Saturday, February 16, 2008

Postcards: sending secrets

While I admit to writing personal messages on the postcards I send to people (knowing too well that a bored postman somewhere might have a read), I've never considered sharing secrets on a card for the world to see. But that's exactly what thousands of people all over the planet do when they send their handmade postcards to Post Secret. A community art project created by Frank Warren (following a dream he'd had in which postcards with cryptic messages appeared to him; read more about why he started PostSecret here), the site displays the cards people send Frank with their witty, insightful, uplifting, heartfelt, and often heartbreaking messages. Warren has also published four beautiful books featuring some of the postcards, called The Secret Lives of Men and Women, My Secret, Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives, and A Lifetime of Secrets. Spend just a few moments at PostSecret and you'll quickly appreciate why it's one of the most popular blogs on the web. And if you don't get it, take a read of the honest and occasionally heart-wrenching posts on the PostSecret Community chat room. Some comments I like about why people love the project and the PostSecret community: "... it made the world seem a little smaller... and allowed me to believe we were all more alike than we could admit publicly" and "I find it so interesting to take a glimpse into the life of others. I guess its because its the closest for me to a trip around the world." And we'd all love one of those.

Okay, I have a few secrets to share: sometimes I do get tired of travelling, I miss having a 'home', I miss our old apartment in Dubai (pictured), I miss the things I collected on our travels, I miss my painting 'Mustapha' which we bought in Alexandria, but most of all, I miss my family and friends.