L.B: I am ten years old. I will tell the story like I am three years old because those were the fun years.My full name is Lucy Rosa Birdja. I live in the Lower East Side. And I would not say my life is perfect.
M.M:Tell me about your family?
L.B: I come from Hungary. I had just moved to America and I have a big family. My dad had died from tuberculosis when I was two (last year). My mom, Becky was thirty nine and my sister, Cara, who was one, were both really sick. I have an older sister, Hannah, who was seven and she was on strike. And I had a ten year old sister (now she is seventeen) who is named Mária.
M.M: What is your favorite thing to do?
L.B: My favorite thing that I like to do is dance but I don’t get a lot of time to do that because I am always cleaning. I don’t care where I am, I dance when I get the chance.
M.M: How much money does your family have?
L.B: We were broke because my mom can’t go to work, my sister Cara is way too young, Hanna is on strike, and Mária is taking care of me. But the good thing is that the landlady is really nice so we don’t have to pay rent until we get back on track. But Mária and I have to clean her apartment every two days, which I am fine with because we don’t do much anyway.
M.M: Did your tenement pass the inspections?
L.B: We have passed the inspections. It is really scary when the inspectors come in to your house. I stayed home with Mária. We didn’t want the inspectors to be suspicious. They check the walls and our rooms and everything. I felt like it was an interrogation.
M.M: Tell me about what you feel?
L.B: I am normally always happy but I get sad when my sister, Mária is sad. I am also afraid of my sister Mária getting hurt anytime, anywhere. My sister is the best sister in the world. If anything happens to her I don’t know what I will do. I love her with all my heart. Mária hates getting tickled, which is why I do it. But I just do it lightly. I would never hurt her.
M.M: Where do you live?
L.B: My family lives on 157 Orchard Street. We live in apartment 2B. We have really nice neighbors. Sophia gives us money to buy things we need like medicine for my mom and Cara. I hope they don’t die, I don’t think I could cope with that.
M.M: Do you know who Jacob Riis is?
L.B: Two years before my dad died (when I was in my mom’s belly) Jacob Riis interviewed my mom and took a picture of Mária holding Hanna. I wish I could see Jacob Riis. I’ve heard amazing stories about him. He wants a better life for everyone. I hope he can do that.
M.M: What was your dad like?
L.B: My dad was an amazing person. He was very brave and would do anything for us. He had a lot of love to share. I hope he is still proud of me. I go to sleep every night and think about what he would in this situation. I have always looked up to him.
M.M: What do you think about Hanna?
L.B: Hanna is the best sewer in the world. She works at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. It has really bad conditions, but Hanna won’t tell me them. She says they are horrible. All of them changed in 1901, so did the tenements. I am very happy that they did that. She is on strike right now though. She is so brave, just like dad. She has to go to night school after work. Because she is on strike right now she has to go to night school after she strikes. She is striking for the bad conditions to change. She is always saying that they’re only given a 3 minute bathroom break and they lock the workers inside until 7:30pm. One of the factories don’t have timed bathroom brakes! It seems like she works at the worst factory there is.
M.M: What was your tenement conditions?
L.B: Before my family moved into the tenement we live in now, the conditions were very bad. There were outhouses and there were no windows leading to fresh air. The air shafts were even worse. But I liked it, but then…My dad died. The reason my dad is gone is because we moved in when the conditions were about to change, but they were still bad. He was already sick from the ship we took here.
M.M: Why did you move?
L.B: My family is very sad that we moved to New York, but I love it! We moved to New York because there was a war about to start. My mom told us we had to move so because it would get ugly. I didn’t want to go. Mária said it would be ok and the mom knows what she is doing. I was 1.
M.M: Does your family work at factories?
L.B: My dad worked at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. He was a cutter. As soon as we had a good amount of money, my dad got tuberculosis. It was very sad. Hanna got a job at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. She was making most of the money for the family.
M.M: Do you read the newspapers?
L.B: I have a cousin that is a newsie. He saves me a free newspaper every day so I can see the pictures in it. He does not let me read it. He says I will be disturbed by them. My dad loved writing and drawing. One time he helped a newspaper reporter write an article! It was a lot of fun looking at the pictures in the article that my dad drew. The only reason that he helped the reporter write the article is because the reporter is one of his really good friends.
M.M: What do you think other people think about you?
L.B: Everyone thinks I can’t stand up for myself, but I can and the reason why no one sees me do it is because they don’t give me a chance to.
M.M: Do you like your family?
L.B: I love everyone in my family, but I love Mária the most. I know that I keep on repeating the same thing about Mária and how I love her the most. I just want to get the message into your head.
M.M: Do you know what a sweatshop looks like?
L.B: I have an uncle that works at a horrible sweatshop. He sells furniture for very low prices. I got a chair from him. The conditions are very bad there. He said I looked cute.
M.M: What do you like to do with Mária?
L.B: The thing I like to do most with Mária are pranks. I don’t do it to her, I just do it with her. We prank all the time. We have the best pranks. We mostly do pranks on our neighbors. Fern and Clara are our best friends, but we prank them all the time. One time we put a bucket of water over Fern and Clara’s faces when they were sleeping and when they woke up in the morning, there was a string that would make the bucket of water tip on their heads. It was hilarious. They prank us back, but our pranks are better.
M.M: Anything else?
L.B: I have not told you that much about me yet. So here I go. My hair color is brown and it is super long. My eyes are blue and my mom says they sparkle. I have no enemies. And I am very nice. I heard some inspiring words I don’t know who said them though. “The gold you will find in america will not be in the streets…It will be in the dreams you realize-in the golden dreams of the future.”I love New York city. Well, only parts of it, I like the parks and schools here much better than in Hungary, but the bad air and water in New York City is absurd. I hope that when I grow up I can help change the world. I will do it for my family. I love my family.
