Image: Collaborative “Black LA’s Skid Row Neighborhood” (36×60) view of General Jef Park banner created during Music Center’s Easy Mornings at Gloria Molina’s Grand Park event (April 2026)

Kind light / Բարի լույս* to you, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and doodles without borders,
^{*morning greeting in Armenian translates as “kind light” (բարի լույս [baree looys])}

Reply/Reach out if you are interested/planning to participate in the May Day march and/or rally tomorrow (May 1st). There will be an Armenian Working Class group, and potentially a Skid Row neighborhood working class group marching with respective Doodles banners!

Post highlights: (1) Events/Activities in and near Skid Row, (2) Thoughts Aloud, (3) Quote of the Month.
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***SUPPORT Doodles by supporting Arts Depot*** 
1) TWO T-SHIRTS ARE HERE! Doodles and Arts Depot journey into swag has begun:) Get one by donating $30 or more to Community Arts Depot
2) Become a sustaining member at $5/month or more (or donate once $50 or more) & get an exclusive t-shirt and art print or wordoodle of your choice.
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HIGHLIGHTS in and near Skid Row neighborhood, May 2026
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join

1. TOMORROW: Fri, May 1, 10am: MAY DAY MARCH from MacArthur Park. 12noon – MAY DAY RALLY at LA City Hall
2. Sun, May 3, 11a-3p: Mother’s Day Event at General Jeff Park
3. Fri, May 8, 5-7pm: ARTS JAM Open Mic at Studio526 (526 San Pedro St)
4.  Sat, May 9, 2-6p – People’s Kite Fest @ LA Historic State Park
5. Fri, May 15 – Nakba Day: for local events/gatherings, check instagram.com/pymlaocie
6. Fri, May 15, 10a-2p: Community Day at Care Campus and UMEYA
7. Fri, May 15, 12-3pm: Justice and Wellness Marketpalce at LACAN (838 E 6th St)
8. Fri, May 15, 7pm: NIGHT at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)  
9.   Sat, May 16, 12-3pm: C’Mon Sing by Urban Voices across 4 locations in downtown LA
10.  Sat, May 23, 12-4pm: Walk the Talk – Skid Row neighborhood parade and performances
11. Fri, May 29, 3p: Sock Puppets + 5-7:30p: OPEN MIC @ Skid Row Museum
12. Fri, May 29, Dusk: Movie by StopLAPDspying in front of LAPD headquarters

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 / ONGOING
• ONGOING: Hotels in Crisis exhibit at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway), Museum hours are Thu, Fri, at 2-5pm.
• Save the date: Juneteenth at General Jeff (Gladys) Park with Sir Oliver. Check with Skid Row Parks Board posts for specific day/time closer to the date!

OPEN MICS as places to come together, and plant seeds of collective struggle.
There are at least FOUR regularopen mics currently in Skid Row:
Weekly – (1) every Thurs, 6:30-9pm at Peace and Healing Center (116 E 5th)
Monthly – (2) 1st/3rd Fridays 11a-1p: BuckFest at Care Campus (442 S Crocker) by Urban Voices,  (3) every 2nd Friday, 5-7pm, at Studio526 (526 San Pedro St); (4) every last Friday of the month, 5-7:30pm with Lorinda at LA Poverty Dept‘s Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway)

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THOUGHTS ALOUD

ACTION VS HISTORICIZATION
It so happens that April 24, the (2 year) anniversary of the start of the student encampments in solidarity with Palestine in LA region coincides with the (111 year) anniversary of the commemoration of Armenian genocide. 

And the students at Oxy SJP have chosen to define their relationship with *anniversary* through ACTION.
Which is against the tide of mainstream (i.e. whitestream, colonial, capitalist, patriarchal) institutional push to HISTORICIZE, to which unfortunately Armenian commemorations have mostly been relegated to in the recent decades.

Historicization often swallows and coopts entire movements, pushing us to become passive, sometimes allowing to study and reflect, may be even diagnose, but never to treat.
Taking collective action is to turn that study and diagnosis into treatment, into radicalization, into resistance.

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“The colonialist bourgeoisie had hammered into the native’s mind the idea of a society of individuals where each person shuts himself up in his own subjectivity, and whose only wealth is individual thought.
Now the native who has the opportunity to return to the people during the struggle for freedom will discover the falseness of this theory… …will discover the substance of village assemblies, the cohesion of people’s committees, and the extraordinary fruitfulness of local meetings and groupments.“

– Frantz Fanon, “The Wretched of the Earth”


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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.

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For previous newsletter(s), go to www.doodleswithoutborders.com homepage

doodles without borders is just starting to scratch the surface of our collective, abolitionist, liberatory work and I look forward to much much more together!

With much love and joyful commitment to universal equitable access to housing, healthcare, education, arts and cultural spaces, and a strong and vibrant community locally and globally, across timezones, beyond borders, 
Հայկ [hike] / Hayk