Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 385

"We’re going to get inside this tire and roll down the...

"We’re going to get inside this tire and roll down the hill!"
"No you’re not."
"Yes we are!"
"No you’re not."

"She wants me to get all weird and emotional. She actually gets...

"She wants me to get all weird and emotional. She actually gets upset when I don’t get angry."

"My dad was in prison for eight years of my life. When he got...

"My dad was in prison for eight years of my life. When he got out, he spent a little time with us, but then he got a new girlfriend and started spending all his time and money on her. My mother doesn’t have much money, so I recently asked him if he could pay for a class trip to Spain. He promised he would, so my grandmother went ahead and put it on her credit card. But right before he was going to give me the money, we got in an argument. He started saying bad things about my mother, which I wasn’t going to allow. Afterwards, he texted me that he was going to take the money for my trip, and spend it on himself. He told me he was going to take photos of all the things he bought and post them on Instagram. So I took a screenshot of the text message, and posted it on Instagram, with the hashtag: #deadbeatdad. He reported me to Instagram for bullying, so they deleted the post. Then I put it right back up, hashtag #onlypussiesreportpeople.”

"If you could give one piece of advice to a large group of...

"If you could give one piece of advice to a large group of people, what would it be?"
"Be careful with that Framily Plan on your cell phone. My framily racked up a $1500 bill. Then he disappeared."

"The college admission process prioritizes American citizens, so...

"The college admission process prioritizes American citizens, so the remaining spots for international students are very competitive. Plus there’s no way that my parents will be able to pay tuition, so I’ve got to get a scholarship. But I think I’ve got a good shot. My grades are good. I kicked the most field goals in the city last year. And I’m growing 180 liters of algae down the street. Oils extracted from algae can be converted into biofuels."

"I have this theory. You ready? So we are on earth for a finite...

"I have this theory. You ready? So we are on earth for a finite amount of time. And time is a manmade perception. And we perceive time passing through change— seasons, aging, things like that. So to expand our time on earth, we must incite as much change in our lives as possible."
"Interesting. I haven’t heard that before."
"That’s because I made it up!"

"My kids are teenagers now, and they’re going off on their...

"My kids are teenagers now, and they’re going off on their own. And you understand it, but it’s hard for it not to hurt. Like the day you realize you’re not allowed in your daughter’s room anymore. Or when your son doesn’t want you to show him how to do something. The relationship tends to ebb and flow between ‘help me’ and ‘leave me alone.’ But lately, it’s been much more ‘leave me alone.’"

"I happened to be volunteering at an organization to help people...

"I happened to be volunteering at an organization to help people with HIV, when I found out I was positive."

He spoke very little English, but he wanted his picture taken.

He spoke very little English, but he wanted his picture taken.

"I walked out on my kids when they were young. I was a...

"I walked out on my kids when they were young. I was a mess— physically, socially, financially. My relationship with their mother was a mess. I couldn’t handle it, so I just said ‘fuck it,’ and I left. It really messed me up mentally. I’ll never be able to think of myself as a decent father. I blew it."