Image: “Th-enk-skee-ving / We are in mourning” wordoodle, 2023, a reminder that a day we are told is associated with giving thanks, family, and friendship actually whitewashes geno//de of Indigenous peoples and stolen land. Scroll down to THOUGHTS ALOUD section for more, including celebrating resistance.
Kind light /Բարի լույս* to you, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and of doodles without borders,
*the morning greeting in Armenian translates as “kind light” (բարի լույս [baree looys])
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Post highlights: (1) Events/Activities in and near Skid Row, (2) Thoughts Aloud – Local to Global, (3) Quote of the Month.
HIGHLIGHTS in and near SKID ROW, December 2024
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
- Thur, Nov 28: Day of Remembrance, Day of Mourning, and Day of Collective Resistance, saying “No Thanks, No Giving” to Settler-Colonial Revisionism of historic and ongoing geno//dal policies against the Indigenous peoples of occupied Turtle Island
- Fri, Nov 29, 3pm: International Day of Solidarity with Pa/es/inian People @ Tongva Park (1615 Ocean Av, Santa Monica)
- Fri, Nov 29, 5-7pm: Open Mic @ LA Poverty Dep’t Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
- Friday, Dec 6th, 10am-5pm – Re/Sound Festival by Street Symphony @ Midnight Mission
- Fri, Dec 6, 7pm, Movie Night at Skid Row Museum
- Fri, Dec 13, 12-3pm: MARKETPLACE at LACAN (838 E 6th St)
- Fri, Dec 13, 5-7pm: Arts Jam Open Mic @ Studio 526 (526 San Pedro)
- Sat, Dec 14, 2pm: Covid Hotel Performance…welcomes you to the future + Closing Event @ A Poverty Dep’t Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
- Mon, Dec 16, 7-9pm: Sidewalk Project Women’s Center Grand Opening
- Friday, Dec 20, 5-8pm, Holiday Party at Skid Row Museum
- Sat, Dec 21, 12-4pm: Holiday Called Home – Celebration by Urban Voices at Budokan (249 S Los Angeles St)
- Fri, Dec 27, Dusk: Movie Night by StopLAPDSpying coalition in front of LAPD headquarters (check their instagram to confirm and for more info)
To view or print the full monthly calendar, go to doodleswithoutborders.com/calendar
Pa/est/ine + Skid Row Actions: some places to find local downtown LA and nearby actions that make local Skid Row to global connections: Pal Youth Movement – LA, Organize – LA, StopLAPDSpying, LACAN
SAVE THE DATE
February 1, 2025 – opening of new Skid Row Museum exhibit
ONGOING
“Welcome to Covid Hotel” at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway) until December 14, 2024
OPEN MICS as places to come together, and plant seeds of collective struggle.
There are at least THREE open mics currently in Skid Row neighborhood:
Weekly – (1) every Thurs, 6:30-9pm at Peace and Healing Center (116 E 5th)
Monthly –
2) every second Friday of the month, 5-7pm, at Studio526 (526 San Pedro St)
3) every last Friday, 5-7:30pm with Lorinda at LA Poverty Dept‘s Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway)
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THOUGHTS ALOUD
MOURNING, IRREFORMABILITY, COLLECTIVE RESISTANCE
For those of us living in u.s. empire, the history of this land stretches far beyond united states and mexico, before conquest and colonization, and will doubtlessly continue long after. It is in our hands to contribute to bringing post-conquest era sooner.
We are on unceded, occupied, stolen Indigenous land. “Thanksgiving” is a cover-up of ongoing geno//dal policies and practices, irreformable but replaceable, from vio/ence-centering to collective care-centering, changing our relationship with land and with each other in the process, informed by Indigenous-led organizations and groups unified by the call for LANDBACK. Regionally and continentally, Red Nation is a great place to start, and locally Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy (where you can also make a periodic contribution if you are able).
There is also a long tradition of gatherings to mark this day as a Day of Mourning, Un-thanksgiving Day / Sunrise Ceremony , and generally honor, uplift, and celebrate collective resistance!
LANDBACK as an inspiration for this collective resistance to colonialism and to the logic of profit over people, both locally and globally, from Skid Row and Little Tokyo, to Pa/est/ne, Artsakh, Sudan, Congo, and beyond.
A note on wordoodles. Wordoodles, like the image at the top of this newsletter, are an ongoing project meant to uplift Armenian and Pa/es/inian, Indigenous, Black and Brown, Working Class and all oppressed peoples’ solidarities, and to contribute to cultivating collective work that is միաSEEN. Wordoodles can be currently found on the @doodleswithoutborders instagram page.
dwb ONLINE:
1) Doodles without Borders (dwb) is now on Instagram / Facebook.
2) There is a monthly dwb Skid Row Community & Arts Calendar. If you do community strengthening work in Skid Row and know of an event/meeting that should be on there, please share.
3) dwb wishlist! You can find it here: bit.ly/dwbwishlist
Able and interested to SUPPORT Doodles?
Support Artwork Storage as a Human Right (and Collective Responsibility)
Community Arts Depot is a sister project addressing the vital need for artwork storage and access focused on Skid Row neighborhood members and residents. Artwork Storage as a Human Right – a glimpse from the Community Arts Depot story. This project’s sustainability is deeply dependent on grassroots support. To donate to the campaign click HERE!
Email us for donating directly via Venmo, Paypal, or other ways.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
For this quote of the month, so honored and excited to share a quote (from a quote 🙂 ) from a mini- syllabus by @kimi_hanauer and @practice_liberation
“[T]here isn’t, there’s never been, and there never will be anything but now. And even if the past can act upon the now, this is because it has itself never been anything but a now. Just as our tomorrow will be. The only way to understand something in the past is to understand that it too used to be a now. It’s to feel the faint breath of the air in which the human beings of yesterday lived their lives. If we are so much inclined to flee from now, it’s because now is the time of decision.”
– ‘Now’ by the Invisible Committee (2017), excerpt as part of the ‘organization means commitment’ by grace lee boggs, ‘theory as a liberatory practice’ by bell hooks, and ‘now’ by the invisible committee (check out the whole thing!) mini-syllabus by @kimi_hanauer and @practice_liberation
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For previous newsletter(s), go to www.doodleswithoutborders.com homepage
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Community Artivism 