In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.

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By James Maher
Name: Yadi Maria
Occupation: Student/Waitress
Location: 2nd Street between Avenue A and B
Time: 3 pm Friday, June 14

I’ve been here since I was 4 years old. I’m 22 now. I grew up on 3rd and C, although I took a short 5-year break, when we moved to Danbury, Connecticut. I guess you could say those were the most important years of my adolescence — from 6th grade to sophomore year, but then I came back because it was just too quiet.

I’m a student at BMCC at the moment. I’m studying business administration. I’m actually looking for jobs. I usually hostess in the neighborhood at diners and bars and places like that. I’m also developing my own online vintage clothing website. It’s going to be solely online. That’s what I’m working on now.

It’s fun waitressing around here although it’s not the same as living here and just walking the streets. A lot of people come to the Lower East Side to eat, to party, and to bar hop so you meet a whole bunch of different people from outside of the neighborhood. It’s different from the people you see living here. This is the place to be. It’s very interesting to walk down just one block. I like to walk around the entire Lower East Side and explore the nooks and crannies. You always find some place new no matter how long you’ve lived here for.

I loved growing up here and I love it here. The neighborhood is very diverse and very inspiring. There are people from all over the world with different styles, different everything, and a lot of energy. We’re different from everyone else. For example, my boyfriend is from Queens and over there I guess you could say they’re more tight-knit. They’re not as social as we are here in the Lower East Side. There are open personalities here. A lot of my friends from Queens and Brooklyn, they’re not like that. They see me talking to people all over the place and they’re like, ‘how do you do that?’ That’s just how it is over here. And they say, ‘Well it’s not like that where we live.’

My family is Dominican. My mom is a single mom. She raised 4 kids on her own. I’m the youngest one, the baby. My oldest brother is 33. We came here from the Bronx actually. Things got rough with my father, so my older brother took it into his own hands to move my mother away from him. And my father ended up getting deported, so we’re free from his craziness. I didn’t really know him though.

My oldest brother is my father figure. I don’t know anything other than the Lower East Side, but my brother tells me that we have it so much better here than he did growing up in the Bronx. That was the South Bronx in the 1980s. He used to tell me crazy stories about that. We moved here because it was a nice area. The Lower East Side, if you know the history of it, there’s a history of immigrants coming to this area. It was known for that. He did his research and came to visit a couple of times and he liked it. He felt like this would be a good place for his younger siblings to grow up. Also, the schools are good. I mean, they have their flaws but they’re good enough, especially compared to where he came from.

We’re close knit and very family oriented. We like to hang out together, barbecue, go out to the park and just do family things. For Father’s Day we’re all going to go out to watch a Mets game.
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.