P.S. 130 - The Parkside School New York, New York

My Grandfather's Cane              By Christos Strieder
My mom came from Greece to the U.S in 2008, to start a family with her back then, her partner Katherine. She felt scared to come because she did not know what was ahead of her in the U.S. The first few years were hard because she had to learn the American ways of life. One of the few items she brought was a cane (glitza in Greek). That cane was not any ordinary cane. It was my grandfather's cane (I never met him). This object is important to her because it reminds her of her father and her heritage. Both of her parents are from a village in Central Greece. The village was on the top of one of the many mountains in that area. Men would use canes for two reasons. One reason was that they used them to hike uphill from the river down below, and vice versa. The second reason for this cane was that they would use them to guide all of the animals where the men were shepherding them to pasture and back to their shelter. The cane my grandfather used was handmade from a log of wood made by his brother in law. He would use a knife and a lot of techniques that only he knows to make these canes. 
Fun fact: My mother uses this cane even to this day.