Old School Thoughts

Everything we do become our history. Last evening, during our prerecorded conversation, Martha made a profound statement that stuck with me. She said, "You can't tell people who you are if you don't know who you are!" What an accurate statement! We all have a right to decide our path. We can pursue knowing our history or allow someone else to define yoit for us. That is our perso...

When selecting this topic, I thought about several old sayings like: I said it, I meant it, I'm here to represent it; Learn how to keep your mouth shut - you talk too much; Everybody is not your friend; and more. Martha and I are still trying to figure out why some people insist on confessing to people who do not have their best interests at heart?

Happy New Year, everybody!!! Martha and I have been blessed to see the new year and have the opportunity to post our first episode of the year! During one of our pre-conversations about life and the challenges that come with it, I heard Martha refer to people, who are intentionally or unintentionally spilling the beans, as people who are confessing too much. I thought that the metaphor was used br...

As we prepare to savor and let go of events of 2025, Martha and I shifted our conversation to a desire of leaving legacies and developing family traditions. It is so important that we fight to keep families together. We cannot allow our families to become numb to the impact of family separation like our ancestors had to endure inside of the institutions and systems that gave the diaspora slavery a...

Martha and I used this time to recall the wonderful memories of Christmas Pasts. She and I shared our images of joy and togetherness. We celebrated with local and visiting relatives. We exchanged toys and talked about how some of those toys were recycled to become another toy. (laughing) What we had was great fellowship by greeting everybody you passed with Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! A...

Tonight, Martha and I returned to the "Front Porch" for another discussion. As we shifted from the previous conversation about self-perpetuation, we stumbled into a conversation about recognizing the first generation of nieces and nephews. Two nights ago, my daughter and I were trying to identify the order from oldest to youngest. Martha and I also talked about self-fulfilling prophecy.

Martha and I decided to return to the Front Porch to continue our conversation about "Self-Perpetuation" when it comes to the state of African American culture, traditions, religion, and more. We have had a week to expand our thoughts and decided to return to make sense of what we are realizing and how to convey our thoughts to our listeners.

Martha and I returned to the "Front Porch" to share our thoughts about the concept of perpetuation. There is a purpose and meaning for or behind everything we do. I continue to pray for knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to discern behaviors. Martha and I continue to wonder why African Americans (collectively) give up on wanting to know family members? Self-perpetuation is the continua...

In this episode, Martha and I returned to the "Front Porch" to revisit the days of "Coded Conversations." Like Jesus spoke in parables, our ancestors did the same. Languages have always been developed out of regional necessity to communicate. Each of our forebearers, who crossed the Atlantic and other routes spoke a primary language, but they had to adapt to each other in order...

Martha and I returned to the "Front Porch" to examine the impact of woeful ignorance. This episode considers the impact that slavery, [jim] crow, segregation, religion, and other systems have had on our history to always be good. After centuries and generations of living without the right to defend ourselves have possibly left the Diaspora with the discipline or trained to be impressivel...

This title is funny to me because Martha and I were having a conversation about the possible impact mothers (especially) and fathers (included) have on their children when they dress a certain way. During the conversation, Martha sounded off with "I ain't getting mine from that rack!" We laughed because we are not part of the generation that intentionally show off body parts (close t...

Martha and I went back to the Front Porch to continue our conversation about discernment. We are struggling with this topic because as we strive and pray for discernment, we want to see other do the same for the sake of being on the same accord. What methods do you use to pass on experiences, with younger people (to include younger adults), that triggers them to be aware of what's happening ar...

Last evening, on 12 October 2025, Martha and I returned to the "Front Porch" to continue our series on What Do You Teach Your Children. We decided to delve into the elusive conversation about discernment. Do you keep yourselves in practice of discerning what is happening around you? Have you forgotten how to respond to situations that affect you and or others? Do you teach your young one...

Martha and I returned to the Front Porch, again, to discuss this important and broad topic. We are learning, along the way, as we speak to our listeners and examine our own thoughts about What Do We Teach Our Children. On 28 September 2025, we continued to share responses from listeners. We focused most of our attention on the art or responsibility of teaching discipline. We want to know your thou...

Martha and I went out on the front porch to continue this serious conversation because we love our young people and want everything that is good for them. We appreciate the comments that we have received from our listeners. This episode makes an attempt to separate the difference between independence of our time and independence of what seems to be modern day. Martha and I hope this series on What...

On Sunday evening, 14 September 2025, Martha and I returned to the front porch to continue our conversation about What Do You Teach Your Children. We realized, following the end of the first conversation, that we want to explore the conversation/subject more. We started the conversation by reading a comment submitted to us by Renee Goodman. Renee stated that her perspective went from simple to com...

I asked Martha to support me in addressing this topic because the answers have to do with taught behavior from parents and others in the child's or children's social environment. Here's the deal - racism and hatred still exist. It continues from generation to generation. Some people hide behind religion and love to minimize their behaviors, but what is usually misconstrued is that one...

Martha and I wanted to revisit the previous episode, on this topic, to further expound on our thoughts that our societies are divided between apathy and empathy. There is something going on, other than the juxtaposition that God blessed or cursed a group of people to be at the top and another to be at the bottom. There is a mental belief, by those groups, that they should occupy and own their stat...

This episode/discussion came about from a discussion Martha and I were having about a race of people have consistently conquered and destroyed everything and every place they have encountered. We eventually labeled that group as apathetic. We then applied the same thought to people with other DNA and traits that seem to make them habitually empathetic. As we continued to consider the thought, we b...

Occasionally, Martha and I come together to just enjoy conversations on the front porch. During this episode, we talked about the challenges of migrating and adjusting to new cities and states. What roles do affluence and low income play in people or families surviving? We also talked about the importance of family gatherings. Let us know your thoughts.

Martha and I are taking a stab at challenging our listeners to consider how colonizers, scholars, and every other group of people misrepresented the intelligence of our African Ancestors who were aboard the slave ships. What were you taught to believe about the Africans onboard slave ships?

After a week layoff, Martha and I returned to the microphone to discuss our views about Juneteenth. We went out on the front porch to speak freely on the topic and to end the conversation with measurable goals. We asked ourselves many questions like: How do we get money to circulate within our communities? How do we commit ourselves to the elderly members in our communities? How do we move from de...

This is part two of what might become a short series of discussions about the importance of being on the same accord. The first episode explored the basic premise that we must be on the same accord. This episode explores why we should, but do we even care? Give us your thoughts. Martha and I truly believe in what we are doing. We are leaving a legacy for the present and future generations.

I chose this title because I have been fortunate enough to have joined a group of diverse individuals to discuss African American History. Johnnie Warner is the leader of the group. He is very proactive in getting people to know factual history of African Americans in Columbus, Georgia. Since I have had the opportunity to share my thoughts, during his discussions, it has hit me that in order for t...

Martha and I returned to the front porch to discuss the negative impact of being or acting shy. When growing up, I used to hear friends use the term as if was a complimentary thing to say, but what it did was deprive themselves of sharing or receiving information. We can't afford to lose family connections because of certain situations, like stating that your family is private - because it affects...