Call me an optimist – aber die Lernphase hat auch ihr Gutes. Beim strukturlos prokrastinierenden ‚online-Dinge-anklicken’ stösst man – selten genug zwar – aber ab und zu tatsächlich, auf wirklich gute Dinge. Dinge, die einem auch dann noch erhalten bleiben, wen die Kkarten bereits weiterverkauft und die Skripte längst mit dem Altpapier abtransportiert wurden. Für mich war es dieses Semester Humans of New York – ein Blog über Menschen, deren einzige Gemeinsamkeit darin besteht, dass ihnen in New York zufällig Brandon Stanton über den Weg gelaufen ist.
Stanton sammelt Gesichter und deren Geschichten. Zitate, Weltansichten, Erzählungen, Sprüche, Lebensweisheiten und Ratschläge – Wörter, die Portraits zum Leben erwecken. Es sind lustige Erzählungen, tragische Anekdoten, unüberlegte Statements, kindliche Perspektiven, Liebeserklärungen, Geschichten von unerfüllten Träumen, Enttäuschungen, Erkenntnissen und grosser Dankbarkeit.
Es ist echt, es fasziniert, es berührt und es macht ein kleines bisschen süchtig:
“Speak slowly, we’re German.”
“What’s your favourite thing about her?”
“…. she’s there.”
“When did you most appreciate her being there?” He made a slightly puzzled expression, then turned to his wife and started speaking in German. She looked up at the sky for a second, then said: “He is island in my life.”
“One time I was driving this couple around, and they told me to drive really slowly through Times Square because they’d always dreamed of doing something. I started to ask what, but then they closed the partition. And the limo started bouncing around so much that people on the street were asking me if I had engine trouble.”
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“A mom.”
“What’s going to be the hardest part about being a mom?”
“Bath time.”
“I came over with a student visa. I wanted to study computers, but I couldn’t enroll in school until I could prove that I had money to pay the tuition. The first three weeks I slept on trains. I kept asking people where I could find the Senegalese community. Eventually I met a person who told me to go to Harlem because there was an African community there. In Harlem, I found an association for Senegalese people. And they had places to stay for people who were new. I did restaurant and cleaning jobs for a couple of years. Eventually I met my wife and became a citizen. And now I have a security job, so I can finally enroll in school.”
“He won the Best Legs Competition on our cruise ship.”