Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 421

"Both of my parents were very successful. So I was taught a lot...

"Both of my parents were very successful. So I was taught a lot about success growing up, but I wasn’t taught a lot about happiness. For example, I realized recently that I don’t have any photographs with my friends from college." 
"Are you saying you didn’t have any moments in college worth photographing?"
"No, there were plenty of moments. But I never felt the need to capture them. I was so busy trying to be the best, I never really paused to appreciate what I had."

"I’ve got some woman issues. I’m trying to get them...

"I’ve got some woman issues. I’m trying to get them out."

"I don’t have much of a paternal instinct. I mean, I like...

"I don’t have much of a paternal instinct. I mean, I like kids, but only if I can hand them back to their parents and go about my business."

"I try to write poems and short stories.""What about?""Just...

"I try to write poems and short stories."
"What about?"
"Just weird situations." 
"What kind of situations?"
"Disintegrating friendships, and things like that."
"So why do friendships disintegrate?"
"I just think that people’s interests change. And relationships have to be built on some sort of commonality. So once that common ground is lost, it’s very difficult to get it back."

"I was a trader for most of my life. At one point I was the Vice...

"I was a trader for most of my life. At one point I was the Vice Chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange. But instead of retiring, I decided to go back to school and get a degree in social work. Because I figured God wasn’t going to care much about my golf handicap. But being an older student sort of turns your whole world upside down. Last month, I worked on a project with a kid that I used to coach in basketball."

"It takes a hell of a lot of pills to keep me going."

"It takes a hell of a lot of pills to keep me going."

"I’m a dancer.""Let’s see a dance move.""Not right...

"I’m a dancer."
"Let’s see a dance move."
"Not right now."
"You’re not a dancer."

"I’m not too emotional of a guy. People say I have a good...

"I’m not too emotional of a guy. People say I have a good heart, but they’re wrong. I have principles. The heart is a fickle thing. There’s no way I can love everybody. So I’m not even going to try. But I can respect everyone whether I love them or not. And that I try to do."

"Let me tell you what’s happening to me. I’m on the...

"Let me tell you what’s happening to me. I’m on the PTA at my child’s school, the Secondary School of Journalism in Park Slope. I’m currently advocating on behalf of my child, and seventeen other children whose parents don’t speak English. These kids are from Ecuador, Peru, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, everywhere. These kids have all done very well on their Regent’s exams— I’m talking 90/95th percentile. Very smart kids. They were on their way toward qualifying for an Advanced Regents government scholarship,that would give their parents badly needed money to help in their education. But the fine print of that scholarship says the children need three full years of a foreign language. 

And the principal at the school FIRED the Spanish teacher. She is not hiring another foreign language teacher for an entire year, effectively disqualifying all these kids from that scholarship they need. When we try to talk with her about it, she acts like she doesn’t owe us an explanation. When we try to call the Board of Education, they tell us to put it in writing. They get us all excited. They have us think if we write a nice letter, and use good grammar, and use all the correct punctuation, something will happen. Meanwhile another year passes, and nothing. And the kids don’t get their scholarship. You know something like this would never happen at a nice Manhattan school like Stuyvesant.

We’ve got a new mayor and a new chancellor. So we aren’t blaming them. But they need to know how impossible they’ve made it to help our kids. Trying to get something fixed in these schools is like praying to some false God. You call and email hoping that God is listening, and nothing happens. Meanwhile the kids suffer. All these parents that I’m representing are good, simple people. They say: ‘Don’t worry Annette, God is going to fix it. God will make it right.’ I love them. And I love God. But I tell them: ‘God won’t fix it! We’ve got to fix it!’”

It ain’t easy.

It ain’t easy.