July 22, 2025 • 35 mins
Dr. Rhonda Smith has assigned the podcast to over 400 of her social work students at the University of Southern Mississippi. In this episode we meet 7 of them, who are sure to inspire you about this rising generation!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Everybody is Bill Courtney with an army and normal folks.
And we continue now a part two of our conversation
with doctor Ronda Smith's class. Right after these brief messages
from our general sponsors. I another wants to teach survivors
(00:28):
of domestic violence how to sew, which is valuable given
there's not many seamstresshes anymore. Is that person here? No,
tell me about that, Rhonda.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So that's miss shit and she, oh my gosh. Her
business plan was like so good. She it was about
teaching people how to sew and how to upcycle like
thrift clothing, and it was such a good idea having
(01:00):
classes during the week for just individuals, anybody in the
community that wanted.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
To learn how to sew.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
And that was her way of raising money for the organization,
was to charge like twenty dollars a week or whatever
for the community members that wanted to learn how to sew,
and then also training the women that wanted to learn
how to that might be in the abuse shelters so
that they could grow skill because as we know, seamstresses
(01:28):
are going out of like style, like you can't find
one these days hardly, it seems like, and so also
I think another part of her business was like a
boutique clothing upcycling some of the thrift clothing and making
fancy with all the bleeding and like it was really
(01:49):
really such a cool idea.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
It was very very creative. A resource center that offers
low costs to no cost mental health services and place
where folks can use computer because there's no place around
it in Hashburg. Is that you missus Flitner? Yes, that
is me. Tell me about that. So I'm an older student.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
I went to school and then I went back after
it was a good time for me to go to
be a social worker. So in my time when I
went to school and was in high school, we had
a lot of after school programs that I feel like
kept the kids off the street, got them access to computers.
And I used to have like people that were interns
from USM that would come to our community centers that
(02:37):
would help us with homework, and a lot of US
was just venning to them basically no therapy services because
it's not believing in my community a lot. So I
wanted to open up a low income counseling service that
not only provides counseling services, but also gives you an
access to use a computer if you don't have one
(02:57):
in your home, and also have a full bank, all
in one type of program because they don't have much there,
like therapy can't be very expensive, and a lot of
insurances don't cover it in certain expenses, and then if
you have Medicaid, they may not cover certain providers. So
I want to find a way to help the community
to get helped mentally because I feel like a lot
(03:19):
of times people are just mentally challenged. Meant when I
say that, meaning like they have no mental capacity to
understand what they have going on, like fools, scarcities, going
through SPS situations, and it's just I feel like it's
very insul for certain people, and it's an unheard of
thing because they believe, oh, I can't afford it, and
(03:40):
I can't afford it. So in Mississippi, especially in Haddisburg,
we have nothing like that, and the few places that
we do have, they're wait lists are like five years long.
You five years before you can see a therapist in
your insurance doesn't cover it. So I just really feel like,
being born and raised in Mississippi and Haddisburg, that this
will be very benefit is to the people in my community.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Well, what have you done about it? Girl?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I actually have had this.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Doctor Smith can tell you that I've had this dream
since I was an undergrad. That was kind of like
when it was time for us to do this program,
I already knew what I wanted to do because this
is what I want to do. So I still have
this play and this is still like my five to
ten year gold to open this and process this. I'm
going to work and get a little bit of experience,
but then I do really want to make this happen.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And had this Purt Mississippi, I love that. That is awesome.
I wish you the best to walk Ronda. When you
hear all of these different ideas, and this is just
a sampling of the people that you were teaching and
working with on a semester by semester basis, and I
(04:52):
know you're a fan of the show. So you listen
to an army in normal folks all the time when
you when you when you balance the young, bright, energetic,
passionate minds that you spend time with in school against
the backdrop of so much of what we hear from
(05:16):
social media, the news, the infighting in DC, what seems
and feels to be so dysfunctional and so polarized and
so debilitating to our culture. You know, what do you
feel when you when you when you see and hear
(05:39):
these stories against that backdrop on a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well, I hope that I have encouraged them to ignore
that garbage and go for it, because that's what we
hear in social media and all that it's not always
the truth. And I think I've said this many many
times in class. We've got to stop depending on government
(06:11):
for what we need and start doing it as communities
and taking care of each other, just ourselves. And you know,
that's the only way I think that we can continue
to make a difference. We can't put all of our
eggs in one basket, you know. We you know a
(06:32):
lot of nonprofits and a lot of funding comes from
government grants, and so it's hard to depend on that.
And so I think I've said that in class a lot.
Would y'all agree? I think I said that y'all have
to find the money somewhere, right, figure it out. We've
got to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I don't know, just sitting here for this hour, we've
been together other. As I hear well first, as I
see the smiles and the head nods and listening to
the bright ideas and the hope in each of your voices,
I find myself encouraged because although this is what each
(07:18):
of you do for a living and will be doing
for a living in terms of social work, and all
these ideas over here really don't have anything to do
with making money or a living. It's outreach and social impact.
What I would like to hear for just one or
two of you, what why social work? I mean, if
(07:43):
you've gotten your undergraduate and your graduate degree, clearly you've
could have gone into economics or accounting or pick another field,
because let's be honest, social work doesn't pay what some
of the other fields do, given the records of time
an expense of your education. So why social work? Ailey?
(08:05):
Why social work? Anybody? Why? So?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
So?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I am from a very very small town in Alabama,
in Chuka County. I graduated high school with twenty four
other people, twenty three to twenty four. And my aunt
is she's a social worker. She has a clinical license.
So you know, as I was, you know, like moving
through like junior senior year of high school, and everybody
was like, Mailey, what are you gonna do? Where are
you gonna go? You know, like like what like what's
(08:33):
the plan from here on out? And I was like, well,
I don't know, not real sure, but my aunt, know
worship are closed, Like she lives next door, just came
back for a week long trip. Whether We've always been
very close, and she worked for CPS for many years
and a lot of nights, a lot of times I
would you just go over to her house, you know,
go places with her and we would just talk. You know,
(08:55):
we would talk a lot about the things she did
and how she was able to to make changes in
people's lives.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
And I, you know, after.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Babysitting when I was in high school, and you know,
I loved the kids, you know, I loved being able
to be such a huge part of their life. But
the kids, said I babysat, they had really good lives,
a simple fact. And and like the people that I
went to high school with, and all of my friends
from high school and just the people I knew and
around town, like we all had really good lives. Like
(09:28):
me personally, like I got a car as soon as
I turned sixteen. I never had to worry about, you know,
if if our power bill was going to be able
to be paid this month, or where my next meal
was going to come from. That was just not a
thing that I ever really had to think about. Thankfully,
I was very blessed to live that kind of life,
still am to this day. And then so when I
(09:49):
went to Southern mess, you know, started out in my
freshman year, it was like the fall of twenty twenty.
So we were like, you know, kind of in the
minst of COVID, in the middle of everything, all the craziness,
and I just started seeing a lot more that not
everybody was as fortunate as I was. Not everyone was
able to play sports in high school and have both
(10:09):
parents and grandparents there to support them. Not everyone. Not
everyone got a car fro when they turned sixteen, something
that I thought was just like a norm, you know,
quickly learned was not, and quickly learned just how blessed
I have been in my life and that not everybody
has that opportunity. So, you know, I went into Southern
miss did not have a major declared, did not declare
(10:32):
a major until I was you know, at the end
of us no middle of my sophomore a year of college,
and my advisor, sweetest Melody Davison, she was like, Baily,
like we got to do something. And so I was,
you know, talked a lot with my aunt, talked with
my mom. I was like, you know what, I'm just
gonna do social work. I'm just you know, gonna declare
that as my major because like there's like i have
(10:55):
nowhere else to go, Like I've taken all the basics,
the pre for best anything alone. Then I've got to
do something. And so in that spring of our sophomore year,
we started the social work program, you know interrosocial Work,
all the things. And I started meeting people, started meeting
(11:16):
people like missus Rachel Lahaski and doctor Smith, and I
was like, this is where I'm supposed to be. Yeah,
I met people like Laura and Tara and Sasha. We
all did, we were all in undergrad together. I was like,
these are these are my people? Like, this is where
I'm supposed to be. And then you know, just moving
through the program, meeting more people, making more connections and
(11:37):
you know, a's beginning a socialort program. I was like,
is this what I'm really supposed to be doing? Like
something it's just not clicking like it's supposed to. Like
this doesn't feel right. But then, you know, the more
time I spent in the program and in the classroom,
and you know, with all the people on this meeting
right now, it just quickly became solidified to me that yeah, this,
(12:00):
this is it for me. Like i'might get aggravated, and
you know with some of the assignments and you know,
I'm I'm gonna have days where I'm discouraged. But I mean,
doesn't everyone And you know, here we are five years later.
I've got a master's degree waiting only in Mississippi to
push my license through so I can go to work
as they Laura over there waiting on sand Mississippi, and
(12:22):
I don't have that feeling of is this right anymore?
Because like I know, if this is it for me?
So oh, come along long with an explation.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Sorry about that, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
We'll be right back. Doctor Small, you know, to hear
all of this and to know that our little show
has played a small part in the curriculum, that you're
(13:00):
assigned to all of your students, and that they it
feels like they all have a heart to serve their community.
Obviously they're going to be those a living, but it's
a calling as much as as a job. What is
it that you want our listeners to know about this
(13:22):
generation of folks, these weird aged young people who don't
know anything. You know, like people from my generation may say,
but what is it you? What is it you would
like our listeners know about this generation of people you're
putting out into into society.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
I would say, we need not worry.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Wear in good hands. Fear not, huh, fear not.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
We're in good hands.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Because they do have the heart. There is no doubt
about that. They may look at their phones one hundred
times a day, but it's okay because they have the heart,
they have the smart like, they're very very intelligent, they're driven.
(14:17):
Just to see how hard that they have worked to
attain their goals. Man, it gives me goost bumps to think,
like every time I go to graduation and hooting impeding ceremonies,
like I can't help but cry just because of to
see the culmination of all work that they have put
in too just to meet the goals that they sept
(14:39):
for themselves. And then what I love most of all
is to see what happens after graduation.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
But hold on, everybody tells me this generation is spoiled
and wants instant gratification because they've grown up with cell
phones and they're aloof they don't know how to have
their personal conversations because everything's been done on it Pewter screen.
And you know what a bunch of what a bunch
(15:04):
of goof falls is what I'm told about these folk.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Well, I mean I just heard some really good conversation
just in the last hour.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, And I've spent a lot of hours.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Well for those of you, if those of you want
to go dig deep into the shop talks, I did
one at the very beginning with about seven quotes of
what a generation said about the previous generation, and I'll
screwed up an awful they were. And the first quote
was from Plato. So this generational fear of these young
(15:47):
people coming up behind us will never be as good
as our generation only started about three thousand years ago.
So I think we're gonna be Okay, we've met you.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
From the hippie generation. Weren't you me?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I don't. I was born I was. I was an
eighties kid. So I've read your high school in mid eighties.
So yeah, I was. I was that kind of guy. Yeah.
And I'm sure that the generation in front of me,
when we were running around with Waltman's on our head,
(16:20):
yeah and uh and playing video games with our quarters
and and all of that, we were the last of
the humanity. I'm certain of it.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Oh yeah, that rock and roll almost got us rock
and roll.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
That was bad too. Guys, thank you so much for
sharing your stories. Thank you so much for giving us
a little insight as to what little dybd park. Maybe
an episode or two of Shop Talk on Army and
Normal Folks where one of our guests has done to
maybe inspire but help at least shape some of your future.
(16:58):
Before we go, I want to throw it out to
y'all if anybody as a question for me, I've asked
all the questions. If everybody has a question for me
about any of our guests, about Shop Talk, about Army
and normal folks, I want to throw it out to you.
And I don't do this very often, so God knows,
you may ask me something I don't want to answer.
(17:19):
But if anybody does have any questions before we end,
it's an open mic, go for it. I have one, Yeah,
go for it.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
Well, you've interviewed a lot of people and people that
have made small change and big change in people's lives.
What do you think the common denominator is in those
individuals that like pushes them forward and you know, they
like make their dreams come true and you know, do
things for others? Like what is that common denominator in
(17:52):
people that use spoken with that question?
Speaker 1 (17:54):
And I think there's actually two. One is certainly a passion.
I haven't interviewed a single guest that hadn't had a genuine,
deep seated passion about what they were involved in. And
(18:15):
and I think that the lesson there is if it's
if you're engaged in something that doesn't really feel like work,
you're probably going to be pretty good at it. And
whether that's what you do for a living, or what
you do in your community, or your relationships. You know,
I think all of us have had relationships for that
(18:37):
felt like work, and those are probably not the most
healthy things. But all of our guests about the work
that they were doing sound passion. And now many times
that passion was because they were maybe be overcoming some
dysfunction in their own lives. Sometimes that passion is just
(19:00):
because they possessed an order amount of empathy toward a
particular group of people or situation. Some because they just
see a need and felt called to fill it. But
for whatever reason, I think every single guest has passion
about what they're interested in, really deep seated. This matters
(19:22):
to me. Passion. And the second, and maybe the more
difficult is they all overcame a fear of failure. I
think one of the greatest barriers to success is the
fear to fail. And I think we need to remember
him that. I think Abraham Lincoln ran for fourteen offices,
(19:45):
but he only won one race. He literally won one.
It was one for fourteen and political races, and he
changed our country. I think the fear of failure manifests
itself in a couple of different ways. One is, you know,
if I'm going to start a business and I'm going
(20:05):
to take all of the money I have and I'm
going to mortgage my house. If my business fails, I'm
going to lose everything. And that's a real fear. And
if the fear of that prohibits you from ever trying
to reach a goal, then that fear of failure is
(20:28):
the greatest barrier to success because you can never start.
You can never find success if you don't try. Another
piece of fear of failure is societal fear. For instance,
what if you do start that garden in town and
nobody shows up to help, and yeah, oh look, you
(20:52):
just largest covered your lips went, Oh my gosh. I mean,
what if nobody shows up to help. What if the
people that can pay don't. You've got a garden out
there with some people working in it for the free produce,
But where's the money gonna come from? Wow, it's a
lot of work because weeds grow in gardens, and you
got to have the space, and then you gotta have tools,
(21:15):
and then you gotta have water, and you gotta probably
have to have some fertilizer. And if nobody shows up,
then it's on you to pick it. And I mean,
if you think about it, my gosh, what an awesome
responsibility and what an enormous amount of work. Gosh, it's
a great idea, but man, all that stuff, I just
(21:35):
don't we want to begin in the first place. Well,
I can guarantee you this, there's never going to be
an urban garden in Hattiesburg. If there's fear of failure
won't happen. So when you match passion with fear of failure,
the question is your passion greater than your fear? And
(21:58):
if your passion is greater than in fear, then things
can happen. And certainly there's going to be failures along
the way, but the success is far the good that
comes from the cess is far outweigh the failure. But
if our passion is a lot greater than our fear
(22:19):
of failure that's prohibiting us from even trying in the
first place, well then where's the growth. So I think
all of our guests who we highlight have both a
passion and have had the courage and the temerity to
put aside their fill of failure fear of failure and
(22:41):
forge ahead anyway, And in doing so, each of the
episodes will highlight all of the many lives they've affected
as a result of their passion and their willingness to
overcome their film failure. We'll be right back anybody else
(23:08):
any other questions.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
What's your h I know that's going to be a
hard question, But if you had to recommend, like one
epithode you someone can only listen to one epithet of
your podcast, what episode would it be?
Speaker 1 (23:20):
That is not a fair question because I love them
all and all of our guests are great. But I
will tell you and and candidly, it's like it's like,
that's like asking me what's my favorite movie? Because my
favorite horror movie is absolutely The Shining, right, But The
(23:44):
Shining is not even better than Step Brothers. It's just
Stepbrothers my favorite comedy. Right. So in fairness to my
favorite shows, there's certainly genres of our shows, right, There's
there's people who started stuff, there's people you know, so
it's all different. But in general, I will tell you
(24:11):
one of my favorites, and I really hope you will
all go listen to it. One of my favorites, and
maybe because it was one of my first, but also
because I went there and witnessed what was going on.
Was John Ponder in Las Vegas, who was a four
or five times loster who finally got arrested for Robin Banks,
(24:35):
and the FBI agent that arrested him and sent him
to the federal penitentiary prayed for him by name daily,
and John sentence, which should have been in the thirties
of years, got to be seven, and he spent his
seven years in prison figuring out how to create a
reentry program that would work. And now in Las Vegas,
(24:59):
where there was city vision rate is typically seventy percent
seventy five percent, he runs a re entry program with
the CityVision rate is less than six percent. And the
secret behind his sauces he matches up of returning citizens
from jail with mentors who walk with them to get
(25:19):
them reintroduced society. But the mentors are volunteers from the show,
from the Las Vegas Sheriff's Department, Las Vegas of PI,
the Las Vegas So what he's doing is he is
coupling up on a one on one basis law enforcement
with returning prisoners returning to society. And what's happened is,
(25:45):
as a side benefit of keeping people from going back
to jail, is law enforcement are starting to see parolleys
and convicts as human beings, and these human beings are
starting to see people who happen to be in law
enforcements a job beyond the badge, as human beings, and
all of a sudden, they're having a lot less poor
(26:05):
interactions between law enforcement and folks who interact with law enforcement.
It's a incredible story. Additionally, you know Russell Butler, the
dancing ups guy, is awesome. It's a US UPS guy,
and he has dealt with depression and he happens to
(26:26):
be an incredible dancer like Ice Ice Baby. Not ballroom dance,
but dancing. And this guy when he see when he
delivers packages and sees somebody that looks like their dabbers
in the dirt or maybe a little down, he puts
some music on and just dances for him. And now
he's got over a million followers on TikTok and all
(26:48):
those social media things. And he came and visited for
us and dance for us. As story's phenomenal. It's just
a guy. He's passionate about dancing, sees an occasional need
with somebody's a little unhappy, depressed employees, that ability where's
passion is for people and just dances and put smiles
on people's faces. And how simple is that?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
You know?
Speaker 1 (27:10):
It costs nothing but a little bit of time. And ever,
I love that guy, and then I think of and
I think of you know, people like and Mallam and
Mallam was struggling with Bolimia and didn't know where life
was going to take her, and her father had gambled
away everything, and her therapy was running. And she was
(27:36):
running through the streets of Philadelphia one day and ran
past a homeless shelter every day, and one day the
guy's on the porch screamed down, Hey, is all you
do all day is run around here? And Anne's a
little edgy, and she just screamed right back at him,
is all you do is set on your ass on
the porch all day as she ran by. But she
thought about it, and she thought, you know my dad
(27:57):
who gambled away all of our savings, that could be
him on that homeless shelter. So the next day she
went on the homeless shelter and said, hey, I'd like
to start a running club. And they're like, the only
time homeless people run is when it's from the police.
Nobody starts running. The homeless don't jog. So she said,
just give me a shot. She held them accountable, and
(28:19):
she said, you know, I just figured if the one
thing you can't cheat is running, you have to keep
your feet right in front of the other. If I
can teach these guys to get up every morning at
six point thirty and be committed to running and run
five miles no matter what. If they can learn that
skill set, maybe they can learn how to not be
homeless anymore. And this kid running from her own problems
(28:44):
started a thing called Back on My Feet and has
served homeless people all over the country. And I think
as recently as a year ago, had been directly responsible
for seventy eight hundred previously homeless people now having jobs
at all as a result of running here. That's and
(29:05):
Mallem's story. They're just countless stories, over and over. The
last one I'll tell you is child bedlessness. Whoever knew
there was a thing? And so a guy starts making
bunk beds on Christmas break and he makes his kids
get off the couch because he started watching play video games,
and they build a bug bed and his garage. That's it.
(29:29):
Put it on Facebook that I ain't anything else to
do with it, and immediately it goes and he finds
out all of these people in his hometown that have
children without beds, and so over the poor Schris breaking
his kids build five or six more bump beds and
give them away. It makes it makes them feel great,
and he starts Sleeping Heavenly Peace with the motto no
(29:50):
kid in my town sleeps on the floor. He doesn't
think that children should put on their school clothes and
then use them as their mattress every day. This thing
has grown to have chapters all over the country, and
they've built two hundred and seventy thousand beds virture in
the United States that don't have beds. But the coolest
thing is our episode is airing and a preacher who
(30:15):
supports an orphanage in Haiti. Now he a preacher in
Florida who supports an orphanage in Haiti listens to the
thing and calls orphanage in Haiti and says, have you
heard this? And the guy that runs orphans in Haiti said, oh,
my gosh, this is amazing. He starts crying. We ended
up meeting him. We bring him on to talk about
his orphanage in Haiti. And his orphanage in Haiti is
(30:36):
on a few places that has running water in a
wood shop and because they teach children, and so now
this orphanage in Haiti with their wood shop has joined
Sleep in Heavenly Peace, and they are now making beds.
That orphanage in Haiti is making beds for non to
orphan children in Haiti who don't have us as a
(30:58):
result to the Norman. So I could keep going. But
there's story after story after story that show that passion
and unwillingness to succumb to fear of failure, empathy and
a heart changes lives. And there's thousands of those stories
(31:20):
across our country, and we don't hear about them enough.
And our goal is to bring those stories to you, guys,
not only to entertain you, but hopefully inspire you to
not be afraid to start your garden in Hattisburg for
those who need fresh produce, or to start your facility
(31:46):
where a kid who doesn't have a computer can have
a computer to go to, or to start therapy with horses,
where all of the other amazing ideas you guys have
come up with, and Doctor Smiths off to actually act
on them, and to not only go to work and
social work and do the good work you do, but
(32:07):
also to change your community and your culture with the
very bright ideas that y'all have, be passionate about it,
and don't be afraid to fail, because at fear of
failure would keep any of those things forever happening, and
that would be a shame anybody else, Doctor Smith, do
you want to finish this up?
Speaker 2 (32:30):
I just want to tell everyone how extremely proud I guess.
I don't know if I pulled them enough, how extremely
proud I am of them for all the things that
they are doing and are going to do in their
careers going forward. I know Amy graduated last year and
so she's been doing for a year now, so she's
(32:53):
got a head start. Will he didn't get a chance
to tell but he's going on to law school. Wow,
so he wants to change things on a bigger level.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
So yeah, that's guys. I'm glad we had the time together.
And yeah, like I said, just talking to y'all in
have this chat encourages me. And I think doctor Smith
put it put it best. Sure not. We've got a
good group of young folks coming up that are working hard.
(33:26):
And if we could ignore all this stupid stuff out
of TC in New York and social media and everything else,
and and remember our humanity, I think we're all going
to be fine. Thanks for involving an army and normal
folks and your education, your lives and uh now, thanks
for being a part of it with us. I don't
know when this episode is gonna gonna go, but I
(33:48):
hope you'll share it with all your friends and and
help us grow this uh, this group of people who
hopefully will become a movement in our country to continue
to better our culture in our society. So Doctor Smith
and former students and young people getting out there and
making a difference. I really appreciate you joining me today.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Thank thank you, bye everybody, bye, thank you, and thank
you for joining us this week. If doctor Ronda Smith
has inspired you in general, or better yet, to take
action by using the podcast with your service club or classroom,
sharing it with teachers and schools that you know, or
(34:33):
something else entirely, please let me know. I'd love to
hear about it. If you write me, I will respond
Bill at normal folks dot us and we may even
do an episode with your classroom. Who knows. Give it
a shot. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it
with friends on social subscribe to the podcast, rate and
(34:53):
review it. Join the Army at normal folks dot us.
Consider becoming a premium member there, any and all of
these things that will help us grow an army of
normal folks, because the more folks we got, the more
impact we have. I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do
what you can
Everybody is Bill Courtney with an army and normal folks.
And we continue now a part two of our conversation
with doctor Ronda Smith's class. Right after these brief messages
from our general sponsors. I another wants to teach survivors
(00:28):
of domestic violence how to sew, which is valuable given
there's not many seamstresshes anymore. Is that person here? No,
tell me about that, Rhonda.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So that's miss shit and she, oh my gosh. Her
business plan was like so good. She it was about
teaching people how to sew and how to upcycle like
thrift clothing, and it was such a good idea having
(01:00):
classes during the week for just individuals, anybody in the
community that wanted.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
To learn how to sew.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
And that was her way of raising money for the organization,
was to charge like twenty dollars a week or whatever
for the community members that wanted to learn how to sew,
and then also training the women that wanted to learn
how to that might be in the abuse shelters so
that they could grow skill because as we know, seamstresses
(01:28):
are going out of like style, like you can't find
one these days hardly, it seems like, and so also
I think another part of her business was like a
boutique clothing upcycling some of the thrift clothing and making
fancy with all the bleeding and like it was really
(01:49):
really such a cool idea.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
It was very very creative. A resource center that offers
low costs to no cost mental health services and place
where folks can use computer because there's no place around
it in Hashburg. Is that you missus Flitner? Yes, that
is me. Tell me about that. So I'm an older student.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
I went to school and then I went back after
it was a good time for me to go to
be a social worker. So in my time when I
went to school and was in high school, we had
a lot of after school programs that I feel like
kept the kids off the street, got them access to computers.
And I used to have like people that were interns
from USM that would come to our community centers that
(02:37):
would help us with homework, and a lot of US
was just venning to them basically no therapy services because
it's not believing in my community a lot. So I
wanted to open up a low income counseling service that
not only provides counseling services, but also gives you an
access to use a computer if you don't have one
(02:57):
in your home, and also have a full bank, all
in one type of program because they don't have much there,
like therapy can't be very expensive, and a lot of
insurances don't cover it in certain expenses, and then if
you have Medicaid, they may not cover certain providers. So
I want to find a way to help the community
to get helped mentally because I feel like a lot
(03:19):
of times people are just mentally challenged. Meant when I
say that, meaning like they have no mental capacity to
understand what they have going on, like fools, scarcities, going
through SPS situations, and it's just I feel like it's
very insul for certain people, and it's an unheard of
thing because they believe, oh, I can't afford it, and
(03:40):
I can't afford it. So in Mississippi, especially in Haddisburg,
we have nothing like that, and the few places that
we do have, they're wait lists are like five years long.
You five years before you can see a therapist in
your insurance doesn't cover it. So I just really feel like,
being born and raised in Mississippi and Haddisburg, that this
will be very benefit is to the people in my community.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Well, what have you done about it? Girl?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I actually have had this.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Doctor Smith can tell you that I've had this dream
since I was an undergrad. That was kind of like
when it was time for us to do this program,
I already knew what I wanted to do because this
is what I want to do. So I still have
this play and this is still like my five to
ten year gold to open this and process this. I'm
going to work and get a little bit of experience,
but then I do really want to make this happen.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And had this Purt Mississippi, I love that. That is awesome.
I wish you the best to walk Ronda. When you
hear all of these different ideas, and this is just
a sampling of the people that you were teaching and
working with on a semester by semester basis, and I
(04:52):
know you're a fan of the show. So you listen
to an army in normal folks all the time when
you when you when you balance the young, bright, energetic,
passionate minds that you spend time with in school against
the backdrop of so much of what we hear from
(05:16):
social media, the news, the infighting in DC, what seems
and feels to be so dysfunctional and so polarized and
so debilitating to our culture. You know, what do you
feel when you when you when you see and hear
(05:39):
these stories against that backdrop on a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well, I hope that I have encouraged them to ignore
that garbage and go for it, because that's what we
hear in social media and all that it's not always
the truth. And I think I've said this many many
times in class. We've got to stop depending on government
(06:11):
for what we need and start doing it as communities
and taking care of each other, just ourselves. And you know,
that's the only way I think that we can continue
to make a difference. We can't put all of our
eggs in one basket, you know. We you know a
(06:32):
lot of nonprofits and a lot of funding comes from
government grants, and so it's hard to depend on that.
And so I think I've said that in class a lot.
Would y'all agree? I think I said that y'all have
to find the money somewhere, right, figure it out. We've
got to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I don't know, just sitting here for this hour, we've
been together other. As I hear well first, as I
see the smiles and the head nods and listening to
the bright ideas and the hope in each of your voices,
I find myself encouraged because although this is what each
(07:18):
of you do for a living and will be doing
for a living in terms of social work, and all
these ideas over here really don't have anything to do
with making money or a living. It's outreach and social impact.
What I would like to hear for just one or
two of you, what why social work? I mean, if
(07:43):
you've gotten your undergraduate and your graduate degree, clearly you've
could have gone into economics or accounting or pick another field,
because let's be honest, social work doesn't pay what some
of the other fields do, given the records of time
an expense of your education. So why social work? Ailey?
(08:05):
Why social work? Anybody? Why? So?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
So?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I am from a very very small town in Alabama,
in Chuka County. I graduated high school with twenty four
other people, twenty three to twenty four. And my aunt
is she's a social worker. She has a clinical license.
So you know, as I was, you know, like moving
through like junior senior year of high school, and everybody
was like, Mailey, what are you gonna do? Where are
you gonna go? You know, like like what like what's
(08:33):
the plan from here on out? And I was like, well,
I don't know, not real sure, but my aunt, know
worship are closed, Like she lives next door, just came
back for a week long trip. Whether We've always been
very close, and she worked for CPS for many years
and a lot of nights, a lot of times I
would you just go over to her house, you know,
go places with her and we would just talk. You know,
(08:55):
we would talk a lot about the things she did
and how she was able to to make changes in
people's lives.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
And I, you know, after.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Babysitting when I was in high school, and you know,
I loved the kids, you know, I loved being able
to be such a huge part of their life. But
the kids, said I babysat, they had really good lives,
a simple fact. And and like the people that I
went to high school with, and all of my friends
from high school and just the people I knew and
around town, like we all had really good lives. Like
(09:28):
me personally, like I got a car as soon as
I turned sixteen. I never had to worry about, you know,
if if our power bill was going to be able
to be paid this month, or where my next meal
was going to come from. That was just not a
thing that I ever really had to think about. Thankfully,
I was very blessed to live that kind of life,
still am to this day. And then so when I
(09:49):
went to Southern mess, you know, started out in my
freshman year, it was like the fall of twenty twenty.
So we were like, you know, kind of in the
minst of COVID, in the middle of everything, all the craziness,
and I just started seeing a lot more that not
everybody was as fortunate as I was. Not everyone was
able to play sports in high school and have both
(10:09):
parents and grandparents there to support them. Not everyone. Not
everyone got a car fro when they turned sixteen, something
that I thought was just like a norm, you know,
quickly learned was not, and quickly learned just how blessed
I have been in my life and that not everybody
has that opportunity. So, you know, I went into Southern
miss did not have a major declared, did not declare
(10:32):
a major until I was you know, at the end
of us no middle of my sophomore a year of college,
and my advisor, sweetest Melody Davison, she was like, Baily,
like we got to do something. And so I was,
you know, talked a lot with my aunt, talked with
my mom. I was like, you know what, I'm just
gonna do social work. I'm just you know, gonna declare
that as my major because like there's like i have
(10:55):
nowhere else to go, Like I've taken all the basics,
the pre for best anything alone. Then I've got to
do something. And so in that spring of our sophomore year,
we started the social work program, you know interrosocial Work,
all the things. And I started meeting people, started meeting
(11:16):
people like missus Rachel Lahaski and doctor Smith, and I
was like, this is where I'm supposed to be. Yeah,
I met people like Laura and Tara and Sasha. We
all did, we were all in undergrad together. I was like,
these are these are my people? Like, this is where
I'm supposed to be. And then you know, just moving
through the program, meeting more people, making more connections and
(11:37):
you know, a's beginning a socialort program. I was like,
is this what I'm really supposed to be doing? Like
something it's just not clicking like it's supposed to. Like
this doesn't feel right. But then, you know, the more
time I spent in the program and in the classroom,
and you know, with all the people on this meeting
right now, it just quickly became solidified to me that yeah, this,
(12:00):
this is it for me. Like i'might get aggravated, and
you know with some of the assignments and you know,
I'm I'm gonna have days where I'm discouraged. But I mean,
doesn't everyone And you know, here we are five years later.
I've got a master's degree waiting only in Mississippi to
push my license through so I can go to work
as they Laura over there waiting on sand Mississippi, and
(12:22):
I don't have that feeling of is this right anymore?
Because like I know, if this is it for me?
So oh, come along long with an explation.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Sorry about that, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
We'll be right back. Doctor Small, you know, to hear
all of this and to know that our little show
has played a small part in the curriculum, that you're
(13:00):
assigned to all of your students, and that they it
feels like they all have a heart to serve their community.
Obviously they're going to be those a living, but it's
a calling as much as as a job. What is
it that you want our listeners to know about this
(13:22):
generation of folks, these weird aged young people who don't
know anything. You know, like people from my generation may say,
but what is it you? What is it you would
like our listeners know about this generation of people you're
putting out into into society.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
I would say, we need not worry.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Wear in good hands. Fear not, huh, fear not.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
We're in good hands.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Because they do have the heart. There is no doubt
about that. They may look at their phones one hundred
times a day, but it's okay because they have the heart,
they have the smart like, they're very very intelligent, they're driven.
(14:17):
Just to see how hard that they have worked to
attain their goals. Man, it gives me goost bumps to think,
like every time I go to graduation and hooting impeding ceremonies,
like I can't help but cry just because of to
see the culmination of all work that they have put
in too just to meet the goals that they sept
(14:39):
for themselves. And then what I love most of all
is to see what happens after graduation.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
But hold on, everybody tells me this generation is spoiled
and wants instant gratification because they've grown up with cell
phones and they're aloof they don't know how to have
their personal conversations because everything's been done on it Pewter screen.
And you know what a bunch of what a bunch
(15:04):
of goof falls is what I'm told about these folk.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Well, I mean I just heard some really good conversation
just in the last hour.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, And I've spent a lot of hours.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Well for those of you, if those of you want
to go dig deep into the shop talks, I did
one at the very beginning with about seven quotes of
what a generation said about the previous generation, and I'll
screwed up an awful they were. And the first quote
was from Plato. So this generational fear of these young
(15:47):
people coming up behind us will never be as good
as our generation only started about three thousand years ago.
So I think we're gonna be Okay, we've met you.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
From the hippie generation. Weren't you me?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I don't. I was born I was. I was an
eighties kid. So I've read your high school in mid eighties.
So yeah, I was. I was that kind of guy. Yeah.
And I'm sure that the generation in front of me,
when we were running around with Waltman's on our head,
(16:20):
yeah and uh and playing video games with our quarters
and and all of that, we were the last of
the humanity. I'm certain of it.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Oh yeah, that rock and roll almost got us rock
and roll.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
That was bad too. Guys, thank you so much for
sharing your stories. Thank you so much for giving us
a little insight as to what little dybd park. Maybe
an episode or two of Shop Talk on Army and
Normal Folks where one of our guests has done to
maybe inspire but help at least shape some of your future.
(16:58):
Before we go, I want to throw it out to
y'all if anybody as a question for me, I've asked
all the questions. If everybody has a question for me
about any of our guests, about Shop Talk, about Army
and normal folks, I want to throw it out to you.
And I don't do this very often, so God knows,
you may ask me something I don't want to answer.
(17:19):
But if anybody does have any questions before we end,
it's an open mic, go for it. I have one, Yeah,
go for it.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
Well, you've interviewed a lot of people and people that
have made small change and big change in people's lives.
What do you think the common denominator is in those
individuals that like pushes them forward and you know, they
like make their dreams come true and you know, do
things for others? Like what is that common denominator in
(17:52):
people that use spoken with that question?
Speaker 1 (17:54):
And I think there's actually two. One is certainly a passion.
I haven't interviewed a single guest that hadn't had a genuine,
deep seated passion about what they were involved in. And
(18:15):
and I think that the lesson there is if it's
if you're engaged in something that doesn't really feel like work,
you're probably going to be pretty good at it. And
whether that's what you do for a living, or what
you do in your community, or your relationships. You know,
I think all of us have had relationships for that
(18:37):
felt like work, and those are probably not the most
healthy things. But all of our guests about the work
that they were doing sound passion. And now many times
that passion was because they were maybe be overcoming some
dysfunction in their own lives. Sometimes that passion is just
(19:00):
because they possessed an order amount of empathy toward a
particular group of people or situation. Some because they just
see a need and felt called to fill it. But
for whatever reason, I think every single guest has passion
about what they're interested in, really deep seated. This matters
(19:22):
to me. Passion. And the second, and maybe the more
difficult is they all overcame a fear of failure. I
think one of the greatest barriers to success is the
fear to fail. And I think we need to remember
him that. I think Abraham Lincoln ran for fourteen offices,
(19:45):
but he only won one race. He literally won one.
It was one for fourteen and political races, and he
changed our country. I think the fear of failure manifests
itself in a couple of different ways. One is, you know,
if I'm going to start a business and I'm going
(20:05):
to take all of the money I have and I'm
going to mortgage my house. If my business fails, I'm
going to lose everything. And that's a real fear. And
if the fear of that prohibits you from ever trying
to reach a goal, then that fear of failure is
(20:28):
the greatest barrier to success because you can never start.
You can never find success if you don't try. Another
piece of fear of failure is societal fear. For instance,
what if you do start that garden in town and
nobody shows up to help, and yeah, oh look, you
(20:52):
just largest covered your lips went, Oh my gosh. I mean,
what if nobody shows up to help. What if the
people that can pay don't. You've got a garden out
there with some people working in it for the free produce,
But where's the money gonna come from? Wow, it's a
lot of work because weeds grow in gardens, and you
got to have the space, and then you gotta have tools,
(21:15):
and then you gotta have water, and you gotta probably
have to have some fertilizer. And if nobody shows up,
then it's on you to pick it. And I mean,
if you think about it, my gosh, what an awesome
responsibility and what an enormous amount of work. Gosh, it's
a great idea, but man, all that stuff, I just
(21:35):
don't we want to begin in the first place. Well,
I can guarantee you this, there's never going to be
an urban garden in Hattiesburg. If there's fear of failure
won't happen. So when you match passion with fear of failure,
the question is your passion greater than your fear? And
(21:58):
if your passion is greater than in fear, then things
can happen. And certainly there's going to be failures along
the way, but the success is far the good that
comes from the cess is far outweigh the failure. But
if our passion is a lot greater than our fear
(22:19):
of failure that's prohibiting us from even trying in the
first place, well then where's the growth. So I think
all of our guests who we highlight have both a
passion and have had the courage and the temerity to
put aside their fill of failure fear of failure and
(22:41):
forge ahead anyway, And in doing so, each of the
episodes will highlight all of the many lives they've affected
as a result of their passion and their willingness to
overcome their film failure. We'll be right back anybody else
(23:08):
any other questions.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
What's your h I know that's going to be a
hard question, But if you had to recommend, like one
epithode you someone can only listen to one epithet of
your podcast, what episode would it be?
Speaker 1 (23:20):
That is not a fair question because I love them
all and all of our guests are great. But I
will tell you and and candidly, it's like it's like,
that's like asking me what's my favorite movie? Because my
favorite horror movie is absolutely The Shining, right, But The
(23:44):
Shining is not even better than Step Brothers. It's just
Stepbrothers my favorite comedy. Right. So in fairness to my
favorite shows, there's certainly genres of our shows, right, There's
there's people who started stuff, there's people you know, so
it's all different. But in general, I will tell you
(24:11):
one of my favorites, and I really hope you will
all go listen to it. One of my favorites, and
maybe because it was one of my first, but also
because I went there and witnessed what was going on.
Was John Ponder in Las Vegas, who was a four
or five times loster who finally got arrested for Robin Banks,
(24:35):
and the FBI agent that arrested him and sent him
to the federal penitentiary prayed for him by name daily,
and John sentence, which should have been in the thirties
of years, got to be seven, and he spent his
seven years in prison figuring out how to create a
reentry program that would work. And now in Las Vegas,
(24:59):
where there was city vision rate is typically seventy percent
seventy five percent, he runs a re entry program with
the CityVision rate is less than six percent. And the
secret behind his sauces he matches up of returning citizens
from jail with mentors who walk with them to get
(25:19):
them reintroduced society. But the mentors are volunteers from the show,
from the Las Vegas Sheriff's Department, Las Vegas of PI,
the Las Vegas So what he's doing is he is
coupling up on a one on one basis law enforcement
with returning prisoners returning to society. And what's happened is,
(25:45):
as a side benefit of keeping people from going back
to jail, is law enforcement are starting to see parolleys
and convicts as human beings, and these human beings are
starting to see people who happen to be in law
enforcements a job beyond the badge, as human beings, and
all of a sudden, they're having a lot less poor
(26:05):
interactions between law enforcement and folks who interact with law enforcement.
It's a incredible story. Additionally, you know Russell Butler, the
dancing ups guy, is awesome. It's a US UPS guy,
and he has dealt with depression and he happens to
(26:26):
be an incredible dancer like Ice Ice Baby. Not ballroom dance,
but dancing. And this guy when he see when he
delivers packages and sees somebody that looks like their dabbers
in the dirt or maybe a little down, he puts
some music on and just dances for him. And now
he's got over a million followers on TikTok and all
(26:48):
those social media things. And he came and visited for
us and dance for us. As story's phenomenal. It's just
a guy. He's passionate about dancing, sees an occasional need
with somebody's a little unhappy, depressed employees, that ability where's
passion is for people and just dances and put smiles
on people's faces. And how simple is that?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
You know?
Speaker 1 (27:10):
It costs nothing but a little bit of time. And ever,
I love that guy, and then I think of and
I think of you know, people like and Mallam and
Mallam was struggling with Bolimia and didn't know where life
was going to take her, and her father had gambled
away everything, and her therapy was running. And she was
(27:36):
running through the streets of Philadelphia one day and ran
past a homeless shelter every day, and one day the
guy's on the porch screamed down, Hey, is all you
do all day is run around here? And Anne's a
little edgy, and she just screamed right back at him,
is all you do is set on your ass on
the porch all day as she ran by. But she
thought about it, and she thought, you know my dad
(27:57):
who gambled away all of our savings, that could be
him on that homeless shelter. So the next day she
went on the homeless shelter and said, hey, I'd like
to start a running club. And they're like, the only
time homeless people run is when it's from the police.
Nobody starts running. The homeless don't jog. So she said,
just give me a shot. She held them accountable, and
(28:19):
she said, you know, I just figured if the one
thing you can't cheat is running, you have to keep
your feet right in front of the other. If I
can teach these guys to get up every morning at
six point thirty and be committed to running and run
five miles no matter what. If they can learn that
skill set, maybe they can learn how to not be
homeless anymore. And this kid running from her own problems
(28:44):
started a thing called Back on My Feet and has
served homeless people all over the country. And I think
as recently as a year ago, had been directly responsible
for seventy eight hundred previously homeless people now having jobs
at all as a result of running here. That's and
(29:05):
Mallem's story. They're just countless stories, over and over. The
last one I'll tell you is child bedlessness. Whoever knew
there was a thing? And so a guy starts making
bunk beds on Christmas break and he makes his kids
get off the couch because he started watching play video games,
and they build a bug bed and his garage. That's it.
(29:29):
Put it on Facebook that I ain't anything else to
do with it, and immediately it goes and he finds
out all of these people in his hometown that have
children without beds, and so over the poor Schris breaking
his kids build five or six more bump beds and
give them away. It makes it makes them feel great,
and he starts Sleeping Heavenly Peace with the motto no
(29:50):
kid in my town sleeps on the floor. He doesn't
think that children should put on their school clothes and
then use them as their mattress every day. This thing
has grown to have chapters all over the country, and
they've built two hundred and seventy thousand beds virture in
the United States that don't have beds. But the coolest
thing is our episode is airing and a preacher who
(30:15):
supports an orphanage in Haiti. Now he a preacher in
Florida who supports an orphanage in Haiti listens to the
thing and calls orphanage in Haiti and says, have you
heard this? And the guy that runs orphans in Haiti said, oh,
my gosh, this is amazing. He starts crying. We ended
up meeting him. We bring him on to talk about
his orphanage in Haiti. And his orphanage in Haiti is
(30:36):
on a few places that has running water in a
wood shop and because they teach children, and so now
this orphanage in Haiti with their wood shop has joined
Sleep in Heavenly Peace, and they are now making beds.
That orphanage in Haiti is making beds for non to
orphan children in Haiti who don't have us as a
(30:58):
result to the Norman. So I could keep going. But
there's story after story after story that show that passion
and unwillingness to succumb to fear of failure, empathy and
a heart changes lives. And there's thousands of those stories
(31:20):
across our country, and we don't hear about them enough.
And our goal is to bring those stories to you, guys,
not only to entertain you, but hopefully inspire you to
not be afraid to start your garden in Hattisburg for
those who need fresh produce, or to start your facility
(31:46):
where a kid who doesn't have a computer can have
a computer to go to, or to start therapy with horses,
where all of the other amazing ideas you guys have
come up with, and Doctor Smiths off to actually act
on them, and to not only go to work and
social work and do the good work you do, but
(32:07):
also to change your community and your culture with the
very bright ideas that y'all have, be passionate about it,
and don't be afraid to fail, because at fear of
failure would keep any of those things forever happening, and
that would be a shame anybody else, Doctor Smith, do
you want to finish this up?
Speaker 2 (32:30):
I just want to tell everyone how extremely proud I guess.
I don't know if I pulled them enough, how extremely
proud I am of them for all the things that
they are doing and are going to do in their
careers going forward. I know Amy graduated last year and
so she's been doing for a year now, so she's
(32:53):
got a head start. Will he didn't get a chance
to tell but he's going on to law school. Wow,
so he wants to change things on a bigger level.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
So yeah, that's guys. I'm glad we had the time together.
And yeah, like I said, just talking to y'all in
have this chat encourages me. And I think doctor Smith
put it put it best. Sure not. We've got a
good group of young folks coming up that are working hard.
(33:26):
And if we could ignore all this stupid stuff out
of TC in New York and social media and everything else,
and and remember our humanity, I think we're all going
to be fine. Thanks for involving an army and normal
folks and your education, your lives and uh now, thanks
for being a part of it with us. I don't
know when this episode is gonna gonna go, but I
(33:48):
hope you'll share it with all your friends and and
help us grow this uh, this group of people who
hopefully will become a movement in our country to continue
to better our culture in our society. So Doctor Smith
and former students and young people getting out there and
making a difference. I really appreciate you joining me today.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Thank thank you, bye everybody, bye, thank you, and thank
you for joining us this week. If doctor Ronda Smith
has inspired you in general, or better yet, to take
action by using the podcast with your service club or classroom,
sharing it with teachers and schools that you know, or
(34:33):
something else entirely, please let me know. I'd love to
hear about it. If you write me, I will respond
Bill at normal folks dot us and we may even
do an episode with your classroom. Who knows. Give it
a shot. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it
with friends on social subscribe to the podcast, rate and
(34:53):
review it. Join the Army at normal folks dot us.
Consider becoming a premium member there, any and all of
these things that will help us grow an army of
normal folks, because the more folks we got, the more
impact we have. I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do
what you can
Host
Bill Courtney
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