Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 211

“Do me a favor and put this picture on Facebook, because...

“Do me a favor and put this picture on Facebook, because I’ve been trying to send my daughter a picture of this foliage on my flip phone, and it’s just not coming out. I’ve tried every setting.”

“I have this image of myself as the fun friend who is easy...

“I have this image of myself as the fun friend who is easy going, always good for a laugh, and always ready to listen to your problems. But I don’t share my own problems because I’m afraid that my friendship will seem less valuable if I do. I’m afraid that if I’m sad, I’ll seem boring. I don’t want people to start thinking: ‘This isn’t fun anymore.’ Or ‘This isn’t what I signed up for.’ So I tend to shut myself off. I’ll tell you all about my interests and activities. But when it comes to how I’m doing, I don’t like to move beyond ‘I’m fine.’ So I have all sorts of tricks to keep the conversation focused on the other person. I’m a great listener. And I love details: ‘Me? I’m great! But what about you? I seem to remember that you were going to dinner with your sister-in-law last night, right? At the Italian restaurant? Was the linguine better this time? Less crispy?’”

“My cat died about a week before Brook did. Her name was Naja....

“My cat died about a week before Brook did. Her name was Naja. She used to always nuzzle in between Brook and I, so we would laugh about how she was jealous and trying to come between us. Whenever we’d see a stray cat on the street, Brook would say that Naja had sent a spy to keep an eye on us. I didn’t see a stray cat for a whole week after Naja died. When I finally saw one, I took this photo and sent it to Brook. He texted back that Naja had sent the cat to keep an eye on me. I got a call that night at 1:07 AM. Brook had a heart attack. He passed away before I got to the hospital. I like to imagine Brook and Naja nuzzling together in heaven. It’s one of the things that’s helped me get through these last few months.” (2/2)

“We were together for about a year. He was my first real...

“We were together for about a year. He was my first real relationship after my divorce. We discovered all these strange coincidences in our lives. After we met, we noticed that we had over one hundred mutual friends on Facebook. We found out that we’d both grown up in a corner house off Pickford Avenue in Detroit. We were both writers. We went to the same local library growing up. All of these things seemed so perfect. I thought they showed that we were meant to be together. The coincidences still seem meaningful to me, but now they just seem to mean that we were meant to collide.” (½)

“I don’t have friends. I don’t have family. But I’m a very...

“I don’t have friends. I don’t have family. But I’m a very popular man all around the United States. I’ve been selected by the Italians to have my work protected by the Vatican. They’re a hard group to get attention from. But they speak to me through body language.”

“He’s a miracle dog. He’s twelve years old. He had a stroke...

“He’s a miracle dog. He’s twelve years old. He had a stroke three years ago where he lost the use of his back legs. And a month ago he fell off an eleven-story balcony, and only broke one rib. Eleven stories! I swear. Google ‘Bonzo’ and ‘balcony.’ You’ll see.”

“Not sure if this is Facebook material, but she just...

“Not sure if this is Facebook material, but she just learned how to say ‘I made poopy.’”

“There’s nothing hard about being four.”

“There’s nothing hard about being four.”

“What do you feel most guilty about?”“My mom...

“What do you feel most guilty about?”

“My mom doesn’t know that I’m married to a man.”

Today in microfashion…

Today in microfashion…