Mailing Your Secrets

Davy Rothbart's Found has always fascinated me. People around the world find bits of "trash" and turn them into treasure. Discarded notes, grocery lists, photographs, etc. that could be found anywhere (tumbling down the street, stuck between the pages of a library book...) are collected by people with watchful eyes, then they're mailed off to Davy Rothbart and company where they compile the notes into a book.

I have found some pretty good Finds, like 3 page letter from a father to his daughter who apparently hated him after an ugly divorce with her mother, in which he tried to explain his side of the story. I also found an eerie photograph of a frowning, distant little baby boy that I mailed in. So far none of my Finds have made it into the magazine, but I still keep an eye out when I walk my dog or go jogging to mail in some more.

My new fascination, however, is in Frank Warren's Post Secret books. The whole book is a similar concept to that of Davy Rothbart, except that people don't find anything to submit- they mail in secrets of their own on a handmade postcard.

The books have pages and pages of secrets from around the world. Some are heartbreaking (like the one I read about an owner accidentally killing his dog with rat poison), some are hilarious, and some are heart-wrenchingly depressing. It's startling how many secrets are relatable and it's somewhat relieving to see them printed on paper, even if you weren't the original sender.

Samples of Finds and secrets can be seen on their websites: www.foundmagazine.com and postsecret.blogspot.com. Both book series can be found at bookstores or online at amazon.com.