Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 321

"I’m saving up money to go to Brazil so I can find my...

"I’m saving up money to go to Brazil so I can find my birth mother."

(Jerusalem)

Today in microfashion…. (Jerusalem)

Today in microfashion…. (Jerusalem)

“When you are a child, and you walk outside, and see that your...

“When you are a child, and you walk outside, and see that your neighbors house is gone, it puts something in you deep down. All the small children have fear. It’s always with us. Weddings, graduation parties, these are happy events. But something is always missing. We always feel it. Life is very complicated now. There are checkpoints and police harassment. We live like second-class citizens. The Arabs are afraid of the Israelis. The Israelis are afraid of the Arabs. Arab children are afraid of bombs. Israeli children are afraid of rockets. And it’s not like one side can win. The Israelis can never kill all the Palestinians. The Palestinians cannot kill all the Israelis. Only peace can end it. I’d say eighty percent want peace. The rest are crazy religious.”

(Jerusalem)

“Would you like to come to my wedding? You will be in charge of...

“Would you like to come to my wedding? You will be in charge of bringing the tea!”

(Jerusalem)

“He’s like an angel. When he was younger, he would pass by our...

“He’s like an angel. When he was younger, he would pass by our store everyday. He couldn’t speak back then. He couldn’t even say his name, but he always passed by the store and gave off the warmest feelings. My father began to invite him in, and soon he was coming by the store every day to play. When he started spending time with us, he began to improve very quickly. We told him we needed his help with the shop. We think that all he needed was something to hope for. He began to tell us all about his feelings. He visited with everyone who came into the shop. He learned bits of English and Japanese. He changed our lives so much. My father loved him like a son, and he loved my father. They would always laugh together and dance together. When my Father died, he was very sad for five months. He still prays for my father every time he eats a meal. Lately, all he can talk about is a girl in his class that he wants to marry. She also has Down Syndrome. Every day he talks about the wedding he will have, and he invites everyone he sees. He has invited over 5,000 people so far. He tells each person what they are supposed to bring to the wedding. His father will not allow him to get married. But we are thinking about having a ‘wedding party,’ and inviting everyone in the town.”

(Jerusalem)

“There have been very good parts and very bad parts, but in the...

“There have been very good parts and very bad parts, but in the end, I love life. Every night before I sleep, I ask God for three more years, so that I can make it an even one hundred. Then I recite a blessing that my mother gave me when I left her in Poland. It was the last time I saw her. The blessing is much more powerful in Hebrew, but it says: ‘Wherever you go, may people always recognize that you have a beautiful heart.’”

(Jerusalem)

“I was the youngest in the family. I went to Israel first, and...

“I was the youngest in the family. I went to Israel first, and the rest of the family was supposed to join me. Nobody made it. We sent letters to each other for the first few years. The last letter I got from Poland came in 1941. It was from my mother. It asked me to send food. Then the letters stopped. I knew that the Germans had occupied Poland, and I heard rumors about the things that were happening. I never learned the specifics of what happened to my family. I never wanted to.”

(Jerusalem)

"I can lift 15 kilos.""How much do you think you’ll be...

"I can lift 15 kilos."
"How much do you think you’ll be able to lift when you’re grown up?"
"20 kilos."

(Jerusalem)

"An hour ago we put wishes inside of balloons, and released them...

"An hour ago we put wishes inside of balloons, and released them into the sky."
"What was your wish?"
"To stand up."

(Jerusalem)

Before I return to New York portraits, I want to share some...

Before I return to New York portraits, I want to share some portraits and stories that I gathered on an unscheduled side trip that I took to Jerusalem. Because of the hastily arranged nature of the trip, I worked with some unorthodox interpreters, including an extremely bright sixteen year old Palestinian boy. He approached everyone quite confidently, until we got to this group, and suddenly he got fidgety and clammed up. “Um, I don’t know,” he said. “They, um, will probably say no, um, maybe we should ask someone else.”

(Jerusalem)