For Fordham students, the weeks leading up to Spring Weekend are full of anticipation. Waiting for CAB to reveal the speaker, performer(s), and comedian, students grow antsy hoping they’ll be pleased. This year, it’s safe to say CAB came through for Thursday night’s lecture.
The line began at the Lombardi Field House and extended all the way to O’Hare Hall. 1,400 students waited in line for at least a half an hour. Who could be the reason for such a widely attended event? That would be Brandon Stanton, the man behind Humans of New York. As he walked out to the podium, the field house filled with applause.
Stanton describes the years leading up to the creation of Humans of New York, now a blog that averages 100,000 likes on each picture, as his time to “figure it out.” After losing his job as a bond trader, he wanted to find his next career making money doing what he would do for free. For him, it was photography. As he explained that the blog has evolved over the years, he advised not to wait for the perfect idea to start something, otherwise it’ll never happen. As someone who taught himself how to photograph, he doesn’t believe that what makes him unique is his talent, but his work ethic. The number one message that he got across to students was that the only thing you can control is how hard you work. Stanton even demonstrated how he would approach a person that he wanted to photograph. And he says it was his ability to get over his fear of taking pictures of strangers that led him to success. But this I promise he said in the most humbling way. His character, completely relatable and his humor, a crowd pleaser. He emphasizes it’s more important to be different than to be good. When asked what was the determination behind his idea to start the blog, he said ‘you have to be your own true fan.’ Relaying the message that without confidence in yourself, no one else will be confident in you.
Fordham students show their excitement via Instagram