Match each of the texts with an object

* Jessica Lane, 29 | Came from: Perth, Australia |

Came in: 2010 Picture: ___

Ms Lane outgrew her first pair after three months. Instead of saving them, as many in her profession do, she sold them for a bigger pair. She bought this pair on a trip to New York; she took them back to Perth, where they were left in a box. But now, after moving to New York for good, “I know they’ll be used again very soon,” she said. “They represent the turning point of my new life in New York, where so many opportunities lay ahead for me”, she wrote in an e-mail. She’s working at a Midtown bar and auditioning as much as she can. “Perhaps when they bite the dust, I will hold onto this pair,” she said.

* Luz Andriana Villegas, 34 | Came from: Medellin, Colombia |

Came in: May 2001 Picture: ___

When Ms Villegas graduated from college with dreams of becoming a journalist, her parents gave her this object. She and her brother used to compete to fins esoteric Spanish words, and this object was a treasure-trove. Ms Villegas brought it with her to New York on what was supposed to be a summer visit for an English class. She married an American and stayed. They now have three sons and she teaches adult literacy. Though she rarely uses it, she has carried it from apartment to apartment. Today, it sits on the bottom shelf in her basement of her home in Ridgewood, Queens, near her sons’ toys.

* Gendaris Tavera, 18 | Came from: Dominican Republic |

Came on: March 14, 2008 Picture: ___

When Ms Tavera was 15, her grandmother gave her a pink one to add to her growing collection. When she left home, it was the only one she brought. She has since repaired its paws and watched its colour fade. Sitting in her too-small basement apartment in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Ms Tavera wonders if she’s still her grandmother’s favourite. She wonders why her grandmother’s chicken tastes better than anything in New York and if the New York winter will ever end. She takes solace in it, “I talk to it like it’s a real person,” she said. “When I feel sad, I cry into it.”

* Thein Myint, 50 | Came from: Yangon, Myanmar |