Image: “We… Rebel now” banner from Skid Row neighborhood’s 10th Annual Bob Marley Day celebration (Feb 6, 2025) by Sir Oliver and Sir Oliver Productions. Mark your calendars for this year’s celebration: Friday, Feb 6, 2026, 4-7pm!

Kind light / Բարի լույս* to you, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and doodles w/o borders,
^{*morning greeting in Armenian translates as “kind light” (բարի լույս [baree looys])}

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) THE T-SHIRTS ARE HERE! Doodles and Arts Depot journey into swag has begun:) Get one by donating $30 or more to Community Arts Depot, or come to Bob Marley Day on Fri, Feb 6th and buy
one in person!
2) DONATE $10 or more , get Doodles “Quotes of the Month” 2026 calendar zine.
3) Become a sustaining member at $5/month or more (or donate once $50 or more) & get copy of 2026 calendar, an exclusive t-shirt and art print or wordoodle of your choice.
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HIGHLIGHTS in and near Skid Row neighborhood, Jan 2026
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join

1. Fri, Feb 6, 4-7pm: Skid Row neighborhood’s 11th Annual Bob Marley Day with Sir Oliver, at Skid Row Museum
2. Fri, Feb 13, 5-7pm: OPEN MIC at Studio 526 (526 San Pedro)
3. Fri, Feb 20, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT @ Skid Row Museum
4. Sun, Feb 22, 1-4pm: Spread the Love Community Day with Skid Row StreetBall League at General Jeff Park
5. Thur, Feb 26, 9:30a-1p: 26th Annual Skid Row neighborhood’s Black History Celebration, at General Jeff (Gladys) Park.
6. Fri, Feb 27, 5-7:30: OPEN MIC @ Skid Row Museum
7. Fri, Feb 27, 6p/ Dusk: Outdoor Movie Night by StopLAPDspying
8. Sun, Mar 1, 10a-1pm: Humanitarian Day with Skid Row StreetBall League at General Jeff Park

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
• 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) (on break til Feb 2026); (4) every last Friday of the month, 5-7:30pm with Lorinda at LA Poverty Dept‘s Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway)

**WHERE IN THE WORLD IS DOODLES ARTS TABLE this month??**
– Weekly @ General Jeff Park, Tuesdays 3-4:30pm this month.
– Bob Marley Day: Feb 6th, 4-7pm at Skid Ro Museum
– Leftist Armenian Hangouts (date/location TBD, follow Doodles on instagram for updates)
– 26th Annual Skid Row neighborhood’s Black History month celebration – Thur, Feb 26th, 9:30am-1pm

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THOUGHTS ALOUD

BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU:
MECHANICS OF SURVIVAL, MECHANICS OF LIBERATION
”Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” is always a trap, unless there is genuine power balance. And in the case of systemic oppressions (capitalism, wt supremacy, patriarchy, colonialism, imperialism) “the hand” is the hand that steals from us, steals our lives, uses what it stole to exploit and oppress us, and now ‘feeds’ us the millionth of what it stole: rations to keep us alive so more of our labor can be stolen, until we die.

band together
take the hand’s hoarded means of life
(anything it gives or does not give)
but give the hand zero credit
(redistribute; include yourself in the redistribution)

delegitimize the hand
bite the hand
strategize collectively to abolish the hand

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QUOTES OF THE MONTH – a pairing

“Ancestral voices sing songs reaching through time and space
Healers that fight, teach, and laugh in battle,
Soldiers, survivors, sages.

Conjuring worlds of wonder
Reclaiming roles of power
Restoring broken bonds
The wholeness of We”

– Charles Porter, a descendant from a Black / African diasporan freemen family lineage, one of the organizers of Skid Row neighborhood’s annual Black History Celebration events (26th annual this year) through UCEPP,  and curator of 2023 “Cosmology and Community: Networks of Liberation” exhibit at Skid Row museum

“We treat Black History Month like a museum exhibit. It should be a survival manual. …If you aren’t studying the mechanics of survival, you are wasting the inheritance… Ida B. Wells didn’t just “endure” injustice. She bought a Winchester rifle. …Fannie Lou Hamer didn’t just “march” for the vote. She built food systems. … The “peace” you are trying to keep is actually just compliance. If you are waiting for a racist system to validate your “boundaries,” you have already lost.”

– Christabel Mintah-Galloway, Registered Nurse. African. Lesbian. Storyteller (instagram.com/christabelmintahgalloway), in a post made on Feb 1, 2026. Per post’s central message to go beyond quotes, read the entire post and pick up the reading recommended in it.

__________________________
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

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Image: “We… Rebel now” banner from Skid Row neighborhood’s 10th Annual Bob Marley Day celebration (Feb 6, 2025) by Sir Oliver and Sir Oliver Productions. Mark your calendars for this year’s celebration: Feb 6, 2026!

Kind light / Բարի լույս* to you, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and doodles w/o borders,
^{*morning greeting in Armenian translates as “kind light” (բարի լույս [baree looys])}

Post highlights: (1) Events/Activities in and near Skid Row, (2) Thoughts Aloud – Local to Global, (3) Quote of the Month.
____________________________________________________
***SUPPORT Doodles by supporting Arts Depot*** 
1) DONATE $10 or more and get a copy of Doodles “Quotes of the Month” 2026 calendar zine.
2) Become a sustaining member at $5/month or more: get copy of 2026 calendar, an exclusive t-shirt (coming end of January!) and art print or wordoodle of your choice.
____________________________________________________
HIGHLIGHTS in and near Skid Row neighborhood, Jan 2026
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join

1. Sat, Jan 3, 2pm: NO WAR WITH VENEZUELA protest in Pershing Square, Downtown LA
2. Fri, Jan 16: 12-3pm: MARKETPLACE  @ LACAN  (838 E 6th St)
3. Mon, Jan 19, 10am-5pm, Martin Luther King Jr Day, full day of programming at California African-American Museum (CAAM) in Exposition Park (accessible via metro bus or rail)
4. Wed, Jan 21, 7pm: Hotels n Crisis (Again) – Panel Discussion @ Skid Row Museum
5. Fri, Jan 23, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT @ Skid Row Museum
6. Sun, Jan 25, 1-5pm, Dream Big Community Day by Skid Row Streetball League (@SkidRowBrigade) at General Jeff (Gladys) Park
7. Fri,Jan 30, 5-7:30: OPEN MIC @Skid Row Museum 
8. Fri, Jan 30, 5p/ Dusk: Outdoor Movie Night by StopLAPDspying

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
• Friday, February 6th: 11th Annual Bob Marley Day with Sir Oliver
• 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) (on break til Feb 2026); (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
RESPONSIBILITY TO COLLECTIVE STRUGGLE
As we woke up this morning, January 3, 2026, to u.s. empire completely ignoring sovereignty and what we regard as international law, invading Venezuela, and kidnapping its president, I am reminded that we have no “rights.” But, we have a responsibility to contribute to collective struggle, to collective power building, locally where we are, and aligning with global struggles that are led by working class, liberaton-minded marginalized groups, from the peripheries and for planetary dignity.
Part of that struggle includes using arts and culture to reframe, see afresh how we relate to where we live and to each other. This poem is a contribution to these kinds of reframings.

[a bumpy տռ-tran-slation of an Armenian language woդoodle wordplay poem, originally written at the տեղն ու տողը⁣⁣ [teghn oo toghe] writing workshop, co-facilitated by @anamotpress and @krotsprots]

Հող կա [hogh ka]: ամերի չկա [ameri chka]
Land exists; ameri doesn’t
The villages of Hahamogna and Maawnga whisper magic into my ear

Hahamogna and Maawnga are two occupied villages of Tovaangar,
on whose land today’s city of Glendale stands

Think of the city as land hidden beneath a thin layer of houses and asphalt.
Everywhere there are trees, grass, hills, and stones sticking out.
The buildings, too, are an inseparable part of nature — what else are they if not temporary mounds of earth shaped by us, humans?

[Hahamogna]
Hoghamog-na. Հողամոգ նա [Hoghamog] [na].
նա [na] – she/he/they; հողամոգ [hoghamog] – magician of the land, conjurer of the land
They… are a magician of the land.
The land works magic. (They) enchant the land. Conjure,
Bewitch,
    Captivate,
    Invent,
Create

…you, me… we.

[Maawnga]
Մանկա [Maanka].
Մանկա [manka] – of the child, belonging to the child
Ման կա [Man] [ka] ման գա [Man ga].
Ման կա [man ka] – the mother exists; Ման գա [man ga] – the mother will come; will stroll
She, the mother, strolls with the child.
Մանկա [Manka] ման գա [man ga].
The mother of the child will come.

Mother and child stroll. Strolling, they enchant and conjure the land.

Nov 2025

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“…[Skid Row] Care Campus building features [LA Poverty Department’s] mural with portraits of 36 community members honored in our first Walk the Talk performance / parade (2012). … Each time we perform [the story of one of those honorees at the Care Campus] there is someone in the courtyard audience who knows that person. Molly Lowery, Mike Neely, Robert Chambers, Jeff Dietrich and Catherine Morris… Skid Row knows its history and uses it to secure the future.”

– John Malpede, founder of LA Poverty Department in the performance group‘s 2025 Year End Newsletter. LA Poverty Dept is currently fundraising to keep Skid Row History Museum and Archive open, you can donate at lapovertydept.org/help-support-lapd

__________________________
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

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Image: Fragment from “Alkebulania“ by Kenneth W. Ross, the artwork that opens the “Scratching the Surface” exhibit at Skid Row Museum. Exhibit is open for one last week, til Sat Dec 6th. Open hours: Thur-Sat 2-5pm. This and many original pieces are for sale, and a print of this work is one of the gifts for donating to Arts Depot.

Kind light / Բարի լույս* to you, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and doodles w/o borders,
^{*morning greeting in Armenian translates as “kind light” (բարի լույս [baree looys])}

Post highlights: (1) Events/Activities in and near Skid Row, (2) Thoughts Aloud – Local to Global, (3) Quote of the Month.
____________________________________________________
***SUPPORT US by supporting Arts Depot*** 
Help Doodles’ sister artwork storage project Community Arts Depot pay monthly rent, and get thank you a gift! There are a few gift options to choose from here.
Stay tuned on Doodles instagram page for more options soon!
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HIGHLIGHTS in and near Skid Row neighborhood, Dec 2025
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join

UPDATE: EXTENDED!!! – Scratching the Surface: 40 Years of Visual Arts in Skid Row(rooted in part in the artwork stored by our sister org Community Arts Depot)at Skid Row Museum has been extended one last time through Saturday, December 6!

1. Mon, Dec 1, 11a-2p: Meth Awareness + World AIDS Day at Care Campus – Doodles will be tabling!
2. Thur, Dec 4, 10am: Skid Row Arts Alliance meeting at Skid row Museum
3. Fri, Dec 5: 12-3pm: MARKETPLACE FOOD JUSTICE @ LACAN  (838 E 6th St) – stop by Doodles table!
4.   Sat, Dec 6,12-4pm: Holiday Called Home – Celebration by Urban Voices at Budokan (249 S Los Angeles St)
5. Sat, Dec 6: 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT “White House Effect” at Skid Row Museum
6. Wed, Dec 10, 7pm: Hotels in Crisis: then & now:films + performance @ Skid Row Museum
7. Sat, Dec 13, 10a-2pm: “What is Home?” workshop (registration necessary)  at Skid Row Museum
8. Fri, Dec 19 12:30-3:30:  Studio526 ART HOLIDAY PARTY @ 526 San Pedro
9. Fri, Dec 19, 6-8pm: Holiday party at Skid Row Museum
10. Dec 16-24, 6:30-8pm: Las Posadas at Olvera Street (across from Union Station)
11. Dec 31, 8pm- Jan 1, 1am: New Year Celebration at Grand Park

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
Exhibit: Scratching the Surface: 40 years of visual art in Skid Row open at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway) and EXTENDED one last time to Dec 6th. Regular museum hours are Thur, Fri, Sat 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:
**Note, many of these are on break until the new year.**
Weekly – (1) every Thurs, 6:30-9pm at Peace and Healing Center (116 E 5th)
Monthly – (2) 1st and 3rd Fridays 11a-1p: BuckFest at Care Campus (442 S Crocker) by Urban Voices Project, (3) every 2nd Friday, 5-7pm, at Studio526 (526 San Pedro St) (on break Nov-Dec 2025); (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
ATTEՆՇԱՆ` WARd wORd wՕԴ

wORd: word as privileged carelessness.
signs that wORds are in use: inattention to meaning, refusal to listen to context, all-sameism, both-sidism.
Add to the list and keep close.

wՕ՜Դ։ word as (breath of fresh) air.
signs that wՕ՜Դs are in use:
thoughtfulness, care, accountability, collectivity, support.
Add to the list, keep the closest, and use often.

Armenian-English dictionary
ՆՇԱՆ [n’shan] – sign
OԴ [od/ ot] – air

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Disability is a portal, a way of focusing our gaze and sharpening our lens on the intricacies of our humanity.”

“Disability is not a “brave struggle” or “courage in the face of adversity.” Disability is an art. Its an ingenious way to live.”

“Disabled people know what it means to be vulnerable and interdependent. We are modern-day oracles. It’s time people listened to us.”

– Alice Wong of Disability Visibility project, an outspoken writer and disability justice activist. Alice dies last month. May she rest in peace and may her legacy be carried on by all of us.

__________________________
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

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^{Image:  “FOR ALL” an unfinished Doodles banner started at 16th Annual Festival for All Skid Row Artists, Oct 2025.}

Kind light / Բարի լույս* to you, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and doodles w/o borders,
^{*morning greeting in Armenian translates as “kind light” (բարի լույս [baree looys])}

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 neighborhood, November 2025
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join

UPDATE 1: EXTENDED!!! – Scratching the Surface: 40 Years of Visual Arts in Skid Row (rooted in part in the artwork stored by our sister org Community Arts Depot) at Skid Row Museum has been extended through Saturday, November 22!
UPDATE 2: Doodles Table at General Jeff Park will be away on Tue, Nov 4, and returns on Tue, Nov 11 with a new time: 3-4:30pm.

1. Sat and Sun, Nov 1-2: 11am-8pm: Dia De Los Muertos at Olvera Street Plaza (across Alameda from Union Station)
2. Friday, Nov 7 , 7pm: Movie Night at LA Poverty Dep’t ‘s Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
3. Fri, Nov 14,5-7pm: Arts Jam at Studio526
4. Fri, Nov 21, 12-3pm, Marketplace at LACAN (838 E 6th)
5. Fri, Nov 21, 7pm: Movie Night at Skid Row Museum
6. Tue, Nov 25, 1030-12: Creative Writing at Skid Row Museum
7. Thur, Nov 27: Day of Coming Together in Remembrance, and (Collective Celebration of) Resistance to “Thanksgiving” as Settler- Colonial Revisionism of historic and ongoing geno//dal policies against Indigenous peoples of occupied Turtle Island (aka continental u.s. empire)
8. Fri, Nov 28, Dusk: Movie Night by StopLAPDSpying coalition in front of LAPD headquarters (check their instagram for more info)

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
Exhibit: Scratching the Surface: 40 years of visual art in Skid Row open at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway) and EXTENDED through Nov 22nd. Regular museum hours are Thur, Fri, Sat 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) every 2nd Friday, 5-7pm, at Studio526 (526 San Pedro St); (3) 3rd Fridays 11a-2p: BuckFest at 5th/San Pedro by Urban Voices Project, (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

A REWRITING OF KNOWLEDGE*
Poems and stories about the hills and valleys and rivers of occupied Tovaangar (also known as Los Angeles) exist in the thousands in local Indigenous languages: remembered, asleep, re-membered. The knowledge of their existence is part of decentering this language I’m typing in; or bypassing it altogether. 
As an Armenian in these lands, perhaps I can scratch the surface of this feeling by pouring my love of Armenian Highlands and Armenian language into the love I’ve developed for the geography of Tovaangar over the past 26 years.

Արևելքից ու հյուսիսից`
Լեռնաշղթաները,
Արևմուտքից ու հարավից`
Օվկյանոսը,
Գրկում են մեր լայն հովիտները:
(From sunriseside and hyusis- /mountain ranges; /from sunsetside and haraf- /the ocean, /hug the wide valleys)
Արևմտյան գետը,
սողում ա ծովամերձ լեռների հյուսիսային կողմը շոյելով,
հոսում արևելք սեփական բերանը փնտրելու ճանապարհին,
Գտնում լեռնաշղթայի ծայրն ու թեքվում հարավ,
դեպի անծայրածիր օվկյանոսը:
(Paayme Paxaayt /flows by and brushes the hyusis side of the oceanside range,/ goes towards sunrise in search of its own mouth,/ finds the end of the range and turns haraf,/ to the endless ocean)

* * *

Թովաանգար: Թթո…ով..վան…գար: [Tovaangar. Tto… ov..van…gar]
Թթով ո՞վ:   [ttov ov?] (someone with mulberries?)
Ո՞վ Վան գար: [ov Van gar?] (who to return to Van?)
Ան… գա՜ր: [an… gar!] (if only) they… would return!)
Ա՛ն` քար: [an! qar] (here, take this stone!) (Վերձրու քար)
Թթով վանք առ:  [ttov vanq ar]  (take (back) the mulberry monastery)

Թովանք առ: [tovanq ar]
Take [this] charm, delight, merriment. / Become fully engulfed, ecstatic

Թ(ը)վանք առ: [tvanq ar]

Թովանք քար: [tovanq qar]
(This) charming, captivating stone.
(This) charming, captivating rocky land.

Թթ(ո)Վանք գ/ք-ար առ: [tt(o)Vanq g/q-ar ar]
Here, take (this) stone, let it engulf you, return, and take back the mulberry monastery.

*thank you Sylvia Wynter

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“…critique is not a rupture of solidarity but a condition of its possibility. …[W]ords carry the weight of an empire. But they also carry the possibility of return. That possibility depends on our willingness to trace [the words] back to the people, the places, and the politics from which they came from, and to ask what responsibilities we inherit when we speak and write.”

– Sinthujan Varatharajah in “Publishing as Solidarity: Personal Reflections on the Funambulist’s Political Project” in Funambulist N°61


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

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^{Image:  Still unfinished “Skid Row neighborhood is Working Class” banner, Sept 2025}

Kind light / Բարի լույս* to you, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and doodles w/o borders,
^{*morning greeting in Armenian translates as “kind light” (բարի լույս [baree looys])}

Post highlights: (1) Events/Activities in and near Skid Row, (2) Thoughts Aloud – Local to Global, (3) Quote of the Month.
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HIGHLIGHTS in and near Skid Row neighborhood, October 2025
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join

UPCOMING PROGRAMMING related to Scratching the Surface: 40 Years of Visual Arts in Skid Row (rooted in part in the artwork stored by our sister org Community Arts Depot) exhibition at the Skid Row Museum and Archive is highlighted.

1. Friday, Oct 3, 3-5pm, Filmmaking workshop with Adam Johns @ Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
2. Friday, Oct 3 , 7pm:Movie Night at LA Poverty Dep’t ‘s Skid Row Museum 
3. Sat, Oct 4, 1-6pm: OUR STREETS ZINE FEST at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
4. Sat, Oct 4: TWO YEARS OF GENO//DE: RISE UP FOR GAZA. International Day of Action. In LA, protest at 1pm at the Z/on/st Consulate (11766 Wilshire Blvd)
5. Tuesdays, Oct 7 and 14,10:30-12:  Poetry Workshop at Skid Row Museum
6. Wed, Oct 8, 6pm: Movie night at General Jeff (Gladys) Park (movie at dusk)
7. Oct 10, Fri, 5-7pm: Skid Row Poetry: Inklings of a History at Museum
8. Fri, Oct 17, 12-3pm, Marketplace at LACAN (838 E 6th)
9. Fri, Oct 17, 7pm: Movie Night at Skid Row Museum
10. Sat-Sun, Oct 18-19, 12-4pm 16th Annual Festival for All Skid Row Artists! To perform or show art work: email info@lapovertydept.org or call 310-227-6071
11. Oct 24, Fri, 5-7pm: Discussion about Community Archives at the Museum
12. Fri, Oct 31, Dusk: Movie Night by StopLAPDSpying coalition

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
Exhibit: Scratching the Surface: 40 years of visual art in Skid Row open and runs through Oct 25th.
Regular museum hours are Thur, Fri, Sat 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) every 2nd Friday, 5-7pm, at Studio526 (526 San Pedro St); (3) 3rd Fridays 11a-2p: BuckFest at 5th/San Pedro by Urban Voices Project, (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

BEING “SERVICE RESISTANT” AND ”PA/ EST/N/AN REJECTIONISM”
As I read about “Pa/es/in/an Rejectionism” in Fargo Tbakhi’s “Being Listened To: On Philip Metres’ SHRAPNEL MAPS, Colonialism, and the Vio/ence of Conversation” essay, I immediately think about the label “service resistant”, used by the mainstream against unhoused people who dare to reject the inhuman “housing” alternatives in a world where lack of dignified housing for everyone is vio/ently normalized.
“Too unhoused”, “too Black”, “too immigrant”, “too queer”, “too Pa/ est/nian”, “too Artsakhci”, “too Indigenous”, “too working class”: service resistant. And for the first time I noticed the RESISTANCE in “service resistant” and now I really like the term.

Excerpt from Fargo’s essay:
“Pa/ es/inian Rejectionism” is the term used by decades of colonialist mur/derers and their passive onlookers to frame and explain the failure of “peace-talks” by placing the blame on Palestinian leadership’s refusal to accept, as part of any deal, the existence of the state of /sr/ae/. Yet my radical listening chooses to hear, in Pa/ es/inian Rejectionism, the only way forward, the only futurity we can possibly have. I beg for any poetics to have as one of its moves this refusal: the refusal to accept any world in which settler-colonialism is too moral, too human, too far-gone, too powerful or too vio/ent to be refused with every bone in our bodies, every conjunction in our sentences, every piece of spit creating and enacting our spells. I reject peace which leaves us displaced; I reject peace which leaves us dead and dying and severed from our land; I reject peace which is encompassed in and comprised of the bowing to power and the forgiveness of murder. This is our rootedness, our sumud; for any poetics/politics to abandon this position is for us to become the meals of history, to ensure that we continue disappearing. I reject conversation and its machineries. I reject the aesthetics of decolonization being mobilized to disguise the rot, the insatiable wellness of the settler-colonial heart.”

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Having Conversations Industrial Complex: a loose assemblage of professional speakers, non-profit organizations, astroturfed activists, diversity consultants, academic advisory boards, panelists, and politicians who are paid to generate a ‘conversation’ that doesn’t need to show tangible results. Rather, the only role of the conversation is to generate more conversations.”

―– Alex V Green, “The Emptiness and Inertia of Having Conversations” as quoted in Fargo Tbakhi’s “Being Listened To: On Philip Metres’ SHRAPNEL MAPS, Colonialism, and the Violence of Conversation”


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

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^{Image:  (1) Flyer for the upcoming Scratching the Surface: 40 years of Visual Arts in Skid Row exhibit, which opens this Saturday, September 6, 5pm at Skid Row museum; (2) interactive Skid Row Design Collective cardboard foldout (2016), one of the items in the exhibit. one of the items in the exhibit.}

Kind light / Բարի լույս* to you, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and doodles w/o borders,
^{*morning greeting in Armenian translates as “kind light” (բարի լույս [baree looys])}

Post highlights: (1) Events/Activities in and near Skid Row, (2) Thoughts Aloud – Local to Global, (3) Quote of the Month.

COME VISIT the UPCOMING Scratching the Surface: 40 Years of Visual Arts in Skid Row exhibition at the Skid Row Museum and Archive (250 S. Broadway), opening this Sat, Sept. 6th, 5pm (and running until Oct 25) which it’s been my honor and pleasure to curate. The exhibition is a small glimpse into all the art making and cultural production that happens in Skid Row neighborhood. The impetus for curating this exhibit was to show and celebrate some of the work held at Community Arts Depot artwork storage project–a sister organization to Doodles!–and it grew to include multiple formal and informal archives and personal collections. 
And follow LA Poverty Department and Doodles without Borders posts on Instagram for programming related to the exhibit, like a mini-Zine Fest, a dive into History of Poetry in Skid Row, and a discussion of Community Archives!
– Hayk

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HIGHLIGHTS in and near Skid Row neighborhood, September 2025
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join

1. Friday, Sept 5, 3-5pm, Filmmaking workshop with Adam Johns @ Skid Row Museum
2. Friday, Sept 5, 7pm: Movie Night at LA Poverty Dep’t ‘s Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
3. Saturday, September 6, 5pm: OPENING CELEBRATION of Scratching the Surface: 40 years of Visual Arts in Skid Row exhibit at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
4. Wed, Sept 10, 6pm: Movie night at the General Jeff (Gladys) Park (movie starts at dusk)
5. Fri, Sept 12, 5-7pm ARTS JAM @ Studio 526 (526 San Pedro)
6. Tue, Sept 16, 1030-12, 5-week Poetry Workshop starts @ Skid Row Museum
7. Fri, Sept 19, Marketplace at LACAN (838 E 6th)
8. Fri, Sept 19, 7pm: Movie Night at Skid Row Museum
9. Fri, Sept 26, 5-7:30: Open Mic @ Skid Row Museum
10. Fri, Sept 26, Dusk: Movie Night by StopLAPDSpying coalition in front of LAPD headquarters (check their instagram for more info)
11. Mon, Sept 29, 11am-1pm ~ SOUND BOWLS workshop with Ptah Ahochi Tehuti Eil and Linda Leigh @ Skid Row Museum

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
Exhibit: Scratching the Surface: 40 years of visual art in Skid Row: OPENS Saturday, September 6
Regular museum hours are Thur, Fri, Sat 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) every 2nd Friday, 5-7pm, at Studio526 (526 San Pedro St); (3) 3rd Fridays 11a-2p: BuckFest at 5th/San Pedro by Urban Voices Project, (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

#SKIDROWCONNECTED
(excerpt from the Suggested Use of Language – LA’s Skid Row Neighborhood evolving text, first drafted and presented in a meeting of then active Skid Row Design Collective in 2016)

Skid Row is not unique. Skid Row’s struggles are inseparable from the Black Liberation struggle in and beyond the American empire, the Working Class struggle, LGBTQ struggle for human rights, Tenants Power struggle and many more. It is exposed to the same anti-Black, white supremacist, imperialist, colonial, patriarchal, ableist oppressions–with the violence of class war and capitalism as the through line–which manufactures civic disenfranchisement, criminalization of poverty, and economic oppression affecting more than 150 million people (from rent-burdened tenants living in fear of displacement, to people living on the street in daily fear for their lives in every major city of the country) in so-called united states.

Skid Row neighborhood–as countless neighborhoods worldwide, undeterred by systemic oppression–is a bastion for defending humanity and of mutual aid as a method of survival (including the abolitionist mutual aid groups coming from without, but here focusing on neighbors looking out for each other in a myriad of informal ways). While Skid Row is not immune from replicating systems of oppression, it is also a place where every day residents come together, stand up for each other, show solidarity, empathy, and love.

Locally and globally, working-class oppressed people led, collective liberation struggles already align with Skid Row. Our common struggle must be to find ways to cultivate, grow and defend spaces where the necessity for universal protections of all basic human needs is the baseline. Our common struggle must be for each person’s individual responsibility to align with the collective responsibility to build power that will extend this baseline to the entire world.

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“The coalition emerges out of your recognition that it’s fucked up for you, in the same way that we’ve already recognized that it’s fucked up for us. I don’t need your help. I just need you to recognize that this shit is killing you, too, however much more softly…”

― Fred Moten, cultural theorist, poet, and scholar whose work explores critical theory, Black studies, and performance studies.


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

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^{Image: Skid Row artists working on an “Independence… from what?” banner, in preparation for the upcoming 10th Anniversary of the Jamaican Independence Day celebration in Skid Row neighborhood, which will happen on Saturday, Aug 9, 2-6pm at Skid Row museum. Come join on Aug 9th and add to the banner or make a protest sign!  For more, look under the Black August rubric below}

Kind light / Բարի լույս* to you, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and doodles w/o borders,
^{*morning greeting in Armenian translates as “kind light” (բարի լույս [baree looys])}

Post highlights: (1) Events/Activities in and near Skid Row, (2) Thoughts Aloud – Local to Global, (3) Quote of the Month.

Black August
During Black August, it is especially important to remember that Skid Row neighborhood is part of Black LA, part of the history, present, and future of resistance work of freeing all political prisoners and abolishing prisons and jails. For more Black August resources, here is one starting point: bit.ly/BARHandbook

In Skid Row neighborhood,
1) LACAN will be hosting a Black August centering community event on Friday, August 22, 3-6pm in their space (838 E 6th St),
2) Jamaican Independence Day’s Skid Row celebration 10 year anniversary on Saturday, August 9, 2-6pm, will include Black August topics and awareness. Doodles table will encourage attendees to add to the Independence… from what? banner, as an invitation to think deeper about independence. Can we imagine independence from capitalism? From white supremacy and patriarchy? Independence from settler-colonialism? From individualism? Independence from carcerality and prisons? Come and imagine with us!

Look out for more Black August themed events in Skid Row, in the region, learn about prison abolitionist organizations and how you can participate.

INVITATION
u.s. empire centers destroying life everywhere on the planet, while maintaining a bread, circuses and prisons discipline here in imperial core. The empire was built on and continues to function by geno//ding Indigenous peoples and Black / New Afrikan peoples. From an endless list of horrors: locally the empire now mu/ders 7 unhoused people in LA county every day, unleashes its colonial police force called ICE to kidnap and torture people, and globally is central in the u.s. imperial outpost state of /s/ae/ facilitated mass starvation and geno//de of Pa/est/nians.
Doodles without Borders invites you to make it a practice to vomit a little in your mouth every time the irreformable settler-colonial regimes of 249 y.o. u.s. empire or its outpost 77 y.o. state of /s/ae/ are mentioned. And find groups to join that contribute to life affirming, caring, collective liberation work with this understanding.
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HIGHLIGHTS in and near Skid Row neighborhood, August 2025
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join

1. Friday, Ausust 1, 7pm: Movie Night at LA Poverty Dep’t ‘s Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
2. Fri, Aug 8, 11am: Sound Bowls and Self Healing with Ptah and Linda at Skid Row Museum
3. Fri, Aug 8, 5-7pm ARTS JAM @ Studio 526 (526 San Pedro)
4. Fri, Aug 8, 7pm: Church Without Walls is 19 years old! (5th/ Maple)
5. Sat, Aug 9, 2-5pm: 10 year anniversary: Jamaican Independence Day in Skid Row neighborhood, hosted by Sir Oliver, at Skid Row Museum.
6. Tue, Aug 12, 4-6:30pm: Doodles Arts Table will host a screening of u.s. dept of arts and culture’s “Artists and Cultural Workers Against Authoritarianism” training at General Jeff Park (formerly Gladys Park,  808 E 6th). You can also register and attend where ever you are at bit.ly/WTF-Training
7. Wed, Aug 13, 6pm: Movie night at the General Jeff (Gladys) Park
8. Fri, Aug 15, 3-5pm: FROM FILM LOVER TO FILMMAKER workshop at Skid Row Museum
9. Fri, Aug 15, 7pm: Movie Night at Skid Row Museum
10. Sat, Aug 16, 1-4pm: COFFEE HOUSE by Urban Voices at Inner City Arts (720 Kohler)
11. Sun, Aug 17, 1-4pm: Back to School Bash by Skid Row Streetball League and Brigade, at General Jeff (formerly Gladys) park
12. Tue, Aug 19, 1030-12, Creative Writing @ Skid Row Museum
13. Fri, Aug 22, 3-6pm BLACK AUGUST – Marketplace at LACAN (838 E 6th)
14. Fri, Aug 22, 7-9pm: J-Town Bronzeville Suite @ Grand Performances , Downtown LA
15. Fri, Aug 29, 5-7:30: Open Mic @ LA Poverty Dep’t Skid Row Museum
16. Fri, Aug 29, Dusk: Movie Night by StopLAPDSpying coalition in front of LAPD headquarters (check their instagram 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 / ONGOING
Exhibit: Walk the Talk Portraits 2014-2024 at the Skid Row Museum through Aug 23
Exhibit: Scratching the Surface: 40 years of visual art in Skid Row: OPENS Saturday, September 6
Regular museum hours are Thur, Fri, Sat 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) every 2nd Friday, 5-7pm, at Studio526 (526 San Pedro St); (3) 3rd Fridays 11a-2p: BuckFest at 5th/San Pedro by Urban Voices Project, (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

SCRATCHING THE SURFACE: an upcoming exhibit
(a version of this text appears in the latest Skid Row Arts Alliance ARTS ZINE)

Drawings, paintings, sculptures, murals, an improvised phone booth, banners, photographs, 3D art, 2D art, masks, DIY clothing… The list goes on, with subcategories in each category. 

As I sat down to plan the upcoming exhibit showcasing the recent history of visual art in Skid Row neighborhood, just one conversation yielded material to fill five Skid Row museums, even only focusing on the last 40 years. Somewhere in the conversation it came up that “we will be just scratching the surface,” and the title for the exhibit was born.

Skid Row neighborhood is never in isolation. Skid Row is part of downtown LA, part of the LA region, part of Black LA, part of Indigenous Tovaangar and occupied Turtle Island. Skid Row is diasporan, is Mexican, Caribbean, Abya Yalan (so called South American), Afrikan / New Afrikan, East Asian, etc. Skid Row is queer and trans, is Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, spiritual, humanist, atheist. Skid Row is the largest recovery community. And Skid Row is part of the working class and working class people’s struggle for a dignified life for everyone. Part of the global, internationalist anti-colonial struggle, from Skid Row to occupied Palestine.
By showcasing a snippet of the history of creativity and cultural production in Skid Row, the exhibit will contribute to revealing and fortifying a connection-centering neighborhood identity that already is and continues to be.

The exhibit is slated to open at the Skid Row Museum on Saturday, September 6th, 2025 and run until October 25th.

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“We must now collectively undertake a rewriting of knowledge as we know it. This is a rewriting in which… I want the West to recognize the dimensions of what it has brought into the world… . Because the West did change the world, totally. And I want to suggest that it is that change that has now made our own proposed far-reaching changes now as imperative as they are inevitable.” 

– Sylvia Wynter
From “On Being Human as Praxis” by Sylvia Winter and Katherine McKittrick


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

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