This will be a fairly unique review as it will span a blog, books, and a museum exhibition. Scratch that because I've just had a burst of inspiration--it's our first review of a phenomenon! This phenomenon is called PostSecret, and it was created by a man in MD named Frank Warren. Basically it began with a postcard campaign in which Warren distributed blank postcards in public places asking folks who found these postcards to write a secret on it and mail it in to him anonymously. The movement began with only a few hundred to a couple thousand postcards distributed by Warren himself and quickly exploded nationally and internationally. I believe that Warren has received upwards of hundreds of thousands of postcards from anonymous people divulging their most private secrets and wishes. You can see a sample postsecret above; I thought this one especially appropriate considering Fredericksburg's status as "Chicken Capital Of The World."
Every Sunday Warren posts a new batch of postsecrets (postcard secrets) on his blog located at http://postsecret.com/. He receives so many postcards that not all of them make it up on the site. He has published several volumes of postsecrets that have made appearances on the site as well as many that have never before been published. There is also a travelling PostSecret Exhibition that was featured one summer a couple years ago at the Reading Public Museum for which I rounded up a group of friends to make the trip to view the exhibit.
These postsecrets are creative works of art that are cute, tragic, heartbreaking, witty, clever, funny, and searingly honest. The blog itself can become addictive as you wait for each Sunday to come so you can view the new batch of postsecrets. I know I check it out every week.
There are currently four PostSecret books, and I'm sure Warren will continue publishing more:
PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions From Ordinary Lives [available at Lebanon Community Library]
My Secret: A PostSecret Book [available at Lebanon Community Library]
The Secret Lives Of Men And Women: A PostSecret Book [available at Lebanon Community Library]
A Lifetime Of Secrets: A PostSecret Book
The first three titles are available for check out or request from Lebanon Community Library. The last title is not available in county. As it was just published in October of this year, it will not be available for Interlibrary Loan requests until six months after its publication date. I encourage you to check out both the blog and the books that are available in county!
--reviewed by Ms. Angie
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