Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 194

“My wife and I were eating at a rib joint in Key Largo, and we...

“My wife and I were eating at a rib joint in Key Largo, and we actually took out a piece of paper and made a pros and cons list. The ‘con’ list was pretty normal: time, money, things like that. I remember at the top of the ‘pro’ list was: ‘Full Human Experience.’ After our daughter was born, that became an inside joke with us. Every time she was screaming at bath time, my wife and I would look at each other and say: ‘Full Human Experience.’ The first three months were the hardest. Honestly, we wondered if we’d made a mistake. It was like a bomb dropped and eviscerated everything in our lives. But then our daughter started growing up, and learning to do things on her own, and we kept taking small steps back and getting more of our own time back. There’s an unexpected sadness to getting your life back. It’s like your getting laid off slowly from an equally grueling but joyful job. She’s ten now. And I’ll notice that she’ll be reading alone for an hour without getting bored and jumping on me. We used to make tents on the bed, now it’s more homework and YouTube. Sometimes she’ll go in her room for a long time and close the door. Her life is becoming hers and I’m fascinated by where it’s going to go. But it’s bittersweet that she needs me less and less.”

“What’s your favorite thing about your...

“What’s your favorite thing about your mom?”

“She nags me a lot. And I know that doesn’t sound like a good thing, but that means she loves me.”

The President took a few moments to greet Dr. Hamo last night...

The President took a few moments to greet Dr. Hamo last night after the speech. Such a cool end to an awesome day. Hopefully this will be the conclusion of Dr. Hamo’s story as a refugee, and his narrative will now be defined by his contributions as a scientist and American citizen. He truly is a remarkable man and I was honored to share the day with him.

Dr. Hamo just arrived at the White House for a reception...

Dr. Hamo just arrived at the White House for a reception before attending the State of the Union tonight. It’s been a bit surreal reconnecting under these circumstances, since the last time I saw him was during our initial interview in Istanbul. It’s been great catching up. While he’s honored to be representing refugees tonight, he wishes foremost to be seen as a scientist, and hopes that soon he will be known more for his work than his refugee status. And the best news of all— Dr. Hamo recently underwent surgery to have a large tumor removed from his stomach. It was benign.

“I’m not really a ‘lyrics...

“I’m not really a ‘lyrics guy.’”

(3/3) “We stopped playing for ten years after our father’s...

(3/3) “We stopped playing for ten years after our father’s death. We lost all direction. All of us hit the streets and started selling drugs. Our lives fell apart for a long time. Recently we all got home from prison and we had a meeting. We said: ‘This is not us,’ and we decided to start playing again. We bought some old instruments and tried to practice but it was hard at first. We’d forgotten so much, and it was the first time we’d ever played without Dad counting out the beats. But it started to come back to us, like riding a bike. Now we use the music to support each other. If one of us needs something, all of us come out and play. If one of us is behind on rent, we come out and play. If one of us needs to buy Christmas presents for his kids, we come out and play.”

(2/3) “Our mother left when we were young. One morning we woke...

(2/3) “Our mother left when we were young. One morning we woke up and there was no breakfast in the kitchen and our clothes weren’t laid out. Dad got very bitter. We started seeing rolled up dollar bills on the table. I think he maybe slept six nights that entire first month. He went from sniffing cocaine, to smoking cocaine, to doing heroin. The drugs actually made him tougher on us. We had less freedom than ever. But by the time we were teenagers, we were beginning to get noticed in the music world. We were getting gigs. We were called The Stokes Family Singers. We even met Michael Jordan when we did a concert at his restaurant. But Dad had a stroke at work one day and died suddenly. And everything came apart.”

(1/3) “Our father was the music teacher at our school. He was...

(1/3) “Our father was the music teacher at our school. He was very religious and he ruled our house with an iron hand. We didn’t play in the streets like other kids. We didn’t go to prom. Everything was music, music, music. We learned a lot but we hated him. He was like Joe Jackson. All we did was practice. He’d sit in the other room, and if he heard the music stop, he’d come in and hit somebody. If he heard the wrong note, he’d come in and hit somebody. He’d hit you in front of your girlfriend. And if you brought a friend over, he’d have no problem hitting them too.”

“Everyone has a hard on for the union. They think we’re lazy or...

“Everyone has a hard on for the union. They think we’re lazy or this or that, or maybe that there’s mafia influence, but honestly I just think they don’t like the little man having a voice. More and more construction sites are non-union these days. Nobody wants to pay $30 an hour plus benefits if an immigrant will do the same job for $14 an hour. And if everything goes non-union, I might as well go work at McDonald’s because I’ll be making the same amount of money. If the union collapses, I’m going to lose my pension. The way pensions work– each generation pays for the previous generation. So without a new generation of union workers, there’s not going to be any money left for me. And I’ll have to work until I die.”

“We started with Daddy, Munchie, and Stimpy. But one night I...

“We started with Daddy, Munchie, and Stimpy. But one night I woke up and heard “bloop, bloop, bloop” and Munchie and Stimpy had died at the same time. So Daddy has been through a lot. He lost his whole family. But Daddy is strong. He’s been holding on since October and he’s lived through two long car rides. He also survived four days without eating because I bought him food that was too big for his mouth. So Daddy’s a survivor. But I’m going to get him a friend. I want him to love again.“