Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 148

Today in microfashion…(São Paulo, Brazil)

Today in microfashion…

(São Paulo, Brazil)

“Both of us are widowers. We met last year at a dance for...

“Both of us are widowers. We met last year at a dance for seniors. He treats me so much better than my husband ever did. My husband treated me like a stray dog. He used to beat me. He’d get angry, and yell, and break things. He’d always say that I’d never meet someone else. But this man is different. He always tells me that he loves me. He always wants to be with me. He makes me feel like a princess.”

(São Paulo, Brazil)

“He didn’t begin speaking until the age of seven. He used to...

“He didn’t begin speaking until the age of seven. He used to hide everywhere. I’d scream for him but he wouldn’t respond to anything. Once when he was three years old, one of his uncles came into the house wearing a baseball cap to the side. He started screaming and I couldn’t calm him. I couldn’t even get him to look me in the eye. But eventually I tried pulling the cap to the front, and he fell completely silent. I brought him back to his room to calm down. And when i walked in a few minutes later, he had built an amazing castle out of playing cards.”

(Cordoba, Argentina)

“I was raised in a non-religious family, but certain...

“I was raised in a non-religious family, but certain experiences in life have caused me to connect with something that I can’t explain. Those experiences are like my paintings. The more I try to describe them, the more they lose their meaning.”

(Buenos Aires, Argentina)

“She was my first crush as a kid. We were in the same class...

“She was my first crush as a kid. We were in the same class together, and she sat by the window, so I’d always pretend that I was staring at the tree outside. But I never had the courage to talk to her. I was extremely shy. Then over the summer I went to her twelfth birthday party at a water park. She walked up to me with her entourage of friends, and said: ‘I liked you all year. But you never talked to me. And now I’m going to another school and you’re never going to see me again!’ I was so scared that I couldn’t talk. That moment was such a small thing for her– she doesn’t even remember it. But I was completely traumatized.”

(Buenos Aires, Argentina)

“I knew it would be a girl. I had a dream that I was...

“I knew it would be a girl. I had a dream that I was holding a girl.”

(Bariloche, Argentina)

“I grew up in a rural town. I was the only girl in the family....

“I grew up in a rural town. I was the only girl in the family. Being a girl back then represented a lot of ‘no’s.’ I wanted to study English, the answer was ‘no.’ I wanted to play guitar, the answer was ‘no.’ I wanted to date a boy, the answer was ‘no.’ I felt like there was a barrier separating me from life. The only thing my family wanted for me was to graduate high school, get married, become a teacher, and spend every Sunday with them. So I stayed. And I got pregnant at twenty-five. But my child died during birth. I felt completely drowned. I don’t even remember the passing of time. I lost an entire year of my life. But I eventually reached a moment where I knew that my only chance was to make a major change. And I finally left that town.”

(Rosario, Argentina)

“My brother shot himself last November. He always viewed...

“My brother shot himself last November. He always viewed himself as my superior. He’d never come to my door when he visited. He’d always wait in the car for me to come out. He had more money, more lovers, more everything. But he was always searching for more. He was never satisfied. My brother was a character. He was a successful character, but he was a character. And that character ended up eating him.”

(Cordoba, Argentina)

“We’ve gone forty years without insulting each...

“We’ve gone forty years without insulting each other. There have been fights, but never insults.”

(Bariloche, Argentina)

“He proposed to me twenty times over the past forty years, but...

“He proposed to me twenty times over the past forty years, but I kept saying ‘no.’ We were doing just fine without the paper. But our kids are more conservative than us. It was the opposite of normal—we were getting pressured from below. We’re on our honeymoon now.”

(Bariloche, Argentina)