QUESTION
For Flame from Drag Story Hour NYC: Why do you continue your work despite challenges in NYC?
1:43:33
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86 sec
Council Member Carlina Rivera questions Flame, a storyteller from Drag Story Hour NYC, about her continued dedication to providing representation and support amid challenges in New York City. Flame shares her personal journey as a self-aware queer child who experienced isolation due to lack of representation. Emphasizing the importance of being a role model, she highlights the significance of support from institutions like the New York Public Library and expresses gratitude for the city's backing of Drag Story Hour NYC, underscoring the importance of representation and the push for change.
Carlina Rivera
1:43:33
Flame, if you don't mind.
1:43:35
You know, you've heard that New York is leading the way that we are a model, and we have to continue that.
1:43:41
But there still are fights that happen right here in in New York City, in Brooklyn, and queens in Manhattan and the Bronx and Staten Island.
1:43:49
So can you tell us why why do you do this work?
Flame
1:43:53
I do work that I do because I was one of those self aware queer children that saw absolutely no representation.
1:43:59
And, like, the lovely young person from Ghana who just spoke to said represent rotation matters so much.
1:44:05
I grew up feeling absolutely so isolated, so alone, so disconnected from the rest of the world that I think absolutely no child deserves to grow up that way.
1:44:16
And I wanna be that representation that was lacking for me when I was a child.
1:44:20
And it is so important to have the backing of everyone here, including the New York Public Library.
1:44:26
You all for having us.
1:44:27
It's so hard work for me to see that we are striving for a change.
1:44:32
So thank you all so so much for the continued support of drag store hour NYC from the bottom my heart.
1:44:37
Thank you.
Carlina Rivera
1:44:39
Thank you.
1:44:39
And thank you for helping us process so much through these.
1:44:44
Right?
1:44:44
This this is a process in and of itself.
1:44:46
Right?
1:44:47
Joy and and reading and whether it's through our feelings of grief and and that rep that feeling of representation.
1:44:56
It's so important.
1:44:56
So I just wanna thank you all.
1:44:57
Thank you to this panel.