Artist meets artist, and one is confused

Artist meets artist, and one is confused

One time, when I lived in North Jersey, I was sitting outside waiting for my laundry, minding my own business. I was sketching a masterpiece on my iPad when a guy in his late teens to early twenties walked up to me and asked, “Are  you interested in listening to my Hip Hop CD?” He was an “upcoming artist,” apparently, and was distributing his music for free or for a few pennies, I can’t recall. After seeing the cover image to his CD — a woman on all fours wearing a g-string — I thought, ugh, more of the same. (If you’ve seen mainstream hip hop videos, you know what kind of images I’m talking about). I wasn’t interested at all.

I also wanted him to go away, so I gave him no chance. Well, he stuck around anyway, and he was a Curious George.

“So whatcha doing? You doing homework or something?” he asked.

“I’m not a teenager, buddy, and I’ve BEEN done with college,” I said laughing.

“Oh, my bad.”

“It’s cool, just playing on my iPad.”

He leaned forward to take a glance. He peeked! How rude! I thought.

“You’re an artist or something?” he asked.

“Ha ha,” I laughed. Ha ha I laughed some more. “Nah, just killing time.”

“Lemme see…” He looked again! “That looks pretty good!”

“Oh gosh, no,” I said.

I thought, this guy must be hitting on me because my illustrations are pretty bad!

He then questioned if I didn’t believe in myself, if I had no support system. Then, he implied that maybe I was just a young girl trying to find herself.

“What are you going to school for?”

“I already graduated.”

“Really? What did you study?”

“Spanish,” I said. “With a concentration in International Studies,” I quickly added, especially after seeing the look of disbelief in his face. It is the look I get from everyone who knows I’m a native Spanish-speaker, but who ignores the reason that I chose that major. (Hint: last-minute decision.)

“I think you have talent,” he said. “It’s OK, in time you’ll figure it out.”

Even though it can be a little annoying when people think that they have a say on your career choices, what this stranger said was an eye-opening for me. There are so many things I love doing but never really pursued it for fear of rejection or the thought that I’m not good at it.

I laughed when he said I was good out of nervousness, but he was one of the only people ever to say that my sloppy sketches didn’t look bad — and that made me feel good inside.

To me, my art was a joke. When he asked if I didn’t believe in myself, it was that moment when I realized that I didn’t. I didn’t truly believe in all my potentials. It’s a story I go back to sometimes when I doubt myself, the story of how this stranger contributed to my self-confidence. It is also a lesson to us all that we have the power to inspire others — and that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. I’m thankful for this stranger’s encouragement, and I will forever feel bad about not giving his hip hop album a chance!

 

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