Progress Reports: April 2025
How to Move Without Touching Every Interactor — A Week in Los Angeles, A Month in Review, April’s Playlist, and The Community Corner
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Hopped off the Plane @ LAX
NGL, the past few years have been ROUGH! I’ve battled through functional debt, intense personal betrayals, relationship failures, and houselessness. Though I’m not completely through the woods, I needed a real goddamn break that wasn’t just a 24-hour staycation in a nearby town.
The best perk of being a long-term substitute teacher and working for a school is the prescribed holiday vacations. So, for Spring Break, I bought a ticket to Los Angeles to get out of dodge and spend time with my bestie, Anthony.
Anthony and I met in 2016 during our study abroad trip with IES Madrid — Trump was being elected in the USA for the first time and we were two of the few queer people in our program. Although they live on the other side of the country, I always feel supported, especially in my darkest moments. The last time I saw Anthony was December 2023, when they (and their dog, Equis) flew to Philadelphia to care for me after a major surgery. I’m grateful for all the care they show me; their capacity for empathy always inspires me.
Day 1 - Landed in Los Angeles and took the Fly Away bus to Van Nuys, where Anthony picked me up. On the way to the house, we got Carl’s Jr. Spent the day resting, settling, planning the rest of the week, and enjoying each other’s company. Despite the LA weather propaganda, it was colder than Philly, and I regretted not bringing my winter coat.
Day 2 - It was still a windy and cloudy 65 degrees at that point, and I desperately needed warmer clothes. We went thrifting at the Valley Value Center that afternoon, which was packed. According to Anthony, resellers & depop girliess pull up early to get all the designer shit, but it’s still the place to be. The deals were still tewww good. For dinner, I made shrimp pasta, and our friend Lacey made a southwestern salad!
Day 3 -
sighting! In the dark ages of Tumblr, we followed each other’s teenage dirtbag-esque blogs. I distinctly remember how she would take pictures of her outfits in front of her garage door before driving to high school in Boston. In our adult lives, we’ve now encountered each other on both the East and West Coasts (Coastal Elite Girlies). The last time we saw each other was in 2017 at some bar in New York. At the time, AbigaiL was a budding journalist and NYU student, and I was crust-punk adjacent college student just beginning my career in youth arts education and doing frequent poetry readings in the *rolls eyes* ““Philadelphia D.I.Y scene.””
Since then, AbigaiL’s begun a Latin American Studies Master’s Degree at UCLA and recently got married. It was lovely to catch up and talk about Substack, linguistics, how much we hate artificial intelligence, and the perks + quirks of having OCD!
Day 4 - Congratulations to RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 ’s Drag Superstar: Onya Nurve! You won the crown, but Jewelz won that lip sync — no shade. S/o to The Bullet Bar for scaring away the Straights by playing explicit gay porn on one of the televisions during the viewing party.
Day 5 - The sun finally made an appearance! We went to an event called Read the Park: Reparations Club x LA Historic Park. My favorite part of the event was seeing all the Black people sprawled out reading in the gigantic park! Then, we walked down the like 5 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard/Hollywood Walk of Fame, and I got souvenirs for my loved ones back in Philadelphia.
Later, I reconnected with LisaDaBaddest™! She recently moved from Houston, Texas, to Los Angeles, but we met at Temple University School for Scammers in 2014. My Capricorn sista been locked in with me ever since. The event we went to was low-key boring, but my girl always got motion, so we hit the afters where we found the perfect opportunity to take some flicks. It’s been a couple of years, but it was so good seeing her!
Day 6 - Lisa invited us to morning yoga with her roommate’s friend Reagan, but we slept in and missed it. We took the day slowly, smoking spliffs in the backyard while hanging laundry and taking Equis for a long, scenic walk. We later went to Lisa’s to watch The Last of Us and ki. When we came back home, Anthony and I stuffed our drunk faces with pizza.
Day 7 - The Exposure: John Waters Nite at The Offbeat was so much fun! Tammie Brown from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 1 was there, so it was exciting. Apparently, she hugged me because I offered her water, but lil’ mama (me) got a little too turnt, so I don’t necessarily remember this. Anthony and I took artsy portraits of each other outside the bar before Claire and Inga came through, and then we ubered home to get into some more gay chaos.
Day 8 - Fucked around and agreed to go on a hike at Griffith Park with a new acquaintance, Reagan. I was NOT ready for how steep, hot, and uncovered the trail was going to be. The view at the top tho??? Unbeatable. A beautiful final day in Los Angeles.
This trip inspired me to get out of my bubble more. For the past few years, I’ve been thinking about relocating outside of Philadelphia to places like Los Angeles, Washington D.C., North Carolina, Virginia, or Oklahoma. If you know of any job openings in libraries/archives, humanities research, or arts program management/youth arts education, please let me know!
Month in Review
I’ve been working again as a long-term substitute. Last month, I left the high school where I was working under some pretty stressful circumstances. Naturally, I felt scared to begin again at a new school. Thankfully, after taking a 3-week break, I found a small, local elementary school to work at at the beginning of this month. It’s been a very positive change for me. My last work environment was very chaotic and overwhelming. Now, my days are a lot more manageable — the elementary school only has one class per grade, the kids are sweet, and I even have coworkers that I’m friendly with! I’m super grateful to be in a better environment now. It’s allowed me to have energy after work to apply for grants and job opportunities that will advance my art and prospective archival career.
Portraits two first graders made of me Landed three interviews for jobs and grant opportunities! I’m excited because it feels like things are slowly changing for the better. It’s been years of putting in a lot of work and finding resources to care for myself, so I’m relieved that the results of my actions are finally showing. It’s very rewarding.
On a more serious note, I suffered a life-threatening injury early this month. Thankfully, a stranger who saw me fall and hit my head called the medics. When I woke up in the hospital, I was unsure what had happened and how I got there, but the hospital staff made sure I was well taken care of and informed. All imaging was clear. Extremely grateful to be here writing this newsletter for you all this month.
On Repeat
April was a BIG month for the girlies with complex music tastes! Afrobeats Superstar, Davido, and Indie Darling Bon Iver both released albums in April. Finally, REAL music!
Before my trip, I tried to find new music on Spotify, but everything felt too nonchalant for my liking. Although both styles are seemingly incomparable, my measure for good music is that it’s believable.
And I believe both of them and the music they continue to experiment with. As a long-time listener of both artists, it’s invigorating to see their real-time evolutions with each album release.
My April 2025 playlist is a reflection the soundtrack of my trip to Los Angeles — music friends played or that we heard on the radio, a whole lotta man-hatin’ girl rap (Pluto (feat. YKNIECE), JT, KenTheMan), and my favorite songs from SABLE, fABLE by Bon Iver & 5ive by Davido.
The Community Corner
The Community Corner is a space to uplift community members, events, and resources.
This month’s shoutouts go to:
Writers Room is Drexel University’s intergenerational community literary arts program. Their participants are made up of students, staff, faculty, and local residents. Every second Tuesday from September to June, they host a free, public workshop that only requires participants to, “just come and be inspired.” Temple and I met at the Dornsife Center for the packed workshop, Room for Error, hosted by poet Yolanda Wisher. So many intergenerational community members came together to work on a collaborative poem with a group on the typewriters. We wrote while listening to jazz. After, we got to attend a delicious community dinner where we connected with some more community members. I hope to go to more events hosted by Writers Room in the future!
Room for Error workshop Reparations Club is an independently Black-Woman-owned and operated “concept bookshop and creative space curated by Blackness” located in Los Angeles, California. Their event, Read the Park: Reparations Club x LA Historic Park, included local food trucks, live jazz performances, a book swap, a cyanotype workshop, and opportunities to connect with new community members, all in this sprawling park in Los Angeles. Check out their future events on their website and Instagram — I emphatically recommend attending!
Reparation Club's table at Read the Park Firebrand Creative House is an Inglewood-based “design studio that works alongside activists, non-profits, and social impact initiatives” with equity and design in mind. At Read the Park: Reparations Club x LA Historic Park, I met Founder and Creative Director Schessa Garbutt (they/them) facilitating a free cyanotype workshop inspired by the work of Octavia Butler. I was so happy to see one of my favorite art forms out in the wild and connect with new community members. At the stand, I met fellow artists Christina and Juniper, whom I’ve since connected with online. I can’t wait to keep up with them and their work! You can also connect with Schessa on LinkedIn, Dribbble, or contact them directly.
A Little Housekeeping
If you’ve made it this far, thank you deeply for reading this month’s Progress Reports! I’m having so much fun writing the newsletter, little by little, as life happens.
This month, I did not include a cultural critique because Substack is already telling me this post is too long for email, and I think the trip to LA is plenty to digest for y’all.
Just keep your eyes peeled for one in the next newsletter!
Again, please reach out if you know of any job opportunities outside of Philadelphia in libraries/archives, humanities research, or arts program management/youth arts education.
Until next month!
xoxo,
Richelle
Always so lovely to see your reflections, life updates and centering of community 💐
can't wait to have you back and in sunnier weather 🌹