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An intimate public is an achievement . . . it fl ourishes as a porous, affective scene of identifi cation among strangers that promises a certain experience of belonging and provides a complex of consolation, confi rmation, discipline and discussion about how to live.
Lauren Berlant, The Female Complaint viii
The obligation to confess is now relayed through so many different points, is so deeply ingrained in us, that we no longer perceive it as the effect of a power that constrains us; on the contrary, it seems to us that the truth, lodged in our most secret nature, "demands" only to surface; that if it fails to do so, this is because a constraint holds it in place, the violence of a power weighs it down, and it can fi nally be articulated only at the price of a kind of liberation.
Michel Foucault, The Will to Knowledge 60
In 2004, Frank Warren invited people to write a secret that "is true and you have never shared" on a postcard and mail it to him at a street address in Germantown, Maryland, USA. Participants were encouraged to "let the postcard be your canvas," and were invited to "see a secret" by visiting the project website, a blog where scans of recently received cards were uploaded weekly (www. postsecret.com). PostSecret was conceived as an art project, and began with a batch of 3,000 custom-made cards which Warren distributed by leaving them in art galleries and in library books, and by handing them out at subway stations. While the original stock of cards was exhausted in three weeks, Warren continued to receive handmade cards at the mailing address (Warren 1). Six years later he continues to receive cards in the mail every week. He has amassed a collection of over 150,000 cards (PostSecret ), and HarperCollins has published fi ve hardcover books showcasing secrets Warren has received. The project also has a strong online presence, with Warren still updating the project blog weekly with scans of recently received cards. There is also a Facebook page for the project, a Twitter account that Warren uses to publicize the project, and a website called the PostSecret Community where people can share secrets by uploading videos, get information on...