Hundreds of students sat in a crowded theatre in the Center for the Arts late Thursday night awaiting the appearance of Frank Warren, a man many people trust with their most intimate secrets but have never seen.
???The founder of the PostSecret project and compiler of four bestselling book collections, filled with strangers' deepest confessions written on homemade artistic postcards, brought the behind-the-scenes story of the project and a couple of what he called "secret secrets" out into the open on his latest stop on his tour of college campuses.
???The stage was simply set up with a black-cloaked table, a laptop, a bottle of water and a stool. Warren explained during the presentation that the stool was there for when he couldn't stand any longer.
???He shared with the audience that his back problems began, ironically, after beginning the PostSecret project. Warren told the audience that he reads each postcard and carries the weight of each secret with respect and dignity.
???Four years have passed since the PostSecret project took root in Washington, D.C., and over the years Warren's mailbox, in Germantown, Md., has received over four million postcards from people from all around the world.
???"Secrets started trickling to my home address. They started coming in with artwork on them; they started coming in anonymously. And the secrets on them ... the emotional range was amazing-soulful, funny, sexual, shocking, hopeful... that was my first surprise."
???As more and more homemade postcards, even from people in the far reaches of London and Afghanistan, were sent, Warren understood what he had started with the small-scale art project.
???"It was at that point that I realized that I accidentally tapped into something that was full of mystery and wonder. The project took on a life of its own and I stopped being a leader; I started being a follower," Warren said.
???Throughout the night, Warren challenged audience members to grow beyond their secrets by letting them go, because while people think they are keeping secrets, the reality is that the secrets that are keeping them.
???"I think we all have secrets, and I'd like to imagine we keep it in a box just like this," Warren said, lifting a small metal box. "I think every day each one of us has a choice to think about our box - to bury it down, deep inside of us like a coffin and forget about it, or to find it, rip it out in the light, open it and share our secrets."
???At one point during the talk, Warren explained that six weeks into the project he had a revelation about his own purpose by beginning PostSecret.
???Warren said upon receiving a postcard from a stranger detailing a very painful experience she had in grade school, he recalled for the first time a similar experience that he didn't consider a secret, yet had never spoken about it.
???"It helps me identify something very similar that happened to me in the fourth grade that I hadn't thought about for 20 years...I told my wife about it, my daughter about it and I wrote it on a postcard. In my case, it came right back to me," Warren joked while making a promise to read out loud the secret he wrote on the card at the end of the presentation.
???Another revelation came after receiving tens of thousands of secrets from Americans. From the large sample of disclosed information on the postcards, certain trends are apparent, he said.
???"I'm asked about this a lot," Warren said, referring to two subjects: homicide and crime.
???Warren explained that people forget to ask about the postcards that reflect thoughts about suicide. He said suicide and self-harm affect many people directly and indirectly, yet it is so taboo in the culture that people forget about it. He said for the duration that he had been speaking-a span of 25 minutes at that point-two murders had occurred, but four suicides had taken place, statistically.
???"They don't ask me about the secrets about loneliness or eating disorders, self-harm and suicide. I get a lot of secrets about those topics," Warren said.
???Warren said that earlier this year, PostSecret blog visitors helped save 1-800-SUICIDE, with the Kristin Brooks Hope Center, by donating money to keep it from closing down. ???
Postsecret.com visitors raised over $30,000 in one week, which Warren applauded during the presentation.
???After displaying secrets that Warren could not include in his published book collections on a 20-by-30-foot screen, the presentation became an open forum where audience members could go up to any of four microphones set up to ask a question or share their own secrets.
???Audience members shared secrets about prying into the diaries of siblings, losing loved ones and painful experiences. Many audience members asked Warren about the future of the project.
???He explained that it is still undecided and he doesn't know whether it will be passed on or cut off.???
???Colleen Carroll, a freshman film major at Monroe Community College (MCC), traveled with friends from Rochester to see Warren for the first time and to share her own secrets.
??? "It was inspirational. I shared a secret and I don't like standing in front of people. It wasn't a really big secret," Carroll said, of reading her sister's diary, "but being able to do that was great. Being able to do that and having Frank respond to it was amazing."
???Corie Tarreto, 22, Buffalo, came to the presentation having read the PostSecret collections, but only realized the monumental movement Warren started with a simple request for people to share their secrets after seeing him on stage.
???"I didn't realize how charismatic and how funny Frank is. I didn't know how huge of a movement this really is. It's incredible how people from all over just want to share these secrets," Tarreto said.
???Jana Colley, a junior media study major, enjoyed the stories Frank would tell about the personal connections between some of the secrets people have sent in and himself.
???"I liked his anecdotal stories that he would tell; that was sort of calming, but in a bittersweet kind of way when he was talking about his secrets," Collie said.
???A consistent message that Warren expressed in various ways during the presentation was the healing effects of letting secrets go. Telling a secret will bring relief and a level of intimacy that can ultimately bring more understanding and peace to people, Warren said.
???"The one thing I hope you'll always remember is that each one of us has a secret that could break your heart if you just knew what it was," Warren said. "If we can share them with the people we trust, I think it can allow us to channel a level of intimacy."
