I have been planning my husband’s funeral for 24 years,” reads the front side of a postcard. Next to the words is a Polaroid picture of church pews and a clipart choir. It’s dark and it’s mysterious—and it’s the mystery of postcards like these that make the website PostSecret so enthralling.

On May 5, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. in Christ Chapel, the creator of PostSecret, Frank Warren, will be here to talk about his five-year-old project. Sponsored by the Campus Activities Board, the Center for Vocational Reflection and student organization Explore, Warren will explain the history and inspiration of the website and offer insights into his own personal philosophies.

As the PostSecret craze grows and gains more attention, so too does the popularity of Warren himself. Forbes Magazine recently ranked Warren as the fourth most popular web celebrity. In addition, he has been interviewed on a variety of news networks including MSNBC, NPR and Fox News.

While many readers of his site may think of it as a way for people to let out burning secrets, Warren sees it more as an art project.

“What I find most attractive about this project is how meaningfully people express their secrets—the creative process involved, the fonts chosen, the images or found objects used to tell their own stories,” Warren said.

Warren admits that the postcards are more than just art, however. He believes that by openly expressing our secrets—even anonymously—they lose their hold over us. “When we think we are keeping a secret, that secret is actually keeping us,” Warren said. Sometimes, senders discover things about themselves that they only realized when they got their secret out on paper.

Since the beginning of his project, Warren has published five books, which are compilations of the postcards he has received over the years.

The cards range from whimsical to disturbing, dark to funny. “My boyfriend is deaf, and when we have sex, I scream my ex’s name,” reads one. Another: “I serve decaf to customers who are rude to me.” “All my life I wanted to look like Liz Taylor. Now Liz Taylor’s starting to look like me.” PostSecret is updated weekly with new postcards at www.postsecret.com.

Students can obtain tickets for this event free of charge from the Student Activities Office. Tickets are also available to the general public for $5 starting April 26.