Who I Am & Why I Started Writing Again
by Jomari Rabor
Right now, I’m in the phase of my life where I, supposedly, need to have it all figured out. I’m fresh out of college, employed, and I live at home with my family. With my education complete and the start of summer, I am now constantly surrounded by my friends and family, and I’m so grateful to be back home and have the support systems that I do. I know after writing all this, it sounds like I feel secure and am in a good place (which I am, don’t worry). But after graduating last month, I’ve done a lot of reflecting.
In my final semester of college, I’ve experienced so many waves of stress and anxiety, as many incoming graduates do. They came in many forms and had many contributing factors, but the one thing that connected them all was the fear of the unknown. The fear of not finding a job after graduation. The fear of not appearing as “successful” or “doing well.” The fear of not knowing if my four years of education in a niche major would be worth it, not to mention switching into it down the line. There were a lot of uncertainties I could not get out of my mind, and that caused a lot of negative emotions at many points in the semester. And I’m not writing this to say “I felt this way, then I graduated and I’m all better.” I’m writing this because I kind of suppressed it all. It’s like I didn’t allow myself to really feel any of it.
It’s weird though. I like to believe I navigate conflict with other people very well. But when it comes to my own emotional wellbeing, it’s a little overlooked.
I don’t journal, but doesn’t that sound like something I’d really like if I didn’t speak about my emotions? When I graduated high school almost 4 years ago, I did two passion projects where I tapped into a “blogger” mindset and wrote about all the emotions that came with graduation, leaving everything you’ve ever known, shifting friend groups, fluctuating family dynamics, yada yada etc.
I wrote about everything, and it was those very personal projects that sparked my passion for writing. Just to preface, a lot of my involvement in my education (high school and collegiate) was music and performance-based. I wasn’t part of any editorial clubs or journalism classes, but like I’m the most opinionated person I know and I always had my way with words, to say the least. I still don’t know if I would consider myself a strong writer. I mean, I know how to get a point across and defend myself to no end, but I also try to approach everything with a neutral perspective, not only with writing but also everything in life. Whether or not I believe I’m good at the craft, I just do it anyway and find enjoyment out of it.
All I want to do with my career is create, both on the music side, and the professional side. I’ve been a part of leadership roles since high school, and with those roles I learned to create art that resonates with audiences, while also planning behind-the-scenes logistics and organizing events that connect people. Now that I’ve graduated and have a hybrid job as a production manager, I have more free time than I anticipated I would after college. Because of that, I made the decision to bring back an idea that’s sat in the back of my mind for the past couple of years, having my own blog.
I guess that’s why I’ve always had an itch for music and creative media. I’ve always loved how artists tell stories about themselves and the world around them.
What will I write about? Good question. I’ve always admired Billboard and Genius in the realm of music journalism and covering people in the music scene. Oh and their photoshoots are also pretty dope. I love NPR’s “Tiny Desk” videos highlighting artists’ talent, accompanied by an article written about their endeavors. I just think a lot about the cool niche things these media companies do to talk about music and pop culture and all that jazz. I have this rough idea of combining all those concepts and turning this blog into a media page, where I can highlight aspiring creatives & write about music events happening in Chicago and the suburbs. But I also want to dedicate a part of this page to being a personal blog, so I could write about whatever whenever. I don’t know though, still working out all the details and fully fleshing out the vision, but I just know I want to start.
Now as for the name, yes I’m very aware how conceited it looks but let me explain. At one point I had this idea of calling the page “SuperNova” (long story), but this last month when I thought about reviving the blog idea, I wanted to give it a name that really just puts it in readers’ faces that it’s about me, my experiences, my interests, my perspective, everything like that. So what better way to do that, than literally make the name of this page my own name, Jomari. And make it all caps because why the hell not.
Whatever this page becomes, I’ll be there every step of the way putting in my all. This has been brewing in my mind for quite some time now. And now that I have my future ahead of me, the want to write and find stories feels more real, and I’m ready this time.
Be back soon!