Joe G. Dennis: just be a nice guy

John Mayers the seven time grammy award winning singer and guitarist, Chris Jericho a prominent WWE wrestler and lead singer of the heavy rock band Fozzy, and Isaiah Thomas an NBA hall of Famer. what connects all these people? Just your average Joe, Doctor Joe G. Dennis. How did he make all of these connections? “Just being nice.” He says, “Communicating with everyone nicely. Just try to be a nice person and a good human being. By taking an active interest in other people and it will pay-off.”

Joe G. Dennis began his career in Journalism, and mass communication at North Central College university, he worked at the Walton tribune, as well as Reporter Progress News and now is working as the associate professor of mass communications at Piedmont University. Doctor Dennis always had an interest in actively telling the stories of the people all around him. This zealous curiosity is what led him to be so interested in this career as a whole. He always had this passion, but his intentions began to evolve to a desire to work as a teacher. He states that his intentions for his career changed when quote, “I was out with my wife, who was pregnant at the time, shopping for items for our baby, when I got a call. From my contact at the GBI (Georgia Bureau of investigation). Saying that I needed to drive down to Loganville to meet up with them for a drug bust they were about to conduct on a kingpin in that area. Telling me ‘this is gonna be a great story you won’t want to miss it.’ And I realized, aw man, this sucks, I’m having some family time and now a have to drive down to Loganville. The reality of the profession I was in is that this would be happening a lot when the baby came.” This type of situation was not the type of situation that could be ignored. Leading him to turn to teaching instead.

Dennis’s entire career as a Journalist was about telling the story of other people and showing the world what their lives were like. He reported on a couple keeping their chapter of the Red Cross alive in their own home, the infamous drug bust with the GBI, and also the story of a judge who was unable to get access to an organ transplant in time. The main thing even allowing him to do all of this was his network of connections. Which he maintained by, “Keeping up contact with each of the people you meet in your life. Not treating them like contacts, but instead treating them like human beings. Building a rapport and trust with each of the people you know. Because you never know who could become your next contact.” This concept is what allowed Joe Dennis into these all of the rooms where he could be the one trusted to tell these stories.

Staying grounded in reality as well, telling stories about people in his own community. Also stating that, “We consume lots of information, try and limit your information from the internet and focus on the reality of it all.” Because although lots can be learned from the internet, lots more can be learned from the real world. The stories that happen in the embodied world and don’t make to your for you page on reels.

Although his career as a journalist was an incredible one, it was a demanding one. Having to sacrifice personal time for the sake of those stories, as we saw with him having to leave his wife for a story. He states that, “I really wanted to something in the field of Journalism, but with more of a stable schedule, leading me to teaching at Piedmont.” This conflict is what made him change his career so that he could focus more on his own story with his wife and family. while still leaving his skills in the field of reporting to his students at his job at Piedmont.