Behind the Scenes of PostSecret

We want to hear your story!

2011-06-04T10:39:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone,

Over the weekend I had a run-in with an avid PostSecret follower - I'll call her "Jen." Jen is a delightful woman who has been keeping up with PostSecret for a while now, and she flipped out a little when she found out that I was the head intern (thanks for making me feel cool, Jen!). We got to talking more in-depth about this elaborate art project, and she revealed that, about a year ago, she had read a secret on the blog that she thought must have been written to her. She said she stared at the secret and started to weep. "I couldn't figure out if I was crying because the secret was written for me ... or because it wasn't."

Although she kept the secret private, it was obvious that it touched her very deeply. Her story is not the first I've heard of PostSecret's impact on someone's life. Another woman wrote in to Frank explaining that she had met her boyfriend of three years through the project. Although they lived over 1500 miles apart and had only ever conversed online, he bought her a ticket to one of the PostSecret events, and she drove all the way across the country to meet him. They have been together ever since.

Still other confessions have included emotionally-distant siblings reconnecting over the project, PostSecret community members donating money to a single mother's Christmas funds for her children, and those who have halted their plans of suicide after connecting with another fan. Hearing these stories or reading such secrets gives me goosebumps every time - and in the month that I've been here, the hair on my arms has raised quite a bit.

So what I request from you, faithful secret holders, are your stories. Does anyone have an exceptional tale of how PostSecret has influenced or changed your life? Fans and followers are the ones that make this project so magnificent and heartfelt, and I know there must be some incredible stories out there. If so, please contact me at postsecretintern@gmail.com. The stories will be shared immediately with Frank as well, and may find their way into the new PostSecret play!

Thanks, and I look forward to reading your stories.

Kaitlin

PS: Here is an example of what we're looking for, from an email that Frank received a few days ago.

Dear Frank,

Recently my mother and I attended your speaking event at my college. We've enjoyed PostSecret books together and looking online every week. She revealed to me on our way to this event, that she too had a secret. I didn't think anything of it... we all have secrets, don't we?

We shared many laughs and a few tears while you spoke, but as soon as you invited people to come up to the microphones to share their own stories, the first young lady who got up, told us of how at the age of 18 her abusive boyfriend had forced her to have an abortion and it had opened her eyes to the amount of love a mother has for their child.

I could hear my mother's crying gasp as I turned to her. She was looking up with tears streaming down her face, she whispered, "That's my secret." I couldn't hear anyone else coming to the microphone after that first young lady. We held each other and just cried...

An Intern's First Impressions

2011-05-18T22:45:00.010-05:00

Sarah, Michelle, Frank, Ashley, and Kaitlin

Hi everyone, I'm Sarah, the new intern!

Upon first entrance into the top-secret location of the PostSecret Lair, I was overcome with a feeling that can only be correctly expressed in one word—gobsmacked. More than 250,000 secrets were carefully made, comprised of laughter, tears, hopes, dreams, and sadness. All of those secrets were equally as carefully dealt with. Each one was read, digested, sorted and stored. All the individual secrets are stored together to form a giant mountain of secrets. Mt. PostSecret, as I like to call it, is quite impressive, even rivaling some of the mountains I’m used to seeing in my native Colorado (on a slightly different scale of course)!

As an intern, the majority of my time is spent sorting and organizing all the PostSecrets, making bricks to add to the ever-growing Mt. PostSecret. After my first week, I can say there are some similar themes that keep popping up in the secrets. First, it seems everyone is in love with their best friend but is afraid to tell them. This secret is very common; maybe your best friend feels the same way?! Another popular secret is about cheating in a relationship. Whether it is from the person who cheated, or the one that got cheated on, it seems sadness comes from both parties. Other common secrets are about depression and loneliness. I wish there was a way to connect all the lonely people out there because although lonely, they are certainly not alone in their feelings! Maybe one day there will be an app for that?

Another fun task we do as interns is helping Frank translate or decode PostSecrets. I feel like a detective and it is really cool to be able to engage a secret and try to understand its true meaning. From my one week as in intern, I’ve already learned how to read Braille, how awesome is that?

We have some great stuff in the works for this summer; I’m so excited and can’t wait to share it all with you! The PostSecret community is truly amazing and wouldn’t be possible without all the brave people like you who share your secrets! Thanks for allowing us interns to see your secrets, we have bonded over so many of them already!

Until next time,

Sarah

PS: Kaitlin here, encroaching on Sarah's post. I want to reiterate that SERIOUSLY Y'ALL, if you are in love with your best friend, chances are they are in love with you too!! That has to be the secret we get the most! Everyone is diggin' on their BFF. So... maybe you should go for it!

Decoding

2011-05-06T15:35:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone,

We got this postcard yesterday. It has a pattern of numbers on the back. Can anyone figure out if they mean anything? Click on the picture to see a larger version.

-Kaitlin

Internship Inquiries

2011-05-04T12:21:00.017-05:00

Hey everyone, it's Kaitlin.

The internship at PostSecret is one that's not only a lot of fun, but also full of responsibility. Each summer, interns make sure that every secret is handled properly and stored safely, and we take care to ensure that not a single postcard is lost.

We almost have a full team of interns this summer, but we're looking for one more motivated, hard-working PostSecret enthusiast. The unpaid internship takes a lot of effort and if you meet the requirements below and feel that you would be right for the job, please send your resumes to postsecretintern@gmail.com (anything emailed to this address goes to the interns at PostSecret).

Requirements:
-Must live within commuting distance of Germantown, MD.

-Must own a car.
-Must be able to start immediately.

-Must be able to keep the location of the PostSecret Lair confidential! :)

Thanks y'all!

First day!

2011-05-03T19:53:00.009-05:00

PostSecret is officially the coolest thing ever.

Today was my first day as the PostSecret head intern, and it was incredible. I met Frank and we sat on the porch in the beautiful weather and discussed the plans that he has for this summer, and some really good stuff is in the works. When you all find out what's going on, your brain is going to explode with awesomeness. Trust me on this.

We then traveled to what I have appropriately coined the "PostSecret Lair." I can't give out too many details, but it's basically the cave where Frank reads and keeps all of the secrets. There are thousands upon thousands of postcards that he organizes after he reads them... and he reads every single one of them! This man is dedicated to his project. Who wouldn't be? It's fantastic. He handed me a bin of the secrets he was finished reading, and my job is to archive them until they can be used at a later date. Holding those postcards in my hand is something I will never forget. It's like being able to read a thousand PostSecret books at once. It's awe-inspiring. You guys and gals who submit secrets are amazing, multi-faceted, strong people.

Before I left, we took a picture of me in front of the famous mailbox that receives all of those postcards. Here it is. If you can't tell by my pained but elated expression, it was awfully bright outside.

Until next time,
Kaitlin

New Summer, New Faces

2011-04-22T15:54:00.005-05:00

Scene: Me standing in the common room of my dorm, jumping up and down in the middle of five bewildered strangers. I had just gotten off of the phone with Frank Warren, the creator of PostSecret, and he had offered me a job this summer. I was trying not to squeal too much.

My first thought: Mind exploding. Can’t even think. This is going to be the best summer ever. I am going to see the postcards, hold these people’s secrets in my hand.

My second thought: this must be some sort of joke. Someone on the internet is messing with me, and I’m going to end up looking like an idiot. That person I just talked to on the phone is probably having a really good laugh right now at my expense. So what did I do? Like any good internet sleuth, I looked up a Frank Warren interview to see if the voice was similar. I found one on youtube, and sure enough, the voices matched. I re-examined the last five minutes of my life and realized that this might actually be real.

Cut to calling my best friend. Voicemail. Very disappointing. Cut to calling my boyfriend. Voicemail!! Curses! I decided I don’t like either of them that much anyway. So I called my little sister. “Corinne…” I said with a shaky voice. “I just got the job as the PostSecret intern.” I don’t remember her exact reaction because I was still in shock, but it was something along the lines of “OMG OMGZ OMG OMG OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS THAT’S SO COOL OMG ARE YOU GOING TO MEET THE GUY WHO MAKES THE BOOKS ARE YOU GOING TO SEE THE POSTCARDS OMG SOOOOO JEALOUS.” Or something like that.

Here I am, a few months later, about to start my internship, and I could not be more excited. My name is Kaitlin, and this summer I will be joined by veteran intern Michelle (you can find her old posts further on this blog) and new intern Ashley. I look forward to blogging for you.

PS- Anyone else have any exciting job stories? Let me hear them in the comments section!

PostSecret Community Picnic

2010-08-16T11:23:00.001-05:00

I’ve been a long-time fan of the PostSecret blog. As long as I can remember, I have been checking the site every Sunday, eager to see what had been posted for that week. Every single secret is touching in its own way, but there were some that have resonated with me more than others over the years. One of these is a card I believe was posted in August 2006: “We’re all more alike than I ever could have imagined.” After attending this year’s PostSecret Picnic, I couldn’t help but think about that card.

Let me start by saying that I am not an active member of the online PostSecret community – I’m a pretty shy person, even in an online setting, and I never had the courage to ever post anything on the message boards. I knew that the picnic was for the community members, so I was apprehensive about attending – what if I have no one to talk to? What if I can’t think of anything to say? What if I can’t find anything in common with anyone there? Despite my nerves, I looked forward to attending – worst case scenario, it would be an uncomfortable afternoon and I would be able to go home afterward and move on.

After being at the picnic for awhile, however, I quickly realized I should not have been so worried. What I love most about PostSecret is its ability to bring thousands of strangers together in one great community. This picnic was just a small cross-section of that enormous group, but we definitely all had at least one thing in common – PostSecret. I talked to some of the attendees and swapped stories about postcards that carried extra meaning. PostSecret serves as a great icebreaker, and this shared interest led to conversations ranging from favorite band to darkest moments in life. Over the course of several hours, I could see that despite the differences between everyone who was there, we all really were more alike than I ever did imagine.

The talks by Frank, Reese and Casie were all great and led me to understand a bit more about PostSecret, Hopeline and the issues they deal with. However, it was my discussions with people there like me that affected me the most – recognizing myself in the stories of these strangers. It’s thanks to groups like the PostSecret community that we are able to realize how connected we all are.

-Kirsty

2010-06-08T14:32:00.003-05:00

Hey guys!

Included in this past weeks mail was a post card from an illegal immigrant in San Francisco contemplating jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. If you haven't seen it on the website, please check it out!

We were all so moved by the post card and apparently, you were too! Within the past several days, a Facebook group called "Please Don’t Jump" has nearly gained 32,000 members and thousands of supportive comments.

An event is being held on Sunday at the Golden Gate bridge in hopes of helping the sender and other's facing a similar situation. Time's News Feed has already covered this story and we are hoping to gain publicity from several other publications. We would greatly appreciate your support!

Any help at all! Send the link to your local papers, join the facebook group; anything!

Thanks,

Tyler

...Worth All the Papercuts

2010-06-07T10:33:00.006-05:00

As interns, a vast majority of our time is spent archiving and organizing secrets-- a task far more dangerous than you'd expect. We're subjected to glittery postcards, sticky postcards, but worst of all... postcards with sharp edges. "Sorry this job doesn't come with health insurance," Frank jokes as I reach for my second band aid of the day.

It's definitely worth all the papercuts. Besides archiving secrets, we interns do everything from brainstorming ways to improve the PostSecret website to helping plan the PostSecret Community picnic. Last week, we even got to help pick some of the Sunday Secrets. Andrew and I spent over 3 hours going through some of the secrets from the past few weeks, and picked out a couple that really stood out to us.

One day's worth of secrets.

Frank gets a LOT of secrets every day, and spends a long time carefully reading each one and deciding whether to post it or set it aside for a display. It was pretty cool to have a little input in the decision process. I related to this secret the most, and was excited it was included in the website this week.

-Michelle

New Interns!!!

2010-06-07T10:29:00.003-05:00

As far as first days of new jobs go, this one was by far the most interesting one I'd ever had. After getting a mini tour of headquarters, Ruthie (one of the other new interns) and I sat down with Frank and talked about the PostSecret project in general, and what we, as interns, hoped to gain from the experience. Frank also shared some funny stories and some homemade cookies. My favorite story was about how a couple of fans once called the police to check up on Frank and make sure he was okay when he didn't update the Sunday Secrets on time--- just goes to show what a caring fan base PostSecret has.

After our chat, we got down to business- "brick" making. Frank had us go through older secrets and organize them into neat little piles that were all the same size. It was pretty difficult to sort through the secrets without reading all of them.

"bricks" of secrets

This summer's gonna be great.

-Michelle

A typical evening in the life of a PostSecret.com intern

2007-09-06T17:59:00.001-05:00

Last Tuesday evening (August 28th) Lindsey and I both arrived at the PostSecret headquarters as usual, and I (Hayley) decided to take a few photos to show everyone what exactly being an intern for PostSecret.com entails. So, welcome to an evening with me and Lindsey!

Lindsey suggested last week when we were brainstorming that possibly Frank could auction off one of the large canvas-pieces of the blown-up postcards (used in the All-American Rejects' music video for "Dirty Little Secret") for charity. All of the money would go to benefit 1800-SUICIDE. So, the first item on the agenda was to choose one of the lovely huge postcard pieces to auction off.

Frank also decides he'll auction off a galley copy of the new book, A Lifetime of Secrets, that's set to come out in October, for the 1800-SUICIDE charity as well.

We puttered about and looked through the galley for the upcoming A Lifetime of Secrets book and other such things, but these photos pretty much cover the evening.

New intern!

2007-08-10T17:53:00.000-05:00

Hullo! I'm Hayley, and in the beginning of July I began working with Frank as one of his PostSecret interns. So far, I must say the experience has been like nothing I've ever experienced before, particuarly where jobs are concerned.

The other evening I came across one secret which stopped me in my tracks, namely because just the night before I had scribbled the same secret in my own personal journal, and had absently thought to myself that I should send it to Frank. And here was someone who had scrawled the same words down. Honestly, if I could find this person (alas, due to the anonymoous nature of PostSecret, I shall never know!) I would ask them to be my new best friend happily ever after. But it really doesn't matter if that person remains a mystery to me - the point is that they exist, that we are not alone.

It's an interesting experience, and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

True or False?

2007-05-07T08:31:00.000-05:00

A common concern, or at least an obvious one, for audiences or the creator seems to be, "How do you know that the secrets that are being sent in are real?" I would hate to think that some individuals, rather than respect the project, simply aspire to be published on the website and therefore attempt to fabricate the most extreme "secret" simply for their five minutes of fame.

Perplexed, I asked Frank for his thoughts on this potential problem, and his reply was unexpected. He said that he didn't see the secrets as true or false. He views them as works of art.

The part of me that wants to view everything as black or white did not like that answer. Isn't the point of the project that the secrets are true? I was hoping for a more combative response such as "It is a problem, and we need to do something about it!" But I guess when you consider the project, and how the project is just as much about the audience as it is about the artist, the secret may be true for someone somewhere. The impact doesn't have to be on the artist's side for the project to be affective.

My favorite secret this week because I feel similarly:

~Nicole~

The Search for Frank Warren's Next PostSecret Intern

2007-05-01T10:04:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, Jenna and I can't be PostSecret interns forever, so Frank has entrusted us with the task of receiving applications and interviewing for the next interns. I leave at the end of June, and Jenna finishes in August. Frank wants to continue having two interns, and Jenna will be able to "train" the first new intern until she leaves.

We have started a facebook group, "I want to be a PostSecret intern!". Join our group! Feel free to ask us questions about the job or about the application process. Frank is excited about the intern program, and it is definitely a worthwhile experience. We look forward to hearing from you!

~Nicole~

Opening Day

2007-04-14T22:06:00.000-05:00

Friday the 13th was the premiere of Artomatic 2007 and I was dutifully in charge of making sure Frank Warren's hard work didn't go unseen. Excited and nervous to have such a huge responsibility on my hands, I rushed down to Crystal City to set up the PostSecret room. You'd think all I had to do was push play, but just my luck the whole tv and dvd had been unplugged for the inspector. I had to reset everything (luckily Frank had forseen such events and given me directions to do so). A few fellows poked their heads in and asked if I had broken it, but thankfully I had not, hah. So finally I got the exhibit up and running; I patched the few post cards that had fallen back up on the walls; I placed PostSecret post cards on the pews and turned out the lights.

Artomatic went off without a hitch and a rough 4,000 people walked the halls. There we're so many artists there and I really feel like Frank created a mini-sanctuary away from all the clamor and bright lights. In his little room with two church pews and the cool darkness, you could relax and be invited into a world of secrets (perhaps some you might recognize in yourself). Frank said he wanted the experience to be almost spiritual and I think that is what he achieved. I imagined a conversation or a struggle forming within a person as they viewed the secrets on the screen. A few times I sat in the room watching with a stranger and I noted their reactions. They laughed to themselves and silently regarded the secrets that seemed to hit home, but I almost felt as if I wasn't suppose to be there. Seeing someone else read secrets seemed like an invasion of privacy. I wonder if I hadn't been there if those people would have laughed louder or perhaps cried. I will never know.

The room was a place I always returned to after making a few rounds to other exhibits. It was like a hideout. A place where I could rest my feet and feel no urgency to get up and leave.

- Jenna

Art as a Science

2007-04-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

I was asked to come in and secure postcards on a wall for the Artomatic exhibit. I envisioned that I would just be undiplomatically tacking up the secrets wherever I could find space, but the assignment was actually quite arduous.

Frank requested that the postcards be posted with the address-side facing out. He explained that he wants to keep his audience always wanting more. This is why he only puts up a handful of secrets on the website each week and why he neglects to maintain an internet archive. He reasons that if he gives his audience all of the secrets they demand, they will tire of the project. Some of the magic will be lost. As one of his audience, I want to object to this notion, insatiably desiring to see more secrets, but as an intern who is privileged to view a plethora of secrets, I can completely understand his logic. For me, the secrets do not have quite the same impact after reading dozens of them at once.

Logic and art are not generally associated together, and that is what I found so interesting about Frank's revelation on how he manages the project as well as how I put the postcards on the wall. There was a definite design and order. It made me reflect on how different an "art internship" is from my regular 9 to 5 job. At my day job, there is a definitive right and wrong. With this project, it is much more difficult because the objectives are not as translucent. The project is Frank's, and the requests are a result of his vision. I consider how difficult it must be for him to relinquish some small part of the project to us, the interns, because our own influence inevitably infiltrates the project. My composition of postcards on the wall will undeniably differ from Frank's arrangement, had he done it.

How does an artist relinquish some control of his project and effectively convey his vision to the people he has selected to help? How can he maintain the nuances while permitting the influence of others in the project? I suppose I won't know until one day I have a creative venture of my own.

~Nicole~

Artomatic

2007-04-05T12:25:00.000-05:00

I am the "other intern". I am Nicole, and I am currently a student at Northeastern University. Northeastern promotes their co-op program, and that is how I ended up in D.C. Luckily enough, the PostSecret project "headquarters" is in this area too.

This week Jenna (pictured above) and I learned that being a PostSecret intern is about more than just reading postcards (okay, so we were supposed to be organizing them and might have stopped to read one or two or 50). We met Frank in Crystal City to assist with set-up of the next Post Secret exhibition, the Artomatic.

From the outside, the site for the Artomatic looks like a standard, boring office building. But on the sixth floor, dozens of rooms are occupied by frenzied artists preparing to showcase their work.

Pictured is our room just before we painted it. Frank hopes to display a 30 minute DVD featuring a slideshow, to selected music, of his indelible postcards. Opening night is April 13. Jenna will be there handing out blank postcards. The exhibit runs from April 13-May 20. If you are in the area, be sure to check it out.

First Day

2007-04-02T12:02:00.000-05:00

Hello! My name is Jenna and I am one of Frank's interns at PostSecret. This past Saturday was my very first day working at PostSecret Headquarters. It was really exciting and a little nerve wracking. We actually got to sit down and open some of the secrets that were in envelopes and discuss them with Frank. One secret that I remember the best was sent in a plain white envelope. As I opened the enveloped, I saw that a message was being reveled at the top. My poor memory doesn't recall the exact words of the secret, but the person expressed that they didn't feel like their artwork would ever be good enough and also that they seem to be experiencing a loss of self. As an visual arts major, I could relate to this scary feeling of work not being good enough compared to everyone else's. However, I've come to realize that art is very subjective and as long as your heart and soul go into it there is no limit to the way it can impact others. Myself and the other intern also got to choose 150 secrets between us for Frank's exhibit at the American Visionary Art Museum. It was really hard to choose among the secrets, but we tried to be as objective as possible to get a variety of secrets. As I was reading through all of these secrets, I found myself wanting everyone to get responses to their secrets and wanting those people to see their personal postcard go up on the website. It was definitely a great day that passed by very quickly. I was really tired by the end of it, haha, Frank called it "secret overload."

-Jenna