On thursday 12/16/2013 Deborah and Jake’s fourth grade class from LREI took a field trip to the Jewish Conservancy. On the trip the class went to a synagogue and their tour guide told them a little about the place. After that the class went to another synagogue and the tour guide gave them a sheet to fill out that would help them understand how immigrants lived back then and then the kids talked about it with their tour guide. Then the kids and grownups all went to a pickle place called The Pickle Guys, and all of the people who wanted pickle got a pickle.The tour guides names were Lory and Jia.
Sophia: Hi I am Sophia Parisi and I am an Italian immigrant. I am fifteen right now and like some other people I know I work in a sewing factory. I am a boarder I live with my friend Amelia, and another one of Amelia’s borders Josephina. Me and Josephina aren’t really friends, just neighbors. I guess I never really had any real friends except for Amelia my best friend.
Interviewer: Who is your family?
Sophia: I have a little sister named Maria who is 10, a older brother named Antonio who likes to tease me but loves me alot who is 21, a mom named Mrs. Parisi, and a dad named Mr. Parisi. Me and my family used to live in italy. My mom loved me but my dad wanted me to live on the streets. When I was 7 me and my mom moved to America, then when I was 7 and a half my mom got sick with tuberculous. Then when I was 8 she died. After that I got a job at a sewing factory. I lived on the streets then when I was 10 I became a border for Amelia. Then when I was 10 and a half I got a letter from my brother that my dad died from a fever. We moved because we had a bad dictator. I miss my mom so much. I also miss my dad a lot even though he wanted me to live on the streets he still loved me. He just couldn’t afford to spend a penny on me. My siblings are still alive though I never get to see them.
Interviewer: How is the factory that you work at?
Sophia: I still work for the same sewing factory 5 years later! The factory has bad working conditions, long hours, 2 minute bathroom breaks, no days off except Sunday, and no breaks, pretty much your average factory. I hate working in a factory it is so horrible.
Interviewer: What is your schedule like?
Sophia: I’ll tell you my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday schedule. I wake up at 4:00 a.m and get dressed then I rush to The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory to get to work. Then at 10:00 p.m I go home to my dirty tenement and get some rest after my long day. On Sunday I wake up at 7:00 a.m and take a bath and get cleaned up and dressed, at 8:30 a.m I go to a Catholic church, then at 11:00 a.m I go to work at my factory, and at 10:00 p.m I go home and get to bed.
Interviewer: Do you like living in a tenement?
Sophia:Yes but I feel like sometimes I don’t have enough money to keep my room. Also I wish I had a better life even though I know that to have running water and electricity you have to have money. Although my tenement is dirty it’s ok compared to other tenements but that doesn’t mean that I have to like living in a tenement. We might have running water but the tenement itself is not a good place to live but it’s better than living on the streets I know because I used to live on the streets.
Interviewer: Do you know who Jakob Reese is? Have you ever gotten your picture taken by him?
Sophia: Jacob Reese is a famous photographer and he invented the flash so that people can take pictures of things in the dark and you can still see the picture when it comes out even though what they are taking a picture of is in the dark. I think that it is very cool that he came up with that invention. Jacob Reese has never taken a picture of me before but I wish he would.
Interviewer: Do you like being a kid in New York City?
Sophia: I like being a kid in New york City but I like Italy better than here. I like it here but it is too loud and too crowded.
