I come from relatively recent immigrants, and married into a family of immigrants as well.  One set of grandparents was born In Ireland and the other in Lithuania; they came over here through Ellis Island as adults and settled in communities of others like them.  My grandparents and aunts and uncles all spoke two, sometimes three languages. They encountered severe discrimination and some of them felt shame about their origins, accents and language skills.  They worked in laundries and on delivery trucks.  My aunt Mary lost her arm in a mangle, and would not go back to Ireland to visit because she didn’t want the family there to see what had happened to her here.  They had come over on boats to find a better life. Their children flourished. I married into a Hungarian family; my husband was the first to be born here.  Krusoe is an Ellis Island name. 

Fourth Grader, Philadelphia
There are sixteen people who live in my house, my parents, my three sisters and brother, my grandparents, my three aunts, my uncle and my three cousins. We speak Mandarin, Vietnamese, Cantonese, and English. I share a bed with my three sisters. When I grow up I want to be a doctor.