Created by Brandon Stanton, fellow Georgian, Humans of New York is a photography blog featuring portraits of interesting people straight off the streets of New York City. The snap shots often come with captions giving little snip-its of information about the person or the interview preceding the photograph. Stanton puts effort into creating an encompassing feel of the city by remaining unplanned;
“I want to make it as difficult to find a thread in my photos … I do that by keeping a completely open mind and just looking at everybody and anybody who strikes me for any reason, you know that kind of makes me double-take.”
http://www.humansofnewyork.com/
With half a million followers, Stanton also is successful at creating small movements. For Christmas 2012, HONY made a call out to locals to open their homes to people who would be celebrating alone. HONY has also facilitated in getting puppies adopted, and HONY has no problem plugging websites for the people he photographs to raise awareness. I find it as a place of human inspiration. This blog feeds my soul, captivating me and always has me coming back.
2. Pinterest; Go ahead, roll your eyes.
The way that I described Pinterest to my grandmother was as an internet cork board with separate boards for any topic of your interest. Sure pinterest is great for things like fashion, arts and crafts, but it’s also good for learning. Pinterest users upload wonderful articles on everything from interesting animals, and pediatric physical therapies, to the latest technology trends.
Lately I stumbled upon a viral Facebook post on Pinterest that caught my eye. The post focuses on how Pinterest has put a unfairly high standard out there for wives and mothers to be picture perfect in their household roles. The user states that she is “Afraid that the pinterest era is turning us into wanna be Stepford freaks…. [sic]”. I’ll admit, Pinterest did give me great ideas for activities with my kids and tasty dishes to attempt in the kitchen, and motivated me to try them out, but it wasn’t because of Pinterest that I did them. The want to be creative with my children and in life in general was already there. Pinterest just provided convenience. A cork board catered to my interests. A plethora of information on things applicable to my life, my education, my creativity, my children. While I grasp that some may be tempted to compete for the number one mom award, I don’t need that from anyone from else but my own children. And to be honest, I’ve already won it. No, really:
PLACK FOR BEST MOM is granted to Katie Burt
3. Ted Talks
“Ideas worth spreading”
The non-profit, TED, works hard to find the experts, innovators and motivators in the field to speak at their biannual conferences in the North America and Scotland. The talks are filmed for our viewing pleasure – free of charge – and all talks must be completed in 18 minutes or less. Older than myself, TED was born in 1984 – starting out as just a small conference that focused on; Technology, Entertainment, and Design. The non-profit has since expanded it’s horizons, now also including business, science, and global issues. TED Talks were first formed in 2006 and has grow in numbers and popularity exponentially. Within the first year, TED reached 1 million views, and stands at over 1 billion views today.
TED Talks Trailer from blanchomme on Vimeo.
As you can imagine, with ratings like these – what these people have to say, is worth hearing.
This has been one of my favorite sites since high school. The description found on the website says it best…
“We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids’ homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, receipts, doodles– anything that gives a glimpse into someone else’s life. Anything goes …”
I don’t know what it is that I love so much about pieces of people’s lives. Like HONY, Found Magazine also has a blog that organizes the interesting snip-its into one completely convenient place.
A little bit for your mind, a little bit for your soul. An endless place to wander.
Katie Burt's MSW Blog 