For this week’s blog post on life narratives, I decided to look at Humans of New York, a project started in 2010 by photojournalist Brandon Stanton. The initial objective of his project was merely to create a digitalized version of his observation of everyday New Yorkers – but over time, it became more complex. Stanton began to take down short stories and quotes from the people he photographed, and in doing so, created an “online catalogue” of mini life narratives from complete strangers, available for the world to see.

Some questions that we have been pondering over for quite some time now are these: Who gets to have their story told when it comes to the publishing of life narratives? What makes an individual stand out amongst countless others; what makes his or her story special? More specifically, who amongst these gets to have their life narrative marketed exceptionally well to have a strong reception by society? We’ve established through our readings of scholarly articles such as Conjunctions: Life Narratives in the Field of Human Rights, by Kay Schaffer and Sidonie Smith, that publishing companies play a big role in how a life narrative is received by an audience and what response it can elicit. But what about the personal stories of passers-by? These are people with their own highly interesting tales to tell, but not everyone has the opportunity to write a biography and have it recognised worldwide. This is where phenomena such as HONY come into play – they essentially serve as a platform for people of any walks of life to get their message or story out to the world (or more accurately, to anyone with access to the Internet.)

The fascinating thing about HONY is that one never knows what kind of response a photo or a caption will get from the public. In a heartwarming series of events, a young schoolboy named his school principal, Nadia Lopez of Mott Bridges Hall Academy, as the person who had influenced his life the most, his reason being her massive support and encouragement for the students to overthrow the negative expectations they faced from society as a result of the crime-stricken neighbourhood the school was in. The popularity of this post led Stanton to want to meet the principal and he was immediately captivated by her drive and passion for her students to succeed against all odds. Inspired, he organised a public fundraiser, asking for $100,000 for the students to visit Harvard; and the overwhelming response of over $1.4 million being raised for the childrens’ benefit no doubt came as a pleasant surprise to all. This example is proof that non-conventional manners of publishing life narratives too, such as HONY, can generate significant emotional responses from the public.

HONY represents a unique and interesting manner of autobiography writing. It is even more interesting to see how it can inspire progress and campaign awareness through pictures and short captions, whether they document the horrors of the current refugee crisis in Syria or simply, a man walking his dog.

Schaffer, Kay and Sidonie Smith. “Conjunctions: Life Narratives in the Field of Human Rights.”Biography 27.1 (winter 2004) pp. 10-15. JSTOR. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.

When I read the second prompt for our blog posts this week, I was intrigued by the task. I visited the UBC bookstore and strolled around looking for the autobiography section (which took me longer than I’d like to admit; that place has some really distracting chocolates) and when I found the shelf, it was easy to observe what linked the few books that were propped up, facing outwards. Most were life narratives about individuals who underwent deep suffering, and how they were able to overcome such experiences. Examples of such titles on the shelf were autobiographies by people such as Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Malala Yousafzai. The one I picked up, however, was of a different genre. It’s called An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, by Colonel Chris Hadfield. The cover was what drew me in- it features an astronaut skateboarding over Earth, amongst a background of stars. (How ridiculously cool is that?) The blurb reads: “What going to space taught me about ingenuity, determination and being prepared for anything.” In this memoir, Hadfield offers those of us stuck down here on Earth a taste of what life is like amongst the stars.  He writes about his experience as the Commander of the International Space Station, what it took to fulfill that responsibility, and the struggles he faced on his way there. He talks about some of the life lessons he learnt through the intensive physical and mental training that astronauts undergo, and gives advice on how to apply them to modern life. The book has received an intense amount of praise – for example, the comments on the back cover are all highly positive. Phil Plait, author of award-winning book Slate, called it “An engaging read by someone who has achieved the near-unachievable, packed with stories and great advice for achieving your own less-than-cosmic goals.”

Online, his book is equally lauded. This excerpt from an Amazon reviewer sums up very well what most of the comments on both Amazon and Goodreads are like: “…If you are interested in some good life lessons, especially lessons relating to achievement… (and) if you ever look up into the night sky and wish you were there, and want to read the real deal story of someone who was- this is definitely a really good book…An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth isn’t just a guide to living in space, or a guide to living on earth, it’s a reminder of our place on earth, in the universe, and what a great opportunity we have to do something special with our lives.”

I think Mr. Hadfield’s position as having experienced something extremely rare and extraordinary is part of what makes his book so captivating. Space travel is something few will ever get to experience, but instills awe and admiration in all, and that makes his book particularly unique and significant from a reader’s perspective. As for me, I’m definitely getting my hands on that book.

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