Lies Between Us, Roger’s podcast, episode #9
Some of us, have suffered trauma. Some of us, have suffered severe trauma.
Sometimes this trauma stops us, holds us back, and sometimes, it even ends our life prematurely.
We might not be able to face our pain or attempt to summons the courageousness needed to do battle with these dark monsters within.
And mostly, we do not discuss this hard stuff with others, fearing we will be judged or viewed as weak, scared, or incompetent.
But what is the measure for pain? Who is to say what hurt is worse than another?
There is no test, no ranking, to rate these things we carry inside ourselves. We all carry our hardships and sometimes, we carry them forever.
In the earlier episode #3 of the Lies Between Us podcast, my Baltimore cycling buddy Dennis Dodson introduces us to his quest to right some of his wrongs. Dennis has been a social justice activist and a cultural sociologist for most of his adult life. Dennis begins to tell of the troubles from his environment as a youth that would shape some of what his adult life would look like later.
But despite being assaulted in almost every way both by family, neighbors, and strangers, Dennis faced his problems and has worked very hard to mostly sort them out. More than sort them out, Dennis has named his trauma, faced it, stared it down, and has done battle with it. With his virtual sword and shield, Dennis has traveled to places both physically and emotionally that many of us cannot even nightmare of.
In the previous episode #8 of the Lies Between Us podcast, Dennis and I catch up after his 2,500-mile bicycle ride from Santa Fe to Washington, DC. Dennis decided a fundraiser was in order as well as a ride of atonement, to honor and support our Native brothers and sisters. Dennis pedaled his bike to the Black Lives Matter march in Washington which commemorated the 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Also riding in honor of his unrecognized Native grandmother, Dennis pedaled an average of 71 miles per day for 35 days to make it to DC on his birthday. Even when he was pedaling zero miles some days, he averaged over 71 miles per day! Dennis shared his experiences through audio recording along the way, both the good and the bad.
Here in episode #9 of the Lies Between Us podcast, Dennis and I continue our long post-ride interview and Dennis goes way back, to explain some of what happened in his youth that he has battled for decades.
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 is a human who is a pleasure to know and a joy to listen to.
Currently, Dennis is disabled and unable to work because he struggles with his mental health, although you will not hear it. During this and the previous two episodes, Dennis speaks of his mental health often and how he has learned to find the silver linings in life.
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 65 pounds and starting to ride his bike once more.
Of course, we discuss Dennis’ discipline of voluntary simplicity. The topic of poverty is explored in some detail and Dennis shares an additional concept of his, the commodity fetish. And without fail, Dennis and I discuss the topics of 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, which might also make it my most favorite so far. 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
And on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dennis.dodson.5 Dennis on FB
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 and go do good shit today.
~ RogerRayBird
