Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 462

"I have ten cats. They live outside, and I have been protecting...

"I have ten cats. They live outside, and I have been protecting them for seven years."

"What’s the most frightened you’ve ever...

"What’s the most frightened you’ve ever been?"

“I once fell down a well in Vermont. It was 25 feet down and the water was freezing, plus it was too deep to stand. I was down there for 45 minutes with nothing to hold on to but a pipe. Luckily my neighbor finally heard me screaming, because I’d guess I had about 15 minutes left.”

“Wow. So did you reflect on your life at all down there?”

“No. I was trying to get out of the well.”

"I came from China one year ago."“What’s been your...

"I came from China one year ago."

“What’s been your lowest moment since arriving?”

“No one moment. Just nights alone, not with parents, not with friends, sitting in room, thinking about nothing, smoking cigarettes.”

"My parents had sent me to a small village outside of Paris...

"My parents had sent me to a small village outside of Paris because they thought it would be safer. But I guess there were hidden munition stocks out there, because the Americans bombed the village. They flew very high. The British always flew low— they had the fighters, but the Americans flew very high and dropped the bombs. They were bombs filled with air. I don’t know how to describe it. You were killed by the air. The neighbor was killed. I spent all night hiding in the barn."

"I played semi-pro football for a couple years. The 1967 Long...

"I played semi-pro football for a couple years. The 1967 Long Island Jets. I got my ass kicked."

“What was your greatest moment of football glory?”

“Well, I was 190 lbs, and everybody else on the team was 250. So I pretty much only played special teams. But I was a third-string defensive lineman too. And one game we were up by 40 points, so they put me in the game. And our linebacker— Eddie, real mean guy— called me over and said: ‘Right before they hike the ball, spit on the center’s hand.’ I said: ‘What?’ And he said: ‘Trust me. Just spit on him.’ So right before they hiked the ball, I spit on the guy’s hand. And he immediately stood up to punch me, and Eddie comes running in and knocks the guy clean off his feet, then he sacks the quarterback. That was probably my greatest contribution.”

"I came over from Greece when I was 17 and started out working...

"I came over from Greece when I was 17 and started out working in a market. I worked so much that I supported my mother, my father, and put my brother through college. Now my kids have everything, and don’t appreciate anything. You Americans cut em’ off when they’re 18. And that’s probably for the best. But we can’t do that, cause we’re Greek. They’re ours until they’re married."

"It’s an English assignment."“English?”“Yeah. We had to build...

"It’s an English assignment."

“English?”

“Yeah. We had to build a robot and then write an essay about what it can do.”

“So what does your robot do?”

‘It’s supposed to help the elderly with everything that they can’t do themselves.”

"No English."

"No English."

Dots are so hot this Fall.

Dots are so hot this Fall.

"Us Bengalis are expected to keep in touch with all of our...

"Us Bengalis are expected to keep in touch with all of our family members, no matter how distantly related. So pretty much every day we are skyping with a new relative. Then at the end of the month, we start over again."