Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 314

"I’d like to be out of the shelter by Thanksgiving,...

"I’d like to be out of the shelter by Thanksgiving, because I’d like to eat Thanksgiving dinner at home."

"I scratch myself every time the cops come because they...

"I scratch myself every time the cops come because they don’t like to deal with you if you’re bleeding."

"What are the flowers for?""We woke up at 5 AM today. So...

"What are the flowers for?"
"We woke up at 5 AM today. So we’re saying ‘sorry.’"

“I found a girl’s phone number in his pocket one night when he...

“I found a girl’s phone number in his pocket one night when he came home late from work. I thought: ‘I can leave, or I can resolve myself to it.’ I had young children at the time, and no income, and no family to fall back on, so I decided to live with it. There were times he’d stay out all night, or wouldn’t answer the phone. But he was a good father. He worked. We went on vacations together. I think he was sick for about a year before he finally went to the doctor. He didn’t even tell me himself. His doctor told me that I needed to get tested, because my husband had AIDS.”

"I was like: ‘So are we a thing?’ And he was like:...

"I was like: ‘So are we a thing?’ 
And he was like: ‘I don’t know. Are we?’”

“I always tell my wife that she can only photograph me while I’m...

“I always tell my wife that she can only photograph me while I’m working. My job is to make old things look beautiful. I like to bring things back to life. That’s my thing.”

"This morning he asked me if he was still not allowed to say...

"This morning he asked me if he was still not allowed to say ‘What the fuck?’"

"I’m bringing leaves to my friend!"

"I’m bringing leaves to my friend!"

“It was hell growing up. My parents were two pieces of shit. You...

“It was hell growing up. My parents were two pieces of shit. You don’t know what it was like coming home from school and being afraid because your mom is flying on fucking drugs so you go and hide under your bed and listen to them scream and wonder whether your dad or your mom was going to kill the other one first. One time my dad told my mom that he’d kill her if she hit me again. He came home that night and saw my face bruised up, so he dragged my mom out of her room by the legs, lifted her up by her throat and pinned her against the wall. Her face was turning more and more purple and I was pulling on her legs trying to get her feet back on the ground. Cause I didn’t want to see my dad kill my mom. She always beat me and called me a piece of shit and told me that I was going to hell, but that was my mom.”

“I was doing time for armed robbery when I found out that my...

“I was doing time for armed robbery when I found out that my daughter had been killed. Her and my son-in-law had been doing hallucinogens, and he was choking her because that is supposed to make a better orgasm, but he cut off her air too long and ended up killing her. Instead of calling the police, he sat on her body for three days then dumped it behind a 7-11. I was so angry when they called and told me, I pulled up a footlocker that was bolted to the ground. I’m skinny but I’m strong as hell. My wife couldn’t take it, and she OD’d. They found her in the bathroom with one hundred empty bags of heroin. She’d fallen in the bathtub and hit her head on the soap dish. When they called and told me that, I tried to hang myself with my bedsheets.”