PostSecret Blog Creator Frank Warren to Speak at Georgia Southern

January 24, 2011

Georgia Southern University will host “America’s Most Trusted Man” Frank Warren for a special presentation at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 2, in the Performing Arts Center Theatre.

Creator of the PostSecret Project, Warren will share with guests the unheard voices and untold stories discovered during the last six years, and he will address the important issue his blog supports — suicide awareness and prevention. His lecture will also be available via simulcast in the Performing Arts Lecture Hall, and following the event attendees can purchase signed copies of his books. The event is free and open to the campus and local community.

Todd Deal, professor and director of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement, said the initial response to bringing Warren on campus was overwhelmingly enthusiastic and positive, and he believes the event’s focus will inspire students and others in the audience to make a difference.

“We found that what is now PostSecret.com started as a community art project. One of the pieces that grew out of that initial idea is a focus on suicide prevention,” Deal explained. “From an idea to serve others to a national effort to address a critical social issue – that is the sort of leadership that we seek to showcase as the type of viable, civically engaged leadership that makes a difference in the world.“

Warren gained recognition in 2004 when he invited people from around the world to send him creative postcards bearing never-revealed secrets to be featured in a special blog. His idea was to create an art-based community project to provide an anonymous medium of expression and honesty, safe from judgment.

Since PostSecret’s inception, Warren has received more than 400,000 postcards, with topics ranging from deep family secrets, criminal activity, secret habits and fears to funny reflections and hidden acts of kindness. His efforts have helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.

In 2009, Forbes listed Warren as the fourth most influential person on the Internet. His award-winning online blog, which now garners views from more than seven million people each month, is one of the most popular on the Web, and has been featured in USA Today, on “The Today Show,” “20/20,” CNN, MSNBC, CBC, NPR and FOX News. The creatively illustrated secrets have been featured in an international traveling art exhibit, and in four bestselling books: PostSecret, My Secret, The Secret Lives of Men and Women, and A Lifetime of Secrets.

The event is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, the University Wellness Program and the Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement.