‘What I Carried’ Volume Two: Little Italy, and the Family Milkshake Machine

In the next installment of “What I Carried,” we share the stories of two people whose grandparents came to the U.S. under dire circumstances. In one, an eight-year-old Italian orphan finds his way to New York, but unexpected circumstances leave him alone again in his new home. In the other, a grandson reflects on the milkshake legacy his grandparents left behind.

Oral historian Meral Agish talks to journalist Hannah Sheehan as she reimagines the life of her Italian great grandfather who came to Ellis Island as an orphan at age eight. Click through her multimedia Cowbird story below.

*We’re sorry, but CowBird’s website is no longer active, so this story isn’t available*

Fi2W’s Miranda Shafer interviewed Adam Klein, who is the grandson of Holocaust survivors and proud inheritor of a precious family heirloom—a 1950s Hamilton Beach milkshake maker. Click through her multimedia Cowbird story below.

*We’re sorry, but CowBird’s website is no longer active, so this story isn’t available*

On November 1 we invited a group of young journalists to explore the significance of objects in a series of stories called “What I Carried.” Using photography, audio, and text, the stories reveal a range of immigration experiences from countries around the globe and across generations. The stories appear on the storytelling website Cowbird where they are grouped together in the Fi2W collection.

Over the next few weeks we’ll also be sharing them with you here.

Visit Cowbird to browse the entire collection of stories.  And please consider adding your own story. It’s easy and it’s free to join Cowbird.

Fi2W is supported by the David and Katherine Moore Family Foundation and the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation.

AboutFeet in Two Worlds
Feet in 2 Worlds (Fi2W) is an independent media outlet, journalism training program, and launchpad for emerging immigrant journalists and media makers of color. Our work brings positive and meaningful change to America's newsrooms and has a broader impact on how immigration is reported and the ethnic and racial composition of news organizations.