Joe Dennis is a professor at Piedmont University. He is a former journalist who writes when he isn’t busy attending to his students. Additionally, he has a new found love for cooking and a big Kesha fan. On days where he wants to “dominate the day” he’ll play “Blow’. If he is in his “feels” he will listen to “Praying’ due to the heartfelt touch it leaves on him. He last mentions a song he really likes called “Raising Hell”, which is a song about standing up for your rights.
“She’s someone who I feel is very inspiring because of her history.” He says “She has really overcome a lot in her life, and she’s persevered.”
Joe takes pride in his Filipino culture by cooking some of his favorite cultural dishes. During the pandemic as all of our bored minds did, Dennis wanted to resurrect some of the Filipino dishes he cherished growing up. He’s made dishes like coconut adobo (a stew or braise of meat), lumpia(fried spring rolls), and pancit (a variety of noodle dishes). Joe’s background being Filipino is not only an inspiration to him but his kids, specifically his eldest son, Jaydon.
“I’ve gone 48 years in my life without a tattoo, and on my son’s 21st birthday, we got matching tattoos” Joe said.”That was maybe one of the most meaningful things my kids have ever done”.
Joe’s kids aren’t the only children he inspires. Being a teacher at Piedmont University for 10 years, he has been a supportive professor to all of his students, even a safe space.
“When students are struggling I want them to know that there’s someone there for them.”
With the vastly diverse students Joe teaches, his students come to him for comfort during tough times. Joe speaks on the morning after the election and how his students reacted.
“I had students in my office, I had an openly bi-sexual student, illegal immigrant, a feminist, African American, and they were all just devastated.” He says. “And they were waiting for… me.”
Joe speaks on not really having a safe space during his years in k-12. Catholic schooling wasn’t very inviting to mental health as Joe would describe it. Dennis reveals that he grew up with severe depression that was not diagnosed because it wasn’t believe in by his parents or teachers.
Someone who is such an inspiration to others must have inspiration on their own. The knowledge that Joe does never leaves his mind as soon as it hits the paper (or the keyboard). Joe has written many stories, but one important one was a local judge he interviewed who needed a liver transplant. He was able to complete five stories on the judge and update the decline of him. Unfortunately, he died before he could get a transplant.
“I’ll never forget the day he died and I actually went and became an organ donor myself. It was no reason for this man to die.”
Regular journalist don’t change their lifestyles due to the people they met, and Joe is far from regular. We need more people like Joe, a father, a empath, a man of culture, and an educator.
Rock Star Writers Blog 