One thing I am coming to learn is to not be afraid of hearing the word no. Even if I feel certain someone will say no, when it comes to inviting someone to participate, I am learning to ask anyway. Not only because it is nice to be included and thought of even when you don’t plan on participating, but also sometimes the answer is yes! This week I made it my mission to go out of my comfort zone and ask people to join my artmaking even if I feel certain they will say no.  While I did get many no’s at common art on Wednesday, I also got so many more yes’s than usual because I put myself out there and was okay with hearing no. This has become a theme throughout my time at common art. I find whenever I push myself to ask anyway, I am so happily surprised by people’s willingness to join in.

On Fridays I do poetry; so in the same spirit as Wednesday, I asked someone if they wanted to join. I had asked her before, but I wanted her to know she was still welcome to try. She was unable to join because she did not have glasses in order to write, but my proposal promoted her to share a great compliment with me. Even though she couldn’t engage in the writing she told me that seeing me there every week doing my thing with  poetry made her feel that, no matter what happened before this, everything was okay. I had no idea she felt this way, and I felt so honored to have her share this with me. By asking despite my fear of a denial, I got to engage in art with so many more people. Even if I did get some no’s regarding making art, by going up and opening up a dialogue I was able to just connect more with everyone. I was able to hear a great compliment that I might not have. I am sure that we all have people in our lives who silently appreciate us, and people we silently appreciate; and I was happy to be reminded of that this week.

–Marielle Charpentier, 2 March 2022