Anonymity can do some strange things. We all know that faceless interactions are less stress-provoking that face-to-face encounters. Hence the phone-call break-ups. Or nowadays, email or even text-message break-ups. Ouch. Anonymous posters on blogs often stir up a lot more shit than those with userids or even made-up names. Anonymous apologies turned into a phenomenon with the opening of the Apology Line.

Another offshoot is the anonymous confession. Anyone raised Catholic knows that confessions made behind a screen are a lot easier than those made sitting in a lounge chair directly across from the man who’s supposed to absolve you of your sins. Hence the wild popularity of Post Secret, a website that publishes online and in books secrets submitted anonymously via postcard. I can spend hours pouring over the submissions, studying each one like a tiny peephole into the darker side of the human condition.

Frank Warren, local artist and the brains behind Post Secret, will be hosting a book signing and showing videos of the postcards he’s received, tonight and next Friday at Artomatic. Both events are at 7 PM. Artomatic is being held this year in a newly constructed but yet-to-be-moved-into office building at the corner of M St. and 1st St. NE, accessible by Metrorail (Red line to New York Ave.) or Metrobus (80, 90, 92).