Humans of New York (HONY), the widely known photojournalistic blog started by Brandon Stanton in 2010, features daily portraits and interviews of people of various backgrounds collected on New York City's streets. Over the past six years, Stanton has turned HONY into a blogging empire, and has brought the stories of people from all over the world to light. HONY isn't just a catalogue of people's lives. It illuminates and celebrates diversity. It unites people across differences. It inspires others and creates awareness of political, economic and social injustices. It makes us appreciate and better understand other people's conditions. It makes us laugh, cry and reflect.

I read HONY profiles regularly on Facebook and Instagram. I've found reading snippets of other people's stories, innermost thoughts and fleeting emotions a source of refuge in times of uncertainty. HONY has made me feel even more connected to New York City and my 9 million neighbors. Because the captions that go along with each portrait are unfiltered quotes, readers are able to listen to stories directly from the source. This style of journalism is uniquely intimate. The blog facilitates a special connection between reader and subject, allowing for each reader to interpret and connect with the subject's quotation in her own way. Although many of the interviews are conducted around a specific topic, global issue or event, most are done in passing with people going about their daily routines. The nonchalantness of each interview yields a special authenticity hard to find in typically stylized journalism.

HONY captures New York City's incredible internationalism. But, to deepen the diversity of his platform, Stanton has taken HONY global. On trips to over twenty countries, Stanton has photographed and interviewed people of hundreds of different cultures and religions. These stories are enriching and eyeopening. Historically, people have learned about the world from books, news outlets and television that cover large-scale events. Through social media, HONY provides us with a more accessible and immediate way to learn about the world around us. With each image we take in and interview we read, we engage with people seas away who, otherwise, we would know nothing about. By covering various global crises and human rights injustices, HONY taps into worldwide issues, exposes us to the experiences of those on the frontline of these issues, and encourages cross cultural discussion.

“I have professors at Columbia who view me as a terrorist for fighting in Iraq. But I believe that America is an example to be emulated, and I went over there to provide those people with basic human freedoms. But when you get over there you realize that you’re fighting kids. Everyone was kids. You see it when they’re dead. These weren’t the guys who were flying into towers. These were kids who grew up poor, stepped into the wrong madrasa, and were manipulated by people with a shit load of money into executing somebody else’s worldview. None of them came out of the womb hating. None of them came out of the womb thinking anything else but holy shit this is a bright beautiful world.” (http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/149342112851/i...)

“I want to have my own career. I don’t want to depend on anyone else. But there’s a view in our society that an independent woman doesn’t belong here. She is not ‘one of us.’ So if you want to do some things on your own, they expect you to do everything on your own. And that’s difficult. Because wanting to be independent doesn’t mean I want to be alone.” (Karachi, Pakistan) (http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/126045487866/i...)