Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 273

"I’ve got a wife, a six month old daughter, and a five...

"I’ve got a wife, a six month old daughter, and a five acre farm outside a tiny town in Vermont with three thousand of the best people in the world. My life is absolutely fucking perfect."

"I’m working on a book that encourages people to...

"I’m working on a book that encourages people to crossdress."

"I have a lot of friends and we’re doing an art show where...

"I have a lot of friends and we’re doing an art show where we show everyone our projects!"

"I’m not capable of faking enthusiasm for a paycheck."

"I’m not capable of faking enthusiasm for a paycheck."

“I worry about going insane. Ever since I was young, I have...

“I worry about going insane. Ever since I was young, I have periods where my thoughts make no sense and I get very impulsive and I hit things or bang my head against the wall. I just need to feel pain. It’s the only thing that pulls me out of my head and calms me down and gives me something to focus on. I think about the number 110 billion a lot. I think that’s the number of planets in the universe, or cells in the body, or grains of sand, or people who’ve ever lived, or one of those things. It makes me realize how unimportant I am. There have been seven times recently where I’ve had a knife to my wrist and I was trying to get the courage to kill myself.”

“I think it started at an early age. My parents used to joke...

“I think it started at an early age. My parents used to joke about how I’d tie up and beat my stuffed animals. They said it was like Disney in bondage. Little did they know how right they were. They’re very religious. My father is the son of a missionary. My parents would always do room searches where they’d go through my stuff and take anything they didn’t agree with, and break any CD’s that they didn’t think were Christian. I tried to hide things behind bookshelves. I even tried to create a hole in my wall. But nothing worked. I remember getting in trouble for leaning up against my friend at church. The youth pastor said we were acting like lesbians, and my mom said I was ruining her reputation. I’ve been on anti-depressants since I was 14, which is the age my parents started taking me to psychiatrists to figure out what was wrong with me.”

“My parents think I’m here with friends. They’d freak out if...

“My parents think I’m here with friends. They’d freak out if they knew I was here alone.”
“Why did you come to New York alone?”
“Well, I’m not exactly alone. I came here to see a guy. He’s…. 55. I met him on the internet. It’s a BDSM thing. Sort of a daddy/daughter thing. He’s at work now. He’s actually got a wife and two kids. I think I’m using this relationship to try to pull myself out of a dark, dark hole. At the very least, it’s the ultimate support system.”

Many of you remember Shirley, the 101 year old woman who told us...

Many of you remember Shirley, the 101 year old woman who told us all about her deceased husband Moe, in addition to sharing a handful of other awesome stories. (If you need a refresher, you can watch this video: http://bit.ly/1iNXcA5)

Anyway, Shirley has spent the last several months gathering and transcribing Moe’s writings into an e-book. The book is called: “Congenital Alterable Transmissible Asymmetry: The Spiritual Meaning of Disease and Science.”

You can find it here: http://bitly.com/1EnuVL7

Shirley’s daughters tell me that she asks two questions everyday:
1) “Can we get some bananas that aren’t green?”
2) “Has Brandon put Moe’s book on the internet?”

So now we’ve just got to get Shirley some yellow bananas.

“I see myself in my son. I know what it’s like to be in that...

“I see myself in my son. I know what it’s like to be in that teenage stage when you feel the need to prove yourself. One day when I was about his age, I was hanging out with some friends after school, and they wanted to go to the mall, but I had to go back to school and work on a project. A few hours later, they all ended up getting arrested for shoplifting. When I got home, my father was crying. He’d gotten a call from one of the boy’s fathers, who told him everything that happened. He told my dad: ‘Barak didn’t get arrested because he went to school.’ My dad dropped to his knees and started hugging me, and telling me that I’d made the smart decision, and that night he took me out to dinner. Today, every one of those friends is either dead or locked up.”

“I’m trying to make sure my son stays out of trouble. But he...

“I’m trying to make sure my son stays out of trouble. But he just turned 14, and there’s only so much I can control when I’m not around him. I was coming home from work the other day, and he was getting home from school at the same time, and I saw his group of friends try to grab a lady’s purse. I ran across the street, grabbed them, gave the lady back her purse, and said: ‘I’m sorry. These boys used to be my son’s friends. And I’m calling all of their fathers.’ It embarrassed him. But I told him: ‘If I hadn’t done what I did, you’d be in jail.’”