Old School Thoughts

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...

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.