Katelynn McGinley
Staff Reporter
They make look like nothing more than a collection of handmade postcards, but a closer look reveals a much deeper meaning.
Some are funny; I fantasize about pushing Miley Cyrus off a cliff.
Some are confessions; I watch you in GLAR and get ketchup when you do.
Some are heartbreaking; I can’t wait until my clothes start falling off and I can count my ribs like an abacus. What have I become?
Whatever they say, they all have one thing in common ? they are the secrets of McDaniel.
In a campus wide event sponsored by Active Minds, McDaniel students, staff, and faculty were encouraged to design and anonymously mail in “a regret, fear, desire, talent, betrayal or confession” on a 4×6 note card.
The event, a personalized and local take on the wildly popular Post Secret series, started by Frank Warren in 2005, was sponsored by the Active Minds group in an attempt to raise awareness about mental illness.
“[These are] the secrets of people we pass in Red Square, sit beside in class, stand beside in GLAR,” explains Kate Maloney, ’09, a member of Active Minds, adding that the event shows that “we have no idea what each of us are dealing with inside.”
The exhibit will be contextualized by displaying the secrets alongside mental health statistics and where to get help if needed, says Maloney.
While some of the secrets might be silly (a picture of a penguin behind a crouching female labeled I’m sad when I see missed opportunities for butt-sex, for example) many of them deal with what Maloney terms the “universal problems” that many college students face on a daily basis. This includes:
Depression: I am spiraling downward on a daily basis.
Loneliness: I asked to use your printer so I could spend at least five minutes away from my lonely apartment. Thank you.
Concerns about sexuality: When I was really young, I had a sexual experience with another girl. I’ve been afraid that automatically makes me a lesbian ever since.
Body image issues: Sometimes I think about overdosing so I can have my stomach pumped and lose weight the easy way.
Domestic violence: I pretend my vagina is bubble wrap so he won’t hurt me
Abuse: I was 5 and you were my dad ? how could you molest me?
Problems with drugs and alcohol: My addiction is DEEP. I want to/will drink everyday/again?and you will never know.
The response to the Post Secret event has been, according to Kaitlin Cutter, ’10 another member of Active Minds, “overwhelming”. The group estimates that they have received over 200 postcards mailed in from faculty, students, and staff, all of them eager to participate in what Maloney terms a “cathartic experience.”
“I think it’s comforting for people to read these secrets,” says Jaki Sipes, ’10, “it makes people feel like there’s someone else going through the same things that they are.”
And that, according to Maloney, is one of the reasons Active Minds chose this project. The goal of Active Minds, Cutter and Maloney explain, is to not only “open people’s minds to the realities of mental illness,” but also to normalize and reduce the isolation that oftentimes surrounds these issues.
“We want people know that they don’t have to suffer alone.” Says Maloney.
The exhibit drew crowds of students on its opening night when it was displayed on the upper level of Decker, and continued to pique student’s interest once it was moved to the display case on the second floor.
Whether students were laughing and pointing at some of the more ridiculous secrets, or shaking their heads at the somber ones, the important thing to the members of Active Minds is that they were paying attention.
“The best outcome would be if even one person decides to seek help for a problem as a result of this project,” says Maloney, who hopes that Post Secret at McDaniel will become an annual event that will “positively affect how we interact with one another, and [make us] more sensitive to the private struggles those around might be dealing with.”
Though the secrets are no longer on display, Active Minds is considering turning the secrets received into a book that would be sold on campus.