Humans of New York

    My, my, it's been a while hasn't it? I do apologize, readers, but for a while I was thinking I (Mandarin) wouldn't come back to write. I will though. This blog is my baby.
     Recently I went to the library (shocker!!) and found this new book called 'Humans of New York'. It's a collection of photography from the blog 'Humans of New York'. Author Brandon Stanton wanders around New York City snapping interesting people's photos then getting to know them. It's beautiful, inspiring, and now I really really really want to go to New York.
    'Humans of New York' not only explores interesting people, but also seemingly average people. Living in Small Town Michigan--these are the kind of people I see daily. I don't often get to see someone sporting a multicolored mohawk.

This takes guts

 It's awesome when I do, but it's still pretty rare. It's so interesting to think about even average people though. To think about how complex their lives are. They have thoughts, mistakes, accomplishments trailing behind in their past. They have whole lives, epic back stories, and amazing aspirations. How many things do they know that I don't? It's not very often that we turn outside ourselves. So many are concerned with looking inside and discovering themselves. How do we know what to call ourselves without the labels and names given by others? I know that I am a blogger, artist, fashion and history lover, and a friend--but only because those words were invented and passed to me by others. Instead of digging around more in my brain- a place I am already so familiar with- why not discover new things in new places?
    I started observing people more. Call me creepy, but I glanced through car windows. I looked at people across rooms. I wrote notes in my journal about the people I saw at the mall. Suddenly the whole world seemed much more interesting. Did you know that there is an old man who wears a hat with a turtle on it who comes to pick up his kid at the elementary school every day? Did you know that the obnoxious kid who sits next to you in math class writes poetry?
    I honestly get bored with just myself sometimes. Others are so new and colorful.

Now that's art.

Brandon Stanton