PostSecret Exhibit and Founder Coming to the UA
“I only dated you because I know one day you will be famous,” one person wrote.
“I still check my missed call list to see if you ever called and I just didn’t get it,” another admitted.
“I use the things my roommate says in her sleep against her,” a third confessed.
All of the above so-called “secrets” were submitted anonymously to the community organization PostSecret. Since its inception in 2005, the organization has accepted postcards on which confessors write a secret and decorate it appropriately. PostSecret only has two rules: the person’s secret must be truthful, and it must have never been previously spoken. The open community of PostSecret hopes to create an environment of healing, hope and an inspiration to both secret-writers and secret-readers.
On April 16, the founder of PostSecret, Frank Warren, will come to the University of Arkansas. He will give a lecture from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. in the Verizon Ballroom.
In addition, Warren will be collecting secrets created by UA students and faculty.
“All the secrets will actually be sent to PostSecret,” explained Lana Hackler, coordinator of University Programs’ Anne Kittrell Art Gallery. This means that the secrets submitted by UA students have the chance to wind up on the PostSecret website, in one of the organization’s books, or in one of their museum exhibits.
Before they’re handed off to PostSecret, however, the secrets will be on display in the Anne Kittrell Art Gallery. The exhibit will be open from now until April 16, when Warren arrives.
University Programs, the sponsor of the PostSecret event, anticipates the lecture as well as the gallery to be popular with students.
“I think there will be a high turnout because the Anne Kittrell Gallery is located near where many classes are held in the Union,” Hackler said. “People walking to or from class will be able to stop by.”
Students are encouraged to submit their own postcards to University Programs for the event.
“You can submit postcards at boxes located in the Union, in the art gallery, or mail them to University Programs,” Hackler said.
The address to send postcards to is PostSecret: UofA, Union A665, 1 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701. Students can also pick up pre-addressed postcards in the University Programs office (on the 6th floor of the Union) or in the Anne Kittrell Gallery.
While viewing our peers’ deepest secrets is enjoyable in itself, the PostSecret exhibit hopes to strike a more serious tone as well.
“This is an important event because it will help people realize that people are suffering nearby, especially people that we may know,” Hackler said.
Warren’s lectures to universities generally focus on the impact of secrets on today’s society, as well as promoting the general aims of personal expression and empowerment associated with his project.
University Programs urges students to continue submitting their secrets until the April 16 deadline. They also suggest that students come to the lecture early, as seating will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis. More information about the PostSecret event can be found at the University Programs website, up.uark.edu.
Even if it’s impossible to come to Warren’s lecture, it still may be worth it to stop by the gallery to look at students’ secrets, as they are bound to fascinate.
However, they may also cause worry regarding roommates.
