Despite the New Year and the change in presidents coming, the world may feel dark and uncharted and full of questions right now. It’s unclear when covid-19 will disappear or when a good job will appear. It’s questionable when we will be able to get together in person again safely.
We know you likely have some questions you’re pondering. (If you don’t have any at the moment, you may want to read our beautiful questions post or our start-the-year-right questions post to rev up your creativity and curiosity.)
Good questions are important. Yet they must be paired with the right people or resources to answer them. And as wonderful and generous as Mint Artists Guild is, we are a small nonprofit and are not equipped to answer all of yours. We try to answer some in this blog and in our FAQs section; others at our workshops and in our Creative Summer jobs.
Now, we will give you places where answers are found – many places and people. We would be foolish if we didn’t mention family members and close friends as important sources of insight and information. Grandma Judy or Uncle John are wise and care about you.
But they may not always feel right, or have the capacity to answer. Sometimes starting with an independent, anonymous source is easier. A general internet search may offer reasonable answers, especially if your question is 
factual or fairly simple. Sometimes a trip to the public library to select some books works well and librarians may guide you. Or head to your favorite blogs or podcasts and search for insights.
If you want to pose the question, here’s a few options:
Seek the caring elders. Go to ElderWisdomCircle, which provides intergenerational advice to all kinds of questions about covid, career, relationships, finances and more. ElderWisdomCircle.org brings youth together with older adults – almost virtual grandparents – to “provide empathetic, caring, and supportive advice based on their own life experiences.” Advice is emailed back, and youth may choose to have their question shared on the site or kept confidential. It is a nonprofit organization based near San Francisco that has a clear privacy policy.
Questions upon questions. Search Quora, the question and answer site, and you’ll find thousands of questions from serious to silly to sexy. Quora has lots of questions about how the world works and what’s changing, and plenty about sex and relationships. It also has a section specifically for teens, called TeenTalk and a few sections on covid-19 including one on the human impact. It also has a robust section for visual artists. Quora is a company based in Mountain View, CA, and the site does have more ads that in the past.
Chose another answer site. You may find your question works well on Reddit, which has many SubReddit areas including ArtistLounge and other creative spaces. Or head to Snippets if your question and answers are short and easy to answer, which is another of the question and answer sites in this LifeWife post. Yahoo. Answers and may other sites are available with everyday people and well-known experts sharing insights and nonsense. Choose one that seems right for you and the questions you’re bringing. Or you may even find it interesting to post on two or three sites simultaneously and see which one yields the most valuable answers.
Where do you go to search for answers and insights? How do you find wise people to help you? Please share your ideas and resources in a comments!
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