ICC hosts a National Coming Out Day event

Recently, Joe Chianakas, a best-selling author and a professor of communications at ICC, spoke at a National Coming Out Day-themed event at the East Peoria campus.

Chianakas first spoke a little about his book, before telling his audience about a book he was inspired by: “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom.

“Tuesdays with Morrie” is a non-fiction book about the author’s conversations about life lessons with his former sociology professor, Morrie, who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal medical condition.

Chianakas said that he had taught about this book when he was a high school teacher.

His students had wanted to meet Albom, however it was too expensive for Chianakas to pay for an appearance by the author.

So the students wrote letters to Albom. According to Chianakas, there were about 100 letters, with quite a few worded harshly.

Chianakas eventually got an angry call from Albom, which Chianakas described as fair, and he was able to explain the situation to the author.

Albom agreed to travel to the high school, where he met with the students, the surrounding community, and did book signings.

Chianakas said that when he presented his own copy of Albom’s book to the author, Albom wrote, “Persistence pays off.”

Chianakas now keeps this signed copy on his office shelf and remembers that lesson Albom taught him when he faces any obstacle in his life, including his sexuality and his latest book, which features many LGBTQ+ characters.

Chianakas then spoke about when he was a college student and climbed Mount Fuji in Japan. Chianakas had almost reached the top of the mountain when he was ready to give up. He said he laid down on some lava rock, decided to go to sleep, and miss the sunrise.

Chianakas said that a fellow classmate told him, “We are only 20 minutes away from the top. Get up.”

The classmate then extended a hand to Chianakas to help him up. Chianakas decided to continue on, and said he saw a beautiful sunrise on the top of Mount Fuji.

“We owe it to our community to reach out and help people,” Chianakas said, speaking about the LGBTQ+ community. “It’s okay to ask for help.”

Chianakas finished his talk at the event by saying to LGBTQ+ and ally students that they will “fall seven, but rise up eight,” when faced with difficult challenges in life.

This National Coming Out Day event was organized by the Dean of Humanities at ICC, Dr. Lonetta Oliver.

“I arrived in the middle of COVID, and I was noticing a lack of student engagement, but I was also noticing some microaggressions. So I wanted to make sure that the students felt like they belonged, and also have opportunities to educate faculty and staff and other students,” Dr. Oliver says. “I think now we have a very broad representation of our student body in the events that we support and so we try to do events throughout the year to represent students of a variety of races, nationalities, ethnicity, faiths, and identities.”

A crowd of about 30 people attended the event, including students, faculty, and staff. Cookies, lemonade, and water were provided. Free signed copies of Chianakas’s new book, “Pride and Persistence”, were given to the first 20 students, and free LGBTQ+ flags and stickers were available for all.

To celebrate different minorities and their struggles, ICC will be having an event celebrating Diwali and Indian culture on Oct. 31.

“There will be food, Bindi artists, and information about the holiday,” Dr. Oliver says. “People will be able to try on authentic clothing.”

Dr. Oliver also said that the humanities department is open to having more events centered around different minorities. If students feel there is a lack of events surrounding their culture or identity, they can stop by Dr. Oliver’s office in the EP Academic building, in room 314 B, or reach out to her online by emailing her at lonetta.oliver@icc.edu.