Community Report #1 - Angelitus McSalius Nonprofit

Meet Silver Lake resident Angelitus McSalius and her nonprofit dedicated to increasing literacy among youth.

Transcript

Jeremy  0:00
For our community report, I’m out and about in the community interviewing different individuals. And today I have with me Michelle Greene. Now Michelle -

Angelitus McSalius  0:09
- Sorry, my name is not Michelle. It’s Angelitus.

Jeremy  0:16
Oh, I’m so sorry, it says here in my notes your name was - 

Angelitus McSalius  0:20
- I recently had a name change. It’s Angelitus.

Jeremy  0:26
Oh, wow. Well congratulations. So let me try that again. Today I have with me Angelitus Greene.

Angelitus McSalius  0:38
No, it’s Angelitus McSalius.

Jeremy  0:45
Oh wow. Sorry, so you completely changed your name, right? Sorry for not getting it right there. But you still run the nonprofit right? I just want to make sure I’m interviewing the correct individual.

Angelitus McSalius  0:57
Yes, that’s me.

Jeremy  1:03
Today I have with me. And I’m sorry, but can you say that again?

Angelitus McSalius  1:07
Angelitus McSalius.

Jeremy  1:10
Perfect. And she is the founder of Shakespeare Literacy for Kids, a non-profit dedicate to increasing literacy among youth. So, Angelitus, can you tell our audience about your non-profit and the role it plays in our community.

Angelitus McSalius  1:31
…Actually, the name of the non-profit has changed, shortened, really. It’s now called “Shhhhhii bleep for Kids”.

Jeremy  1:44
I’m sorry, did you just say? I don’t think we’re allowed, in fact, I know we’re not allowed to say that on the air.

Angelitus McSalius  1:53
Say what?

Jeremy  1:54
What you just said.

Angelitus McSalius  1:57
I said Shhhhh bleep for Kids. What’s wrong with that? It’s the name of my non-profit.

Jeremy  2:06
But… Um… Well…

Angelitus McSalius  2:08
It’s a play on words, a pun. I took the first two letters from Shakespeare, ’S’, ‘H’, and the second two letters from literacy, ‘I’, ’T', and made them each their own words. Shhhhh bleep, and I kept the Kids part. Shhhhh bleep for Kids. It’s more catchy than Sh bleep teracy, the other name I was considering, plus it doesn’t sound as much like a dirty word.

Jeremy  2:43
…Ok, so let me try that again, can you tell us about Shhhhhhhhhhh bleep tt for Kids and what it’s all about.

Angelitus McSalius  3:09
Well I was working in South Central, sorry South LA I think it’s called now, and I sort of had this epiphany. I was thinking, I can do more for this community, something more constructive and creative, and that’s when it hit me.

Jeremy  3:32
Right, right. And what were you doing at the time and how did end up here in Silver Lake?

Angelitus McSalius  3:40
I was watching a house burn down, because the meth lab I was operating there had just blown up. Oh yes, and how I got here. Well I had operations in Lancaster, so I went up there to lay low for a few months and the whole time I kept thinking, ‘Why destroy the neighborhoods I’m in, when I can save them?’ So I set up my non-profit, and came to Silver Lake, where I had already lived off-and-on for a while.

Jeremy  4:37
Ok… Right… And so you use Silver Lake as your home base and then do work in less affluent neighborhoods?

Angelitus McSalius  4:53
No. Just Silver Lake. I just operate in Silver Lake.

Jeremy  4:58
So you teach kids in Silver Lake how to read?

Angelitus McSalius  5:02
Not exactly. The non-profit records kids reading Shakespeare, sells those recordings, and then uses the money to help finance the non-profit. And Silver Lake tends to have kids that are very good readers.

Jeremy  5:27
But I thought the non-profit helped increase literacy among youth?

Angelitus McSalius  5:42
Have you ever read Shakespeare? Even the best readers become better after reading Shakespeare.

Jeremy  5:52
Interesting, yeah. I see… Well, I understand you brought with you a clip from one of your recordings.

Angelitus McSalius  6:02
I sure did.

Jeremy  6:03
Great, let’s hear it.

Child Voice  6:06
Child barely reads text from All’s Well That Ends Well, IV, i

Angelitus McSalius  6:31
Are you new at this? There are a lot of awkward silences on this show. Anyway, that was part of a scene from All’s Well That Ends Well, Act IV, scene I, when Parolles gets ambushed.

Jeremy  6:58
Right, yes. Ambush. Well. Thank you for your time today and best of luck with the nonprofit.

Angelitus McSalius  7:06
Oh, you bet. We’ll be out at the meadow the the next four weekends playing our recordings all day for the public and signing up more kids.

Jeremy  7:19
Terrific. Thanks again for your time. That’s Shhhhhhhii bleep for Kids. Just one of the many faces of Silver Lake.