May Events

Sarah Gardner

May 1, 2025 • 6 min read

We're kicking off the new month with a host of May Day events celebrating worker power, storytelling, and community!

New monthly meet up for parents and caring adults. Please RSVP at our interest form here, for scheduling and other needs: https://bit.ly/RZHParents Even if you're not a parent yourself, please send to your parenting friends who are looking for radical community.

Thursday, May 1

**May Day Meetup Autonomous Action | 7 - 9pm -** An evening of celebrations for workers rights, resistance, & the return of spring 🌼 Join us around the bonfire at rzh for some radical fun, featuring Earthly Despair and Dreadcorps on beats, some free grub, tarot readings, and zine crafting :P

Friday, May 2

MAY DAY EVENTS | 6 - 11:30pm

6pm: Student Presentations from Anarchism in History and Practice Class
7pm: Movement Storytelling and Inter-generational Memory with Margaret Killjoy
9pm: BYOB Community Bonfire and Kickback

Join the Rhizome Community in welcoming @margaretkilljoy for May Day on Friday 5/2. Margaret will start us off by sharing about the history of the Haymarket Martyrs in Chicago and the radical roots of International Workers’ Day. We’ll follow with a participant led story-telling circle, sharing tales from our movement ecosystems and cultivating inter-generational memory. We encourage everyone to bring a story to share, regardless of their movement experience, though no obligation to share if you’d prefer to listen. Light snacks and drinks will be provided.

Stop by beforehand at 6 pm for student presentations from the “Anarchism in History and Practice” course, and stay late after 9 pm for a BYOB community bonfire and kickback.

Story Prompts:

🖤 Share about a moment of delight at an action. How did that change the outcome?
🖤 Share about the time you felt most powerful. What went into making that possible?
🖤 Share about someone who mentored you. Why did you respect them?
🖤 Share something you learned from someone you don’t like. What, if anything, kept you in community together?
🖤 Share a memory about someone who is no longer with us (passed on, left the movement, had a falling out). What are the reasons you loved them?
🖤 Share about the time you fought the hardest. What, if anything, made it worth it?
🖤 Share about a time that you changed your mind. What made that possible?
🖤 Share about a conflict that resolved positively. How did you manage that?

Discussion Guidelines:
🖤 Commit to active listening and curiosity
🖤 Share stories from good faith: We’re not in the business of hurting each other
🖤 Keep everything true-ish: anonymize as needed, change small details but please keep the spirit of your stories grounded in things you’ve experienced and feel important to share
🖤 Story telling is a practice, and please feel free to experiment. Keep time in mind, make sure that everyone who wants to share something is able to.
🖤 Keep security in mind: If you’re sharing about something that could be criminalized, please don’t implicate anyone, including yourself.

Saturday, May 3

1 - 6pm | IWW May Day Social

6 - 8:30pm | Food Not Bombs Lake County and Eastside Potluck and Social

Sunday, May 4

12 - 2pm | Garden Day | Interested in gardening? Don't know where to start? On May 4th we'll be planting vegetables, flowers, and herbs, and starting a small nature pond.

1 - 2pm | Trans Voice Practice

1 - 4pm | Drop In Open Hours: free coffee, wifi, library, book distro, crafternoon

2 - 4pm | Monthly Sunday Reading Group (Backyard) LINK TO READING

flyer for monthly sunday reading group on may 4th at 2pm. reading is boris kagarlitsky's the long retreat, chapters 6 - 8 — May 4, 2pm - Chapters 6-8, do not need to read earlier chapters

6 - 8pm | QMAC: Queer Martial Arts Club and Self-Defense | Every 1st and 3rd Sunday, QMAC meets to practice self-defense techniques and elements of martial arts such as kickboxing, judo, and more. The curriculum is explicitly geared towards queer and trans folks and class sizes have a soft limit of 10 people. Join our discord here https://discord.gg/DgTrt5Zm

Monday, May 5

Cleveland Anarchist Reading Group! | 6:30 - 8pm

Tuesday, May 6

Pride in the Heights Meeting | 7 - 8:30pm

Wednesday, May 7

Myla's Black Hearts United | 6 - 8pm | A Black Transgender, Non-Binary, and Non-Gender Conforming Group

Thursday, May 8

Friday, May 9

Film Screening | 7 - 10pm | Next movie night on Friday, May 9th at 7pm get ready for a change of pace as we screen McCabe & Mrs. Miller! Directed by Robert Altman, this Western centers on a mining town brothel that acts as the center of a struggle against a major mining corporation attempting a land-grab. According to wikipedia, the central theme is the conflict between individuality and the requirements of community, but truthfully we sorta just wanted to change genres and watch a western. Also it has Julie Christie and Warren Beatty in it. Come on down to join us and afterwards we can yak about it.

Saturday, May 10

thursday, may 10 | trans day of mutual aid | 10am - midnight

10am - 12pm | Trans Brunch with TRAC

1 - 3pm | HRT Empowerment Workshop w/ Cleveland Trans Collective

6 - 11pm | Benefit Show for Trans Mutual Aid | Featuring valentine vandal, dyke wyfe, girl in the shade, death mattress, matter is void, barricade baby

Sunday, May 11

12 - 2pm | Garden Day | With the last frost date behind us, we'll be planting tomatoes, peppers, and other hot weather plants, as well as building a trellis with fence posts and cattle panel!

1 - 4pm | Drop In Open Hours: free coffee, wifi, library, book distro, crafternoon

Tuesday, May 13

Cleveland Heights LGBTQIA+ Check-In and Meet Up | 7 - 8:30pm

Thursday, May 15

Starlight Elsewhere: Poetry & Open Mic Night | 7 - 10pm

Saturday, May 17

QMAC: Queer Martial Arts Club and Self Defense | 4 - 6pm | Every 1st and 3rd Sunday, QMAC meets to practice self-defense techniques and elements of martial arts such as kickboxing, judo, and more. The curriculum is explicitly geared towards queer and trans folks and class sizes have a soft limit of 10 people. Join our discord here https://discord.gg/DgTrt5Zm

Sunday, May 18

12 - 2pm | Garden Day | We'll be continue to plant, and set up a drip irrigation system.

1 - 2pm | Trans Voice Practice

1 - 4pm | Drop In Open Hours: free coffee, wifi, library, book distro, crafternoon

7 - 11:55pm | Rent Strike (Michigan Folk Punk), Dirty Harry (Miami Folk Punk) , Helga Pataki (Cathartic Powerviolence for Aging Punks), Death Mattress (Cle Folk Punk Duo)

What do you do when the stock market crashes, the banks run out of money, and your boss refuses to give you a raise? That’s right folks, you stop paying rent. Join us Sunday May 18th as we finally welcome RENT STRIKE, supported by touring bands Helga Pataki, Dirty Harry, and Cle locals Death Mattress. Bring all that money you saved on rent to buy some merch. Doors 7, show at 8.

Monday, May 19

Cleveland Anarchist Reading Group! | 6:30 - 8pm

Tuesday, May 20

5 - 7pm | Cleveland Radical Therapist Collective

7 - 8:30pm | Healthcare Access 101

Wednesday, May 21

Play Reading with Cleveland Heights Public Library | 6:30 - 8:30pm

Thursday, May 22

LGBTQ+ Resource Mapping and Community Connections | 6:30 - 8:30pm

Saturday, May 24

4 - 6pm | QMAC: Queer Martial Arts Club and Self-Defense

8 - 11:55pm | Ivywalker, Chimi, Fuchsia Faraday Show | An eclectic evening of tunes

Sunday, May 25

12 - 2pm | Writing Group

1 - 4pm | Drop In Open Hours: free coffee, wifi, library, book distro, crafternoon

Tuesday, May 25

Trans Resource & Aid Collaborative (TRAC) | 7 - 8:30pm

Wednesday, May 28

Stitch n' Bitch | 6:30 - 8pm

Saturday, May 31

Nourish and Flourish Cleveland | 1 - 3pm | Our sessions will involve hands-on activities where attendees learn about food sustainability through cooking, preserving, pickling and canning. We will be using induction stoves to boil materials, preparing ingredients on-site, and engaging participants in the full cooking and preservation process.