PostSecret craze comes to campus

What started as a website will come to life Wednesday night.

PostSecret founder Frank Warren will speak Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Aalfs Auditorium of Slagle Hall at the University of South Dakota.

Campus Activities Board President and senior Darcy Leischner said the preparation for Warren’s presentation has been in the works since April. Common student interest is what sparked the idea of a PostSecret presentation at USD.

“We actually had students request for this event to be brought to campus,”

Leischner said.

Warren’s presentation has generated positive feedback from students. The “Post Secret, Live at the University of South Dakota” Facebook page has received around 530 confirmed attendees for the event.

PostSecret is a community mail art project. Warren has authored five PostSecret books and created the PostSecret webpage. The site has received six web blog awards and 450 million hits.

The PostSecret process begins with creatively decorating a postcard containing a personal secret that has never been shared with another person. The author then sends in the postcard to PostSecret headquarters. From this point, Warren uses the postcards for his various PostSecret projects.

Participants’ identities remain completely anonymous but can be featured on Warren’s website and Facebook page as “Top Secrets of the Week.”

Although the PostSecret website, shows and books are a source of entertainment, they also provide a special connection between complete

strangers.

“The purpose of this is basically to connect strangers who may have the same secrets,” said junior Lacey Walters, speaker chair for the Campus Activities Board. “PostSecret might help them to feel less alone, knowing that other people have the same secret as them.”

Walters said the secrets cover a broad range of topics.

“Secrets could be anything from not brushing your teeth, to cheating on a significant other,” she said.

Warren’s show will be composed from the secrets that USD students submit into drop boxes. These drop boxes are located under the stairs in the Muenster University Center and in the entrance to the library.

Students are encouraged to write down their secrets and submit them into the drop boxes, Leischner said.

After collecting these secrets, Warren composes his show.

“(Warren) basically takes the secrets and creates a show around them,” she said.

However, Warren includes more than just USD secrets in his show.
buy nolvadex online https://nouvita.co.uk/wp-content/languages/new/uk/nolvadex.html no prescription

“(Warren) likes to make each show specific to the campus he’s at, but also brings in outside information,” Leischner said.

This outside information could include the psychology behind why people keep secrets, as well as secrets from any number of his books or website.

Leischner said the show will most likely include a mixture of serious and humorous content.

“I’ve attended shows like his in the past, and usually speakers build you up and bring you down throughout the show,” Leischner said.

Walters said a big drawing point of the show is that it is free. There will also be a book signing following Warren’s presentation.

First-year students Kaylie Schlapkohl and Nicole Criddle have both heard about the PostSecret Project. They both have high hopes for the upcoming event.

“It’s going to be really entertaining,” she said.

“I have read two of the PostSecret books,” said Schlapkohl. “I thought they were really cool and interesting.”