Humans of UIC

Hey y’all, say hi to one of your newest bloggers, me! So I’m sure everyone here has heard of Humans of New York (HONY), a photoblog started by Brandon Stanton. His job is to go out everyday and photograph the unique residents of New York (as an amateur photographer, I’m super jealous!). I’m personally in love with this idea, and while I don’t know exactly what Brandon’s intentions were in starting the blog, I have my own theories. They say to never judge a book by its cover, and  in my opinion, Brandon practices that theory and allows everyone else to do so as well. He takes these individuals in New York and shares their stories to the world on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. This allows people to learn that other people are never what they seem like. I could go on and on about this blog and it wouldn’t end! Because he is such an inspiration to me, I decided that my portion of the blog would be called Humans of UIC in which I will photograph individuals at UIC and share their amazing stories.

Here we see Brandon Stanton at work in New York. I love how he’s not hesitant to lie down on the street, that’s dedication y’all.

“Before I joined the Marines, I used to perform in high school musicals and sing Doo Wop on the subways— it was the Boyz II Men era, so that was ‘in.’ When I came back from Iraq about ten years ago, I was really depressed and almost homeless. I was too afraid to go out and socialize so I met my wife on Match dot com. I went through the Police Academy and became a cop, but I always remembered how much I loved performing, and wondered what it would have been like to have pursued that life.”

For my first subject, we have a soccer player at UIC, Zackery Judickas.

“If you had to give one piece of advice to a large group of people, what would it be?”

“Have a strong work-ethic. Find something you like doing and do that, and work hard at that.”

“What have you worked on the hardest in your life?”

“I worked the hardest on soccer all my life, been playing it for 17 years. I learned to kick a ball before I learned my ABCs.”

So there you have it folks, Human of UIC numero uno. Hey Zackery, UIC is proud to have amazing, all-state athlete like you so keep up the good work!

#HumansofUIC