Spring Break
Students share secrets in Grand Hall
Alexandra Weiss
Issue date: 5/16/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment
When I was sixteen, I crashed the car a little bit. Just a little! No one was hurt, except for the car. It was a little fender-bender. I said I hit a mailbox. I actually hit a parked car and drove away. No damage was done to the other car, but I've never told my parents. Or anyone else for that matter. Why do I feel compelled to tell you? Frank Warren told me to.
If you've been to the web site www.postsecret.com, you'll know that it's "an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard." The site's creator, Frank Warren, spoke in Drexel's Grand Hall May 12.
Warren started the evening by asking who was brave enough to admit to sending in a secret. A handful of students raised their hands. Through the course of the evening, he discussed how and why Post Secret got started and where it is today, including showing a slide show of the secrets that he had vied to be published in the book, which his lawyers rejected.
Warren also opened the floor for students' questions, comments and secrets. One memorable secret from the evening came from a student who said, "Whenever girls wear low cut shirts, I can't help but stare at their boobs." I'm pretty sure I heard the entire audience nod in agreement.
Warren discussed 1-800-SUICIDE, a non-profit organization that he strongly supports due to the high volume of secrets he gets dealing with the subject. At one point in time, a representative from 1-800-SUICIDE e-mailed him saying that the organization was in trouble. They didn't have enough funds to keep running for much longer. Frank then posted a message on his blog explaining the situation, but not asking for money. Over 900 people donated upwards of $30,000, saving the organization.
Warren closed out the night by sharing a secret he'd received in the mail that he has actually kept himself since the fourth grade.
It would be an understatement to say it was an emotional evening. If I felt everything from happy, to sad, to sympathetic, to shock, to enlightenment, I can only assume the rest of the audience felt the same judging from the conversations I overheard after the event.
If you haven't even been to www.postsecret.com, do your self a huge favor and check it out. Every Sunday, when the secrets are posted, it's a mini emotional rollercoaster just like we all experienced at the talk. It only takes five minutes to read through the secrets each week, but I guarantee you once you go, you'll never stop going back.
If you've been to the web site www.postsecret.com, you'll know that it's "an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard." The site's creator, Frank Warren, spoke in Drexel's Grand Hall May 12.
Warren started the evening by asking who was brave enough to admit to sending in a secret. A handful of students raised their hands. Through the course of the evening, he discussed how and why Post Secret got started and where it is today, including showing a slide show of the secrets that he had vied to be published in the book, which his lawyers rejected.
Warren also opened the floor for students' questions, comments and secrets. One memorable secret from the evening came from a student who said, "Whenever girls wear low cut shirts, I can't help but stare at their boobs." I'm pretty sure I heard the entire audience nod in agreement.
Warren discussed 1-800-SUICIDE, a non-profit organization that he strongly supports due to the high volume of secrets he gets dealing with the subject. At one point in time, a representative from 1-800-SUICIDE e-mailed him saying that the organization was in trouble. They didn't have enough funds to keep running for much longer. Frank then posted a message on his blog explaining the situation, but not asking for money. Over 900 people donated upwards of $30,000, saving the organization.
Warren closed out the night by sharing a secret he'd received in the mail that he has actually kept himself since the fourth grade.
It would be an understatement to say it was an emotional evening. If I felt everything from happy, to sad, to sympathetic, to shock, to enlightenment, I can only assume the rest of the audience felt the same judging from the conversations I overheard after the event.
If you haven't even been to www.postsecret.com, do your self a huge favor and check it out. Every Sunday, when the secrets are posted, it's a mini emotional rollercoaster just like we all experienced at the talk. It only takes five minutes to read through the secrets each week, but I guarantee you once you go, you'll never stop going back.
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