Episode #9: Co-host Dennis Dodson. Part two conclusion after his 2,500- mile bike ride fundraiser.

There are those people who are thinkers, and then there are others who are doers. Dennis Dodson is both, but there have been many ups and downs along the way. With a master’s degree in Cultural Sociology and enough life adventures to fill a small library, Dennis continues to share his thoughts and his stories in this final part of our conversation after his big bike ride to Washington, DC from Santa Fe, NM.

Currently, Dennis is disabled and unable to work because of his struggles with his mental health, although you will not really hear it. During episodes #3 and #8 with Dennis, he speaks of his mental health often and how he has learned to find the silver linings in life. 

In this episode #9, we journey back to some of Dennis’ most influential and painful times, as a young boy in Baltimore. Dennis explains how he suffered verbal, emotional, and physical abuse at the hands of his babysitter.  Sexual assault is not usually discussed in public, but Dennis reveals how as a 12-year-old paperboy, he was cornered and sexually assaulted by a large overpowering male pedophile in an apartment building laundromat who had been marking him. My co-host flexes his bravery muscles here and lays it all out.

Dennis gives us the background of how his unhealthiness resulted in a near-death experience from an unrealized blood sugar condition and landed him in the hospital, in a diabetic coma. From there, Dennis committed to getting healthy again, losing over 50 pounds and starting to ride his bike once more.

Of course, we discuss voluntary simplicity, poverty, the commodity fetish, homelessness, racial and cultural exclusion, and the abyss of suicidal tendencies.

I have loved every single one of my eight episodes so far, but I think this might be the most poignant collection of talks to date. As usual, we go deep immediately, and I asked Dennis how he thinks we as a country could become more like small-town USA again. I hope you give it a listen, leave a review, leave a rating, and share this episode with friends and family.

You can find Dennis on Instagram @thesociologyofart Dennis on Insta

You can support Dennis’ DC ride causes here:

Three Sisters Collective.org in Santa Fe  https://threesisterscollective.org/donate/

Native American Relief Fund / New Mexico Community Foundation (website currently unavailable) 

Thank you all. ~ RogerRayBird