Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 324

"I’d had five operations on my uterus, and after the last...

"I’d had five operations on my uterus, and after the last one, the doctor sat me down and told me that I would never have a child. He scheduled a surgery to have my uterus completely removed. I wanted a baby so much, so it was almost like hearing that my life was over. One week later, I started feeling strange. I started craving bread and falling asleep early, but I’ve always had problems with my hormone levels, so I thought it was nothing. My friends would joke that I was pregnant, but it was too hurtful for me to even joke about. Then after three months, I felt so bad that I had to spend a day in bed, and after that my friend drove me to the pharmacy and forced me to take a pregnancy test. I came home and laid the test on the counter without even looking at it. I didn’t want to be let down again. Then right before I went to bed, I finally looked, and there it was. After all these years, I still have that test. One month before they were going to remove my uterus, I’d finally gotten pregnant."

(Mexico City, Mexico)

"I sometimes wonder what would have happened if my mom...

"I sometimes wonder what would have happened if my mom hadn’t died. I was always with her, and I always followed what she said. So I think that if she was still around I probably wouldn’t have gotten expelled from school. Dad spent all his time at work, so we were like two total strangers after she died. He’d try to reprimand me without knowing who I was or how I felt. He’d tell me to put down the guitar and quit wasting my time. And he’d never show any sadness about Mom. He thought he was being strong but he wasn’t helping us or him. By not crying, all he did was make us feel more alone."

(Mexico City, Mexico)

"The first time I got on stage, I forgot about all my problems....

"The first time I got on stage, I forgot about all my problems. We were the opening act at a rodeo, and nobody was there. Only about ten people were in the crowd, and almost all of them were employees. I was so nervous that my hands were shaking. But it was the first time that I’d felt the feeling of playing my own music in front of a crowd, and I’ve been addicted to that feeling ever since."

(Mexico City, Mexico)

"I want to be a visual artist, but the art world seems to be...

"I want to be a visual artist, but the art world seems to be much more about politics than it is about talent. You have to continually go to galleries and events, so that you can shake the right hands and meet influential people. Extroverted artists seem to have a big advantage."

(Mexico City, Mexico)

"We weren’t expecting it. We were expecting him to be a...

"We weren’t expecting it. We were expecting him to be a little chubby, or have big ears, or be a little funny looking, but we weren’t expecting him to have Down syndrome. They had been telling us that all the tests were normal. We were devastated at first, but we decided to take the bull by the horns. And it actually brought us closer together. We’d been growing a little apart before he was born, but he gave us a common goal to focus on. We spent two months at the hospital together when he got pneumonia. And he’s turned out to be a blessing. There’s no evil in him. He’s either happy, or sad, or mad, but he never conceals and always expresses just how he feels."

(Mexico City, Mexico)

"I’ve worked to eradicate Malaria my entire life, and I...

"I’ve worked to eradicate Malaria my entire life, and I used to drive out into the rural areas all the time to do my work. I’d carry large amounts of money without any fear. People would know that I had money with me and nobody would bother me. But things have changed. People have grown desperate, and desperate people do bad things. The population has grown in Mexico much faster than the infrastructure, and there just aren’t enough jobs to support everyone. My company had a job opening recently, and all the job required was a high school diploma, but 400 people showed up with college degrees. And that was for a job that only paid $350 a month! All Mexicans need are jobs. We are not a lazy people. Give us a job and we won’t sleep if it’s necessary. We’ll eat our lunch while we are working. We will work 15 hours a day to dig a hole 10 kilometers deep, if that is what you ask us to do. Because for us, all work is a blessing."

(Mexico City, Mexico)

"When I first met her, she was dating another guy. He...

"When I first met her, she was dating another guy. He didn’t like me talking to her, so he waited for me outside of class one day and beat me up. But I didn’t give up on her. I started biking and swimming and learning to box. I got skinnier than you are. Then the next time I saw him, he came over to me and said: ‘You want another round?’ And I said: ‘This will be the last round!’ Then I knocked him out in two punches."

(Mexico City, Mexico)

"I have a Masters in history, a Masters in anthropology, and a...

"I have a Masters in history, a Masters in anthropology, and a PhD in education."
"What would you say has been your greatest accomplishment?"
"My personality."

(Mexico City, Mexico)

"During my first two years of college, I studied with people who...

"During my first two years of college, I studied with people who didn’t have very high goals. I was the hardest worker in the group and everyone was always asking me for help, so I felt like I was ahead of where I should be. During my last two years, I moved into more advanced classes, and suddenly I was studying with people who had higher goals than me. They pressured me to study much harder, but it was too late. When I graduated, I missed having an ‘excellent’ rating by .04 points."

(Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon, Vietnam)

"He found me and my son on New Year’s Eve, sleeping in a...

"He found me and my son on New Year’s Eve, sleeping in a construction site. We’d been forced out on the street after my husband abandoned us. He said: ‘You shouldn’t live like this, come home with me.’ He let us live with him for months, and he never asked me for a thing, and he very good to my son. Sometimes I’d come home and find him carrying my son on his shoulders. After a few months, we developed romantic feelings for each other."

(Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon, Vietnam)