The Most Trusted Stranger in America

Providence, RI – Nov 4, 2009 – Speaking recently to a packed house at JWU’s Xavier Auditorium, PostSecret.com creator Frank Warren jokingly introduced himself as “the most trusted stranger in America.”

Thanks to a bad back, Warren spent most of the event seated, stage center. But the pain meds didn’t stop him from speaking candidly about his reasons for starting the blog.

When Warren began PostSecret as an art project in 2004, he had no idea that it would turn into a blog phenomenon. He initiated the project by handing out 3,000 blank postcards to random strangers, inviting them to share a secret via post: “Reveal anything, so long as it is true and you’ve never shared it with anyone before.”

Five years later, PostSecret is one of the most popular sites on the web, generating millions of hits per month and spawning five New York Times bestselling collections.

Week after week, Warren posts deeply personal and artfully decorated postcards mailed anonymously from all over the world. The secrets they reveal are by turns funny, banal, inspirational and even horrific — in short, human.

“My motive was to create a place where people could feel free to share their private hopes, desires and fears.” In this way, the blog has succeeded beyond his wildest expectations, generating 1,000 new submissions per week.

More than that, PostSecret has become a true community — one with positive impact on the real world. It has gradually developed into a nonjudgmental forum where readers can share freely their thoughts on suicide, depression, self-harm and other self-destructive impulses — what Warren, a long-time suicide hotline counselor, calls “America’s secret."

In addition, grassroots PostSecret fundraisers have raised thousands of dollars for suicide awareness and outreach. “[The web] brings real people together in surprisingly compassionate ways,” he noted.

This was borne out at the event, when a dozen or so brave students stepped up to the mike and spoke openly and honestly about some very difficult issues. With tears and group hugs, a room full of strangers became an instant community.

He closed with the simple exhortation for all of us to “free [our] secrets and become who [we] are.”

“If you hide from pain it can haunt you forever. But if you share it, you can work through it and inspire others to unburden themselves too.”