ktravula – a travelogue!

Browsing ktravula – a travelogue! blog archives for the day Tuesday, September 29th, 2009.

To Tell Or Not To Tell

I have just returned from a talk by Frank Warren, author of PostSecret.com at the Meridian Ballroom at SIUE. He has been called “The Most Trusted Stranger in America”, and for a good reason. He collects postcards from strangers all over the country who post them to him anonymously with their deeply held secrets written on them like an artwork. PostSecret.com is described as a community arts project. He has published four books, and another one is upcoming.

scan0045The highlight of the talk was a chance for audience members to express themselves back to the speaker, and many used the medium to tell secrets never before revealed. It was such an emotional moment, listening to the women especially, who mostly couldn’t complete their confessions without bursting into tears. A student confessed that she blamed herself for the death of a baby boy because she couldn’t get to him on time. Another one confessed to having felt better after sharing an earlier secret about sleeping disorders. The one that got the most laugh and applause was from a confessed kleptomaniac who confessed to having obtained all of Frank’s books by thieving. One other student confessed to having used a fake ID to come to the event, while another one came out just to express his deepest wonder at why God would spare his life from a horrible car accident and take that of a friend of his who died in a similar but different accident. In a response to a question about whether he ever thought that some of the secrets sent to him are untrue, sent only to manipulate, the visiting author replied that he saw all the postcards on which the secrets were written first as artworks, then later as medium of communication.It was a nice show, which I’m glad I attended. I got one of his books, titled “The Secret Lives of Men and Women”, and I also got it signed.

Here are some of the secrets from the book:

  • Every time I’m alone in an elevator, I take the opportunity to pass gas, pick my nose, and adjust my bra.
  • I long to go fishing with my ex-husband
  • When I was young I used to hate my body… Now that I’m older, I know better. I’m HOT!
  • I should have been more of a slut while I still had the chance.
  • Every day I contemplate suicide. And if you knew why, you’d want me dead too.

However I did not make it up to the microphone to ask my questions, or share any deeply held secret to a crowd of almost a thousand students. Why? Well, let that be the secret: because I was afraid that even though I didn’t need the applause, I might feel awkward if the applause for me was less than for the other guys who had more juicy tales to tell the crowd, and more tears to shed. However, I will send Frank an email tonight to let him have my secret. Had I gone up the mic, I could also have asked this question, among others: how does he sleep at night?

PS: According to Wikipedia, “with permission from Frank Warren, a French version of PostSecret was launched in October 2007 under the name PostSecretFrance and in February 2008, a German version was started as PostSecret auf Deutsch. There is also one in Spanish called Los Secretos Dominicales and now a Chinese version 邮寄你的秘密 PostSecretChina. The Chinese blog is not officially affiliated with PostSecret.”

To Tell Or Not To Tell was published on September 29th, 2009, with the tags , , , , under the adventures, Art category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Home Alone, Traveller.

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for October – an excerpt.


The heavy hum-dum of numb dumbbells lazing on a dirty rug

does not rise above this state, nor do the electro-carts that tug

in whimpers at his idle mind. There stirs and falls in random beats,

like hearts half-baked in a searing whirlwind of summer heats,

doses of silence, filtered in cold, frittered in the evening eye.

“It will not be tonight when the world ends.” Only a cycle crawls by.

 

A new man peers across a ledge, pondering time, pondering faces;

and only a thicket of quiet responds, louder than a din of dank spaces.

It bobs, it weaves a yarn of times. It reeks of a kind of cold, sour breath,

of stories told again and again; a non-listening ear. A certain death.

It is silent here now, as memory plays roughly along the helm of choice,

heaving noise: “It will not be tonight when the world ends,” in a low lone voice.

Home Alone, Traveller. was published on September 29th, 2009, with the tags , under the Observations, Soliloquy category. There are currently 12 comments on this article so far.

Random Pic

P1010147…and three funny and totally random life quotes.

  • “Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you’re alive, it isn’t.“
  • “Dont take life to seriously. No one gets out alive.“
  • “When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep — not screaming, like the passengers in his car.“

– Source unknown (Check out more here)

Random Pic was published on September 29th, 2009, with the tags , , , under the Soliloquy category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.