#nyym

my name is daniela salazar and im a quaker in nyc.

i became a quaker at 57th Street Meeting, on the Southside of Chicago in winter of 2016.

in 2018 i moved to new york (harlem, then the bronx) and worked as a teacher before starting an MFA at Queens College (where I also worked as a professor). in this time i attended at 15th Street Meeting & Morningside Meeting. in 2019 I participated in Marissa Badgley's Young Adult Friend Spiritual Nurture Series, it was my most sincere wish to become a Friend.

This was ^The first Session, a long weekend retreat at QIVC a quaker intentional living community in NY state.

I attended all but one of these series. ^Above was the Quaker Vocations Workshop at 15th Street Meetinghouse by Union Square.

After I moved to Queens for my Masters, I started going regularly for more than a year to Flushing Friends Meeting in Flushing, Queens. Often known as the oldest continuously used house if (xtian) worship, since 1694. I gave a First Day lesson about Mexica theology to the children (3) from 2 families. Pics below, the Meetinghouse attic, hatching out for mother's Day in Jackson heights, also from Christmas carols singing.

And went as a first-timer to Summer Sessions in Silver Bay with New York Yearly Meeting in 2019. (This would be the last time It'd occurr in person at this location). pic of yaf orientation:

I served on the YAF Advisory Group (yafs the nyym could tap for opinions they HARDLY EVER HEEDED!!) zoom meets looked like:

Throughout 2021(?) I co-facilitated an anti-racist reading of NYYM's Faith & Practice with Beth Kelly for Morningside Meeting over Zoom. It was monthly for 3 hours for 1 year. (no pic lol)

And then in February 2022 I was hired as the replacement for Marissa Badgley (who had been the YAF Field Secretary for NYYM) but as a full-time position and serving 3x the population: Community Director for Children, Youth, Young Adults and Families.

I was in this position barely any time, because soon after I had a medical emergency in which I was bedridden basically until I was supposed to be married. 3 months later on May 1st 2022. Which is a couple days after I was FIRED from this position with no conversation.

This was the last communication i received where i did give permission for him to talk to my fiance (now husband, Chase). Which brings me to the headline of my Quaker Story:

Interracial Queer Couple Denied Marriage by New York City Quakers, while employed by the Yearly Meeting (Regional Organization).