"Place Holdings"

Runs through Oct. 1, Third Street Gallery, 58 N. Second St., 215-625-0993, www.confess2.us

Michael Sebright wanted to know our secrets. Turns out, all he had to do was ask.

Since mid-July, the artist has been tapping into the city's psychological meanderings with "Map/Confess," a project for which Sebright and company filled Billy Penn's original city grid with confession boxes. The overwhelmingly successful venture evolved into "Place Holdings," which combines the collected confession slips (placed in individual mason jars) with simple but thought-provoking space installations.

"We live in the iPod age—we've become completely separated from one another," says Sebright. "But people will always have this yearning to be known but still safe."

Indeed, the anonymity of these confessions has no bearing on their compelling nature, as exhibited by the following list of our favorites. (For the record, none of these was written by me, especially not the peeing-in-cups one.)