Image: looking back at the year, fragment from “Without a Crown” collaborative banner created in conjuncton with the 11th Annual Bob Marley Day in Skid Row neighborhood, produced by DJ Sir Oliver (an amazing old school Roots and Culture DJ, open for gigs!), February 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])
Post highlights: (1)Events/Activities in/near Skid Row, (2)Thoughts Aloud, (3)Quote of the Month
____________________________________________________
***SUPPORT Doodles by supporting Arts Depot***
1) THIRD T-SHIRT IS HERE! Doodles and Arts Depot swag:) Get one by donating $30 or more to Community Arts Depot (www.CommunityArtsDepot.com)
2) Become a sustaining member at $5/month or more (or donate once $50 or more) & get a t-shirt + art print + wordoodle of your choice.
____________________________________________________
HIGHLIGHTS in and near Skid Row neighborhood or related to doodles work, November 2026
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
- Mon, Nov 2, 12-8p: last day Dia De Los Muertos at Olvera Street Plaza
- TOMORROW, Tuesday, Nov 3, 6:30pm: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC Aetna Street Solidarity work rooted book launch party at Stories (1716 Sunset)
- Fri, Nov 6, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT “Crushing Wheelchairs” at LA Poverty Department’s Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
- Sat, Nov 7, 11am-5pm: LA ZINE FEST!!! at 785 E. 14th Pl. 90021
- Sat, Nov 7, 12:30-1:30pm: Doodles Arts Table setup neighboring Food Not Bombs DTLA‘s weekly food distro at General Jeff (formerly Gladys) Park
- Sun, Nov 8, 11a-2p: Doodles table will be at LA Street Care’s Really Really Free Market @ Echo Park Lake
- Fri, Nov 13, 5-7pm: ARTS JAM Open Mic at Studio526 (526 San Pedro)
- Fri, Nov 13, 6-8pm: “NOON” locally cast film screening at Skid Row Museum
- Fri, Nov 20, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT at Skid Row Museum
- Sat, Nov 21, 5-8p: 60’s Revisited Open Mic Nite @ Skid Row Museum
- Thur, Nov 26: National Day of Mourning. There is also a long tradition of gatherings to mark this day as a Day of Mourning, Un-thanksgiving Day / Sunrise Ceremony to honor, uplift, and celebrate collective resistance!
- Fri, Nov 27, Dusk: Movie by StopLAPDspying in front of LAPD headquarters (sometimes location varies, check IG page)
- Mon, Nov 30, 11a-2pm: Meth Awareness Day Event @ San Julian Park, org. by UCEPP (Doodles Arts Table will be there!)
You can VIEW, DOWNLOAD, or PRINT the monthly calendar at doodleswithoutborders.com/calendar
SAVE THE DATE / ONGOING
Ongoing: Hotels in Crisis exhibit at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway), Museum hours are Thu, Fri, at 2-5pm
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)
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
THOUGHTS ALOUD
ADOPTED TONGUE
Դառնություն [darnootyoon]:
bitterness. Тhe noun for the word դառը [‘dα-rə]: bitter.
But also: the noun for the word դառնալ [dαr-’nαl]: to turn, to become.
I place my tongue on yours:
Bitterness.
This language turns me,
re-turns me.
Now I
Now we
Will add some bitterness.
Will make your tongue turn.
Will make your tongue our tongue.
Pain.
Sandpaper:
Word. By. Word.
Here: a word –
Like a weapon hidden underground.
In the land.
What is the relationship between my tongue and the tongue imposed on this land,
but which did not come from this land?
What is the relationship between my tongue and the living tongue of this land?
A weapon hidden under the tongue.
This poem was started during one of the Տեղն ու Տողը [Teghn oo Toghə] writing workshops, with roots stretching to Anahit Ghazaryan’s Դառը լույս (Bitter Light) poem
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
”…the Young Lords were curating vanguard elements of Puerto Rican cultural expression at the People’s Church. … 1969…
Politicized by the world around them, artists had begun to rearrange reality with the symbols and music of Puerto Rico’s resilient Afro-indigenous heritage. Their renderings of joy and tragedy in Puerto Rican life captured an aesthetic—decades in the making—wrought of the crucible of Puerto Rican migration to New York. These high- energy, open- mike jams captured the “structure of feeling” of the children of that migration who were swept into political activism by the civil rights, black power, women’s, and gay liberation movements, the Vietnam War, and the social fallout of their parents’ dislocation from Puerto Rico to U.S. slums. ”
– from “The Young Lords: A Radical History” by Johanna Fernández, historian, abolitionist, and revolutionary socialist
__________________________
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.
…
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
____
To reply to this post, click “Reply” if you are viewing this as an email newsletter, or send an email to
info @ doodleswithoutborders. com