Old School Thoughts

We have reached the eighth season of Old School Thoughts!!! Thank you for your support. Tonight Martha and I decided to share information about a monetary skill that once flowed through our ancestors' segregated communities in an effort to survive everything from burial expenses to hand-me-downs. I am asking you to go to YouTube to watch 30 Money Skills That Were Used In The African American C...

This evening, Martha and I had the privilege of having Tony Moses to join us on Old School Thoughts and it was a blast! As a teacher in Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia, Tony was able to share his perspective based on his present day assessment. It was truly a blessing to sit back and listen to Martha and Tony share thoughts. The conversation was too good for me to stop the recording due to the...

As Martha and I continue to work on this podcast, we grow from listening to each other and discern through our personal prayers to our God. We continue to work on leaving a legacy for our present listeners and for future generations to discover. This episode is no difference in our quest, we are sharing thoughts on impromptu subjects.

Okay team, Martha and I are back! I decided on this topic because the African American community continues to operate on the premise that our population does not provide us with leverage to create change. I get upset when I hear and see the impact of that thought because we have always been the minority in America. If we operate under that thought, we forget how we achieved emancipation, the 13th...

Martha and I are in agreement that all voters, especially African Americans, should stay focused on politics through November for the mid-terms. We are asking you to vote for the opposition, even though some of you are frustrated with both parties. We are asking you to consider the high prices of gas, groceries, medical care/prescription refills, and more. We need to keep our eyes on the prize of...

Martha and I would like to thank all of you for your patience during our break since 16 June. I have been in and out of the hospital since 18 June. I am still going through a healing process, but I am better. I want to thank my wife, children, family, friends, prayer groups and others for all of the support. This is our first recorded episode and I am thankful. Martha and I are happy to be back. W...

At a time that we are in the middle of celebrating the actions of General Order #1 that announced the end of slavery on 19 June 1865, we are 19 days from the contrasting 4 July 1776 celebration that falsely represented freedom. As you begin to celebrate the 4th of July, I encourage you to read the speech of Frederick Douglas. Martha and I returned to the front porch to continue hour conversation o...

On Friday, June 5, at 1:48 p.m., Martha sent me a text message asking me, "Can people have too much freedom and what are the consequences of having too much?" Though I had an immediate thought - having more time to ponder a response left me with time for God to step in to give me a broader perspective. Due to the question and time before our next episode recording, Martha and I did the u...

Martha and I agree that there is a special relationship we all are capable of having with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Outside of that statement, I will not speak for or on behalf of Martha. Over the Years and through our episodes, I have learned a lot from Martha and her experiences. We spend a lot of our time praying for discernment and using our limited knowledge to sharing thoughts and as...

Hello and thank you for your support. This topic has to do with the lack of noise being made when so many children are going missing. How could that be? Why isn't there any noise? Martha made a special request for us to go out on the front porch for an open discussion about this daily tragedy that goes silent as if we have no concern - which is not true. The neighborhood watch, that we laughed...

In this episode, Martha and I touched on several topics as they pertain to the African History dispersed throughout the Diaspora. I chose this topic to combine the methods we, as African Americans, used to respond to language hurled at us as insults. We knew how to respond without physical contact or hardware. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Last evening, Martha and I decided to give tribute to the amazing work of women and the constant pressure of leading in so many areas. Though women are pulling more than their load, there is still a need for responsibility. We ended last week talking about dropping the baton after we received a handoff from our ancestors. Did we pay attention or did we feel that we were too good or modern to hold...

Martha and I sat down to analyze why we keep dropping the baton after a receiving a good lead by our ancestors. The U.S. men's relay team just can't seem to get it right when it comes to finishing the race with a clean handoff of the baton. They drop the baton every time - though their times are faster. We have the most educated generation, but we keep dropping the baton. Our ancestors gav...

There is one thing, clear, that Martha and I understand is the title: To Each Its Own. Following our recording, I initially thought how our listeners would respond to something that is so controversial in the African American community. We have followed so many things that grew out of fear, and it is fear that keeps us, overwhelmingly, from holding people and events accountability. I hope this epi...

Following a marathon pre-recording conversation, Martha and I finally decided to hit the front porch to engage in a conversation about community wealth and the circumstances we wrestle with. This episode was recorded on Sunday, 12 April 2026. Again, we want to thank all of our listeners for your time and comments. Footnote: When I spoke of bottles, I was speaking of soda bottles.

As we entered the last two hours of Easter Sunday or Happy Resurrection Day (for some), Martha and I went out on the front porch to recall how our families observed the holistic day. Our conversation segwayed into a discussion concerning a statement Martha made a few months ago: "You can't know who you are, if you don't know who you are." In order to get the meaning of Martha&#39...

Last evening, on 29 March 2026, Martha and I decided to join each other on our virtual porch to discuss the incredible history of women and their indelible mark on shaping families and enduring hardships. This is a backdrop to the outstanding episode of the Frank Chester women who made a decision to participate in and record their first episode. I want to thank all of the women, throughout the Dia...

What started out as a test recording to introduce the women of Frank D. Chester Senior Center to podcasting turned into a full episode for posting. Martha was not present due to the impromptu recording. Charlotte Shands, Gloria Goodman, and Alicia Brothers joined me at the table, on 26 March 2026, following their participation in a discussion panel to share their thoughts about the role(s) of wome...

Martha and I closed out our last episode asking our listeners, "Do you want to be remembered?" We weren't asking how. As we continue to reach out to our listeners, we sometimes assess how our messages are received and if our audience consider how much we care - as we provide critical thoughts. We want all of you to know that we love you and want what is best for us to get together fo...

Martha and I spent the last two episodes bringing attention to the speech given by Marco Rubio to the European Union. That speech was a call for European unity throughout their diaspora. Last week, I was fortunate enough to meet a First Cousin through AncestryDNA. I immediately called in the cavalry of family members to welcome Joyce and her family. I even went as far as to establish a chat group...

On 1 March 2026, Martha and I continued our conversation about the speech Marco Rubion presented to the Munich Security Council on 14 February 2026. After Martha and I discovered this speech and listened to it, we shared it with friends and family asking them to take out time from their busy schedules to listen and become aware of what was said.

Thanks to Martha, I chose this title because I didn't want the two events of this podcast to escape my findings in the future. I always try to choose a topic to match the content. The two events are and are not related. They are related because The Oaks has to do with accomplishment (but African American success) and the other has to do with a call for supremacy. We need to be aware of both.

I chose this topic because slavery and the gap of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, associated with the slave trade and colonialism (the development of a new dictatorship), fractured our existence as Africans in America. This episode focuses on our inability (whether forced or voluntarily) to speak on a tradition or traditions we can explain to other ethnic groups. KWANZAA did not reach the ma...

I chose this title because Martha and I were reminiscing about the childhood remedies our mothers and other elders would put together to heal our wounds and pain. How many of you remember Mercurochrome antiseptic? What about Turpentine? What about Glover's Mane? Those old school medicine cabinets were filled with solutions to save us when hospitals were too expensive to visit. We survived thos...

Martha and I ended this episode knowing that we will have to come back to expound on our thoughts about this topic. This episode is an introduction to a much-needed conversation about applying strategies in our efforts to challenge powerful institutions. We recognized the powerful resistance to escape as a slave, to join the Army for emancipation, to build and grow during reconstruction, the march...