http://postsecret.blogspot.com
thanks to a link by layla, i have been visiting this site for quite some time. every sunday, frank, the guy who runs it, posts postcards from anonymous senders on his site. they're sent in from all over the world. he has a few books out with the postcards in them. i cant wait until sunday mornings just so i can see what some people are sad about, greatful for, dissapointed in, etc. sometimes i will be saddened to the point of tears to read what people will send. i will think about it for days...dragging dh in to read the site. other times, i get a good laugh.
take a peek on sundays. i dont think anyone will be disappointed!
here is the wiki description:
thanks to a link by layla, i have been visiting this site for quite some time. every sunday, frank, the guy who runs it, posts postcards from anonymous senders on his site. they're sent in from all over the world. he has a few books out with the postcards in them. i cant wait until sunday mornings just so i can see what some people are sad about, greatful for, dissapointed in, etc. sometimes i will be saddened to the point of tears to read what people will send. i will think about it for days...dragging dh in to read the site. other times, i get a good laugh.
take a peek on sundays. i dont think anyone will be disappointed!
here is the wiki description:
PostSecret is an ongoing community art project in which people mail their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.
[edit] Overview
PostSecret began as an art installation for Artomatic 2004 in Washington, D.C.
The idea of the project is simple: completely anonymous people decorate a postcard and portray a secret that they have never before revealed. There is no restriction on what the content of the secret must be, only that it must be completely truthful and must never have been spoken before. Entries range from admissions of sexual misconduct and criminal activity to confessions of secret desires, embarrassing habits, hopes and dreams.
Since Frank Warren created the website on January 1, 2005, PostSecret has collected and displayed upwards of 2,500 original pieces of art from people across the United States and around the world.
The site, which started as an experimental Blogspot and is updated every Sunday with approximately 20 new pieces, has a relatively constant style, giving all "artists" who participate some guidelines on how their secrets should be represented.
[edit] Public attention
Recently the project has received some national news coverage, being featured weekly in Washington, D.C.'s City Paper as well as in the All-American Rejects 2005 music video Dirty Little Secret. Artwork from the site was blown up to poster size and used as the background for the shoot.
In the sixth annual Weblog Awards, the PostSecret website received five Bloggies in 2006: Best American Weblog, Best Topical Weblog, Best Community Weblog, Best New Weblog, and Weblog of the Year.
In several schools, such as Martingrove Collegiate Institute, students started up their own post-secret walls, putting up secrets on pieces of papers anonymously.
[edit] Books
Selected postcards, including some not on the website, were published in PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives (ISBN 0-06-089919-0). It was published by Harper Collins/Regan Books and released on December 1, 2005.
A second PostSecret book, My Secret: A PostSecret Book (ISBN 0-06-119668-1), was released on October 24, 2006. It is also published by Regan Books.
A third PostSecret book, The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book (ISBN 0-06-119875-7), was released on January 9, 2007.
A fourth PostSecret book, A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book, is set to be released on October 9, 2007.
[edit] Events of June/July 2007
From June 24 to July 3, 2007, the "Comments" section of the site was enabled. While a comments feature is frequently present on blogs, it had been previously absent from the PostSecret site. Many visitors viewed the presence of a comments section as out of character for the site, which was previously distinguished as a non-judgemental space for participants to reveal personal secrets. Many visitors felt that the new section contradicted the purpose of the site, as evidenced in numerous comments criticizing a postcard in which the author claims to have fed bleach to his/her cat.
Additionally, the site was not updated on the Sunday of July 1, 2007 while the address and instructions for visitors to send in their secrets was removed. Also notable was the deletion of a long-visible post — which contained contact information for Hopeline, a suicide hotline the site previously supported, and the story and picture of "Casie", a young woman who fought depression and found help through the site.
On Sunday, July 8, 2007, PostSecret was updated as normal, with the address and instructions for users wanting to mail in their secrets, as well as the Hopeline and "Casie" posts, all reinstated. Also included on the page for one week was a rare message from Frank explaining the recent events, confirming the comments section would stay unavailable and stating that he had needed a break from the project for a week, but that he hoped to go another 130 weeks before he took another.
[edit] Overview
PostSecret began as an art installation for Artomatic 2004 in Washington, D.C.
The idea of the project is simple: completely anonymous people decorate a postcard and portray a secret that they have never before revealed. There is no restriction on what the content of the secret must be, only that it must be completely truthful and must never have been spoken before. Entries range from admissions of sexual misconduct and criminal activity to confessions of secret desires, embarrassing habits, hopes and dreams.
Since Frank Warren created the website on January 1, 2005, PostSecret has collected and displayed upwards of 2,500 original pieces of art from people across the United States and around the world.
The site, which started as an experimental Blogspot and is updated every Sunday with approximately 20 new pieces, has a relatively constant style, giving all "artists" who participate some guidelines on how their secrets should be represented.
[edit] Public attention
Recently the project has received some national news coverage, being featured weekly in Washington, D.C.'s City Paper as well as in the All-American Rejects 2005 music video Dirty Little Secret. Artwork from the site was blown up to poster size and used as the background for the shoot.
In the sixth annual Weblog Awards, the PostSecret website received five Bloggies in 2006: Best American Weblog, Best Topical Weblog, Best Community Weblog, Best New Weblog, and Weblog of the Year.
In several schools, such as Martingrove Collegiate Institute, students started up their own post-secret walls, putting up secrets on pieces of papers anonymously.
[edit] Books
Selected postcards, including some not on the website, were published in PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives (ISBN 0-06-089919-0). It was published by Harper Collins/Regan Books and released on December 1, 2005.
A second PostSecret book, My Secret: A PostSecret Book (ISBN 0-06-119668-1), was released on October 24, 2006. It is also published by Regan Books.
A third PostSecret book, The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book (ISBN 0-06-119875-7), was released on January 9, 2007.
A fourth PostSecret book, A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book, is set to be released on October 9, 2007.
[edit] Events of June/July 2007
From June 24 to July 3, 2007, the "Comments" section of the site was enabled. While a comments feature is frequently present on blogs, it had been previously absent from the PostSecret site. Many visitors viewed the presence of a comments section as out of character for the site, which was previously distinguished as a non-judgemental space for participants to reveal personal secrets. Many visitors felt that the new section contradicted the purpose of the site, as evidenced in numerous comments criticizing a postcard in which the author claims to have fed bleach to his/her cat.
Additionally, the site was not updated on the Sunday of July 1, 2007 while the address and instructions for visitors to send in their secrets was removed. Also notable was the deletion of a long-visible post — which contained contact information for Hopeline, a suicide hotline the site previously supported, and the story and picture of "Casie", a young woman who fought depression and found help through the site.
On Sunday, July 8, 2007, PostSecret was updated as normal, with the address and instructions for users wanting to mail in their secrets, as well as the Hopeline and "Casie" posts, all reinstated. Also included on the page for one week was a rare message from Frank explaining the recent events, confirming the comments section would stay unavailable and stating that he had needed a break from the project for a week, but that he hoped to go another 130 weeks before he took another.
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