Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 426

"We’re gay refugees from Iran."

"We’re gay refugees from Iran."

"I used to be 425 lbs. Now I work for a nonprofit that promotes...

"I used to be 425 lbs. Now I work for a nonprofit that promotes physical activity and nutrition in schools."
"What’s one piece of nutrition advice?"
"Here’s what I tell the kids: ‘If you can’t pronounce the ingredients on the label, you shouldn’t be eating it.’"

"He tickles the shit out of me. I’m so ticklish, even the...

"He tickles the shit out of me. I’m so ticklish, even the thought of being tickled makes me start laughing. If I’m ever being overly bossy or sarcastic, he’ll just start wiggling his index finger in the air, and I’ll lose it."

"I’m examining my life and trying to figure out where to...

"I’m examining my life and trying to figure out where to place my bets."
"What’s the worst bet you’ve ever made?"
"That would be a relationship."
"What happened?"
"I entered into a relationship with a con artist. The thing is— I’m normally very methodical and calculated about things, but I let my desire for companionship override my logic, and I let myself be blinded. He used the pretense of a relationship to gather information about me, and by the time I figured out what was going on, he’d already stolen about $30,000 from me. It also affected my future relationships, of course. You always want to enter a relationship from a position of trust, and I have a hard time doing that now."

"She’s clumsy. We were talking about school earlier and...

"She’s clumsy. We were talking about school earlier and she just fell off the bed."
"Well, she’s obsessed with Justin Bieber. She’s got like six posters hanging in her room."

"What’s your greatest fear?""Getting sliced in half but...

"What’s your greatest fear?"
"Getting sliced in half but still being alive. I saw that on the internet once. It looks awful."

"We were friends, and then he sent this other friend, to see if...

"We were friends, and then he sent this other friend, to see if I wanted to be more than friends, but even after that we just stayed friends, but then we became more than friends."

"You learn a lot of things being the quiet one. And at some...

"You learn a lot of things being the quiet one. And at some point, you start to think: ‘I feel like I can lead people.’ But then you say: ‘But who would follow me? I’m just the quiet one.’"

"Both my parents died when I was fifteen. So I knew early that I...

"Both my parents died when I was fifteen. So I knew early that I needed to learn how to make it on my own. So when it came time to go to college, I took a bunch of small pieces of paper and wrote down every state where I didn’t know a single person. Then I shuffled them up, and picked out Michigan. Then I got on google and typed: ‘cross country, advertising, Michigan, university.’ And that’s how I ended up choosing my school."

"I’m writing a five page paper on The Modern African...

"I’m writing a five page paper on The Modern African Woman."
"Tell me something about The Modern African Woman."
"There’s actually no such thing. The ‘African Woman’ is a misnomer. Africa has hundreds of ethnic groups and communities, each with their own customs, traditions, and ideas."