Alyssa Irizarry is ACT’s Projects Coordinator. She manages ACT’s social media, website, and digital communications, and supports youth programming and events. Alyssa is also a Gallery Teacher at MASS MoCA, vegetable peddler with Wildstone Farm at the Bennington Farmers’ Market, and co-facilitator of a monthly dream work circle. She lives in Pownal with her partner José and two cats.
What do you like about working for ACT?
Working with ACT has added dimension to my passion for fostering healthy bodies, minds, and environments. I have been enjoying learning more about youth development and mental health in particular, and I like sharing these resources with our community in order to create space for more conversations around care, healing, and well-being. I appreciate that this work is all about creating internal and external conditions that support young people and help build a healthy society.
What do you love most about living and/or working in Bennington?
All the things green! I love the mountains, forests, and farms.
Top three songs on your current playlist:
I actually haven’t been listening to music as much lately! When I’m working from home, I prefer the sounds of crickets and birdsong. Recently, my partner and I have been listening to New Sounds on New York Public Radio while we cook.
What are you reading right now?
Right now I am rereading Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series, and my book club is reading Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs. I am also catching up on the Orion Magazine summer issue before autumn arrives!
What are you doing to support your health and wellness lately?
Our gardens are abundant right now, so most of my free moments I’ve got my hands around or in the soil—weeding, tending, harvesting. I love to make fresh garden teas with lemon balm, mint, and catnip for example, and other herbal medicines like tinctures, as well as cook or bake with what’s in season (I just made the yummiest zucchini bread!). I also have a daily yoga and meditation practice, and lately I’ve been enjoying walking meditations through the forest and meadow.