Stories from the UnSchool: Meet Alyzza May
The UnSchool Emerging Leaders Fellowship alumni community is filled with incredible boundary-pushing change agents who are working in diverse and divergent ways around the world. In this series, we interviewed a few alumni from our June 2016 São Paulo adventure to hear more about their UnSchool experience and see what they’re up to now.
Meet Alyzza May, 28, who is from New Bedford, MA, and lives in Greensboro, NC.
What do you do?
I am a core member of the Greensboro Mural Project, a collaborative mural arts program centered around reclaiming the commons through community creation. Additionally, I am a freelance Theatre of the Oppressed facilitator, and a community organizer in my community.
Why did you come to the UnSchool?
I came to the UnSchool to find a learning community, to be stretched, but also to find affirmation and guidance for the work I am doing.
What did you get out of it?
The UnSchool experience has been a continued delayed release experience for me. The work I do with my community is benefiting from my going, which is exciting, if my work doesn’t strengthen my community then what good is it for? We’re using some of the futuryst techniques I learnt during the fellowship in the lobby for change in our community.
What are you working on now?
Recently I was part of a delegation that went to Standing Rock, ND where indigenous nations from all across the nation are coming together to prevent a pipeline from being built on sacred and sovereign land. Our delegation sees many connections between what is happening there and what is happening here in NC, and we are planning different ways to connect social movements and create solutions that won’t be tomorrow’s problems. I’m working on a few mural projects with the Greensboro Mural Project, one on Queer Ancestors, one on the Underground Railroad, and one at a local day center for people experiencing homelessness, houselessness, unemployment and underemployment. In October is North Carolina’s 3rd Annual Trans Pride in Action that I’m helping plan, and I have also been in support of the work happening in Charlotte, NC in response to another police killing of a black man.
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