NoJoMo 7 in Book Five: Working Through the Maze 2018

NoJoMo 7

Prompt 1: Who do you consider to be an icon of both sexes?

Answer 1: Well, I must say that I’m not entirely sure I’ll answer this quite right. “Icon of both sexes” leaves much to interpretation. First, how are we defining ‘icon.’ A direct definition would be “something that is representative.” However a quick look through the words use in history suggests it is synonymous with idol, paragon, or hero. So are we looking to someone who could be representative of both sexes (Ruby Rose, then, as she can look like a very pretty boy or a very sexy woman) or are we looking to someone who could be an Idol or Hero to both sexes? If we’re looking at the latter, I rather wish to call the question itself to task. I can idolize Mary Wollstonecraft and her early work on gender equality without sacrificing any of my own “manliness” just as I hope a woman could idolize Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu without sacrificing any of her own “womanliness.”

Of course the first people that come to mind, so my official answer (I suppose) would be Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Prince, Noam Chomsky, Lenny Bruce, Gertrude Stein, Langston Hughes, and the Unknown Soldier.

Prompt 2: If you could instantly become an expert in any subject or activity, what would it be?

Answer 2: Wow. This one is very difficult. Because… I’m me. I wish I could be an expert in every subject and activity… honestly! I would love to know everything and master everything. But if I really had to push, if I could really honestly only pick ONE thing… I would say “Language.” I would want to instantly become an expert in languages… able to speak, read, write, and understand all languages from Computer Coding Languages to Arabic to Bengali to Cantonese to Danish to English to French to German to Harzani to Icelandic to Japanese to Korean to Latin to Maltese to Navajo to Ojibwe to Polish to Qashqai to Russian to Sign Language to Thai to Ukranian to Vietnamese to Welsh to Xhosa to Yaqui to Zulu and everything else.

I could communicate with everyone (a valuable and rare ability) but I could also turn that to both philanthropic and/or wealth-generating ends. In other words, if communication gets things done… being able to communicate with everyone would get a LOT of things done.