Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 290

"I didn’t become a lawyer until the age of 37. I was the...

"I didn’t become a lawyer until the age of 37. I was the manager of a power plant and decided I needed a change."
“What has been your greatest moment of glory as a lawyer?”
“Last year I had a case against an especially obnoxious attorney who thought for sure he was going to win. He was especially vicious toward my client, and the whole time he strutted around like he was in an episode of Law and Order. And I beat him.”

“No matter how much we tried to help my brother, he wouldn’t...

“No matter how much we tried to help my brother, he wouldn’t quit. We tried being there for him. Then we tried to throw money at the problem. We tried to set him up with rehab, doctors, psychologists, even a job. Then eventually we just sort of threw up our hands and stopped associating with him, thinking that the alienation might shock him into changing. I hadn’t spoken to him for two years when he killed himself.”

"Whenever someone tells me to feel guilty, I assume...

"Whenever someone tells me to feel guilty, I assume they’re trying to program me."

"Every time I try to make a friend, I try too hard and come off...

"Every time I try to make a friend, I try too hard and come off as irritating."

"My mom found some satanic stuff in my journal and it really...

"My mom found some satanic stuff in my journal and it really freaked her out."

"After I finish my shift at the bakery, I start my shift at...

"After I finish my shift at the bakery, I start my shift at Starbucks. I work 95 hours per week at three different jobs. One of my sons graduated from Yale, and I have two more children in college. And when they finish, I want to go to college too. I want to be a Big Boss. I’m a boss at the bakery right now, but just a little boss. I want to be a Big Boss."

"I’m trying to keep psychological vampires from sapping my...

"I’m trying to keep psychological vampires from sapping my life force."

“She was always on edge. I remember one time my brother and I...

“She was always on edge. I remember one time my brother and I got in a fight, and my mom wanted him to apologize and give me a hug, so she was shaking him violently, screaming: ‘Give her a hug! Give her a hug! Give her a hug!’ When he wouldn’t do it, she threw him on the floor. Then one time when I was five years old, she wanted me to brush my hair because the social worker was going to see me that day. But I didn’t want to brush my hair. So she grabbed the brush, and brushed my hair so hard that I’ve never used a brush since.”
“Do you ever feel like your mom?”
“I do. I’m always having to pray about that. I take medicine for anxiety. My adoptive mother always reminds me that we’re two different people, and there’s nothing that says I have to end up like my mom. So I just have to keep praying. Whenever I feel like I’m getting really mad, I just try to cry instead of yell.”

“When I turned eighteen, I had the right to contact my birth...

“When I turned eighteen, I had the right to contact my birth mother, but my parents warned me not to do it. I called her anyway. When she got on the phone, it sounded like she was in a manic phase. She didn’t take responsibility for anything. She kept saying that I’d been brainwashed, and that ‘those people’ were not my parents, and that everything was the fault of the social workers. She had this edge in her voice. It gave me flashbacks to being yelled at and being hit by brooms. After we got off the phone, I decided that some doors are supposed to stay closed.”

"How do you know each other?""We don’t."

"How do you know each other?"
"We don’t."