Rewired, Not Retired: Dr. Joanne Kilgour Dowdy’s Mission to Restore Human Connection
- toniciaff
- Dec 25, 2025
- 5 min read
When was the last time a real human read to you live? For many of us, it was in childhood.
Dr. Joanne Kilgour Dowdy is on a mission to re-ignite human connection and intimacy. Through free live readings of her latest book, Granny Tales, she creates intimate moments of storytelling designed to make people feel seen, strengthened, hopeful, joyful, and less alone.
Granny Tales is a loving tribute to her Mother, Kathleen Armstrong Kilgour, and a collection of 80 sayings passed down from her Trinidadian Grandmother, Lucetta Armstrong—wisdom that shaped her, her siblings, and their entire family. These sayings were lessons in courage, discipline, and how to keep moving forward despite fear and discouragement. It is remarkable to listen to Dr. Joanne read and hear how many of these sayings are familiar and transcend location and time.
Dr. Joanne sees this work as an antidote to the pandemic of loneliness and isolation—one intensified by COVID-19. She meets people where they are: on Zoom, on the phone, or sitting face-to-face, and she reads her stories to them, creating what she describes as a mutual energy exchange. Every reading is designed to leave people deeply aware that connection still has a place in our world. Also, that their stories are valued.
What inspired Dr. Joanne to become an owner, and how did she get started?
Curiosity has always been Dr. Joanne’s compass. Her dissertation became her first book, GED Stories: Black Women and Their Struggle for Social Equity, focused on her interviews with GED (General Educational Diploma) graduates to learn about their journeys: Why they chose the GED path, their inspirations and hopes, and what life has been like for them after attaining their GED.
That deep interest in people’s lived experiences followed her throughout her tenure as a professor at Kent State University, where she authored 17 books. The publications were required for her role, but they also gave her the opportunity to work with and champion graduate students in writing and publishing, and to travel the world.
Dr. Joanne’s work centers on topics related to women in education, Black children and their literacy journey, and sharing the stories of Black people as literate citizens. She has always been intentional about portraying Black people as positive, creative, successful beings doing life well, and powerful—no matter the challenges in their lives.
As a scholar, Dr. Joanne often noticed the absence of Black people’s stories in the research and literature that she was asked to study in graduate school. This always made her curious to learn: Where are we in this story? What were we doing? How were our communities organized? What was the political reality shaping our lives? Her books became her answer to those pressing questions.
Granny Tales is her 19th book—and her second self-published one. Just before it, she authored the children’s book and animated film, Olympic Hero: Lennox Kilgour’s Story, honoring her Father, an Olympic bronze medalist at the Helsinki Olympics.
What impact has ownership had on Dr. Joanne's life, family, and community?
Entrepreneurship is woven into Dr. Joanne’s DNA. Her great-grandmother owned several rental properties, so business was the backdrop of her childhood. By age ten, she was selling sweets at school, unknowingly sharpening the same confidence and marketing skills she uses today.
For her, ownership is community. Every book she’s written has been a collective effort—co-authors, editors, reviewers, publishers, and supporters who helped her bring each story into the world. She views community as the spark that expands her reach and amplifies her impact in various social networks. Her readings have taken her to spaces in places she never imagined: her homeland of Trinidad, Dakar, Senegal, Canada, Barbados, England, Germany, and several states in the USA.
She has also been intentional about offering her free readings to those who would not normally attend a reading, including individuals at the local adult daycare center, those attending yoga and line dance classes, families receiving social services, and individuals who clean the church she attends.
What fears or challenges did Dr. Joanne have before becoming an owner, and how did she overcome them?
Dr. Joanne wants her work to reach as many people as possible. Many well-meaning supporters have suggested she rely more on social media to promote Granny Tales. While she respects their advice, she stays grounded in her vision: This project is about intimacy.
She believes COVID-19 robbed us of meaningful human connection. Granny Tales: Lessons from the Elders is her way of bringing it back. While this makes promoting her book a little harder, she remains committed to live readings—not likes, shares, or algorithms. She wants to look into people’s eyes, hear their stories, let them know she is listening, and for them to leave the reading feeling like they have made a meaningful connection. For her, this requires closeness, responsiveness, and the creation of authentic human connections that she feels cannot be replicated effectively on social media. It's her belief that word of mouth is the best publicity any worthwhile product should aspire to attract.
What advice would Dr. Joanne give someone who’s never owned an income-producing asset but wants to start?
Dr. Joanne’s guidance is direct and encouraging:
• Start with the idea that won’t leave you alone. If a thought keeps circling, start writing notes. Explore the who, what, when, where, and why.
• If you want to write a book, do your homework. Read similar books on Amazon to understand what makes your story different—because publishers will ask.
• Commit to the writing. Sit still and write 2–4 paragraphs a day. Consistency builds the book. Then, invest in professional editing. Your friends and family love you. A professional will refine your writing honestly without the fear of hurting your feelings.
• Surround yourself with authors who are proud of their work. Their energy will inspire you to create something you’ll be proud of for years.
• Plan your “rewiring.” You're never too old. A colleague once told her, “I’m not retired. I’m rewired.” It changed everything. She began planning her rewiring nearly ten years before leaving academia. She encourages retirees, those nearing retirement, individuals with disabilities, and anyone unemployed or in transition to pause and honestly explore what they’ve been putting off.
• Find your community. Once you identify your passion, find spaces—groups, circles, or associations—that will help you nurture it.
Connect with Dr. Joanne Kilgour Dowdy
Schedule a free individual or group Granny Tales book reading:
Email, JKilgour@kent.edu
Order copies of the Granny Tales book ($30 per book, includes shipping):
Email, JKilgour@kent.edu
Learn more about Dr. Joanne and her other publications and animated film:
Visit, https://jokdowdy.com/
Check out the Trinidad Guardian and Trinidad Express newspapers for background information on Dr. Joanne K. Dowdy.
Visit the newspaper, here