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dwb newsletter #28: Reclaiming Collective Power + Apr’24 Skid Row CommunArts Calendar

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Image from the archive: “Reclaiming Our Power” banner for the theme of 22nd annual Skid Row neighborhood’s Black History Month Celebration, February 2022

Kind morning /Բարի լույս* to you, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and of doodles without borders, and blessed Equinox, Easter,  🍉 Land Day, Nowruz, Trans Day of Visibility, César Chavez Day & spring renewal to you,
*the morning greeting in Armenian translates as “kind morning” (բարի լույս [baree looys])
…

ACTION ITEMS
1) CALL FOR ARTISTS – Are you a creative person connected to Skid Row or Little Tokyo? Consider registering for Windows of Little Bronze Tokyo community orientation on May 11th, to be eligible to submit an artist proposal for the project! More information on the project here. Open to any and all creative practices.
Register at bit.ly/sltwindows by May 3rd, required in order to attend the orientation. Please share with people you think would be interested!
2) VOTE – Do you live or do work in Skid Row neighborhood? Please participate in LA Repair participatory voting process, and share with those who also qualify. Online voting is open until April 7th. You get three choices, and there are three great projects you can support: Creative Justice LA, LA Poverty Department, and Skid Row Brigade.
3) Lastly, if you are a tenant at an SRO apartment building/hotel in Skid Row or Downtown, consider joining the LATU Tenant association meetings. Reply to this email or direct message Union de Vecinos Eastside Local on instagram for meeting day and time information.


HIGHLIGHTS in and near SKID ROW, April 2024
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
1) Friday, April 5, 7pm, Movie Night Public School LA at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
2) Thur, April 11, 7pm, Panel Discussion in conjunction with “Welcome to Covid Hotel” at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
3) Fri, April 12, 5-7pm: Arts Jam Open Mic @ Studio 526 (526 San Pedro St)
4) Mon, April 15: Global Actions for Free Pales//ne. Check for specifics at a15action.com
5) Tues, April 16, 10:30-12 Creative Writing @ Skid Row Museum
6) Thursday, April 18, 12-3pm – Marketplace at LACAN (838 E 6th St)
7) Friday, April 19, 7pm: Movie Night at LA poverty department‘s Skid Row Museum
8) Friday, April 26, 5-7:30pm, Open Mic with Lorinda @ Skid Row Museum
9) Fri, April 26, Dusk: Movie Night by StopLAPDSpying coalition in front of LAPD headquarters
10) Sun, April 28, Time: TBA – Come On sing with Urban Voices, in Skid Row, DTLA

To view or print the full monthly calendar, go to doodleswithoutborders.com/calendar

SAVE THE DATE
1) Saturday, May 11th – 2-6pm: Annual People’s Kite Festival by Clockshop at LA State Historic Park
2) Thursday, May 16th, 11:45a-1:30p: Largest Drum Circle in LA, in downtown’s Grand Park
3) Saturday, May 25: WALK THE TALK Parade in Skid Row neighborhood by LA poverty department, a biennial honoring of Skid Row neighborhood visionaries

ONGOING
1) “Welcome to Covid Hotel” at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway) until December 2024
2) “Visions of Transcendence: Creating Space in East and West” at Wende Museum in Culver City, including a number of Skid Row neighborhood artists is up until September 2024. Entrance is Free. Fri-Sun 10a-5p (10808 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90230)

OPEN MICS as places to come together, and plant seeds of collective struggle.
There are at least FOUR 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 third Thursday, 12-3pm as part of LACAN‘s Marketplace (838 E 6th 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
In the spirit of spring, a fresh reminder, reframing of our collective power, this month LA Tenants Union brilliant organizer Tracy Rosenthal’s thoughts aloud on rights vs power and liberation, during “We Make our Community by Defending It” episode of Millennials Are Killing Capitalism podcast, July 2022.

Tracy: “I think it is important to note, and even – admit – that the first meeting of LATU was a tenants rights training. And I laugh to think of it now, because one of the things that we realized is that – 
Beginning with rights really seeds the terrain of our work to legislators and lawyers; it doesnt actually reflect our organizing practices, which are about building capacity for collective bargaining and collective action. The things we are doing now in the Union: eviction defense, mutual aid, rent strikes. These are the practices that self-organization – and NOT rights – make possible.
And especially now, when we are seeing the kind of stripping of rights by reactionary right wing in the courts. Also, tenants have known for a long time that rights are only as good as their enforcement. For instance, we have a right to habitable housing, and yet so many of us live with mold, and roaches, and structural leaks. We have a right to an eviction process, and yet we are kicked out by the sheriff, who sides with the landlord, even when they do not have a legal justification to do so. …
I think about this a lot in the context of the tenant movement, in the context of the unhoused communities I organize with. The thing we are fighting for is not “tenants rights”, it is tenant power, and it is not “housing” it is housing liberation. Understanding liberation as a project beyond rights, that achieves rights in its wake.  …
The last thing I have to say, at the risk of sounding righteous or embarrassing is: don’t wait. Don’t wait to join a union. So much of our political life is tied up in our disorganization or stalling. Like waiting for the election cycle, to seed power to people who claim to represent us, and they just end up negotiating our defeat, and calling it a victory. We are trying to build a kind of mass organized power to intervene in power relationships between bosses and workers, between landlords and tenants; the kind of power that can leverage state capacity, not get hemmed in by it, or go around begging to be heard by it. If we have been called by history to build the institutions capable of saving the planet and the world, we gotta answer that call.” 


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

“In this time of the hegemony of social media, which is meant to distract and entertain, as opposed to educate and illuminate, We need to be clear, and precise, and careful with our language, especially because political education is so crucial.
…
We don’t have to say ‘this is new McCarthyism’, we can say, ‘this is a moment of repression by the one party, two faction state, that is to say democrats and republicans, whereby it is criminalized to be against war, to be against funding of police, to be for Black liberation, and to be against forever wars.’  We can just say that and not make analogies as a shorthand to describe what’s happening, which can actually run the risk of describing very little.”
― Charisse Burden-Stelly, speaking on her book “Black Scare, Red Scare” (link to youtube video interview)


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

dwb newsletter #27: Struggle Beyond Borders + Mar’24 Skid Row CommunArts Calendar

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Image: “Resisting, Protecting, and Healing through Art” , Collaborative Banner based on the theme of Skid Row’s 24th Annual Black History Month Celebration, February 23, 2024

Kind morning /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 morning” (բարի լույս [baree looys])
…


HIGHLIGHTS in and near SKID ROW, March 2024
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
1) Friday, March 1, 7pm, MOVIE NIGHT “Festival for All Skid Row Artsits 2023” documentary at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
2) Saturday, March 2, 1pm: March for Pales//ne at Los Angeles City Hall
3) Fri, Mar 8, 5-7pm: Arts Jam Open Mic @ Studio 526 (526 San Pedro St)
4) Sat, Mar 9, 4-7pm, Opening Reception of “Welcome to Covid Hotel” at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
5) Friday, March 15, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT at LA poverty department‘s Skid Row Museum
6) Tues, March 19, 10:30-12 Creative Writing @ Skid Row Museum
7) Thursday, March 21, 12-3pm – Marketplace at LACAN (838 E 6th St)
8) Wed, Mar 27, 6:30pm – Adversity Generates Innovation, panel discussion, part of Welcome to Covid Hotel exhibit at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
9) Friday, March 29, 5-7:30pm, Open Mic with Lorinda @ Skid Row Museum 

To view or print the full monthly calendar, go to doodleswithoutborders.com/calendar

ONGOING
“Visions of Transcendence: Creating Space in East and West” at Wende Museum in Culver City, including a number of Skid Row neighborhood artists is up until April 7, 2024. Entrance is Free. Fri-Sun 10a-5p (10808 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90230)

OPEN MICS as places to come together, and plant seeds of collective struggle.
There are at least FOUR 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 third Thursday, 12-3pm as part of LACAN‘s Marketplace (838 E 6th St)
4) every last Friday of the month, 5-7:30pm with Lorinda at LA Poverty Dept‘s Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway)

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
End of May, 2024: Walk the Talk Parade honoring Skid Row neighborhood leaders and visionaries, organized by Los Angeles Poverty Department!

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THOUGHTS ALOUD
A collective, creative struggle that resists, protects and heals is beyond borders. As a migrant from the Global South, from South West Asia (aka Middle East), from Armenia, from what I call the borderlands (between Global North and South), how I fit in this country did not make sense to me until I started looking at the Black and Indigenous perspective. 
And then it clicks. Because as the various voices from the Black radical tradition together Brown and Indigenous comrades–Black Panthers, Combahee River Collective, Red Nation, and beyond–have said in many different ways: what this country does to the oppressed people all over the world, it does first and foremost to the Black and Indigenous and other oppressed groups inside this country.
It becomes clear that u.s. imperial funding of geno//dal mu//er and displacement of people in Armenian Artsakh, in Palestine, in Congo, and all over the Global South from Asia and Africa to South and Central America, is the exact same funding that goes to target Indigenous, Black and Brown people and communities in this country, and do NOT go to housing for everyone, healthcare for everyone, food for everyone.

Global Capitalism and Imperialism mean that our struggle is collective, borders only benefit the rich, and being a resident of u.s. empire just means that in our struggle we must always remember that any semblance of stability for those of you that have it is always at the cost of exploitation elsewhere, both “domestically” and across the planet.
A collective, creative struggle that resists, protects and heals is beyond borders.


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) Latest addition – dwb wishlist!  You can find it here: bit.ly/dwbwishlist 

Why support storage of Skid Row artist work?
Support Artwork Storage as a Human Right (and Collective Responsibility)
A shameless plug asking for your support of Community Arts Depot, 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.
We continue to need support as this project’s sustainability is wholly dependent on grassroots support.  To donate to the campaign click HERE!


Quote of the month

“Healing the planet is ultimately about creating infrastructures of caretaking that will replace infrastructures of capitalism. Capitalism is contrary to life. Caretaking promotes life.”
― The Red Nation, “The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth”


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

dwb newsletter #26: celebrating Black liberation work, Open Mics in Skid Row + Feb’24 Calendar

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Image: Doodle from one of Peace and Healing Center’s weekly Off the Top Open Mics in Dec 2023

Kind morning /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 morning” (բարի լույս [baree looys])
…
February is celebrated as Black History Month in u.s. empire, a time to especially underscore going beyond celebration of history alone, and finding ways to align with Black liberation, Pan-African liberation as part of collective liberation work globally!
Following and supporting the work of Black Alliance for Peace is one such starting point

HIGHLIGHTS in and near SKID ROW, February 2024
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
1) Friday, Feb 2, 7pm, MOVIE NIGHT “Boyd Street Fire” at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
2) Saturday, Feb 10, 1-5pm, ***9th Annual Bob Marley Day*** with Sir Oliver (at Skid Row Museum)
3)Thursday, Feb 15, 12-3pm – Marketplace at LACAN (838 E 6th St)
4) Friday, Feb 16, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT at LA poverty department‘s Skid Row Museum
5) Tues, Feb 20, 10:30-12 Creative Writing @ Skid Row Museum
6) Fri, Feb 23, 10a-3p: ***24th Annual Skid Row’s Black History Celebration*** at San Julian Park, stay tuned for details via UCEPP
7) Friday, Feb 23, 5-7:30pm, Open Mic with Lorinda @ Skid Row Museum 

To view or print the full monthly calendar, go to doodleswithoutborders.com/calendar

ONGOING
“Visions of Transcendence: Creating Space in East and West” at Wende Museum in Culver City, including a number of Skid Row neighborhood artists is up until April 7, 2024. Entrance is Free. Fri-Sun 10a-5p (10808 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90230)

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Early March 2024: Projected opening of the new exhibit at Skid Row Museum relating to life of unhoused people in hotels during early years of Covid.

…
THOUGHTS ALOUD
OPEN MICS are among the places to come together, and plant seeds of collective struggle. We, the people living in “the belly of the beast” (u.s. empire) have become more and more aware not just about the many parts of the world where genoc/da/ violence is taking place–from Pa/est/ne to Congo to Sudan to Artsakh and beyond–but how much the funding of genoc/des globally is coming from u.s. empire, and always at the expense of social, racial, gender, and economic violence done onto us here.
As we recognize that a key part of the struggle for liberation is in joining with like-minded folks, I want to highlight local, community OPEN MICS anywhere and everywhere as one entry point to collectivity!

And as someone who used to run an Open Mic, I’m especially heartened to see that there are at least FOUR open mics currently in Skid Row neighborhood:
Weekly – 
1) every Thursday, 7-9pm at Peace and Healing Center (116 E 5th St.)
Monthly – 
2) every second Friday of the month, 5-7pm, at Studio526 (526 San Pedro St)
3) every third Thursday, 12-3pm as part of LACAN‘s Marketplace (838 E 6th St)
4) every last Friday of the month, 5-7:30pm with Lorinda at LA Poverty Dept‘s Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway)


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) Latest addition – dwb wishlist!  You can find it here: bit.ly/dwbwishlist 

Why support storage of Skid Row artist work?
Support Artwork Storage as a Human Right (and Collective Responsibility)
A shameless plug asking for your support of Community Arts Depot, 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.
UPDATE: We received a mini-grant from Skid Row Arts Alliance as well as a grant from CCI which will help to cover rent, insurance, and other expenses, many thanks to both groups!! And to all the individuals who have supported and continue to support us; we could not have gotten here without you!!! More details to come in the coming months, including possible additional resources we may be able to expand! We still continue to need support as this project’s sustainability is wholly dependent on grassroots support.  To donate to the campaign click HERE!


Quote of the month

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time


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

dwb newsletter #25: TOGETHER/ՄիաSEEN + Jan’24 SkidRow Communarts Cal

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Image: General Jeff Park banner, ՄիաSEEN / Together, & Collectivizing Our Struggles from Doodles art in 2023

Wishing you a New Year filled with favors and divine gifts /Շնորհավոր Նոր Տարի*, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and of doodles without borders,
*the new year congratulatory phrase in Armenian translates as “Favor/ [divine] gift filled New Year” (Շնորհավոր նոր տարի [Shnorha-VOR nor ta-REE])
…


HIGHLIGHTS in and near SKID ROW, January 2024
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
1) Thursdays, 7-9pm: Open Mic @ CreatingJusticeLA Peace and Healing Center (116 E 5th St)
2) Monday, Jan 15 – check LACAN page for Martin Luther King Jr Day related activities
Tues, Jan 16, 10:30-12 Creative Writing @ Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
Friday, Jan 19, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT at LA poverty department‘s Skid Row Museum
Friday, Jan 26, 5-7:30pm, Open Mic with Lorinda@ Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
Here you can find a Printable/Online Monthly Skid Row Calendar of some arts and community activities in and around Skid Row neighborhood.

ONGOING
Thur-Sat, 2-5pm, extended to Jan 18, 2024: Enough is (never) Enough: Hard Truths and the People Who Live Them – exhibit features photographs and text by artist and educator David Blumenkrantz, along with works by four photographers who have lived experience with homelessness: Bobby Buck, Cleta Felix-West, Lelund Hollins and Ian Storm. On exhibit at Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway).

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Feb 2024: 24th Annual Skid row neighborhood’s celebration of Black History. Stay tuned, look for updates from UCEPP, for day and time. 

…
DOODLES IN 2023
In 2023, doodles without borders participated in many arts-community-cultural activities in Skid Row neighborhood and beyond, from our regular weekly spot in General Jeff park, to LA State Historic Park for the Kite Fest, to Windsor and Verdugo Parks in Glendale. You can find most of the banners we created in 2023 here. 
Throughout the year I had the pleasure of coordinating LA Commons’ led community mural led by amazing artists _showzart_ and Natosha, and supported by a dozen no less incredible community artists: Queen Mama Tabia, Tom Grode, Linda Leigh, Mozart, Adrian, Coach Ron, Ray, Lorraine, Unkal Bean, Gary Brown, Jay, Kaniah, and Tyler. The mural, which also made an appearance at last year’s Festival, is dedicated to late General Jeff, and incredible organizer and activist in Skid Row neighborhood. The park formerly known as Gladys Park, is in the process of being renamed after him.
We at Doodles are not waiting for the city, and finished the year with a General Jeff Park banner. 

THOUGHTS ALOUD
As an immigrant from Armenia, South West Asia (so called Middle East), current resident of occupied Tongva Land (aka Los Angeles), a descendant of geno//de survivors most of whose lands are occupied by present-day Turkey and Azerbaijan, a working class cisgender man, as a creative person, I’ve been paying more and more attention to how my work is aligned with collective liberation work wherever I am. The work in Skid Row neighborhood has never been in a vacuum, and its important to underscore what the alignments are: Black Liberation movement, alignment with Indigenous (including Latinx Indigenous) Liberation, Queer and Trans liberation, housed and unhoused tenant unions, and working class leadership to name a few.

All these connections are global, they transcend borders. And this year brought so much more clarity to Local-Global connections; the money spent by u.s. empire on funding the intensification of geno//de of Pa/es//nians by /s/ael (and by extension the global weapons sales that funding geno//des and mass vio/ence across the planet, from Kashmir to Congo to Artsakh Armenians, very personal to me) is precisely the money NOT spent on housing, education, food, arts and cultural access here in Skid Row neighborhood and in every neighborhood across u.s. empire. The mainstream reason given for funding this geno//de–namely safety of J3ws–is completely bogus, as articulated by anti-z/on/st J3w/sh orgs from J3w/sh Voice for Peace here to groups the world over: z/on/ism is an anti-sem/t/c settler colonial European imperialist project and at the heart of jeopardizing safety of J3ws everywhere. Within collective liberation framework–against all systems of oppression and for all the people–the work for Free Pa//stine = Liberation for Everyone!

My silence, Your silence, Our silence about the geno//de in Pa/es//ne is directly deepening every racial, gender, economic inequality and oppression in our so called united states, and weakening struggles against all geno//des and economic/social mass vio/ence, from Congo to Kashmir to Artsakh to Tigray and beyond.
And arts and culture and creativity are integral both to coming together and not being silent!

– Recourses, readings, actions to take in solidarity with Pa/es//ne: bit.ly/FATIMASOLIDARITY
– A good starting point for Indigenous orgs in Turtle Island: Red Nation, as well as more locally in Tongva Land (aka Los Angeles) – Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy

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) Latest addition – dwb wishlist!  You can find it here: bit.ly/dwbwishlist 

Why support storage of Skid Row artist work?
Support Artwork Storage as a Human Right (and Collective Responsibility)
A shameless plug asking for your support of Community Arts Depot, 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.
UPDATE: We received a mini-grant from Skid Row Arts Alliance as well as a grant from CCI which will help to cover rent, insurance, and other expenses, many thanks to both groups!! And to all the individuals who have supported and continue to support us; we could not have gotten here without you!!! More details to come in the coming months, including possible additional resources we may be able to expand! We still continue to need support as this project’s sustainability is wholly dependent on grassroots support.  To donate to the campaign click HERE!


Quote of the month / incantation for 2024
“It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.”
– Thomas Sankara, socialist revolutionary, president of Burkina Faso 1983-1987, until his assassination supported by the Western capitalist imperialism


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

dwb newsletter #24: #NotAnotherLoss + Dec’23 SkidRow Communarts Cal

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Image: “Free Skid Row, Free Palestine” banner that was started at the doodles table during the 14th Annual Festival for All Skid Row Artists, Oct 2023 

Kind morning /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 morning” (բարի լույս [baree looys])
…


HIGHLIGHTS in and near SKID ROW, December 2023
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
1) Thur, Nov 30 10a-3p – #NotAnotherLoss National METH AWARENESS DAY – Community Resource Fair @ General Jeff/Gladys Park (808 E 6th St, Skid Row), multi-group collab led by UCEPP
2) Fri, Dec 1, 7pm: Four Movie Shorts – MOVIE NIGHT at Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
3) Sun, Dec 10, 10:30a-4pm – Re/Sound by Street Symphony @ 677 Imperial St, 90021
4) Fri, Ded 15, 6pm: Holiday Party by LA Poverty Department @ Skid Row Museum
5) Sat, Dec 16: 12-4pm: A Holiday Called Home by Urban Voices @ Inner-City Arts (720 Kohler St)
6) Mon, Dec 25, 10a-12noon: Christmas Carol Crawl by Urban Voices in Skid Row neighborhood
7) >>>For Skid Row neighborhood centering YEAR END/ HOLIDAY PARTIES NOT YET FINALIZED stay tuned with (a) Peace and Healing Center, (b) LACAN,  (c) UCEPP

Here you can find a Printable/Online Monthly Skid Row Calendar of some arts and community activities in and around Skid Row neighborhood.

ONGOING
Thur-Sat, 2-5pm from Sept 16th to Dec 18th: Enough is (never) Enough: Hard Truths and the People Who Live Them. On exhibit at Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway).

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
2024: Year of rootedness in art, creativity, and community as liberatory and grounding practices, especially through crises. Year of saying the unsaid things; seeing politeness and charity for the grotesque oppressive violence they can hide behind them, and casting them aside in favor of kindness and solidarity. 

THOUGHTS ALOUD
#NotAnotherLoss is a hashtag that will be used in the upcoming Meth Awareness Day, but the words carry beyond the struggle against overdosing, to struggles against dispossession, oppression, banishment, and mur/er: be it economic, ethnic, racial, gender, or social. From Skid Row to Palestine, from Congo to Kurdistan, from Artsakh to Turtle Island and beyond. 
All these as life affirming struggles FOR collective liberation.


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) Latest addition – dwb wishlist!  You can find it here: bit.ly/dwbwishlist 

Why support storage of Skid Row artist work?
Support Artwork Storage as a Human Right (and Collective Responsibility)
A shameless plug asking for your support of Community Arts Depot, 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.
UPDATE: We received a mini-grant from Skid Row Arts Alliance as well as a grant from CCI which will help to cover rent, insurance, and other expenses, many thanks to both groups!! And to all the individuals who have supported and continue to support us; we could not have gotten here without you!!! More details to come in the coming months, including possible additional resources we may be able to expand! We still continue to need support as this project’s sustainability is wholly dependent on grassroots support.  To donate to the campaign click HERE!

Quote of the month:
[*Trigger warning*: discussion of neurodivergence, mental illness, madness outside dominant framing]
Today I am thinking about mental health. In every possible way. Collective and individual mental health. I just read/listened to “There is no revolution without Madness” and it made me mad about how the mainstream has stigmatized, pathologized conversations about madness, sanity, mental stress, trauma, neurodivergency (mental illness). My thinking comes from 15+ years of working alongside people who are neurodivergent / live with mental illness, close family members living with mental illness, etc. A part of the suffocating power of stigma that the whitestream/mainstream holds over us around mental illness is the appearance of inability to discuss the liberating aspects of understanding madness and sanity WITHOUT fetishizing or diminishing the real struggles of many people in our deeply ableist society.
With that, “Freedom exists outside Sanity. It will never be “sane” to negotiate your individual life for collective liberation. … We want sovereignty within our communities and lands that keep us peacefully. Such desires— kind stewardship— are interrupted, bulldozed, shot point blank, enslaved, tortured, maimed, brutalized, strung up and buried by the te//orist organizations called the nation-state.  … Madness kisses us in our chapters of despair. … We are mad to survive in the face of imminent death and have been mad— through generations, through genocides, fast and slow. And so what? So what of the madness? If you surrender to the Mad, you can ride it.” – Ismatu Gwendolyn discussing Dr. La Marr Jurelle Bruce‘s “How to go mad without losing your mind” in her audio/essay titled “There is no Revolution without Madness”

…

dwb newsletter #23: Skid Row Artist Fest + Interconnected Struggles + Nov’23 Cal

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Image: fragment from a doodles IG post artwork by Hayk that reads “HՈւ՞ՄANIZE – ԴԵ՜WHOM?-ANIZE: From Skid Row to Hawaii to Palestine to Artsakh, All Looks very Familiar”, September 2023
(quote of the month at the bottom of the email speaks to this very well)

Kind morning /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 morning” (բարի լույս [baree looys])
…

DOODLES TABLE IS BACK: Our weekly Doodles table will return to General Jeff (Gladys) Park on Thursday, November 2, 3-4:30pm!

HIGHLIGHTS in and near SKID ROW, November 2023
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
1) Sat/Sun, Oct 28-29, 12-4pm: 14th Annual Festival for All Skid Row Artists @ General Jeff Park (808 E 6th St, 90013). Come one, come all! Doodles without Borders will be there with a table both days!
2) Thur, Nov 2, 1-3pm: Walk with Amal (from ICA LA to General Jeff / Gladys Park
3) Thu, Nov 2, 3:30-5pm: Doodles without Borders Arts Table IS BACK@ General Jeff / Gladys Prk
4) Fri, Nov 3, 6-9pm: Share and Show Open Mic @ Painted Brain (5980 W Pico Blvd)
5) Fri, Nov 3, 7pm: “White Hoax” MOVIE NIGHT at Skid Row Museum
6) Sat, Nov 4, 1pm: Skid Row 3on3 Celebration at Terasaki Budokan
7) Wed, Nov 8, 6pm (movie starts at dusk) – MOVIE IN THE PARK @ General Jeff Park – LACAN’s documentary “The Dirty Divide”
8) Thur, Nov 9, 7pm: “The Big Picture” with Andreea and Hayk @ Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway) – https://www.lapovertydept.org/the-big-picture-11-3/
9) Sat, Nov 11, 3pm: Multimedia presentations on investigative reports @ Skid Row History Museum and Archive (250 S Broadway), part of Enough is (Never) Enough Exhibit
10) Nov 17, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT “Enough is (Never) Enough“ at Skid Row Museum
11) Tues, Nov 22, 10:30am-12pm, Creative Writing @ Skid Row Museum
12) Fri, Nov 24, 5-7:30: OPEN MIC with Lorinda @ Skid Row Museum
13) Thursday, Nov 30, 10a-2p: National METH AWARENESS DAY @ San Julian Park, led by UCEPP

Here you can find a Printable/Online Monthly Skid Row Calendar of some arts and community activities in and around Skid Row neighborhood.

ONGOING
Thur-Sat, 2-5pm from Sept 16th to Nov 18th: Enough is (never) Enough: Hard Truths and the People Who Live Them. On exhibit at Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway).

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Sunday, Dec 10, 11am-4pm:  2023 Re/Sound Festival by Street Symphony. A Free Community-Wide Celebration & Resource Fair, at Void Studios, Void Studios, 677 Imperial St. Los Angeles 90021


THOUGHTS ALOUD
I am very tired. But I find strength in supportive and kind people around me. Practicing and modeling kindness, love and support IS the route to liberation. But not in a vacuum; understanding that the context is the struggle to collectively disassemble settler colonialism, imperialism, capitalism and their violences. Caring and accountable collective struggle.
Free Skid Row = Free Palestine = Free Hawaii = Free Turtle Island = Free Artsakh =
“Interconnected struggles. Interconnected stories. Interconnected freedoms. 🍉 ” – Saul Williams


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) Latest addition – dwb wishlist!  You can find it here: bit.ly/dwbwishlist 

Why support storage of Skid Row artist work?
Support Artwork Storage as a Human Right (and Collective Responsibility)
A shameless plug asking for your support of Community Arts Depot, 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.
UPDATE: We received a mini-grant from Skid Row Arts Alliance as well as a grant from CCI which will help to cover rent, insurance, and other expenses, many thanks to both groups!! And to all the individuals who have supported and continue to support us; we could not have gotten here without you!!! More details to come in the coming months, including possible additional resources we may be able to expand! We still continue to need support as this project’s sustainability is wholly dependent on grassroots support.  To donate to the campaign click HERE!

Quote of the month:
“…The second mistake is what I will call ‘humanization’: I portrayed my people only in the ways that adhere to ethnocentric civility, robbing them of their agency. It is to ‘women and children’ Palestinians to death—to infantilize Palestinians in hopes of determining that, indeed, they deserve liberation… we must qualify our dead with reminders of their nonviolence, humane professions, and disabilities. A Palestinian man cannot just die. For him to be mourned, he must be in a wheelchair or developmentally delayed, a medical professional, or noticeably elderly at the very least. Even then, there are questions about the validity of his victimhood… Humanization, more often than not, does the exact opposite of what it alleges. I no longer feel the responsibility to give humans eyes for humanity.”
-Mohammed El-Kurd, from an interview, from “RIFQA”  (2021)

…

You can see the full dwb newsletter #23 here.

dwb newsletter #22: Right to Struggle + SkidRow ArtistFest + Communarts Oct’23

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Image: fragment from a doodles IG post that reads “there is only one inherent right: THE RIGHT TO Collective STRUGGLE”, with Artsakh flag above the text, September 2023

Kind morning /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 morning” (բարի լույս [baree looys])
…

HIGHLIGHTS in and near SKID ROW, October 2023
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
1) Wednesday, Oct 4, 6pm Doors Open, Movie Starts ad Dusk – MOVIE IN THE PARK @ General Jeff (Gladys) Park (808 E 6th St)
2) Friday , Oct 6, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT at Skid Row History Museum (250 S Broadway)
3) Saturday, Oct 14th: Photographers Talk @ Skid Row Museum (part of Enough is (Never) Enough exhibit). Check LA Poverty Dept page closer to the date for time.
4) Fri, Oct 20, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT,  at Skid Row History Museum (250 S Broadway)
5) Tuesday, Oct 24, 10:30am-12noon: Creative Writing monthly workshop at Skid Row Museum @ Skid Row History Museum and Archive (250 S. Broadway).  If you are interested, please reply to let us know.
7) Sat/Sun, Oct 28-29, 12-4pm: 14th Annual Festival for All Skid Row Artists @ General Jeff Park 
(808 E 6th St)
***Sign up to perform or exhibit: info@lapovertydept.org / 310-227-6071***

Here you can find a Printable/Online Monthly Skid Row Calendar of some arts and community activities in and around Skid Row neighborhood.

ONGOING
Thur-Sat, 2-5pm from Sept 16th to Nov 18th: Enough is (never) Enough: Hard Truths and the People Who Live Them. On exhibit at Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway).

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Sat, Nov 4: Skid Row 3on3 StreetBall League Day and Celebration at Terasaki Budokan in Little Tokyo

THOUGHTS ALOUD
Centering collectivity in struggle can be a critical anchor for strength. Anywhere.
Especially during most difficult times. For me now it is the genocidal campaign by Azerbaijani and Turkish dictatorial regimes against Artsakh’s Armenians. Over 100,000 people (95%+ of the total population) have been ethnically cleansed out of Artsakh in a matter of days, after enduring a 9 month long choking blockade. Genocide is not just killing, it is often also violent eviction and banishment on a mass scale (for more context, to follow, and for ways to support, @yerazadcoalition is a good place to start).

The main focus of Doodles’ struggle is in contributing to the work for a stronger Skid Row neighborhood on unceded Tongva Land (aka Los Angeles region). But it is never in isolation. Skid Row’s struggle alone is inseparable from the Black Liberation struggle in and beyond the American empire, the Working Class struggle, LGBTQ Rights struggle, Tenant Rights struggle and many more.
In Skid Row, there are many formal and informal groups that contribute to collective liberation and consciousness raising related work; LACAN, Stop LAPD Spying, and UCEPP are good places to start.

And as for art, creativity, and culture, why that is the very fabric and language of imagining and assuming a collective responsibility for a liberated world!


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) Latest addition – dwb wishlist!  You can find it here: bit.ly/dwbwishlist 

Why support storage of Skid Row artist work?
Support Artwork Storage as a Human Right (and Collective Responsibility)
A shameless plug asking for your support of Community Arts Depot, 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.
UPDATE: We received a mini-grant from Skid Row Arts Alliance as well as a grant from CCI which will help to cover rent, insurance, and other expenses, many thanks to both groups!! And to all the individuals who have supported and continue to support us; we could not have gotten here without you!!! More details to come in the coming months, including possible additional resources we may be able to expand! We still continue to need support as this project’s sustainability is wholly dependent on grassroots support.  To donate to the campaign click HERE!

Quote of the month:
“…neighborhoods became defined as “good” because they were moving towards homogeneity. Or “safe” because they became dangerous to the original inhabitants. … The Nasdaq value system is and was a brutal one. Being consumed by it and being shut out of it are both deadening and result in distorted thinking about private sectors, economic and emotional. Gentrification culture is rooted in the ideology that people needing help is a “private” matter, that it is nobody’s business.“
– Sarah Schulman, “Gentrification of the Mind” 

Thank you Dani (@dani_zelko) for introducing me to this book, J/E for introducing me to Dani, John/Henriette for the first intro to J/E at one of the early Skid Row Artists Festivals, as well as to “Streetopia” (another amazing book), which first introduced me to Sarah Schulman.

…

You can see the full dwb newsletter #22 here.

dwb newsletter #21: Skid Row Communarts September’23

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Image: a “Collective Liberation” doodle in Glendale, written in Armenian and English, July 2023

Kind morning /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 morning” (բարի լույս [baree looys])
…
SCROLL DOWN FOR FULL August Hightlights List AND here’s September 2023 Compiled Printable/Online Calendar Link

HIGHLIGHTS in and near SKID ROW, September 2023
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
1) Friday Sept 1, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT “Chasing Coral” at Skid Row History Museum
2) Wednesday, Sept 6, 6pm Doors Open, Movie Starts ad Dusk – MOVIE IN THE PARK @ General Jeff (Gladys) Park (808 E 6th St)
3) Thursday, Sept 14th, 2pm: Ase Ashe Drummers and Dancers from the Heart @ General Jeff (Gladys) Park (808 E 6th St)
4) Fri, Sept 15, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT, “Healing Justice” at Skid Tow Museum
5) Sat, Sept 16, 5-7pm: OPENING RECEPTION of Enough is (never) Enough: Hard Truths and the People Who Live Them atSkid Row History Museum and Archive (250 S Broadway)
6) Thur, Sept 21, 10:30am-12noon: Creative Writing monthly workshop at Skid Row Museum @ Skid Row History Museum and Archive (250 S. Broadway).  If you are interested, please reply to let us know.
7) Fri, Sept 29, 5-7:30: OPEN MIC with Lorinda! @ Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
8) Fri, Sept 29, 7pm: Movie Night near LAPD HQ by Stop LAPD Spying Coalition (check instagram.com/Stoplapdspying for updates)
9) Sept 29-30: The Conscious HIP HOP Summit, We Must Love and Protect One Another by Hip Hop Smoothie Shop. For details: https://www.instagram.com/creatingjusticela_/

Here you can find a Printable/Online Monthly Skid Row Calendar of some arts and community activities in and around Skid Row neighborhood.

ONGOING
Thur-Sat, 2-5pm from Sept 16th to Nov 18th: Enough is (never) Enough: Hard Truths and the People Who Live Them – exhibit features photographs and text by artist and educator David Blumenkrantz, along with works by four photographers who have lived experience with homelessness: Bobby Buck, Cleta Felix-West, Lelund Hollins and Ian Storm. On exhibit at Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway).
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, September 16th, 5-7pm

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Oct 28-29: 15th Annual FESTIVAL FOR ALL SKID ROW ARTISTS by LA Poverty Department, UCEPP, and multiple community partners

THOUGHTS ALOUD
None of us are free until all of us are free

A few things on my mind
1) Hurricane Hilary hitting unhoused Skid Row neighborhood residents especially hard, deepened by the ongoing oppressive anti-poor and anti-Black policies of the American Empire. Follow @lacanetwork_official among others for more on a response that addressed the urgency as well as the politics. 
2) Artsakh, an Armenian sovereign nation of about 120 thousand people near the edge of Armenian highlands, under a continuing genocidal blockade for over 8 months and suffocated by Azerbaijan and Turkey. You can follow @yerazadcoalition among others for more context and actions to take.
3) Anti-queer/anti-trans violence rooted in white supremacist manipulation of fear, with devastating murders of Adriana, a trans woman in Armenia, and shop owner Lauri Carleton who displayed a rainbow flag in aka San Bernardino, CA, may they rest in power! Anti-queer and anti-trans violence very much affects Skid Row neighborhood as well. You can follow @rightsidengo for LGBTQ+ work being done in Armenia, and @galas_la and @queernationla for aka Los Angeles region
 
None of us are free, until all of us are free.

We cannot pick and choose oppressions to struggle against en route to liberation. The struggle for liberation of the most marginalized and oppressed amongst us–poor, disabled, transgender, Indigenous, Black, rural, blockaded, etc, all of the above–is at the heart of the struggle for liberation of us all.  It is critical to understand that naming and listing the many different oppressions around us does not make the work more narrow; exactly the opposite, by including often missed oppressed sub-groups within oppressed groups, it expands and collectivizes our struggle!
(A nod Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s “How We Get Free”)

Liberation is not just a fancy word. It’s a lot of hard work, and one key to this hard work is imagining, practicing, and growing a world not in opposition to, but beyond the oppressor-oppressed dichotomy.
(A nod to Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”)

None of us are free, until all of us are free.


doodles without borders (dwb)
Our weekly arts table is on a BREAK. We will return Thursday, November 2nd, 3:30-5p!  At dwb art is the glue to collectively strengthen community, make local, diasporan, and global connections, and disassemble white supremacy, capitalism, imperialism and patriarchy. 

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) Latest addition – dwb wishlist!  You can find it here: bit.ly/dwbwishlist 

Why support storage of Skid Row artist work?
Support Artwork Storage as a Human Right (and Collective Responsibility)
A shameless plug asking for your support of Community Arts Depot, 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.
UPDATE: We received a mini-grant from Skid Row Arts Alliance as well as a grant from CCI which will help to cover rent, insurance, and other expenses, many thanks to both groups!! And to all the individuals who have supported and continue to support us; we could not have gotten here without you!!! More details to come in the coming months, including possible additional resources we may be able to expand! We still continue to need support as this project’s sustainability is wholly dependent on grassroots support.  To donate to the campaign click HERE!

Quote of the month:
“It is necessary to exercise communication in building self, family, and community. If we are not making efforts then that’s a sure sign of defeat. We must strengthen ourselves and each other. May we exercise Understanding.”   ― Unkal Bean (@uncalbean, unkalbeanentertainment.com), from The Word on the Street column in Skid Row Arts Zine, Spring 2023

…

You can see the full dwb newsletter #21 here.

dwb newsletter #20: Jamaican Independence Day Celebration + Skid Row Communarts August’23

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Image: a “Collective Liberation” doodle in Glendale, written in Armenian and English, July 2023

Kind morning /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 morning” (բարի լույս [baree looys])
…
SCROLL DOWN FOR FULL August Hightlights List AND here’s August 2023 Compiled Printable/Online Calendar Link

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
>>TONITE: Movie in the Park: “Brown Sugar” @ San Julian Park. Doors open @ 6p, movie starts at dusk.
>>THIS SUNDAY, Aug 6th, 12-5pm: 8th Annual Jamaican Independence Day with Sir Oliver, at Skid Row History Museum and Archive (250 S Broadway)

ANNOUNCEMENT: Doodles arts table at General Jeff (Gladys) Park is going on a BREAK. Our last weekly table before the break will be on Wednesday, Aug 9, 5:30-7p. We will return Thursday, Nov 2, 3:30-5p!

PLACES HIGHLIGHTS
1) Check out the NEW Creating Justice LA Peace and Healing Center @ 116 5th St (between LA and Main), bringing together The ROW Church, Hip Hop Smoothie Shop, Skid Row Coffee, and many more! 
Current hours are:
Monday 9am-2pm;
Wednesday 9am-2pm;
Thursday 4-9pm (including Off the Top Open Mic 6-9pm),
Freestyle Fridays 4-6pm

2) Keep an eye out for all the amazing in person programming and organizing meetings that LA CAN is bringing back!

THOUGHTS ALOUD: Bullet points and Links for August
>> Black August. Honoring those who sacrificed their freedom for ours. Black August related event list (an event compiler knows an event list when they see one!) from Los Angeles for All newsletter.
>> Navasard, Armenian New Year coming on August 11th!
>> Artsakh (where part of my family liniege comes from), an Armenian sovereign nation of about 120 thousand people, under blockade and suffocated by Azerbaijan and Turkey. There are urgent actions anyone can take now (link includes pages to follow for regular updates). In the medium/long term Indigenous and Black-led collective liberation-centering work here is part of the long term work that supports liberation struggles across the globe. 
>> Been thinking about English, a language I speak well, and yet even 24 years later don’t feel entirely “ay home” with. But colonial languages like English can be a tool to conspire with each other, whether colonization has rendered a language “less important”, or stolen an ancestral language from a people altogether.


HIGHLIGHTS in and near SKID ROW, August 2023
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
1) TODAY: Wednesday, Aug 2, 6pm Doors Open, Movie Starts ad Dusk – MOVIE IN THE PARK “Brown Sugar” @ San Julian Park. From Charles Porter: “It will be a Hip Hop theme as August marks the 50th year anniversary of the birth of Hip Hop :)”
2) Friday Aug 4, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT “Rightsville USA” at Skid Row History Museum, followed by Q&A with Hamid Khan of Stop LAPD Spying Coalition
3) Sat/Sun, Aug 5-6: 3 on 3 Street Ball Games @ LA Live, with Skid Row teams participation. Check with Coach Ron – https://www.instagram.com/cateyesjr/ when exact times are known
4) Sun, Aug 6, 12-5pm: 8th Annual JAMAICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY Celebration in Skid Row, organized by Sir Oliver, held at Skid Row History Museum!
5) Sat-Sun, Aug 12-13 and 19-20, 10-4pm: 81st Annual Nisei Week Activities @ JACCC (244 S San Pedro St)
6) Thur, Aug 17, 10:30am-12noon: Creative Writing monthly workshop at Skid Row Museum @ Skid Row History Museum and Archive (250 S. Broadway).  If you are interested, please reply to let us know.
7) Fri, Aug 18, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT, “Reimagining Safety” at Skid Tow Museum
8) Fri, Aug 25, 5-7:30: OPEN MIC with Lorinda!!! + Banner Drop of World Mic @ Skid Row Museum (250 S Broadway)
9) Sun, Aug 27, 11am-2pm: C’Mon Sing by Urban Voices @ multiple locations in and around Skid Row. Check with https://www.instagram.com/urbanvoicesproject/ for details.

Here you can find a Printable/Online Monthly Skid Row Calendar of some arts and community activities in and around Skid Row neighborhood.

ONGOING
Thur-Sat, 2-5pm: Cosmology and Community: Networks of Liberation – exhibit by community curator Charles Porter, who makes connections between Africa, Black diasporan heritage, his own family history in New Jersey’s Porterville, and Skid Row neighborhood.  On exhibit at Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway) through August 2023.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Sept 29-30: The Conscious HIP HOP Summit, We Must Love and Protect One Another by Hip Hop Smoothie Shop. For details: https://www.instagram.com/creatingjusticela_/
Oct 28-29: 15th Annual FESTIVAL FOR ALL SKID ROW ARTISTS by LA Poverty Department, UCEPP, and multiple community partners

THOUGHTS ALOUD

doodles without borders (dwb)
Our weekly arts table is TAKING A BREAK: Weekly doodles without borders “How dare you!” community arts table at General Jeff ( formerly Gladys) Park will be going on a BREAK. Our last weekly table before the break will be on Wednesday, Aug 9, 5:30-7p. We will return Thursday, November 2nd, 3:30-5p!  At dwb art is the glue to collectively strengthen community, make local, diasporan, and global connections, and disassemble white supremacy, capitalism, imperialism and patriarchy. 

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) Latest addition – dwb wishlist!  You can find it here: bit.ly/dwbwishlist 

Why support storage of Skid Row artist work?
Support Artwork Storage as a Human Right (and Collective Responsibility)
A shameless plug asking for your support of Community Arts Depot, 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.
UPDATE: We received a mini-grant from Skid Row Arts Alliance as well as a grant from CCI which will help to cover rent, insurance, and other expenses, many thanks to both groups!! And to all the individuals who have supported and continue to support us; we could not have gotten here without you!!! More details to come in the coming months, including possible additional resources we may be able to expand! We still continue to need support as this project’s sustainability is wholly dependent on grassroots support.  To donate to the campaign click HERE!

Quote of the month:
“Despite all of the energy expended by the powers-that-stole to guarantee my imminent destruction, here I be: finding moments to escape their treachery and dodge their tyranny to fully remember and fully embrace who I am and who I come from such that my lips can’t help but part and frame my teeth with love. As long as I’m alive, there is a chance to do something that eases, that improves, that inspires, that loves.” 
― From “July Had Tried to Kill Them”, a Witness newsletter from Robert Jones Jr, aka Son of Baldwin

…

You can see the full dwb newsletter #20 here.

dwb newsletter #19: General Jeff Mural StoryGathering, Skid Row Communarts July’23

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Image: Skid Row Neighborhood banner via Doodles Arts Table, in support of the Skid Row Now and 2040 campaign

Kind day /Բարի oր* to you, dear neighbors, artists, collaborators, community partners, co-conspirators, supporters of arts in Skid Row and of doodles without borders,
*the afternoon greeting in Armenian translates as “kind day” (բարի օր [baree or])
…

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
1) !!! >>> TOMORROW, Wed, Jun 28, 12-3pm: Story Gathering party for GENERAL JEFF Mural @ General Jeff/ Gladys Park (808 E 6th St). Please join, and please invite folks who have a connection to Skid Row neighborhood, to the park, and/or to General Jeff! <<< !!!
2) Tuesday, July 4th, 12-3pm: 4th of July BBQ, hosted be the Skid Row Community Improvement Coalition @ the corner of 5th and San Pedro!

SPACE HIGHLIGHTS
1) Check out the NEW Creating Justice LA Peace and Healing Center @ 116 5th St, bringing together The ROW Church, hip Hop Smoothie Shop, Skid Row Coffee, and many more!
2) Keep an eye out for all the amazing in person programming and organizing meetings that LA CAN is bringing back!

UPCOMING in and near SKID ROW, (tail of June and) July 2023
Some neighborhood events, celebrations, and parties to join
1) !!! >>> TOMORROW, Wed, Jun 28, 12-3pm: Story Gathering party for GENERAL JEFF Mural @ General Jeff/ Gladys Park (808 E 6th St). Please join, and please invite folks who have a connection to Skid Row neighborhood, to the park, and/or to General Jeff! <<< !!!
2) Friday, July 30th, 5-703pm: OPEN MIC @ Skid Row Museum
3) Tuesday, July 4, 12-3pm – July 4th BBQ by Skid Row Community Improvement Coalition @ corner of San Pedro and 5th (Stephanie’s Corner!)
4) Friday July 7, 7pm: Screening of UCEPP’s Documentary about UCEPP Youth
at Skid Row History Museum
5) Thur, July 13, 2pm: Ray Lewis is back with Ase Ase Drummers @ San Julian Park!
6) Sun, July 16, 11am-2pm: C’mon Sing by Urban Voices @ 5th/San Pedro!
7) Fri, July 21, 7pm: MOVIE NIGHT at Skid Tow Museum (250 S Broadway)
8) Thur, July 27, 10:30am-12noon: Creative Writing monthly workshop at Skid Row Museum @ Skid Row History Museum and Archive (250 S. Broadway).  If you are interested, please reply to let us know.
9) Fri, July 28, 5-7:30: OPEN MIC @ Skid Row Museum

Printable/Online Monthly Skid Row Calendar of some arts and community activities here.

ONGOING
Thur-Sat, 2-5pm: Cosmology and Community: Networks of Liberation – exhibit by community curator Charles Porter, who makes connections between Africa, Black diasporan heritage, his own family history in New Jersey’s Porterville, and Skid Row neighborhood.  On exhibit at Skid Row Museum (250 S. Broadway) through July 2023.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
August 6: Jamaican Independence Day @ Skid Row Museum!

THOUGHTS ALOUD

doodles without borders (dwb)
NEW DAY AND TIME: Weekly doodles without borders “How dare you!” community arts table at General Jeff ( formerly Gladys) Park has switched to Wednesdays, 5:30-7pm.  At dwb art is the glue to collectively strengthen community, make local, diasporan, and global connections, and disassemble white supremacy, capitalism, imperialism and patriarchy. 

dwb ONLINE UPDATES
1) Doodles without Borders (dwb) is now on Instagram / Facebook. Social media is still not dwb’s strong suit 🙂
2) There is also now 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) Latest addition – dwb wishlist!  You can find it here: bit.ly/dwbwishlist 

Why support storage of Skid Row artist work?
Support Artwork Storage as a Human Right (and Collective Responsibility)
A shameless plug asking for your support of Community Arts Depot, a sister project addressing the vital need for artwork storage and access focused on Skid Row neighborhood members and residents.
To donate to the campaign click HERE!

Quote of the month:
“For we the people will always be arriving
a ceremony of thunder
waking up the earth
opening our eyes to human
monuments.
And it’ll get better
it’ll get better
if we the people work, organize, resist,
come together for peace, racial, social
and sexual justice
it’ll get better
it’ll get better.”
― Sonia Sanchez, Shake Loose My Skin: New and Selected Poems

…

You can see the full dwb newsletter #19 here.