Mojo Jo Jo is a nickname I gained when I babysat a girl who was obsessed with the Powerpuff Girls. The name suits me well when I write, but the character--an evil genius--does not (even though I sometimes joke about being an evil genius).
The term "finding your mojo" was something that came with the PPG, went away, passed with Austin Powers, and somehow rediscovered when I had my first class with Gabe Gudding (a.k.a one of the coolest profs I have had). In Gabe's terms, "finding your mojo" means finding that spark that will inspire you to write voraciously and ingeniously, kind of like a muse. It can be extremely difficult to find unless I'm in an unusual place where I am without a pen & piece of paper or a computer.
As a natural communicator, my mojo is the center of my work, so it is extremely important for me to have it when I need it.
What is fascinating is how subjective this 'mojo' thing is and how different people find it. How do you find yours? Do you sit upside down in a chair and stare at an inanimate object until it comes to you? I run, take a shower, have a long nap, or write garbage sentences until I come up with what I want to say. It really depends on what type of environment I am in, but writing garbage sentences is usually how I do it.
It's somewhat difficult to process things when I'm writing about someone like Elie Wiesel because he is such a complete, rich person, but he is extremely humble. When Dr. Wiesel came to campus in October, I was elated to have the chance to write about him and even sit 10 feet away from him (he even brushed up against my chair on his way in O_O). I felt inspired the entire time I was taking notes during the small group discussion and wanted to write all 80 lines right then and there, but when I sat down in the newsroom with my editor, I choked. What did I have to say about someone who is so revered, but has remained so humble despite his accomplishments? Is it fair to write, "S/he is just a (wo)man"?
If you read my Wiesel article and were searching for star power, you won't get anything out of it. I hope those who read it realized that the point of the article is to show that people are people, and no matter who you are, you can also be extraordinary in your own unique way (and you don't even have to be famous).
I don't believe in celebrity; I just think some people are more well-known than others. This is really difficult for our society to accept, but we all age, we all learn, and in the end, we all die. The only difference that lays between us is what we choose to do with the time that we are allotted. Those choices can help us gain mass recognition if we know where to look and how to do it, so it's up to us to decide whether we want it or not.
For Ogonna, the difficulty lays in reflecting her down-to-earth, ultra determined personality and putting away my own personal excitement that such a person exists. For the past three weeks I have been sitting down at my desk--in the dark of course--and writing out sentences that sound great in theory, but are garbled when I see them on the screen. Maybe I should take a walk around the building when these things happen.
The writing process can be extremely painful, but I enjoy the challenge and the strategy of it. I love the conception, the burn to write, the challenge of making it new and inspiring, and seeing the tangible, finished project in a publication or in a professor's hand.
In truth, writing this blog is a part of finding my mojo and easing the pain of the writing process, so pay no attention to paragraph structure, punctuation, or any of the things that I even consider to be "important". Instead, think about the thoughts and other things that have come to be after I have finished sitting in the College of Business, about to brave the cold, rainy night for a plate of pot stickers.
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