Frank Warren of Germantown, Maryland set-up a Web site for people to anonymously mail homemade postcards and has since changed the world.
His website, PostSecret.com, has won Weblog and Bloggies awards as well as being featured on CSI: NY.
Frank’s latest PostSecret book, Confessions on Life, Death, & God, was released on October 6, 2009. He was nice enough to answer a few questions for a Famous 5 Interview.
It’s the Famous Five with Frank Warren:
1) How did you create PostSecret? Was it an idea you had in your mind for a while, or did it just come to you one day?
I always knew I had a pretty rich interior life that I did not get a chance to share. I thought others might too and if I could create a safe, nonjudgmental place where anyone could expose their secret desires, embarrassing stories, shocking and funny thoughts it would be pretty cool. What I did not expect was that so many other people would like it too. (Over a million PostSecret books have been sold and the website gets 7 million visitors every month.)
2) Did you see an increase in political postcards during last year’s election?
Yes, during the election they did go up. One said, “I wish I was Michelle Obama on election night. . . Can you imagine the sex!”
3) What will readers learn about PostSecret from your latest book?
That in addition to sexual, funny and shocking secrets, we also have deep feelings about the greater mysteries of life. Our hidden selves are complex, colorful and creative. This secret is in the new book, PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death and God. It was written and mailed on a Polaroid picture, “I am a Christian falling in love with someone who does not believe in God. I think it’s a beautiful love story.” Here is another, “I’m too much woman for all the pansy-ass guys at my church.”
4) What do you want to accomplish with PostSecret? What is the driving force that keeps you up and uploading postcards?
One thing that I have learned from the project is that there are hidden stories of heroism and human frailty happening around us all the time. Knowing that makes life, people, and subway rides more interesting.
5) Do you receive a lot of postcards from Washington, DC? Any running theme that continue to pop up from inside-the-beltway?
Yes, a lot of Washingtonians are searching for that one person they can tell all their secrets to (besides me).
*FamousDC readers can preview up to 20% of Frank’s book for free here.