Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 260

“Hazel can’t have superpowers yet. She too little...

“Hazel can’t have superpowers yet. She too little for me to teach her how to control them.”

“I love working with my hands. You can actually feel the...

“I love working with my hands. You can actually feel the job being done. And at the end of the day, you can look at what you’ve accomplished. I can walk over this plaza in 30 years and know that I laid these stones.”

“I’ve worked with this man for over 16 years, and he’s taught...

“I’ve worked with this man for over 16 years, and he’s taught me so much about life. He came to this country from Albania as a young man, and he didn’t speak any English. For the last 30 years of his life, he’s worked two jobs so that his children could have the greatest education possible. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for his family. Before I met him, I wasn’t pushing myself nearly as hard as I could have.”

“I actually went to the shelter to get another dog, but he’d...

“I actually went to the shelter to get another dog, but he’d already been adopted. So I decided to do a lap around the facility before I left, and I saw Engelbert. He had about ten pages of physical problems. His back legs didn’t work. His old owners kept him outside, so his ears were completely frostbitten. And he only had three teeth. So I thought if I didn’t get him, nobody else would.”

“My family doesn’t like my appearance. They ask me why I can’t...

“My family doesn’t like my appearance. They ask me why I can’t look normal.”
“What do you wish they would say?”
“You can dress however you want, because of the person you are.”

“I think people perceive me as being much bolder than I...

“I think people perceive me as being much bolder than I actually am. I have a lot of trouble with confidence. I’ve dyed my hair since kindergarten. My mother colored my hair as an experiment before trying it on herself, and I liked it so much that I kept doing it, even though she told me not to. Eventually the colors grew wackier and wackier. Then I started wearing off-the-shoulder shirts, and miniskirts, and lots of prints. I was always the different kid. In middle school, I had so much trouble making friends that I tried to dress normally for a while. But that didn’t work either.”

“It’s a breathing and stretching exercise called...

“It’s a breathing and stretching exercise called Qigong. I met a Kung Fu teacher in the park who showed me some techniques. I try to do it for an hour everyday.”

“We’ve been friends since we were twelve, but...

“We’ve been friends since we were twelve, but he’s always kept me at arm’s length.”
“We’ve had fun.”
“Not the kind of fun I wanted to have.”

For those of you who don’t know, my girlfriend Erin runs...

For those of you who don’t know, my girlfriend Erin runs Susie’s Senior Dogs- which is the place to go if you’re looking for a new friend. Erin really has a heart for older dogs, and there’d be significantly less crying around the apartment if we could help find homes for more of these pups. She’s already matched hundreds of senior dogs with new homes. Many of the dogs had been sitting in shelters for months or even years. It’s a really heartwarming page, and Erin’s doing wonderful things over there, so I’d encourage everyone to follow along. You maybe even find a loyal new companion.

“When things are good in my life, everything looks likes a...

“When things are good in my life, everything looks likes a picture. When things are bad in my life, nothing looks like a picture. When I met her, I was taking one hundred or two hundred photographs per day. Now she wants to go back to France, and I’m only taking one or two photographs per day.”