Teens write about objects, rituals that help them get through hard times

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, some Long Islanders are turning to a family heirloom or tradition for comfort during times of great uncertainty.

In recent months, Victoria LoGiudice, 16, of Dix Hills, has thought about wearing the protection pins her grandmother, Lucia Falco of Westbury, made for her when she was a baby.

It was a family tradition that started with LoGiudice’s great-grandmother in Naples, Italy, who sewed medallions of saints inside small pockets to be pinned under babies’ clothes to ward off negative energy.

“Especially with times like this … tensions are getting very high,” said LoGiudice, a junior at Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills. “Now we are scavenging even to find toilet paper. It would be good to wear it.”

Late last year, she submitted her writing about the pins for a class, which was later published on the website of the Tenement Museum in Manhattan under its “Your Story, Our Story” project.

“We ask anyone to share a story of their cultural heritage through an object or tradition or something meaningful to them,” said Kathryn Lloyd, the museum’s director of programs.

The project was created seven years ago and has attracted thousands of entries from across the country, including hundreds of Long Islanders’ family stories, Lloyd said. In late March, as new coronavirus cases surged, the project expanded with a new initiative called “Objects of Comfort” to further document Americans’ experiences in a new era.

“We really believe everyone’s story belongs in a museum,” Lloyd said. “Right now, when so many of us realize we are living through a historic moment … this is an incredibly important time to be learning about other people’s experiences.”

LoGiudice’s English teacher, Jenine Sarich, has also come to realize the renewed meaning of the class project she has organized in the past four years.

“In times like this, what do you do? You surround yourself with things that bring you comfort, love and joy,” said Sarich, a Commack resident. “I have some things from my grandmother that have strong meanings to me, like little jewelry boxes and figurines. When I see them, it always brings a smile to my face.”

Over the years, Sarich has had students reflect on objects or rituals that help them get through tough times.

One teenager wrote about the homemade sauce her Italian grandmother used to make for the family’s Sunday dinner; another expressed the comfort she took in drinking a cup of tea to “cure a bad day” because it reminded her of the biweekly tea parties she used to have with her British grandfather.

Ethan Giuricich, 18, a Huntington resident and a senior at Half Hollow Hills High School West, reflected upon the journey his great-grandmother, Lillian Babtkis, took to America after escaping Nazi-occupied Poland, taking only a few items, which included “The Five Books of Moses.”

Stories like Giuricich’s serve as a reminder that “when people go through hardships and tragedies, there is light at the end of the tunnel,” Sarich said. “People make it through. They make do.”