solace and meaning. I do not have any artistic training or background. I founded a business, Instant Information Systems, about twenty years ago and I continue to manage it. I am married with a 13 year-old daughter (who refuses to tell me all her secrets). We live in a suburb of Washington DC called Germantown MD.
Q: How much mail (and email) did you receive when the project first began? And now?
A: At fist secrets used to trickle into my mailbox, a few every week. Now it is a deluge. I get about 1,000 postcards from all over the world every week. The PostSecret website gets about 1,000,000 visitors a week so I am unable to put my email address on the site. If I did the email I would get would be impossible to manage.
Q: How do you decide if the confessions you receive are real?
A: I think of the postcards as works of art. I don’t think the question of veracity is that important. In the same way when I walk into a museum or library I don’t discount any works because they are “fiction”. I am much more interested with each cards potential to impact a person’s life. When I travel to college campuses and present the project I often tell stories I have heard from people describing how seeing their secret on a stranger’s postcard changed their lives. So in those cases, even if the story was not “true” for the author it was for the viewer.
Q: Does it bother you to know that a “secret” might be false or fake?
A: I think the secrets offer so much more depth than to be seen as either being “true” or “false”. Here are some comments that I have received that might help explain what I mean by that;
“I pray that by the time my first PostSecret is published it is no longer true”.
“My biggest secret is a lie.”
“When I kid around about being gay I am only half joking.”
“We gave each other our secrets instead of sending them to PostSecret. . . A year later, mine is still true, and I am sure yours never was.”
Q: With so many postcards, how do you decide which ones to select for print and online?
A: I try to select a wide variety of postcards to share. Each week I want to create a narrative that includes all types of secrets. Secrets that are funny, sexual, remorseful, hopeful, profound, trivial and soulful. I look for cards that express a hope, fear, desire or idea that I have not seen before or show it in a new way. What is funny is how every week after I make the selections and post them I have my own private expectations about which secrets will generate the most email and comments - I am always wrong.
Q: Why do you feel that it is best for strangers to reveal their secrets?
A: I believe that we all keep secrets, whether we admit it or not, but I do not think that it serves us or others to tell them all. However, I do think that we keep too many secrets. Perhaps we are afraid that if we share some of our secrets we will look weak, dumb, or selfish. Sometimes I think we keep secrets for the wrong reasons. If we could instead find that right person to talk to we might find that talking about an embarrassing story or admitting our frailty might lead to a more authentic relationship with others or ourselves.
Q: Why should those secrets be shared with you, as opposed to someone they know?
A: I do not ask that people share their secrets with me in place of a family member, friend or psychiatrist. PostSecret only offers another way. I think one reason people do share their secrets in the PostSecret community is because it is anonymous and there are no social repercussions.
Q: What do you think accounts for the amount of negatively charged secrets that make up a lot of the postcards in your compilations?
A: I think that by their very nature secrets are usually dark. They can be taboo, politically incorrect, offensive, obscene. In many cases they are secrets because we are not comfortable talking about them in pubic. If we have good news or a happy secret it will not be a secret for long.
Q: A portion of the proceeds from your books goes to the National Helpline Network (1-800- SUICIDE or 1-800-784-2433). Does the amount of suicide-themed postcards account for the choice to donate to the charity or do you have a personal story related to the cause?
A: Suicide is an important issue for me. I have lost a family member and good friend to suicide and have struggle through dark times myself. Because the secrets come to me anonymously I am unable to reach out individually to help people who tell me they are suffering. So I channel my efforts by volunteering on the hotline and promoting it. PostSecret has raised over $100,000.00 for 1(800) SUICIDE and more than that I hope it can act as model for how art and philanthropy can thrive together.
Q: What is something about you that someone would be surprised to know?
A: I am pretty friendless.
Technorati Tags: interview, postsecret.com, Frank Warren, confessions, personal, anonymous
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