Week 13: Curate Yourself


Image result for brandon stanton

Have you seen the posts from Humans of New York? You probably have, since they’re all over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. But, in case you haven’t, I’ll tell you a little bit about them. They are a series of photographs and short interviews focusing on people walking the streets of New York. There are stories of immigrants, businessmen, artists, and family-makers. The interviews are in literary form, written in a short paragraph, but associated with an image, and distributed via social media platforms.

I first came across these works on Facebook. I saw an interesting portrait photograph with a paragraph on the person’s life. I looked through the eyes of an immigrant, felt the love of an old married couple, and learned from a student talking about his favorite, and most impactful, teacher. They only took a few minutes to read, but got me interested in cultures around the world and inspired me in how much life surrounds us every day.  

A few years later, in the used bookstore across the street from campus, I saw a Humans of New York book sitting on the table. I hadn’t realized the group had a print version, though I wasn’t too surprised. They were all over social media. Then I came to a shock: it wasn’t a group at all, it was one person: Brandon Stanton. One person had taken up a challenge to take 10,000 portraits on the streets of New York and organize them on a map of the city, but had instead morphed into this focus on interviews with a social media platform.

Brandon Stanton had a voice. He helped others to realize that they mattered, took time to hear their stories, and almost went broke during it. But he kept going.  This was really inspiring to me in several ways. Stanton took his passion, and used it to notice others, a focus I work towards in my life through different ways. So many people feel unnoticed in their lives, or stuck in their daily grind, but when we take a look at their paths, we find incredible feats and accomplishments. Small moments can have a big impact, and this artist inspires me to continually impact people in a positive way through my art and my passions. Our side jobs, our small interests, our sticky notes with inspiring quotes or our RAOK (random acts of kindness), can all make a difference. And if you have a few minutes, read these stories. Hear from the Humans of New York.  Start to think of how you could make a difference, and who’s made a difference in your life.

Here are some of my favorites, from New York and beyond:




See Humans of New York Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr here. 
Click here to hear Stanton talk about his work. 
Or a longer talk about how he approaches talking to strangers here. 


 Until next time,

Kat



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