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"Bloodlines & Brushstrokes" AAPI Group Exhibition Presented by Thumbprint Gallery, Hosted at Distinction Gallery Opening Reception: Saturday, May 9 | 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. Exhibition Dates: May 9 – June 6 Location: Distinction Gallery Thumbprint Gallery is proud to present "Bloodlines & Brushstrokes," a dynamic group exhibition celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander artists and their diverse creative voices. Hosted at Distinction Gallery, this exhibition serves as an extension of the "Bloodlines & Brushstrokes" exhibition currently on view at Thumbprint Gallery in La Jolla, expanding the conversation and bringing additional visibility to the featured artists and themes. The exhibition opens Saturday, May 9 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will remain on view through June 6. Featuring original works by several local AAPI artists, "Bloodlines & Brushstrokes" highlights the richness of cultural identity, heritage, and lived experience through a wide range of visual styles and mediums. From deeply personal narratives to bold contemporary expressions, the exhibition offers a vibrant reflection of the many perspectives within the AAPI community. The opening reception coincides with the Escondido 2nd Saturday Art Walk, inviting guests to experience an evening of art, community, and culture throughout downtown Escondido. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet participating artists, explore the exhibition, and enjoy live music during this special celebration. This month's featured window display artist at Distinction Gallery is Lourans Mikhail, a multi-faceted creative currently living in San Diego, California, after honorably serving 13 years as a U.S. Marine. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Mikhail creates work across sculpture, painting, murals, and graphic design to explore different perspectives and challenge complex narratives surrounding socioeconomics, culture, politics, and race. Inspired by his Assyrian heritage, graffiti, comics, anime, cartoons, and fine art, Mikhail’s work exists between the realms of lowbrow and pop surrealism. Through the use of wordplay and perspective—both figurative and literal—his work invites viewers to reconsider familiar ideas and engage with layered visual storytelling. "Bloodlines & Brushstrokes" serves as both a celebration of artistic excellence and a platform for representation, dialogue, and connection within the AAPI community and beyond. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Cover art "Rock, Paper, Scissors" by Lucy Halle (detail) Live music by Soft Serve Thumbprint Gallery on Facebook / Instagram

"Occupy Thirdspace III: The Park" tells the visual story of public and collective land use through the perspective of artists whose work has touched, traversed, and activated the site of Friendship Park. This historical landmark located at the westernmost end of our southern border, has been a meeting place and source of hope across divides, later a site of concentrated militarization. The objects in "OTS III" work together to resurrect the spirit of Friendship Park as a bridge, encounter, and neighborhood. Featuring: Las Comadres, Art Made Between Opposite Sides (AMBOS), and Friends of International Friendship Park. Curated by Sara Solaimani and natalia ventura.

A 10-lesson advanced online course in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) for learners who wish to strengthen their reading, speaking, and grammatical command of the language. Each session uses authentic Sephardi texts, poetry, and song to build vocabulary and fluency, with grammar topics covering verb tenses, moods, and the indicative vs. subjunctive contrast The course is taught by Esther Rute, a certified Ladino language teacher who holds a BA in Semitic Philology and two MAs in Jewish History and Spanish Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the External Advisor to the National Authority for Ladino and Deputy Editor of Aki Yerushalayim. Dates: Tuesdays, April 28 – May 26 Time: 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Location: Online via Zoom Cost: Early Bird: 5 classes for $270 available until Sunday, April 26, 2026 Regular: 5 classes for $300 Teacher: Esther Rute Yiddishland California: Website / Facebook

We're excited for our upcoming Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture — Neurobiology in a Changing Ocean — with Professor Martin Tresguerres. Climate change is fundamentally altering marine environments worldwide. But what does this mean for the creatures that call the ocean home? Join Professor Martin Tresguerres as he delves into the work of the Allen Discovery Center for Neurobiology in Changing Environments (ADC-NiCE), where researchers are working towards answering this question. Through a combination of neurobiology, physiology and environmental science, ADC-NiCE investigates how climate change affects the nervous systems and behavior of marine animals — ultimately guiding policy, conservation strategies and restoration efforts. Seating is limited and lectures often sell out, so advanced registration is strongly recommended. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the lecture begins at 7 p.m. Birch Aquarium at Scripps on Facebook / Instagram

Raised in Brooklyn, New York and now living in Los Angeles, American novelist Ivy Pochoda is the critically acclaimed author of seven novels, including "These Women" (Ecco 2021), a finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The Edgar Award, the California Book Award, The Macavity Award, and the International Thriller Writers Award; and "Sing Her Down" (Picador 2024), which won the LA Times Book Prize. Pochoda is also a 2018 winner of Strand Critics Award for Best Novel and the Prix Page America in France. Her work often delves into themes of female violence, societal judgment, and mythology. Her latest novel, "Ecstasy" (G.P. Putnam's Sons 2025), was considered one of the most-anticipated horror books of 2025. A horror reimagining of playwright Euripides’s Greek tragedy, "The Bacchae," "Ecstasy" explores themes of empowerment, desire, and what happens when women reject the roles set out for them. Ivy Pochoda now leads a creative writing workshop in Skid Row, Los Angeles, where she helped found Skid Row Zine. She is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of California Riverside Palm Desert low-residency MFA program. Come attend this author's reading and Q & A event!

Widely known as a founding editor of the literary journal, Hobart, fiction and non-fiction writer Aaron Burch has authored seven books, including the novels "Year of the Buffalo" and "A Kind of In-Between." He is also the author of a memoir/literary analysis, Stephen King's "The Body," and a short story collection, "Backswing." Burch is also the editor of the craft anthology "How to Write a Novel: An Anthology of 20 Craft Essays About Writing, None of Which Ever Mention Writing," and is currently the editor of the journals "HAD" and "Short Story, Long." Burch grew up in Tacoma, Washington but now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he teaches at the University of Michigan. He is currently the co-editor of "W&S" (a.k.a. "WAS Quarterly: Words & Sports") and the Substack journal "HAD." He currently lives in Ann Arbor, MI. Come attend this author's reading, Q & A, and book selling/signing event!

Award-winning author Deborah Jackson Taffa is the author of the bestselling memoir, "Whiskey Tender," a 2024 National Book Award Finalist that was a longlisted title for a 2025 Carnegie Medal. Named a top book of 2024 by The Atlantic, Time Magazine, NPR, Elle, Esquire, The NY Times, The New Yorker, Audible, The Washington Post, Oprah Daily, and Publisher's Weekly, Whiskey Tender won, both, a Southwest Book Prize and an International Latino Book Award, and was an Amazon Editor’s Best Choice Book for the year as well. A citizen of the Quechan (Yuma) Nation and Laguna Pueblo, Taffa earned her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. She later taught Creative Nonfiction at Webster University and Washington University in Saint Louis. She also served as an Executive Board Member with the Missouri Humanities Council where she was instrumental in creating a Native American Heritage Program in the state. Her first manuscript, a memoir about growing up on the Yuma and Navajo reservations, was awarded the Santa Fe Writer's Literary Award by Carmen Maria Machado in 2019. She co-wrote "Digadohi: Lands, Cherokee, and the Trail of Tears," a documentary that debuted on PBS in August, 2020. Currently working on her second story collection, Deborah Jackson Taffa today lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and serves as the director of the MFA CW Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Come to this author's reading, Q & A, and book selling/signing event!

A Chicago native, poet and novelist Phillip B. Williams is the author of two chapbooks and four full-length poetry collections, including "Thief in the Interior" (Alice James Books 2016), winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a Lambda Literary Award; and "Mutiny" (Penguin 2021), a finalist for the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection and the winner of a 2022 American Book Award. Winner of France’s Prix du Premier Roman Étranger, his debut novel, "Ours" (Viking 2024), was named Oprah Daily’s most anticipated title of 2024, as well as Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, People, Los Angeles Times, and NPR. Williams's newest collection of poems, Lift Every Voice, is scheduled for release this year on Penguin Books. In addition to being finalist for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature (Poetry) and twice awarded the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry, Phillip B. Williams is also the recipient of a 2017 Whiting Award, a 2013 Ruth Lilly Fellowship, a Kenyon Review Writers Workshop fellowship, and fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and the National Endowment for the Arts. His work explores Black surrealism, folklore, and spirituality, along with themes of identity, social change, and the connection between language and corporeality. He currently teaches in the MFA in creative writing program at New York University and is founding faculty of the Randolph College Low-res MFA. Come attend this author reading, Q & A, and book selling/signing!

Poet and essayist Jason Schneiderman is the author of five poetry collections, most recently "Self Portrait of Icarus as a Country on Fire" (Red Hen, 2024), as well as a book of essays "Nothingism: Poetry at the End of Print Culture" (University of Michigan Poets on Poetry, 2025), and the craft book "Teaching Writing Through Poetry: An Introduction to Poetic Form" (Bloomsbury, 2025). He is Professor of English at CUNY’s BMCC in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. This will be a dynamic reading and Q & A with the author! Stay after to meet him and get a book copy signed. This event is offered in collaboration with Grossmont College Librarian Nadra Farina and the Americans and the Holocaust traveling exhibit, which is sponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association.

Phil Unitt has managed the birds and small mammals collection for nearly four decades.