Ep 5.6 - Edwin Ruiz - AfterGate

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following podcast is being brought to you by the
Defile Life podcast Network.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to Aftergate, Powered by the Defile Life Network.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Are you all Ready?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Aftergate is a podcast series highlighting Colgate alumni of color
in their professional endeavors.

Speaker 4 (00:23):
Aftergate Are you all Ready?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Aftergate is hosted by Alvin Glim aka al and Herman
Dubois aka A Jerry Already.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
We are doing.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Aftergate because Colgate University has produced innovators who have changed
the world every day. Yet many alumni of color and
the mainstream Colgate community are unaware of the amazing accomplishments
of alums of color.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Are you all ready? Welcome? Welcome, Welcome. This is Aftergate,
the podcast that is totally dedicated to documenting, amplifying, highlighting
the journeys of alumni color from Kovid University. It is me,

(01:10):
your boy, Alvin Glynn a k A L. I am
here as always with my co host mister Hedmind Duoir.
What's up?

Speaker 4 (01:20):
Jerry?

Speaker 3 (01:21):
How you doing?

Speaker 4 (01:22):
Homie?

Speaker 5 (01:23):
All as well? All as well?

Speaker 6 (01:24):
Feeling blessed for another week. Just tremendous opportunities to learn
and growth. Uh, you know they.

Speaker 5 (01:34):
Say to be careful what you ask a Law for right.

Speaker 6 (01:35):
So when you're at a Law for humility, he's gonna
find interesting ways to teach you these lessons. Right, it
ain't gonna come the way you think it again incoming
package like Amazon, right, So but but but embracing the
journey and uh yeah, man's decided for always connecting with
our AOC family and our Aftergate community.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yes, sir, I if this isn't show one hundred, it
might be ninety nine.

Speaker 5 (02:03):
So I'm about to break.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
We're sure what account is, but we're pretty close.

Speaker 5 (02:09):
Let's get the analytics.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Doing things big around here. And it has been fascinating.
I mean, you know, show after show, story after story,
each of them have been, in their own way, fascinating
conversations and so you know, I'm just honored to be
here with you. We've been doing this since right after COVID,
and yeah, man, this has just been more than we

(02:32):
ever imagined when we started with Diane Chaconi Episode one, sod.

Speaker 5 (02:38):
Shout out to AOC for the plugs.

Speaker 6 (02:39):
AOC has been doing their you know, social media marketing
and shouting us out and got gotta really embrace that alignment,
which I think you know says a lot for when
we think of some of the legends that we know
with the AOC and what they did and the trail
blazers that they were to be able to get there,
you know, sort of steal of approval and the love

(03:02):
and the and and the and the accolades. Uh, you know,
looking looking forward to how long we ride this train.

Speaker 5 (03:11):
Because there's a lot of AOC out there and so
this is you know, it could be a long term show.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
And just for the record, when you say the support
of AOC, we're talking about the organization officially, because Alumni
of Color as a group have been shown us mad
love from the beginning. Like we can definitely go through
the names of some true champions, but shout out to
AOC the organization for pumping it promoting it, because I

(03:40):
definitely have seen a little uptick in our listening. So
keep it up, AOC, We appreciate you. And I have
a feeling, not certain, but I have a feeling that
our intern Sophia is behind some of this promotion social
media pumping. That she has transition from a student when

(04:01):
she was our intern season one to actually an alum
and I think she is just staying loyal aligned. So
if Sophia, if that's you behind all of the social
media magic Mad Love Show, do appreciate you, thank you,
thank you very much. So is it alright with you,
my brother, that I bring this week's guests into the studio?

(04:23):
Can I get your blessing?

Speaker 6 (04:24):
Sir? You already know that this AOC congregation is all
the blessings to welcome in the one the only.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
Edwin Ruiz class of ninety three. Welcome to Aftgate, my brother.

Speaker 7 (04:51):
Thank you, thank you, honor, and it's so pleasure to
be here. It's good to seeing the both of you. Man,
It's been a long time, but this is uh, you know,
I feel less to be here and I'm just I'm
grateful and thankful and I'm grateful and finally, you know,
we were able to hook up and do this.

Speaker 8 (05:05):
Man, this is this is really cool.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Appreciate you, my brother, and so definitely we always start
off the show with a sense of for our listeners,
is this somebody we know? Is this somebody we have
previous contact with so they can appreciate as we're going in,
are we learning about this person or do we actually
know a little bit about them? And this is a

(05:28):
case listeners that we actually were on campus for two years,
and not just on campus, but this was definitely somebody
that we knew. Very good brother, you know. And actually,
as I was kind of I don't do a lot
of preparation for the shows at all, I'll be honest
with you, right, but I do kind of reflect, especially
when it's people that we know, and like, man, what

(05:50):
do you remember about Ed? My memory of Ed is
just simply very good person, good heart, honest, integrity, caring
about the community. Like those are just the things that
I just remember about Ed. Like just and again, you know,
you might just be I don't know who you are now.

(06:13):
So I'm looking forward to learning at joke Joe jokes.
But as I refer back to, like, you know, what
was it like to go to school with this brother,
just have a very good memory of and strength, like
just a really good cat. And so looking forward to
learning because the thing that we know about these shows
is that while we might have went to school together,
the reality is don't really know a lot about what's

(06:34):
your history before Kolgate, and in this case, have even
less of what's going on after.

Speaker 7 (06:40):
So welcome to the show, Thank you, thank you, appreciate
that man, appreciate that. You know, it's always hard to
hear good things about yourself. Sometimes it's really weird.

Speaker 5 (06:50):
I do.

Speaker 8 (06:51):
It means a lot to me, Thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (06:52):
Well, well on that note, because I have to.

Speaker 6 (06:59):
Yeah out and they moving in the same space all
the time, you know, with the boars that were still
on right or Die's my dude.

Speaker 5 (07:06):
But all had different you know, at times in.

Speaker 6 (07:09):
Different lanes and but but but it's one thousand percent
everything that Alvin said, so that there's there's a definite
uh sincerity about the impression that you left that I
agree with everything he said. I always thought you were
very serious like about your business, and I didn't know
if it was a side of you know, coming in

(07:32):
as a freshman and you're trying to trying to figure
figure things out, right, because now you now you little
fish in a big pond, right. I know a little
bit about you can't wait away wait, I know a
little bit about pre koge and we're just you know, weren't.

Speaker 5 (07:43):
On the street that you know. Mcconnas has got to me.

Speaker 6 (07:45):
But at the end of the day, you are another
Latino on campus, you know you and you are a
big dude and.

Speaker 5 (07:50):
I remember just being like, yo, when he.

Speaker 6 (07:54):
Comes into self and his greatness, they're not gonna be
ready for him because you already had to carry a
soft spirit because you were a big dude that was
intimidating just by being in the room, like there's not
there's big, and then there's like you're not going unnoticed,
right and so and yet how you manage that is

(08:18):
in and of itself something that unless you live in
those shoes, you really don't understand that dynamic because you
always gotta be two or three kind of chess moves
ahead of everybody else because you already know what you're
walking into with the intellect.

Speaker 5 (08:33):
And the swag that I know you got.

Speaker 6 (08:35):
I was just like I was excited about catching them
after thirty two years because I saw it.

Speaker 5 (08:40):
Then now I get to hear about it.

Speaker 7 (08:43):
Oh my god, you know you pegged it, Jerry. I
think you hit it right on the head. You nailed it.
Being a big guy was and this is through high
school and all the way you know, going back is
I've always felt like, like you said, I walk into
a room and people are intimidating. So I always felt
like I always had to make sure people or you're
gonna be okay. Don't worry about me. I'm a good guy.

(09:05):
You're gonna be okay. So there's a lot of that
for me, and it really shaped a lot of how
I interacted with people and really shaped a lot about
how I became who I am, you know, but also
pulled me away from being a force, you know, like
you said, eventually becoming a force.

Speaker 5 (09:24):
You know.

Speaker 7 (09:24):
I had to learn to do that because I was
always so humble that I I diminished. I kind of
diminished myself a little bit, and.

Speaker 8 (09:32):
I had to learn. Have you learned?

Speaker 5 (09:34):
Beautiful story? Beautiful story? Beautiful story.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
So let's let's let's get a sense of how ED
became the that showed up at Koviate. Right, so you're
a class of ninety three, you graduate high school eighty nine.

Speaker 5 (09:46):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
So walk us back until when you think about those years,
the late eighties, mid eighties, Give us something, what you remember,
Give us a sense of what's the politics, Give us
where are you from?

Speaker 6 (09:59):
Give us all of that high school, all that, all that.

Speaker 7 (10:05):
Go all right, I got you, that's easy, right there, man,
So I go back eighty eighty, ninety seventy six. You know,
it was interesting because when I went to high school.
I went to high school. I did ninth grade in
high school. Was the first year New York City did
high school ninth graders in high school. I was part
of a group that was still ninth grade at the
middle school, and then there was a group of ninth
graders at the high school.

Speaker 6 (10:25):
And there was that intermediate like when you had six,
seventh eighth or seventh eighth, ninth it was seven through
ninth exactly.

Speaker 7 (10:32):
So this was that year they started to experiment with
moving ninth graders into the high school, and I was
one of the first classes that went into the high school.

Speaker 8 (10:38):
My brother was real happy about it.

Speaker 5 (10:39):
But where'd you go to high school?

Speaker 7 (10:41):
I went to high school Lafiet High School in Brooklyn.
I grew up and worn and raised in Brooklyn. I
was raised in East New York, Brooklyn. First, my parents
moved to Gravesend, which is near Coney Island, and that's
up in Lafayette. They did not want me to go
to school in Eastern New York. So middle school, they
were like, we got to get out of here. So
they moved. We ended up and we moved to the Project.
So we moved from a tenement to a project like

(11:05):
at a neighborhood believe it or not at the time
at the time, you know, So that's how it ended up.
I ended up going to Cavallero Middle School Joseph B.
Cavallero to eighty one, and then from there I went
to I went to I only did two years, like
two years then and then I went to high school
right away, ninth grade High school in Brooklyn. What do
I remember, man, Shoot high School was great. I mean

(11:26):
it was cool, you know.

Speaker 8 (11:28):
Played football.

Speaker 5 (11:28):
Give us a demographic. Remember what that community was like.

Speaker 7 (11:33):
The probably one of the most diverse communities. It was
very interesting growing up in Brooklyn at that time and
going to Lafayette. So if I had stayed in East
New York, it would have been black Latino for the
most part, just straight up. I mean it was it
was hoodla was different. Lafi a lot of Italians, a

(11:56):
lot of Asians, then a lot of Latinos and blacks.

Speaker 8 (12:00):
We came us.

Speaker 7 (12:01):
The people of color came from the projects else and
there were people were taking the trains coming to school,
so we had I mean, it was the mix was crazy.

Speaker 5 (12:10):
I was.

Speaker 8 (12:11):
It was a big school. I think we had over.
I mean we had a lot of I don't remember
the numbers, but it was big. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (12:17):
La Fiette is a big school. I think i'll graduating
class was for five hundred kids. I would assume it
was a lot. It was big. It was yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah, what do you remember about New York City that time?
Because New York City was in an interesting space from
the police brutality. A lot happened in New York night.

Speaker 8 (12:38):
Yeah, those years.

Speaker 7 (12:39):
It was interesting because I remember the crack epidemic and
I remember it happening like I remember, this is what
I said. So when we moved to the projects, projects
were great, it was cool.

Speaker 8 (12:50):
Man, overnight it changed.

Speaker 7 (12:52):
It changed like overnight, bro, Like all of a sudden,
I see crack bills everywhere. Things are dirtier now, a
lot more violence, Like it started to get really crazy.
And now we're here, Like it's like, yo, we moved
here for a reason, right, you know, I'm going to
school now I can't. It's not like my parents can
up and leave again. So it was interesting to watch
that transformation. Man, it just it was like a metamorphosis

(13:15):
and it was almost happened very fast. Yeah, I think
crack hit the community very hard, very quick.

Speaker 5 (13:21):
And blinded.

Speaker 7 (13:22):
It blindsided a lot of people. And I remember just
seeing crack vowels everywhere, just everywhere. Wow, And you could
feel it, like you just felt the difference right away.
So around I would say, around like eighty eighty five,
eighty you know, three eighty four started to really go downhill.

Speaker 8 (13:40):
Yeah, really did. Yeah, it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
How did you hear about Kogie.

Speaker 7 (13:44):
My guidance counselor when I was playing football? So now
I'm trying to you know, I'm trying to go to school.
Now I'm trying to figure out what I'm gonna do. Do
I want to play? I loved football, but sports was
never my like my love, my passion. I just I
only played football because my brother was like, you better play.
You're too big, you can't and the coaches will see me.
So Jerry just described me earlier. Coaches are seeing me
in the hallway and they're like.

Speaker 8 (14:05):
Yo, yeah you got to play with you on the team.

Speaker 7 (14:09):
You playing, And then man, my brothers like you're playing.
I'm all right, So I play. And then I ended
up loving it, like I ended up really love it,
and then never watched I was center. I played central
and offensive tackle. So offensive tackle was my main position.
But I would center, not center, nose tackle. Sorry, so
the offensive offensive line, right tackle, and nose guard on

(14:33):
occasional def But man, I tell you, I did not
want to play. I didn't like Monday night football because
it interfere with magiva I like to watch on Mondays. Yeah,
Monday night football would hit and I would be mad.
So I hated it. I hated football until I got
into it late, but then I ended up loving it.

Speaker 5 (14:50):
Man.

Speaker 8 (14:50):
I was like, yo, this is dope.

Speaker 5 (14:52):
I was was Was your school a big sports school? Like?
Was it? Yeah? Football?

Speaker 7 (14:57):
Football was the sport. Baseball we had a pretty good
baseball team too, and I wanted to play baseball. I'm Dominican,
so so just to go back a little bit, my
parents are both Dominican born and the public Dominicana in
Santo Domingo.

Speaker 8 (15:11):
They're from the capitol, both of them.

Speaker 7 (15:13):
They moved to the States and then you know, they
they got together in the States. Actually they met they
met at a they met at a party in Washington Heights.

Speaker 5 (15:21):
I mean, how did I was gonna say, you know,
the Heights is gonna come up at some point?

Speaker 8 (15:25):
How anything can that story be right there?

Speaker 5 (15:27):
Man?

Speaker 8 (15:27):
They met the.

Speaker 5 (15:28):
Party and that's that Roo and Juliette.

Speaker 7 (15:33):
And so that's how they got together, and then you know,
I came about so yeah. So for me, baseball was it.

Speaker 5 (15:38):
Man.

Speaker 7 (15:39):
My father not a big Yankee fan, so we were
just like you know, in the seventies, think about it.
That was the Yankees in the seventies, seventy six seven,
So it was crazy, man. So so yeah, that's when
I first off was baseball, and I ended to playing
football and then Kogate. The way I heard about Kogate
was through And it was funny because I actually went
to visit Lafiat College.

Speaker 8 (16:00):
Tony Brook.

Speaker 7 (16:01):
I've visited a couple of other places, and I honestly
never thought I would get into Kogate. And then when
I did get in, I'm looking at how much it costs.
I'm like, I can't afford this, Like I'm not going,
and they coki kept calling, are you coming? Are you coming?
I'm like nah, nah, They kept calling and I would
just ignore it. And I spoke to my cousin and
she was like, ed, that's a great school. I was like, yeah,

(16:23):
I heard it's good, but its courts a lot. She said,
they'll give you student loans, you just pay back later, Like,
don't worry about it. They will make they'll figure it out.
I didn't have anyone in my life to walk me
through this. My parents didn't graduate.

Speaker 5 (16:33):
It's called generation.

Speaker 8 (16:35):
Even though my brother was older.

Speaker 7 (16:38):
He went to trade school, he didn't go to and
then he went to college after. He actually went to
college after me, and he was too older than me.
So I was the first and I'm just like, I
have no idea how any of this works. You know,
I'm New York City public school. Even the guidance counselors
they're not really they're good, they're okay, but they're not really.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
Like they're really just trying to get you out of
high school.

Speaker 8 (16:58):
They're really just trying to get you out of high school.

Speaker 7 (17:00):
When they heard I got into Kogate, the guidance counsel
was like, what, I was a good student.

Speaker 8 (17:06):
I was a good student. I did good. My grades
were good.

Speaker 7 (17:08):
I wasn't like a top top student, but I was
definitely at the top of in that ten percent top
of the class, maybe fifteen percent.

Speaker 8 (17:15):
And I was taking ap class. I was taking a
lot of you know.

Speaker 5 (17:18):
Like what do you call it?

Speaker 7 (17:19):
Like, Yeah, so I was a decent student. I was good,
but my essat scores weren't great, none of that. You know,
it's in the city school. I'm not trying to bash it,
but it is what.

Speaker 5 (17:28):
It is, is what it is.

Speaker 7 (17:30):
It is what it is. And so I ended up
getting into Coogate. And what happened was the last day
before you had to make a decision. That last day
I spoke to my cousin made the day before. She said,
you gotta take it, you gotta go. I was like,
I called them the last day of acceptance and I said,
And that's how I ended up COVID. Never visited to campus.
I never did to you, didn't go to some fresh weekend, nothing,

(17:52):
bro nothing.

Speaker 8 (17:53):
I just went.

Speaker 7 (17:54):
I just said, this is the best school I got in.
My cousin says, they're gonna they're gonna help me out.
Guess what the financial it came through. I was like,
I was like, oh my god, my parents don't have
to pay for a lot of this. I was like, God,
this is great. So man, it was after that the
rocket on the back I was, I was.

Speaker 8 (18:13):
I was headed, kovie, that's what's.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
O us were you part of the summer program.

Speaker 7 (18:19):
I was part of the summer program of o US.
Back then it was six weeks. Yeah, uh yeah, yeah,
six week program.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
Anything memorable, anything you remember about that summer?

Speaker 5 (18:28):
First of all, where did they have y'all? Where did
y'all stay? Because every year we move it around.

Speaker 7 (18:33):
Bro, I'm trying to think if we were. I don't
think we were in HRC. We were, I'm trying to
remember if it was, I could picture it.

Speaker 5 (18:41):
I don't think it was HRC, but it was in
that in that Brian complex.

Speaker 8 (18:44):
It was a Brian complex.

Speaker 5 (18:46):
It was.

Speaker 8 (18:46):
It just wasn't in HRC. But man, that was one
of the best times of my life.

Speaker 5 (18:51):
Bro.

Speaker 7 (18:53):
I met some of my best friends there. Like, how
do you not you know what I'm saying? Like it
was for me coming from the Inn City.

Speaker 8 (19:01):
Now, I was lucky.

Speaker 7 (19:03):
Even in my high school, I was proud of programs
that would take us out of the state, go to
different like amusement parks, different places, and took us around.
So I at least had some experience about not just
because a lot of us in New York we don't
go nowhere.

Speaker 8 (19:14):
We literally stay in the block.

Speaker 5 (19:18):
The whole time, So it.

Speaker 7 (19:20):
Was really nice to get out and and do that.
So then when I went to Kovie, it was like,
oh wow, like everything is freaking green.

Speaker 5 (19:28):
Like I was in awe.

Speaker 7 (19:30):
I was, honestly, I was in all the place. And
then being in in Brian complex and meeting everybody, it
was just real new to me.

Speaker 8 (19:37):
I was real shy.

Speaker 7 (19:38):
I just stayed in the corner to myself and mind you.
I got there late that day. I flew in and
I remember Orlando went to pick me up at the airport.
Orlando Perry picked me up at the airport. I flew
in to Syracuse. He picked me up at the airport,
came back, and so I'm like one of the last
people to show up. So now these people are already
bonding and I'm walking into this thing. Like the first

(20:04):
person to greet me Natasha Redwood.

Speaker 8 (20:08):
Hi, I'm Natasha. It was hilarious.

Speaker 6 (20:13):
She was like, I'm gonna get to know the biggest
guy in the room because I'm the smallest one in
the room.

Speaker 5 (20:18):
This is gonna be a great, good action exactly.

Speaker 7 (20:21):
So that was the first person that greeted me when
I walked in. It was as funny as hell. That
I can never forget that. And so that's basically how
it was. Man, I just started to get to know people.
Trying to remember who my roommate was. Oh, who was
my roommate? It might have been was it Doug?

Speaker 8 (20:35):
I can't remember. I'm trying to really remember who my
roommate was that.

Speaker 4 (20:44):
I told him.

Speaker 8 (20:44):
I told him, I said, Yo, you gotta do this, man.

Speaker 7 (20:46):
So I tried to get him the kid on. But
as we call d money, so D I think I'm
just trying to I can't remember who my roommate was.

Speaker 5 (20:57):
Bro, do you remember what clas I said, you took
that summer? Like, you know, how was that transition? Did
you feel it was hard?

Speaker 8 (21:06):
New York City Public School did not prepare.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
Me for COVID. The A B classes wasn't matter.

Speaker 7 (21:14):
New York City apuburb ap it did not remember taking
doctor Howards class was humbling.

Speaker 8 (21:25):
Tom Howards class was humbling. I thought I could write.
I had to take the writing class.

Speaker 7 (21:31):
I needed that he as you know, we all took
that class and it was humbling, bro, Like it was like, oh,
I thought that new stuff. I mean, I got back
my first paper. It was the reddest thing I've ever
seen in Hello.

Speaker 5 (21:43):
I think that's part.

Speaker 6 (21:44):
I think we've heard that so many times. I think
that that's part of building to the knock them off
their horse. The first assignment, just to let them know
to scene where.

Speaker 5 (21:54):
They came from.

Speaker 8 (21:57):
That was hard.

Speaker 7 (21:57):
And then of course when the semester started, I had
to take that. I had to take that half credit
writing course the rest that first, just to keep up.

Speaker 8 (22:06):
Man, it was, it was, it was. It was humbling, man,
everything your first year.

Speaker 7 (22:10):
I did, I stayed. I think I was HRC my
first three years. If I'm not mistaken, I don't.

Speaker 8 (22:15):
I did HRC.

Speaker 7 (22:17):
I was a life for the last then. But yeah,
it was that's all you great experience. The summer program
was amazing. Man, it really was a lot.

Speaker 8 (22:26):
It took up. It was a lot of learning. Got
a remember to.

Speaker 7 (22:31):
New York City public schools don't talk about what's going
on in the world for real, for real. I just
started really like I was a hip hop head.

Speaker 3 (22:39):
Oh yeah, I remember that.

Speaker 8 (22:42):
Yeah, I got stories. I remember you giving me a tape.
I remember you came up. Yeah, I came up in
the summer, and I think you had and I'm trying
to remember. It was ep m D. But I'm pretty
sure it was nice and smooth.

Speaker 7 (22:53):
You had a tape and I dubbed it so freaking
excited and so happy freaking love nice and smooth, and
I was and Carlton.

Speaker 8 (23:03):
Carlton brands con Yeah, yeah, my boy.

Speaker 7 (23:07):
Now that might have been after school started, because Carlton
didn't come to the summer program, so it might have
been after that.

Speaker 8 (23:12):
Yeah, but he hated them.

Speaker 7 (23:14):
I was like, bro, this scoop is awesome final, Like
I was one of the first people on them, like,
this group is amazing, and I was, that's funny when
you think about.

Speaker 6 (23:22):
How music is shared now, right and and and yet
to come up on a tape on a cassette was like,
get that.

Speaker 7 (23:32):
And I remember I remember you were like you I
want that back, and I remember I remember taking the
tape and don't you know you can high speed up? Yeah,
I prepped the high speed I'll picked click click. It
was crazy. I remember that like vividly for some reason.
And I rocked that tape like forever after that.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
Man, it was you did a radio show.

Speaker 8 (23:52):
That's a classic story. I jumped in on people's radio shows.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
Okay the radio station, did you know what I'm saying,
Like you.

Speaker 8 (24:00):
So I'll be on there, like Dave O would do
a radio show. So I sit there with davidka might
do something. I just sit there with them. I just
I just tried to participate.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
I wasn't like the Dave Oh another one that needs
to jump on the show. We need to get that
brother on the cab. So what did you major in?
What was your major?

Speaker 7 (24:18):
My major ended up well, I started out as And
it's funny because listening to some of the I was like,
oh man, we all have a similar story.

Speaker 6 (24:27):
You know.

Speaker 7 (24:27):
I was pre mad, you know, you know I'm about
to be a doctor. I'm about to do this. My
parents are so proud of me.

Speaker 5 (24:38):
You know.

Speaker 8 (24:38):
I love the sciences until I took the Sciences of
Kobe and then I was like, yeah, this is not.

Speaker 7 (24:46):
I was overwhelmed the speed at Whish when the topic
I just can't keep up.

Speaker 8 (24:52):
I was like, this is not for me. And the love,
whatever love I had was gone quick, right right right right,
dream gone. And that was tough.

Speaker 7 (25:03):
But you know what, early on I did make the
adjustment and I got out of there. You know, that
first semester I was out. I was like this is
not gonna work. So I ended up in religion major
because I ended up taking every freaking class from doctor Sandima.
So then by that time I was I was like,
you know what, I'm gonna be a religion, philosophy, religion.
I finished out with an educational minor, and that I

(25:23):
knew I was going to go into education. I knew that,
but but by the time I looked at my credit spread,
I was like, I'm gonna have just finished this.

Speaker 8 (25:29):
I can still later in the math did the math
the math.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Credits, and.

Speaker 8 (25:37):
I liked it. It was fun, it was good. It
was good, and myself and I had Doc who was
riding my which is what.

Speaker 5 (25:43):
You're supposed to do. You're supposed to mind that one
professor and.

Speaker 7 (25:47):
Just met you on my mentor period between him and
Charles Rice, forgett. I already know doctor Rice was on me.
They were all on me, man, and I think what
you said earlier, Jerry. You know they saw something in
me that I didn't see myself. A lot of people
always see to me that I just never saw in myself.
And I'm grateful because those people really helped me find myself.

(26:12):
You know, they really pushed me in ways that I needed.
I think it's always something I've always needed and wanted,
and I gravitate myself towards it, even though I try
to resist it. But there's another part of me that says,
you need it, you need it, stay on it. And
because I could have easily ran away from both of them,
I could have easily been like, nah, I ain't listening
to y'all.

Speaker 5 (26:29):
And they're not easy. No, they're not They're not easy.

Speaker 6 (26:32):
And many times I felt like they had to be
extra hard on us, not because there was any obligation
to the university, but they just wanted more from us.

Speaker 5 (26:42):
They wanted us to be greater. And they were going
to be like, you don't know how far you could be.

Speaker 7 (26:46):
Stressed, so we're gonna stretch you oo many And they did,
man and and again like the Life Lessons man.

Speaker 8 (26:53):
And you know what, I was learning a lot about
black culture.

Speaker 7 (26:55):
I was learning about things that were never taught in school,
and my eyes were being I just couldn't understand.

Speaker 8 (27:01):
I was I didn't learn any of this, Like where.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
Does what is?

Speaker 6 (27:04):
What?

Speaker 5 (27:04):
Is all?

Speaker 6 (27:05):
This?

Speaker 8 (27:07):
Would have been lying this whole time, have been lying, Yo,
I'm mad. I was that was heated. Man. I was like, yo,
this is this is messed up. They don't tell us.

Speaker 7 (27:14):
I didn't learn and you know, being around you know,
we were a small community, so for us, like we
became very tight, but we learned much. That was like
revelation and the only reason and I think one of
the reasons why I didn't realize how radical my father
was and Kogate. So my dad would talk this radical
stuff like, yo, they know the white man and I'm
not trying to dis white people or that like that

(27:36):
was just saying, like you start learning about yourself, it
starts to become this whole thing. Like my dad would
know these things, he would know the politics, and I
stayed away from it.

Speaker 8 (27:44):
Even in high school. I didn't want to.

Speaker 7 (27:45):
I never touched that. I never talked about that. Everybody's everybody.
Everybody loves everybody. You know, we're all human, you know
d D. When I went to Kogate, man, it opened
my eyes and then I thought back, I said, damn,
my father knows about this stuff. That's when I knew, Man,
you ain't got to go to you're to be educated.
That was my first lesson.

Speaker 5 (28:04):
Man.

Speaker 7 (28:04):
Like I look back and I was like damn Pops
was on it, man, my pop my mother was very
much like me. Everybody's everybody love it. My dad would
be he'd be around the table with you military domino, spewing, spewing, spewing,
and I'm not really, I'm not really taking it in,
Like I'm like, I hear it, but I'm not. It's

(28:25):
not registering until.

Speaker 6 (28:26):
You didn't have the context of history and identity that
that you found that that Colgate was.

Speaker 5 (28:31):
Well, let's be clear that that doctor ted that chas
Rice was about correct.

Speaker 7 (28:37):
And once I got that knowledge, boy, it was like on.
After that then everything makes sense, like hip hop making
everything started to me. And then hip hop was the
other edge. Remember hip hop taught us right I started.
I fell in love with hip hop with one song,
You're Gonna Love You're Gonna Love this. Up until then
in the eighties, as you know, we listened to everything, Yeah, Genesis,

(28:59):
Phil Collins like we listen everything, ah like you can
Name It, and hip hop and run DMC.

Speaker 8 (29:04):
They were it was all mixed together. Video Music Box
played all of it.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
So shout out to Ralph mcdooniel's.

Speaker 8 (29:13):
And I tell you a story about that too. So
they so you know, you learned a lot.

Speaker 7 (29:17):
The song that really made me fall in love with
hip hop with that moment where I said, hip hop
is my music, It's kras one.

Speaker 8 (29:24):
My philosophy, my philosophy stop.

Speaker 7 (29:28):
When I heard that song, Bro, I said, Yo, it
changed my life. Like I said, d right there, I said,
I don't want to listen to nothing else. I don't
want to listen to South Side of It, ain't get
I just wanted to listen to this. And I tell you, man,
that song really opened my eyes for a lot of things.
And then now hip hop was like I became exclusively
like a hip hop head after that, and I listened

(29:49):
to everything that was out Ryan Dmc, I listened to everything,
but that song in particular really solidified it for me.
So going to Koge, now all these things are happening
at the same time. So you gotta imagine Fresh for
eighty eight. So he did that song in eighty eight,
So now eighty nine, I'm going to COVID so you
can see the connections where all of these things are
starting to converge at the same time for me, and

(30:12):
I'm like, oh my god, now I'm learning and now I'm.

Speaker 8 (30:15):
Really taking it in.

Speaker 5 (30:16):
You're open ya open.

Speaker 8 (30:19):
The music got x Klan, we got public. You know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 7 (30:23):
So now all these all these groups is now teaching me,
and I'm now I'm in school and they're teaching me,
and I'm in an intellectual place and I'm learning there
as well, and I'm just like, yo, this is.

Speaker 8 (30:33):
Unbelievable, like any of this stuff. And so that was
my metamorphosis.

Speaker 7 (30:38):
That change really came about in that eighty eighty seven
eighty eighty nine time frame, especially eighty eight eighty nine,
where it really like.

Speaker 8 (30:46):
Changed how I saw the world. It changed how I
saw the world.

Speaker 6 (30:49):
Really when you think about in retrospect to the four years,
I mean, you've definitely shared a lot and it's been
nice because it's covered a couple of different lansans. Well,
what do you classify as your you know, reflective highlights
or moments? You know, I mean there's a lot, but
like whether it's academic, whether it's social, whether it's personal development.

(31:12):
When you think of Coogate in its entirety, what are
the things that really stand out for you as like
your victories?

Speaker 7 (31:20):
My victories is you know, I filled out my third
year or so second or third year, I failed out
and I had to write this passionate letter and I
remember running going to Coney Island because I was home
at the time, and basically I have to write an appeal.

Speaker 8 (31:39):
And I sat there and I said, ed, what do
you want to do with your life? Like for real,
like where are you going?

Speaker 7 (31:44):
You know that was pre med and I failed a
few classes, so now you know, I'm having to catch up.
And I remember sitting on the on the boardwalk and
I started writing, and I just I knew I wanted
to do something education and that's when I started to
really understand like okay, and I don't know. It's probably
the best that I ever wrote in my life because
they allowed me back in so I didn't lose any time.

(32:07):
I had to do classes. But the appeal worked. And
I think doctor sin Demon Charles Rice was behind the scenes,
you know, in the strings. But once I figured out
what I wanted to do, everything flu. I think I
had one of the highest GPAs after coming back because
I was focused. I understood my purpose, I understood what
I wanted to do. I started to really take it

(32:29):
seriously and then I was doing something life. So now
I'm doing my religious classes and I'm doing education classes,
and everything is now starting to come together.

Speaker 5 (32:36):
Learning is a whole different ball game.

Speaker 8 (32:40):
And I learned to write.

Speaker 7 (32:41):
Doctor Howard taught me how to write, and his wife,
you know, they they were really good and instrumental in
making sure that I So now my writing is better.
Everything like again, things started to come together at the
same time, and I was so grateful they let me
back and I was able to graduate with my with
my class because it looking like I was gonna have
to wait another year, so I had to tick a
couple of extra classes.

Speaker 8 (33:02):
And what stands out is just the people.

Speaker 7 (33:06):
You guys, everybody just everything is vivid, even just talking
about it now, going to going to Nigeria for instance.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
You know, talk about that were so I don't know
if you've listened to Tanika Williams shall Oh, No, I
have not.

Speaker 5 (33:22):
I'm going to have it.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
She tells a story on her episode because she went
to Nigeria with y'all. So she tells this story about
a birthday party that she that they threw that you
and Calton were the DJs. So I'd like to hear
your version of that story because it's probably one of
the most. It is definitely in the classic story shared

(33:44):
on after Gate.

Speaker 5 (33:46):
Oh man, I.

Speaker 8 (33:46):
Wish that okay, so you know I finished, I'm listening
to that.

Speaker 5 (33:49):
Okay.

Speaker 7 (33:49):
So but we threw a party upstairs. Okay, so we
were downstairs. I don't know who was upstairs. We were upstairs.
They're called flats, so we in these flash nicely. They
were like apartments. Basically, they had us, they had a
considering where we were. They had us hooked up. So
upstairs we had a party. We held this party. We

(34:11):
were DJing, we had Carlton had all the CDs.

Speaker 8 (34:13):
We're playing and so it was great. We were having
a great time. So these dudes came and they were
like wanting to get in, but they were troublemakers and
y'all can't get in, Like literally, did we know these
are some real like.

Speaker 7 (34:33):
And we were like, nah, I'm from New York, I'm Brooklyn,
Like you ain't coming in with my boy called and
I stood right in front, y'all not coming, and we
don't care. I don't care who you are, Like this
is this was the conversation.

Speaker 6 (34:47):
Yo.

Speaker 7 (34:47):
Oh man, I gotta I gotta think back. This is
I just remember it being crazy. I just getting real heated.
I think as a if y'all remember he was the
exchange student who from Nigeria. Okay, get he stayed for
a semester and then we met up back up with
him and we went to Oh he was a local.

Speaker 5 (35:08):
He was a local local.

Speaker 8 (35:09):
You have to come and like piece it out a
little bit. It was all I say was tense. We
have that we had. We were ready to We were
ready to throw down. Man, it was about to go
down for real, for.

Speaker 5 (35:22):
Lud.

Speaker 8 (35:25):
We're in theyhood and we acting like we're in our hood.

Speaker 5 (35:27):
Right.

Speaker 8 (35:28):
When you think back on it, I'm like, I'm surprised
we're still alive today. We were like hard. We thought
we were the hardest motherfuckers. Part of my friends.

Speaker 5 (35:38):
We edited, you know what I mean.

Speaker 8 (35:40):
Like so it was yo, I now want to listen
to me.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
Please listen to it. Yeah, ahead, listen to it. She
gives plenty, she gives. She tells the story. You gave
a little more details, but definitely she she tells her
from the perspective, you know, vanished points. Is everything right?
So she tells the perspect it was her birthday party.
She's like, right, all right, So that's how she's telling
the story. She's like, and she's telling it so she's like, man,

(36:04):
you know, we're throwing his party. It could be so big.
All these people are coming. It gets way too big.
Calton and DJ Yo, they probably legends over there. Now
they had these DJs, Calton and this other dupe big
and they was killing it and then so definitely, definitely

(36:24):
a great story.

Speaker 7 (36:26):
It was fun, but overall was fun. And you know
what happened, we became good friends with those guys, Like
afterward talk. We had a nice conversation and it was
she stood out and after that we were we woul
see each other on campus. We were chill with each other, like,
and we and those guys got along great after that.
It was just one of those moments we just I
didn't thankfully, it didn't escalated to what it could have.

(36:49):
I'm just grateful someone's always someone's always looking.

Speaker 6 (36:52):
It's an amazing how we often say, you know that
young people become products of their environment, right, and even
you know, in most cases it's not a compliment, right,
but even in the arrogance of just knowing you from Brooklyn, right,
and from Brooklyn, we don't.

Speaker 5 (37:07):
Don't care where we'll put it, save you from the Bronx.
Even right now, I'm walking in the street and someone
let them like, yo, you know me, look at it
that you know me? Like cool?

Speaker 6 (37:15):
I got to ask you because I don't feel comfortable
if you're looking at me. I'm not worried about you
jacking me, but why you looking at me like that?
And that's that's you know, trauma, that Bronx trauma.

Speaker 8 (37:27):
No, it's for real, man, it's for real.

Speaker 7 (37:29):
So that was us, you know, being young and dumb
and just a little bit out of our element and
trying to bring that that little bit. But you know,
your pride gets involved, that's the problem. And you're man,
you know, like you're gonna you know, and.

Speaker 8 (37:43):
We're rocking the ones and dudes.

Speaker 5 (37:45):
You're coming in.

Speaker 8 (37:47):
You can't come in. It's like that. It was out
of hand.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
Bro That what she said. She said, And then she
said she almost got sent home because they were like,
so who gave me permis? Throw party?

Speaker 8 (38:00):
Oh man? It got serious, ru Oh my god, it
was scary.

Speaker 5 (38:05):
It was crazy, y'all. Left y'all mark on kogate uh
in more ways than one. Because you know, I got
back to campus. You know the professor that was out.

Speaker 6 (38:13):
There where got back?

Speaker 5 (38:15):
Who was the chaperone? Professor? Do you remember?

Speaker 7 (38:18):
I don't want to say it wasn't bad to get
I think bad guess was supposed to be. It ended
up being the guy. I don't know if he was
Haitian or damn, I forget his name.

Speaker 5 (38:27):
Oh guy, nobody heard it from him ever again again.

Speaker 8 (38:30):
After that.

Speaker 5 (38:34):
He disappeared.

Speaker 8 (38:35):
That guy so spoken, man, I forget his name. That
we can find out. It was crazy.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
What extracurriculums were you involved in.

Speaker 7 (38:46):
I did do a little bit of track shot putting,
very little. I started out it was fun and then
I was like, eh, not my thing. Also that's curriculus involved,
you know, stuff with Dan Tyler when we were part
of the central thing like off away. Yeah, it was
like Wade, that was man, that was amazing. That was
a lot of what I did.

Speaker 8 (39:06):
Trying to remember, you know, I did w I mean,
I did refunk, you know, I was That was a
lot of fun.

Speaker 7 (39:12):
I always enjoyed. I wasn't much of a DJ, but
I enjoyed the whole the whole thing. Like I just
carried the equipment.

Speaker 5 (39:18):
We set it up do you do you remember any
major because was pretty involved.

Speaker 7 (39:25):
Was really involved. Yeah, yeah, they were. They were like
real into it. So I just hung out with them,
like we just we just did it together.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
It was a body on the team. That's utility. What
you need to do.

Speaker 7 (39:38):
I'm going great speakers the door what By the way,
those speakers were very expensive. I found out later those
are still to this day.

Speaker 5 (39:46):
People huge speakers.

Speaker 7 (39:49):
Those wouldn't those wouldn't work when you look them up online.
They're still very expensive. People claming for them joints. So
that was crazy, man.

Speaker 8 (39:57):
Fun.

Speaker 6 (39:57):
Do you remember if y'all had like a major group
come up up or they the major party or concert y'all?

Speaker 8 (40:03):
Yeah, so now we funk we're bringing concerts in. So
where did we start?

Speaker 5 (40:07):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (40:08):
We were instrumental and almost in a tribe callquest if
that party?

Speaker 6 (40:16):
Yo.

Speaker 7 (40:17):
Everybody and their mother came out. We had tribes signed.
We we we signed tribe before they became. So we
heard the buzzer tribe. We signed them to come to Kogate.
They were coming. We advertised it, We had it out.
It was crazy. Pull of presidents every school around came out.

(40:38):
The place was packed.

Speaker 8 (40:40):
They got lost on the Yo, We're on the phone with.

Speaker 7 (40:45):
These dudes like YO and Carlton. I remember the call
to to somebody's like, Yo, they got lost. They got
they went to Albany. I don't know where they went.
They ended up upstate New York. They were lost.

Speaker 8 (40:57):
They got lost coming to Kogate and that was that
was Yo.

Speaker 7 (41:01):
We almost had a try court quest at a point
where after Benita Applebaum and they hit checked the rhyme
loaned up. So we signed them before they blew up.
But we got them at a good rate and I
was so we ended up throwing a big party. It
sucked and they didn't make it out, but we talked
to them on the phone. They were like here we

(41:22):
still coming, Like, nah, man, turn around, it's too late
now the party was over.

Speaker 8 (41:25):
It was man. That was a tough one man to lose.
But we also bought in Kwame. We bought it k solo.
Trying to remember, Oh, poor righteous teachers. We did those guys.
It was no man. That was fun times bro Oh
my god.

Speaker 7 (41:42):
They could eventually run. DMC came out, but that was
done by the other group. Yeah, so we had quite
quite a few groom. Trying to remember, there was anybody else,
dag Yo. It was those good times.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Man.

Speaker 7 (41:54):
You know, I loved talking to the artists. It was fun,
you know, talking to Kate because ep MD was my
favorite group. Okay, so coming out I got to talk
to them, you know, I got.

Speaker 8 (42:02):
To talk too, you know, his squad. It was kind
of fun. It was you know, stuff like that. Just
those are the things that stand out for me.

Speaker 5 (42:08):
Man.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
That's what's up. That's up. So we're gonna take a
pause right here so we can show some love to
our sponsor, and then we're gonna come back for the
second half of ours. We got the sponsors. We're doing
a big round here, big I like that. We'll be
back second half of this conversation with edwhen we class
at ninety three.

Speaker 4 (42:28):
So this episode is sponsored by Hope Murals. Hope Murals
is a nonprofit that provides adolescent youth with an interactive
experience of creative expression via an urban arts platform that
stimulates both mental and physical development. Please visit that website
at www dot murals dot org to learn more and

(42:50):
find ways you can support the work they do.

Speaker 3 (42:57):
Welcome back, Welcome back, We are here. Second half of
this conversation Looking forward to hearing more about what Ed
has been up to since he has graduated from Colgate
in ninety three. But before we get into that conversation,
I gotta take a moment to thank our sponsor, Hope Murals,
because we got nothing but love for Hope Murals, because

(43:18):
we truly appreciate all of the work that they're doing
with our youth. They are exposing them to the power
of urban arts. They're fostering their personal and creative development.
So if you're looking at sport an organization that's making
a meaningful impact, and I say impact, I mean impact,
be sure to check out Whole Murals. They are on
social media at Whole Murals their website Hoplemurals dot org.

(43:41):
So show them so love, make sure you learn more
about what they are doing to help shape the next
generation of leaders. Also, make sure you show some love
to our network, the fire Life Network at Go Defire
Life Cold. They have other podcasts on the site besides
after Gates, Emerging Lineup, Sports, Health and Wellness, a lot

(44:02):
of business opportunities show Life. Show some love to the
fire Life because they are doing anything. Only voice that
matters is yours. The five Life and a reminder that
you can find our show on all of your major
podcast streaming services Apple Pods, Spreaker, Spotify, our Heart we
are on all of them. Show some love and always

(44:22):
like to show some love to our guests because a
lot of our lums, the ones who are showing us
love and our listeners, we wouldn't have a show so
big up to all our guests. Now let's jump back
into the second half of this conversation. But before we
do that, I gotta ask you a question that we
kind of touched on it a little bit ed, but
I gotta get your thoughts because we want to go

(44:44):
a little deeper. So what I want to hear your
thoughts on is hip hop, right, and especially from someone
who has you talked about how hip hop has taught you,
how it impacted our life.

Speaker 5 (44:58):
And.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
I am honored to hear your memories of how we
connected and shared this culture that we love known as
hip hop. If you haven't read our book Shameless plug
Gene and I wrote a book Tourist in Your Own
Town that talks about the impact of hip hop on
your life, so available on Amazon. But really want to

(45:25):
get your thoughts on this as an educator, particularly because
I'm a believer that hip hop, if you are an educator,
should be a tool in your toolbox to engage our youth,
particularly from a perspective of we know that when done right,

(45:48):
hip hop can affirm all of the positive messages that
we want to instill in our youth. And as someone
who has had a positive connection with hip hop, I
love to get your thoughts on reflecting back how it's
impacted your life. Have you utilized it all as an educator,

(46:09):
and just talk about just the state of hip hop,
because that's just a big part of my life. I'm
just a hip hop ambassador for life.

Speaker 8 (46:17):
So break it down, brother, all right, I'll break it down.

Speaker 7 (46:21):
So you know, I go back again. And I told
you guys, like for me, that first eighties was filled
with a lot of different kind of music. Michael Jackson
all that, but like I said, when I heard My Philosophy,
one of the most educationally sound songs out there as
far as learning about yourself culturally all of that, that

(46:42):
was the That was the song that really defined like, Okay,
this is the genre of music that I'm going to
attach myself to.

Speaker 8 (46:51):
And it brought me a long way.

Speaker 7 (46:52):
I mean, like I said, everything converged at the right
time for me and my education, with my knowledge, my
understanding of who I am as a person of person
of color, black Latino or Afro Latino, and just understanding like,
oh wow, this this speaks to me. There's something about
this music that is telling me something, and it's teaching
me something and now and back then. You know, so

(47:13):
those who are listening today that are not from where
we came from. The music was so diverse. You had
fun hip hop, you had you had hardcore, and you
had educational all blended. And remember we threw parties and
you threw all those songs on. It was LLL, it
was Karris, Big Daddy Kane, you played, We played all
of that, and so it was an amazing time to

(47:36):
grow up. It's an amazing time to be a hip
hop head because it was so the music was so
rich and the music was so diverse. You could listen
to country, hip hop, you could listen to remember they
had slow jam hip hop, like you know, like it
was everything, and all of it played and all of
it was relevant. And so you know, you hip hop

(47:58):
to me as a tool for education for us growing
up in the eighties and the nineties. I think it
really defined at a lot of a lot of people today.
I think from that timeframe, I have a lot of
their knowledge based because of hip hop, and it's I'm
kind of sad that it's not like that anymore. I'm
sad that the music got so commercialized and so it

(48:20):
turns very sexual again, there's.

Speaker 8 (48:22):
Room for everything. I had no problem when it was
all mixed together. It was no problem.

Speaker 7 (48:27):
All Right, you have Uncle Luke doing what Uncle Luke does.
But you know what, I could balance that out with
Carris One. So I could balance that out with Exclaim.
I could balance that out with a lot of other things. Unfortunately,
today the music is taking a different turn, and so
as a tool what's beautiful as a tool for hip
hop today, for our youth. And one of the things
I noticed, especially on YouTube is the reaction videos, which

(48:49):
I like to watch a lot of reactions. I like
watching young people react to our music. And because of that,
I'm able to bring that to the schools, like So
I'll give you an example. So first let me go
about the reactions. So I'm watching young people react to
our music and they're blown away. They cannot believe the lyricism,
the creativity, the production, the beats that Like when you

(49:10):
watch YouTube reactors that are young listening to Big Daddy
Kane thing to you know, Okay Solo, whoever else, I
was a Kugi rap. That's the what I was looking for.
They're blown away. They're just blown away by the lyricism
and the creativity that went into that and that music.
To me, like, these are young when you think about it.

(49:33):
Biggie it was twenty something years old, and the ridiculous
lyricism that came out of that man, the cadence, the
way he put words together, pak all of these guys
like it's fun to watch. So to me, it shows
me that young people today can relate to the music.
They hear it and they're like, what I'm listening to
today doesn't sound anything like that. And what I'm listening

(49:56):
to today, they'll tell you, is garbage in the sense
that it's very samy now that that I mean, I
don't like some of the music today.

Speaker 5 (50:03):
I do.

Speaker 7 (50:04):
I do like, I enjoy it, but it's a different time.
So one of the things we did when and I
work in Asbury Park now a few years back, when
I was a principal.

Speaker 8 (50:15):
We bought uh.

Speaker 7 (50:17):
We bought in special Ed and came in and did
a workshop with our students in the summer where he
taught them how to write and produce.

Speaker 8 (50:25):
So now mind you, now you can produce on the laptop.

Speaker 5 (50:27):
It's like.

Speaker 8 (50:28):
So we bought a laptop and we started to put
a couple of beats together.

Speaker 7 (50:31):
We taught them about lyrics and writing, and we tied
it all into educational uh component. The superintendent at the time,
doctor Lamont Reppolette, who's currently the president of king University,
he he bought he brought him in to do a
concert in the Stone Pony and that began the relationship

(50:52):
and it was great. This summer we had we had
special Ed come in and work with the kids. They
produced a song. It was really cool and the kids
got to learn a lot about hip hop and what
it means and how powerful the music could be and
the creativity that it brings out in students. These young
people really got into, you know, writing down their lyrics,

(51:13):
really understanding what it is to rhyme but also tell
a story and be able to say something. Man, I
tell you, it crosses so many boundaries and so many
generations it's still powerful to this day.

Speaker 8 (51:27):
It's still to this day a very powerful tool. It's
unfortunately we don't get to use it as much.

Speaker 7 (51:30):
Because the politics of education today doesn't allow it in
the way that I would like to see it.

Speaker 8 (51:36):
So we had to do it in the summer program.
We have to kind of get creative or how to
do it.

Speaker 7 (51:39):
The curriculum they want you to pass state tests, so
you don't teachers can't be creative in the way that
I feel they should be allowed to allowed to be
so they can bring these kinds of things in. So
some schools do it as an extracurriculus, some schools as
a elective. But the power of hip hop is still there, man,
It's still relevant. It's still our music from our time

(52:03):
is still very, very relevant. And you're noticing some of
these guys are putting music out today. I mean, I'll
tell you Common and Oh my God, Common and Heat Rock,
Oh God do last album that tribe core Quest put out?

Speaker 5 (52:22):
Oh God?

Speaker 7 (52:24):
These guys are like, it's like, you know, they haven't
lost a step now. I'm waiting for Nas and Primo.
Yo dude, Premiere is my favorite producer of all time.
I can't even speak enough about Premiere. Everything he does,
he touches, I just can't. I can't get enough of it.
I was a big Gang Star fan, but yeah, they
you know, it's just I don't know, man, I can

(52:46):
go on and on about hip hop all day. I'll
be honest with you, like it just it just means
so much to me. Like it's still to this day,
you know, And like I said, Kendrick Lamar and listening
to somebody's new artists who still got to j Cole
and they're they're still.

Speaker 5 (52:58):
Carry that that DNA. The DNA's there, The DNA is there.

Speaker 8 (53:03):
It is beautiful.

Speaker 7 (53:04):
So a lot of good relevant artists today that are
doing some really great work man, and we got I
don't want to I don't want to get lost in
that too, because there even though there's a lot of
stuff now that I may not be ye, there's still
a lot of good stuff out.

Speaker 3 (53:14):
There too that boom bap lives, boom boom bab lit.

Speaker 4 (53:20):
There is.

Speaker 3 (53:22):
There's something to win you as an elder now, Like
we have definitely got to that point right where when
we walk into rooms with young people, they look at
us and like, yeah, what you know about uh?

Speaker 5 (53:37):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
But when you say something about hip hop, like they
automatically are like, WHA hold on, now, it's cooler. This
dude is cooler than he looks. Tell me more than
to me from an adult perspective, to be able to
connect with them and a way that other adults don't have.
That to me, that's why I think hip hop should

(53:58):
be in your toolbox, and because it allows you to
break down those barriers and get them to listen to
you in.

Speaker 7 (54:04):
A way that you know, throughout my throughout my whole
educational career, hip hop has been the one tool, the
one thing that I could always refer back to and
the students automatically click. And I tell you, it's fun
when you're dealing with kids, whether it's when I was
a vice princeivale to middle school and they ask you, hey,
recommend some songs from me, like it's amazing, Like they're interested.

(54:25):
You may not think that, you may not think they're not.
First of all, they look up to you, so now
they're interested in what you're interested in, and they want
to know more So when they like you and they
want to know about you, they want to know about you,
so well, listen to this song.

Speaker 5 (54:36):
Listen and music will tell them about you.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
Yeah, you know, quickly quick story. I was addressing an
assembly one day, right, and so as I'm up there,
I got the mic like I'm talking like I'm a
hip hop artist, right, So I'm like, yo, my fault, y'all,
I'm a hip hop I love hip hop, So excuse
me how I hold the mic and just kept talking.
And at one point, as like, we get to the

(55:00):
question and answers the youth to like, so I don't
really care about that data thing that you were talking about.
You mentioned you love hip hop? Who are your top
five mcs? I was like, excuse me, old folks in
the room.

Speaker 5 (55:19):
I'm a divertight right right, right right.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
This is not This is not Alvin Glove for United Way.
This is now from the block. Let me tell you
who I love from the DJ Hello, Hello, hello, Hello.
So let's go back, let's let's let's let's get a
sense of who you are, how you how you got
to who you are?

Speaker 4 (55:39):
Right now?

Speaker 3 (55:39):
Who you so class of ninety three, walk us from
ninety three to now? What's your life been like? How
did you get to be the amazing.

Speaker 4 (55:51):
Brother you are?

Speaker 6 (55:52):
And include the transition because you know that senior year
is pivotal in a more ways than one, and you
were need to share some of the academic challenges you
had and be able to get back on track and all.

Speaker 5 (56:05):
And so there was those who you know of us
who I career Planning Center? Where was that at? I
didn't even know it's for real?

Speaker 3 (56:12):
Right?

Speaker 5 (56:14):
Or did something you pull in your lap?

Speaker 6 (56:16):
Or did you just go back to Brooklyn and be like,
all right, I'll think about it when I get home
because I'm done here type of thing.

Speaker 5 (56:22):
So transition that into then where life takes you.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
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Speaker 5 (56:42):
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Speaker 1 (56:44):
Reach out to the Defile Life podcast network and we
will work with you throughout the entire process. We had
special packages to get you started. Contact us at info
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to lawyers, corporate leaders, and even retirees. After Gate reaches

(57:08):
an a ray of successful bipod listeners contact us to
learn more about how we can benefit you.

Speaker 7 (57:16):
So now ninety three hits CENI Year Colgate great year.
It wasn't particularly a hard year at this point.

Speaker 5 (57:23):
Now kind of you're back from Nigeria. You're Nigeria, Nigeria.

Speaker 8 (57:27):
Legis started first semester. Four months in Nigeria. I got.

Speaker 7 (57:33):
It's funny because I got the lottery and the apartment lottery.
So I got the apartment. Dougget Carleton. They're in the apartment.
I'm not there yet because I'm in Nigeria. I got
and I got to You know, when you get a
good number, you could pick wherever you want to live.
So after I was down there, I don't forget. I
forget that Noel apartments and we were down there.

Speaker 8 (57:52):
It was great.

Speaker 7 (57:53):
So we so I was looking forward to getting back, so,
you know, because I knew we had the apartment at
the time. But that see year was really cool. I
was in Nigeria for the first part of that year,
and that was an amazing experience. I already we talked
about the party, but more importantly just to travel and
just seeing the whole country, being in Africa, being in
a place where there's just black people everywhere.

Speaker 5 (58:13):
Oh god.

Speaker 8 (58:14):
It was great because the other folks on the trip
they had to be the minority, and we got to
be just home.

Speaker 7 (58:21):
And it reminded me, honestly, Jerry, like when you think
of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Like it reminded
me so much of that. It really was like, I'm like,
I'm just drawing parallels left and right, and then I
see the cultural connections between our culture and the African culture,
all those things that were not lost even in slavery,
that would still connect us.

Speaker 8 (58:40):
It was almost beautiful experience.

Speaker 5 (58:42):
Bro.

Speaker 7 (58:43):
So coming back, you know, I did my senior year,
finished up, and it was interesting. My CIA year felt
different like the first three years that the year felt different,
like if yeah, man, and everybody was like little kids
to me, Like all of a sudden, I'm like, look young.
And then you know, so I graduate and at that

(59:04):
point I started to look at graduate school. I think
you and I, Jerry went to the same graduate school.
I ended up going to Columbia University Teachers College, got
in uh, you know, to the help of Docs and
demon everybody and Rice and all of them. And I
was able to And I remember that the Howards were
very instrumental as well, helping me to make sure that

(59:24):
I had everything together. And mind you now remember I
have failed out. Now I came back. I came back street,
came back hard. I had everything going. My grades were
really good, and so I got accepted to Columbia and
I was just like it was a cloud nine.

Speaker 5 (59:36):
I was like, yo, this is which is in the
which is in Harlem?

Speaker 7 (59:40):
For people who thank you, It's not side, it's upper
West Side, right, it is Harlem. And I tell people
that all the time.

Speaker 8 (59:51):
It's in Harlem. Stop playing so beautiful time man. And
I was living in the city.

Speaker 5 (59:57):
Bro.

Speaker 8 (59:58):
They had me in an apartment on ninety something street.
Woo and oh my god, that was one live in
the middle of the city.

Speaker 5 (01:00:06):
I know, I know, bro, I did it. I did it.
I was on one hundred and first when I was
like teaching.

Speaker 7 (01:00:10):
College, dude, I was and it was oh my god,
run into run into our shopping on the streets.

Speaker 5 (01:00:18):
Right.

Speaker 8 (01:00:21):
It was crazy, man. It was a great central.

Speaker 7 (01:00:23):
Park is right there, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, it
was amazing. So that was so after Colgates, I went
to graduate school. I did two years at Columbia and
I with your concentration educational administration. But guess what I'm
doing educational administration and everybody in my class is a teacher.
And I'm thinking about it like I want to I

(01:00:46):
want to run after school program.

Speaker 8 (01:00:47):
I want to run a program that looked at it.
So I didn't realize.

Speaker 5 (01:00:52):
I'm sorry, I'm laughing. I'm just catching a flashback.

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
That was I was.

Speaker 6 (01:00:57):
I was an a policy and so I'm in the
class and with principles talking about policy and theater their schools.

Speaker 5 (01:01:04):
I'm like, y'all don't know how to run those schools
like classroom, right, But it was my it was.

Speaker 6 (01:01:13):
It was that Colgate kind of like slag that made
me think I didn't know what I didn't know. I
was so out of my element. I didn't even know
I was out of my element. But I was in
there doing the reading and then challenging it with books
I got from doctor Tedyler and Dema and stolen the
legacy and being like yo, hold.

Speaker 7 (01:01:31):
On, see that's what's up now. That was it so
I'm being classes. Now I'm holding my own mind you
because education got you set up. So I'm like, not
like yo, but what about this and bringing my hip
hop all that, all those elements that I was taught,
I was able to bring together and now I can
intellectualize it, like I could really speak on it from

(01:01:53):
a place of knowledge and just bringing all that together.
So it was an incredible experience being in Teachers College,
being in that part of New York and just a conversation.
And what it was great about graduate school it was
so focused. See in undergrad you're taking all these different courses.
In graduate school you're really just I'm just taking.

Speaker 6 (01:02:16):
This is it?

Speaker 8 (01:02:18):
And so now everything is everything is what do you
call it? Related to each other.

Speaker 7 (01:02:23):
So if I'm taking three classes, they all they all
have something that overlaps with each other.

Speaker 8 (01:02:28):
So it was phenomenal.

Speaker 7 (01:02:30):
Spent two years there. I didn't finish the ed admind degree.
I got most of it done, and then I went
and I went all ton the route. I went to
work because now I'm like, I gotta teach because here
I am doing it at men and I've never taught,
and I can't get it.

Speaker 8 (01:02:50):
Now.

Speaker 7 (01:02:50):
I really like you know what I might want to
be in the public schools, like I might want to
do something with the schools. I knew I had to teach.
So now I moved to Jersey. I'm moving with Carlton
and Natasha, who were married at the time, and we moved.
I moved into Princeton. Carlton was doing seminary in Princeton,
and I lived with them for like I left Brooklyn

(01:03:11):
and I lived with them for like four to six months,
I don't remember. And then on the weekends I'd go
back home to Brooklyn because I didn't want to like
be I'll sleep on the count, not real comfortable, so
you know, and my godson was born, and we're just
having a great time.

Speaker 6 (01:03:27):
So it was, it was.

Speaker 8 (01:03:28):
It was an interesting time. But I got a temp job.

Speaker 7 (01:03:31):
First, and then I went alternate route, and so alternate
root in Jersey allows you to become a teacher without
having to go to a teaching college, which even though
I came from TC College, I was taking teachers courses.
I was now I'm halfway through the I'm halfway through.

Speaker 5 (01:03:48):
Now I'm like, I'm they gave you a provisional provisional license.

Speaker 8 (01:03:51):
I'm gonna go.

Speaker 7 (01:03:51):
So yeah, So they did that and now became a
bilingual teacher. They had a job at Plainfield and they said,
you know you speak Spanish. I said, yeah, well, we
mean about language.

Speaker 8 (01:04:00):
I'm not in my head.

Speaker 7 (01:04:01):
I'm like, I'm never thinking about being abou lingual teacher
and I'm not turning down the job.

Speaker 8 (01:04:07):
So they're like, we have a fourth grade by lingual position.
Are you interested. I'm like, yes, I'm not turning down
the job.

Speaker 5 (01:04:12):
I mean fourth grade.

Speaker 7 (01:04:14):
I could do fourth grade. I could do Spanish, yo, Jerry.
My Spanish was like ghetto Spanish.

Speaker 5 (01:04:19):
Bro. Of course, of course you know what I mean
my resume.

Speaker 8 (01:04:24):
Let me tell you something. Yeah, because we talked English,
Spanish and the other.

Speaker 5 (01:04:28):
Sannglish, some street Spanish too. In Miami is a different
ball game out here, Bro, I'm.

Speaker 7 (01:04:35):
Out there, like, so now I have to talk academic Spanish. Now,
this is the first thing I did.

Speaker 5 (01:04:42):
Brogate Spanish that you didn't take.

Speaker 8 (01:04:44):
No, that's what right.

Speaker 7 (01:04:45):
I took Spanish for native speaking to kogate. That kicked
my butt too. Thankfully, Spanish is very fanatic. Thank god,
because I was remember to manage. So now I'm in
fourth grade first yo, my first day, my first week,
I'm like, what am I doing? Like I like every
teacher's story is the same, their first week or first

(01:05:06):
is like they feel like I don't belong here. I
was the same way. I was like, I don't this
is this is over. They threw me right in, they
do me right into the class, and now I have
to figure it out out. The first thing I said
to the kids, I said, listen, I said, my Spanish
is not great, said correct me if I do. If

(01:05:27):
I say anything wrong or I write anything wrong, I
need you to correct me. Best decision I ever made,
because the kids humanized me to them. I was still
the authority figure. So it wasn't nothing lost there, but
it gave them an opportunity to teach me. Well, I'm
teaching them, but they're also teaching me. And the connection

(01:05:48):
I have with those kids, even to today, some of
those kids are still friends of mine, They still contact me,
They still my first year kids.

Speaker 8 (01:05:54):
They have kids in.

Speaker 7 (01:05:54):
Their own there, they have they have their own families now,
and it's incredible that experience my Spanish. Jerry Alvin, when
I tell you that my Spanish became so good after
that first six maybe three to six months of being
there with those kids because they came in They're coming
from Peru, they're coming from Ecuador, they're coming from Mexico.

Speaker 4 (01:06:18):
Right.

Speaker 7 (01:06:18):
Unfortunately, my Dominican kids were coming in like you know,
you got I got uneducated.

Speaker 8 (01:06:29):
I loved them. I loved them.

Speaker 7 (01:06:32):
We took care, they learned, and you know, it's it's
it's interesting when you deal with Latinos from the diaspora
and how different we all are, but how much the
same we are.

Speaker 8 (01:06:42):
At the same time. It's just it's incredible.

Speaker 7 (01:06:44):
So that was my first So after I graduated Koga
and I worked during the summer month, I worked with
Edgar in Edo and so I did a point there
for a couple of years and I taught and that
actually that was my first real teaching experience. I taught
her like a basic skill was class there high school kids,
and I did math and I did a bunch of
other stuff there and then I became that's when I

(01:07:05):
didn't did.

Speaker 5 (01:07:06):
What I talked abo just now.

Speaker 7 (01:07:07):
So that was my first real experience for teaching was
that it went there. And then I then I went
to like I said, I went to UH to Plainfield,
moved to moved to Jersey. All of that, that's what
it all began. Got an apartment, got a car. Once
I got my car, Once I got my apartment.

Speaker 8 (01:07:21):
I was set.

Speaker 7 (01:07:22):
I moved to Edison, and as they say, the rest
is history. I just started teaching and I ended up
loving it. I had taught for four years bilingual that
became a technology coordinator.

Speaker 5 (01:07:35):
So interesting transition, interesting transit.

Speaker 8 (01:07:38):
I love technology. I was so into computers.

Speaker 5 (01:07:41):
I loved it.

Speaker 7 (01:07:42):
And when the position became available, I was all over it.
I'm like, I gotta do this. Back then, basically, this
is what I did. I taught teachers how.

Speaker 8 (01:07:50):
To use a mouse. I taught people how to use
this because wow, yo, back.

Speaker 7 (01:07:56):
Then started so everything was about turning on the computer,
how to open a program, double click to open, click
once once you're in the program. This is this stuff
I'm teaching them. The mouse ball gets dirty, you gotta
clean it, yo, bro. It's very, very straight basic just

(01:08:16):
to get people on the basic computer. The kids, of course,
no problem. It was really the adults I had the
biggest problem with. I had to teach them how to
use this technology. They didn't know how to use it.
So that was a lot of my first few years
of being a techo, and it was teaching teachers how
to even just move a mouse, like literally you would
get to the end of the mouse pad.

Speaker 8 (01:08:35):
They didn't know what to do. I literally had to
tell a pick up the mouse, put it back over
to the middle, and then keep it. So this this
was my my, Wow, that's how that's how far back.

Speaker 6 (01:08:45):
When you think about it, that's really I remember when
the mouse came out and it was like a big
deal because now.

Speaker 5 (01:08:49):
You can move your cursehut.

Speaker 8 (01:08:51):
It was crazy, but it was so much fun, bro
and it's like sponges days.

Speaker 5 (01:08:56):
And it was still middle school.

Speaker 7 (01:08:57):
It was elementary at the time, elementary elementary, kindergarten, the
fifth grade, kindergarten, sixth grade, fifth grade.

Speaker 5 (01:09:07):
And yeah, so that was my my and I did
that how technology coordinator.

Speaker 7 (01:09:12):
Seven maybe six seven years more after that and then
I got then I then I went back to Columbia
to finish to finish my degree in two thousands. See
I remember that because with perspective, I love that I
graduated in two thousand. I don't know what it is
about that number. It was two thousand, you know. So
I went back and I did another year. I was

(01:09:34):
afraid to take the law class.

Speaker 8 (01:09:35):
That's what it was.

Speaker 7 (01:09:36):
I was like, that class kicks everybody's ass. Everybody said
that educational law kicks everyone's assy. Ended up taking it
at taking it at Cane, and then I transferred it
over and then I finished off. I went back to
then to finish my what was it called clinicals. Remember
we had to do clinicals. I had to finish my clinicals.
I did my clinicals, and then I got my degree

(01:09:57):
in two thousand. So even though I went ninety three,
ninety four, ninety four, ninety five, I didn't finish the
two thousand, a couple of years to teach. Then I
went back and finish.

Speaker 5 (01:10:06):
Good for you, Good for you.

Speaker 6 (01:10:07):
That's that's risky because I don't think I wouldn't. I
might have made it jump and I jumped back.

Speaker 3 (01:10:14):
A lot of people don't jump back.

Speaker 5 (01:10:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I give you a lot of.

Speaker 6 (01:10:17):
Credit because that's exactly what I should have done. And
I was too scared to do it because I was like,
it was hard enough to get in. By the time
I realized I was overwhelmed. I was too courgy of
the way done and I was head down, go you know.

Speaker 5 (01:10:32):
But that's another story. Wow, that's great man, congratulations.

Speaker 8 (01:10:35):
But that was it, and I had it in my
head Jerry, like I gotta go back. I gotta finish.
I gotta finish. I gotta finish, you know.

Speaker 7 (01:10:39):
And I knew because I want to now at this
point I'm teaching, and I knew down the road, I
want to be an administrator.

Speaker 8 (01:10:44):
Like but bro, I took.

Speaker 7 (01:10:46):
Eleven years of my time, like after two thousand took
me in another five six years before I became administrator,
and that took my time. I think certain things you
don't rush. I think certain things you feel just wait
for the right time when it feels right. And when
I got to that point, you know what, I've done
this enough, I'm good. I'm ready for the next challenge
in my life. I'm ready for the next step.

Speaker 6 (01:11:06):
It speaks to your respect for the learning process, and
that the learning process. There's the academic right that theoretical
and classroom, but then there's the application, the real life
experience that having mentors, like working in a school where
you have really positive, strong leadership.

Speaker 5 (01:11:28):
It's a different orientation than working in a school. That's
this functional falling apart because the leadership is lacking.

Speaker 6 (01:11:34):
So if your vision to grow and to be in
a leadership role is influenced by bad examples, which you.

Speaker 5 (01:11:40):
Can still learn from, n not to do val It's
always valuable when you've got those ers of the world
right who are like, yo, this is this is an examp.
I'm not going this theory. I'm gonna show you.

Speaker 6 (01:11:55):
This is how you run a school where five six
hundred kids are thriving, parents are.

Speaker 5 (01:12:00):
Engage, community partners are involved.

Speaker 6 (01:12:02):
We got outside money coming outside the district, like yes,
type work. So I respect the fact that you take
it that you said you you took it slow because
many of us at needs. For me, it was about
the sprint. It was about I'm tired of being broke.
I want to get a job, I want to make
some money. I gotta take some living in Manhattan. I
was out of control right because it.

Speaker 5 (01:12:24):
Was that and I and I missed out on a
lot of learning.

Speaker 8 (01:12:29):
I think I've always been that person that don't do anything.
I never rushed through anything.

Speaker 7 (01:12:34):
Everything has always taken me time to get to where
I got or where I'm going. I've always been that
person sometimes to my detriment too, sometimes to my detriment.
But I'll tell you this, it's five years you have
to be teaching before you could apply for an administry
in the job.

Speaker 8 (01:12:50):
And most people they're like the minute they hit five years,
they're looking for it. I didn't do that. I wasn't.
I wasn't like, I wasn't in the rush. I was good.
I was comfortable, And I agree with you, the money
is good. Like I was like, Y was looking at
the administrative money like, yo, I could be making double
what I'm making right now.

Speaker 7 (01:13:05):
Like I'm like, yo, I could do this, Like but no,
But some of me was like, you're not ready, You're
not ready, You're not ready. But when I was ready,
I was ready and I had learned so much and
being a tech coordinator. See the other side of it,
And you don't know is that because I was a
tech coordinator, budgets were being done on computers.

Speaker 8 (01:13:22):
Nobody knew how to use the computer.

Speaker 6 (01:13:26):
Me.

Speaker 8 (01:13:26):
So now I'm sitting there, now I'm having to put
the budget.

Speaker 7 (01:13:31):
And it's called zero based budgeting means start from zero
work and you build a budget from zero. And who's
in the middle of everything Me, I'm a teacher. Mind you,
I'm a tech coordinator, but I'm on the teachers contract
and I'm privy to I knew who wasn't coming back.
I knew who who's getting let go, and I had

(01:13:52):
to be like this, bro, I had to shut my mouth.
I couldn't speak because I had to build a budget
knowing who's coming back and who's not.

Speaker 8 (01:13:59):
I had to it.

Speaker 7 (01:14:00):
So I was privy to it, and I'm the only guy.
So now I'm doing it. It's done on this disc
It's like complicated.

Speaker 8 (01:14:06):
No one knows how to do it.

Speaker 7 (01:14:07):
All the all the floppy, all the tech coordinators in
every building are doing building budgets and we're privy to
information we shouldn't be privy to. And I'm learning about budgeting,
I'm learning about leadership. I'm in with the principal. Now
now I'm like, literally, right, so, Bro, I mean it's

(01:14:29):
exactly your I can't even like you just started talking earlier.
I'm like, yo, this guy gets it, like for real,
for real, Like that's.

Speaker 5 (01:14:35):
What it was.

Speaker 7 (01:14:36):
And so for me, it was like I was learning
and I was taking it. One we were doing professional development.
I was videotaping professional development, so on top of that,
now I'm also learning how.

Speaker 8 (01:14:47):
Teachers learned, you know right right, pedagog is happening of
teaching and all of that.

Speaker 7 (01:14:53):
I'm learning about writers workshop and I'm doing it, you know,
like I'm doing so now it's everything.

Speaker 5 (01:14:57):
Man.

Speaker 8 (01:14:58):
So all those years and you being a tech coach
now doing the budget side. So now I've done.

Speaker 7 (01:15:02):
I've done teaching, I'm doing tech coach. I learned technology,
but I'm also now learning budget how to run a building.
Sometimes they put me in charge because by that time
two thousand, I had my I had my administrators degree
from from Columbia. So now sometimes they put me in
charge of the building. I ran lunch duty and everything

(01:15:25):
Edwind's always serious, You're right. I always took everything very serious.
I was like, very professional. I always stayed very professional
about everything. And now I'm running lunch rooms and as
a teacher, like and I'm telling you, like, yo, you
got to do it this way, like if I'm gonna
run it, I'm running it like you're not gonna.

Speaker 8 (01:15:39):
I got it.

Speaker 5 (01:15:40):
It's gotta I got a system.

Speaker 7 (01:15:44):
They were happy to have me in charge of things
because I always ran things very like boom boom. So yeah,
so it was an educational span. But once I got
to year eight nine, I think I did eleven years,
four years as a as a teacher, bilingual, and then
six seven years of I was tech court and I
was ready. And then I may started applying to jobs

(01:16:04):
and I got a job as a vice principal in Carteret,
another very diverse place, very diverse Caucasian, Indian, Latino, Black,
very man. It's one of the most diverse places I've
ever worked. Beautiful, beautiful community, very blue collar. And I
became a vice principal. That was my journey to VP.

(01:16:26):
I did that for about seven and eight years.

Speaker 8 (01:16:29):
And again I did that.

Speaker 7 (01:16:32):
I was an elementary VP, and I got to a
point where there was a day. There was a day
a little kindergarten came up to me and said she
don't want to be my friend no more.

Speaker 8 (01:16:44):
And I'm like, and I looked at her. I looked
at this kid, like what am I doing here? Like
it was like this, something like I think I'm tired
of being with these little kids.

Speaker 6 (01:16:54):
I can't do it.

Speaker 8 (01:16:55):
I can't do this no more. And not even a
couple a month later, they moved me to the middle school.
That was awesome.

Speaker 7 (01:17:02):
I needed to change, and I just there's certain things
in life that just tell you it's time. I loved elementary.
The kids are great, they're fun, they love you.

Speaker 8 (01:17:10):
They just you. You're like a rock star in the building.
You walk in and kids are just like mister ruie, mister.

Speaker 7 (01:17:16):
There was a point, bro, when I got to a point,
I was like maybe year five or so four or five,
I was like, I'm done, and then they moved me
to the middle school.

Speaker 8 (01:17:23):
It was a great experience.

Speaker 7 (01:17:24):
That was a great experience, and I met some of
my closest friends who met doctor RepA led Sancha Gray.
These people who are doing big things now are cane
and and I got to I got to work with them, and.

Speaker 8 (01:17:38):
I learned a lot. Became a VP. Now the middle school,
now I'm dealing with with young adults. And then you know,
middle school age is.

Speaker 5 (01:17:47):
Age B.

Speaker 8 (01:17:50):
That is the extra.

Speaker 7 (01:17:51):
They literally come in as little kids and they go
out and watch the whole metamorphosis in three years. These
kids changed so much.

Speaker 8 (01:18:03):
The hormones.

Speaker 7 (01:18:04):
You think about it, they hormones kick in maybe at
the end of elementary school. Going into middle school, they're
like little kids still when they come in and then
they're hormones kicking. Seventh grade the worst freaking grade, bro,
those kids, hormones are all over the place. And then
the eighth grade they calm down a little bit. Then
they go off to the high school.

Speaker 8 (01:18:22):
So it's crazy.

Speaker 7 (01:18:23):
It's an amazing time to be in the lives of
kids the middle school. It's a special, special group to
be a part of. And then I did that for
about eight years. I did that, you know, total of
about seven or eight years.

Speaker 8 (01:18:36):
And then.

Speaker 7 (01:18:38):
Lamont went to Asbay Park as a superintendent. And I
bring these people up because they're so important. They're such
close friends and social important people in my life.

Speaker 5 (01:18:46):
Now.

Speaker 8 (01:18:47):
Then Sancho went. She was a VP with me.

Speaker 7 (01:18:49):
We were both vice principals together at the middle school
she went to and then they recruited me and then
it's my first principal job. And I was a little
nervous about it. I ain't gonna lie because now I'm
I'm when you have you can hide behind the principal.

Speaker 3 (01:19:01):
Right now, you're the big cheese.

Speaker 8 (01:19:03):
Now I'm the big cheese. Now I can't hide behind nobody.
It's all mean.

Speaker 5 (01:19:06):
You got the playbook, I got the playbook, what we're
running coach.

Speaker 8 (01:19:11):
Amazing. I tell you when I did. We finally got
the job and I did it. I was like, yeah,
I was ready.

Speaker 7 (01:19:19):
And those years, those years really taught me how to
really lead and how I wanted, what kind of leader
I wanted to be.

Speaker 6 (01:19:26):
But fair.

Speaker 8 (01:19:26):
They called me Hulk. That was my nickname. The ninety
percent of the time. I was Bruce Banner.

Speaker 5 (01:19:32):
I was cool, all right.

Speaker 7 (01:19:35):
But if you have pushed the wrong button every once
in a while, Bro, the green will come out.

Speaker 8 (01:19:41):
Oh, don't pristmas, don't tell him that he's gonna get upset.
You know, it's a balance you have to have. You
can't go in yelling all the like.

Speaker 7 (01:19:47):
When I tell teachers, when I'm teaching teachers, I tell
them you can't go into a classroom yelling all the
time because the kids get used to.

Speaker 8 (01:19:53):
That and they tune you out.

Speaker 5 (01:19:55):
They become number, they become numb to it.

Speaker 8 (01:19:57):
So then you getting angry and yelling, it's like second,
it's like nothing to them anymore. You have to know
when to bring out the hulk.

Speaker 7 (01:20:04):
So I had to learn, you know, I had times
I had to bring out the Hulk every once in
a while, but it was incredible experience being a principal,
leading a building, leading a school. It was about four
almost five hundred students at the time, elementary and you know,
grades three.

Speaker 8 (01:20:22):
To fives a thing, and so that was you know,
it was good. It was good to kind of just
build that up.

Speaker 7 (01:20:28):
And then I was they we had a system in
place where we were going through a lot of education,
meaning administrators, to learn how to be effective administrators, how
to use data to drive instruction, and really just was
an incredible, incredible, incredible experience. And yeah, that was one
of the best times in my life just being a principal,

(01:20:49):
running the show, being the boss. It was kind of
it was it was fun from there. Four years I
did that and then I got the calling. Now, mind you,
I was not interested in doing anything but being a principal.
But you know, it goes back to what we talked
about earlier, people seeing things in you that you don't
see in yourself. Yeah, and these guys and why I
bring them up, Lamont and Sancho, they were like, yo, ed,

(01:21:10):
you're ready for.

Speaker 8 (01:21:11):
More, Like you could do more.

Speaker 7 (01:21:12):
And people in my life like doctor Sandim or Charles
Rice Teddler, they all were always pushing me, and these
people like I don't know what it is. I end
up in places where people see something in me and
they drive me and they.

Speaker 8 (01:21:24):
Push me, and then I'm always like nah nah nah.

Speaker 7 (01:21:27):
But of course, in the back of my head, I
already know I'm gonna do it, like it's weird, like
I know, like damn, I know I'm gonna end up
doing this. I already know what's gonna happen.

Speaker 8 (01:21:35):
So I got the call.

Speaker 7 (01:21:37):
Sancho becomes a superintendent. Lamon goes off to be the
Commission of Education in New Jersey, and Sancho steps up.
She becomes a superintendent. She's like, Ed, I need somebody
because the thing about ed and this is another thing
about education is very political.

Speaker 8 (01:21:52):
A lot of people know that at the height.

Speaker 7 (01:21:54):
When you get to this, once you come out of
being a principal, you start to see the politics and
you so one of the things it's funny, like, hire
people who could do the job.

Speaker 8 (01:22:04):
Hire your you know, hire no, hire people you could trust.

Speaker 3 (01:22:07):
Right, it's a whole lot of people who can do
the job.

Speaker 8 (01:22:09):
Bro, you can learn the job.

Speaker 7 (01:22:12):
What the heck do I know about curriculum and instruction? Honestly,
I know something because I'm a principal and I was
a teacher and I was a VP. I know something,
But I'm not Cristalin instruction. Like, if you had a
leadership position in technology, I'll go run, I t I'll
go run. You know, educational technology. That's what I wanted.

Speaker 8 (01:22:28):
They're like, Nah, we don't do that, your ed.

Speaker 7 (01:22:30):
I need you to sounds like yo, I need you
to come up and I need I need I need
you to be in intentional office. I need someone I
could trust.

Speaker 8 (01:22:38):
And I know you can hold me down, to hold
me And I learned that That was one of.

Speaker 7 (01:22:42):
The biggest lessons I learned because when Lama became superintendent,
he was like, I was questioning some of the people
you hired, and then I learned that you loyalty matters,
and if you don't have people you trust under you
to make sure that the stuff you put out is
happening to rap last two seconds. Remember, a superintendent works

(01:23:03):
for the board. You're hired by the board, your office
of the board. So even though you're supposed to command
all these things, really you're you're at the emmercy of board.
And so there's a lot of politicing you gotta do.
You're not a good leader, you're not a good effective leader.
That's how you end up being a principal for I
mean a superintendent for a year or two and you
get bounced out. That's why you go through five superintendents

(01:23:24):
in a very short time because nobody knows that that dynamic.

Speaker 8 (01:23:29):
If you understand the politics, you'll be okay.

Speaker 6 (01:23:32):
And it takes time to build the relationships because you
could have had relationships in one role in your career.

Speaker 5 (01:23:38):
Now you're in a different role.

Speaker 6 (01:23:39):
The dynamic changes, and so you got to weed through
and vet through the full hope we don't lo you know,
and establish your grounds, so to speak up.

Speaker 8 (01:23:51):
So everything we learned.

Speaker 7 (01:23:52):
So the first thing that he had us doing was
learning relationship building, he said, Edwin, So first of all,
check this out. I went into a building where the
principal was demoted to VP and.

Speaker 8 (01:24:03):
She was beloved. When I tell you, I went to
the board.

Speaker 7 (01:24:07):
Meeting where I was hired, and that whole staff was
there fighting for her to keep her job. And I'm
sitting there about to get voted in to be the
principle of her school. Wait, fifty staff members with T
shirts on her name on it, like yo, we want
to keep her here.

Speaker 5 (01:24:26):
The culture, the culture she had.

Speaker 8 (01:24:29):
Let me tell you something.

Speaker 7 (01:24:30):
She's in central office with me now, one of the
best people I've ever met, best people I know. I
will fight for that woman to the ends of the earth.
Be the way they did because the people had reason
to hate me and did it. She was the first
person to make sure that I had everything I needed
to be successful in that building. And I know she

(01:24:51):
spoke to the staff after I was hired and said
right right, And I know that she was instrumental in that.
And then she became a principal again. Lamar promised her,
if you work on certain things, I'll get you back,
and she did. And now she's the central office with me. Now,
her and I working together, we work side by side.
She's one of my favorite.

Speaker 5 (01:25:07):
People to work.

Speaker 3 (01:25:08):
That's a great story.

Speaker 7 (01:25:09):
It's an incredible story when you really look at the
whole thing. And I knew I would. I knew I
would capture the hearts of the staff. I knew because
I knew who I am. I know the person I am,
and I knew, I said, once they get to know
me and they see how I operate So the first
thing Doc said was like, Yo, I need you not
to go in and change everything. I need you to
go in there and get to know these people. I
need you to go in and build relationships. First thing

(01:25:29):
I learned relationships relevance.

Speaker 6 (01:25:31):
You know this.

Speaker 7 (01:25:33):
If you don't build relationships, everything else, nothing else doesn't matter.
I don't care how much relevance. What are you're going
to do with educational ideas you have, no one's gonna
follow you. And it goes back to what you said, Alvin,
and it goes back to you know that's what that's
the tie that binds, and that's the thing that gets
people motivated to do the work that needs to be done.
And that's how you're created with Jerry was saying that

(01:25:55):
trust that you start to create that rapport with people
and then they when the word goes out I need
you all to do this, people actually go out and
execute because they trust you. You build a relationship with them.
So you can't go in with the hand that dropping
hammers and saying I want this is the way it's
going to be. And that was the first lesson I
learned is the best lesson. I went in with the

(01:26:16):
open mind and I went in and I told new
administrators this I say always always say. I said, I
say this to people. No is your most powerful word.
And they didn't understand why I say that. I say,
because you could always come back from a no. I said,
if a teacher comes to you and says, I want
to do this project with the kids, but it's outside

(01:26:36):
the curriculum, you go, no, you can't do that because
we got to stay focused. But you see, a day later,
I could come back and say, you know what I
thought about it, and I think it's a great idea,
let's do it.

Speaker 8 (01:26:48):
If I had said yes, but then I had to
come back and say.

Speaker 3 (01:26:51):
No, that's different.

Speaker 8 (01:26:52):
That's different.

Speaker 7 (01:26:53):
And so I always tell people, if you're not sure
about something, say no, because you could always come back
from a no. It's really hard to come back from
a yes, because if you say yes to something that
you know is not good or you're not sure about
because you try to keep the pee and you want
to be liked, it ends up biting you in the
butt because you said yester summer.

Speaker 8 (01:27:12):
Now you got to take it back. And that's a
little bit of a harder place to be.

Speaker 7 (01:27:15):
That's much harder so I always teach new administrators when
I'm meet with them, I said, Yo, always leader with know.
I know it's hard. I knows you want to be liked.
You don't want people to hate you. But it's a
lot easier to come back from that because people respect
you more too. They're like, oh, you thought about it
and you actually considered it. Yeah, you know what, I
have thought about it because sometimes you need time to process.
You can't think on the spot about it, or you say,

(01:27:38):
let me think about it. You know you could do
that too, because a lot of time I knew the
lead would know. Because there are some people that try
to play you out too. There are people that try
to position they come in, you're the new guy. They
try to tell you all these things and I just
sit there like, okay, nah, we're not doing that. So
it's just it's just something you have to learn that
you learn as a leader that you have to put
your foot down on a lot of things. Because let

(01:28:00):
me tell you something, teachers are like the children they teach.
If they're a kindergarten teacher, they act like kindergarten students.
If their first grade, they act like third grade, and
so on and so on. So you gotta you gotta
kind of know how to do it.

Speaker 3 (01:28:14):
Hey, my son is a third grade teacher. I'm gonna
hit him with that tomorrow. I don't know. Teachers are
like the kids they teach.

Speaker 8 (01:28:21):
Teacher, the complaining about the same.

Speaker 5 (01:28:26):
You've breaferenced the obviously in the central office. Now what
role do you have there? Which central office that you
had a couple of districts.

Speaker 7 (01:28:35):
Yeah, so now Plainfield as a teacher and the tech coordinator.
I became a vice principal. I worked vice principal with Carteret,
and then I became a principal in Asbury Park, which
is where I am now. I was a principal there
for four years, and then the last five or six
years now I've been to the director of Curriculum and
Instruction for the whole district, and so now I pretty

(01:28:56):
much my role now is to oversee all aspects of
the curriculum, you know, development, structural strategies, you name it,
academic programs, you name it.

Speaker 4 (01:29:04):
I do p D.

Speaker 8 (01:29:07):
Everything you know you know.

Speaker 7 (01:29:10):
I help I help with all the professional development that
goes on in the district. My team of supervisors who
are subject specific work with with with staff members, and
I'm I direct all that so I oversee data, I
oversee assessment. So it's a lot of there's a lot
of roles I play now and I'm pretty much the

(01:29:31):
number two guys, so superintendent and then there's me, so
I'm the I'm the next guy now.

Speaker 3 (01:29:37):
An they aspirations of superintendency.

Speaker 8 (01:29:39):
You see that, I'm shaking my head. No, real heart.

Speaker 5 (01:29:43):
Probably say no when he had other opportunities.

Speaker 3 (01:29:46):
But I mean, and I'll let you answer that question,
but i will say this, sitting in the central office.
You sit in the central office long enough, there are
jobs that you witness and you say you couldn't pay
me enough.

Speaker 8 (01:30:01):
To do that job. You're alone.

Speaker 7 (01:30:03):
Let me tell you something. It's a job now, mind you.
And that's why I go back to doctor Lamar Reppolette
and Sancho Grad both two of my closest friends, both
for superintendents, and I remember we're close friends. So I'm
on the inside, even though I'm a principal, I know
things I shouldn't know because they're my friends.

Speaker 8 (01:30:20):
And I'm in the end.

Speaker 7 (01:30:23):
I don't I want no parts of being a superintendent.
It is extremely political. I'm not a political person I
like to do. I like to I like to have
a goal, a plan, work to plan, do my job.
And even though in my position it's still very political,
it's not the same.

Speaker 5 (01:30:39):
I'm not the person's levels of being an edgeacrat.

Speaker 7 (01:30:44):
Bro you had it hit it right on the head
and that's exactly right. So I like the level I'm
in now. I like the level I'm in now. I
make an impact people respect, I'm able to be a
leader in a high position without that other responsibility. Right now,
we're dealing with budgets and we're dealing with having to
cut staff.

Speaker 8 (01:31:00):
Yo.

Speaker 7 (01:31:00):
That's a hard thing to happen. And you know when
you when you're tasked with that, it takes a toll
on you. And it's a very lonely position. There's not
a lot of you up there. And even though like
I said, they had us to you know, like Lemon,
so they had each other and then we had each other,
you're still by yourself. Man, it's a very lonely position

(01:31:21):
to be in.

Speaker 6 (01:31:21):
Man.

Speaker 7 (01:31:22):
You're a teacher, you have other teachers, You have a principal,
you have other principles and vice principles. Even as a director,
I have other directors that I can kind of relate with.

Speaker 8 (01:31:29):
It's I mean, it.

Speaker 7 (01:31:31):
Gets small and small as you grow up, but there
are at least some people and even the superintendent you have.
But when you're a superintendent, it's just all you and
it's heavy. The lift is heavy, it's a lot. You
got to get your shoulders and it's stressful and it's
and it just the stuff that comes at you.

Speaker 6 (01:31:50):
Well, although the professional trajectory would seem like that might
be the next you know, organic opportunity for you. Outside
of that, are there any other professional aspirations that you
see yourself With all the experience you have in education,
all of the talent stuff, and particularly the interdisciplinary capacity,

(01:32:13):
you have to switch lanes in other.

Speaker 5 (01:32:15):
Areas because all your skill sets and.

Speaker 6 (01:32:18):
Experience are their aspirations to do anything outside of what
you're doing now, that could be.

Speaker 5 (01:32:25):
A level up.

Speaker 8 (01:32:27):
Yeah, So for me it's going to be higher ed.

Speaker 7 (01:32:29):
You know, friends and hire right now and we're I'm
working with them on certain projects right now. Hopefully I'll
be able to mentor new administrators, new supervisors, new principles,
something I'm really looking forward to doing when I move
on from this. What I'm doing today. That's a big
thing that I'm that's it's in my future.

Speaker 8 (01:32:49):
I can see it. It's gonna it's gonna happen. Have
all the connections I have.

Speaker 7 (01:32:53):
I have the knowledge I'm doing that relationships, the relationships
I've built have been built. I'm mentoring a director right now,
and and it's great. It's just a great experience to
just be on on this side. To be able to
impart all of what I've learned and all of my
experiences to someone who could use it, and watching that
person grow and developed into the administrative that they are

(01:33:13):
today is incredible. That person she's doing her doctor right now,
so it's wonderful. This person was at Parra when I
met them, and they're running program at a university, they're director,
and I'm getting to mentor them through that process.

Speaker 8 (01:33:29):
It's incredible.

Speaker 7 (01:33:30):
So I feel very fortunate that, let's say, you know,
I've been placing these positions I've been placed in and
that I have and I built the relationships that I've
built because it's it's led me now to look at
what the future looks like. And I got other things
I'm doing like right now, flying planes like so that's
that's something I'm doing.

Speaker 5 (01:33:49):
I want to as a pilot hobby.

Speaker 8 (01:33:52):
How you bro, I had to throw it in there.
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 7 (01:33:55):
You know, because honestly, you talk about doctorates and graduate
work pilot Oh my yo, the amount level, Bro.

Speaker 8 (01:34:04):
I'm like, Yo, this is hard. This is like graduate
school trying to do it now. But I love it.

Speaker 7 (01:34:09):
It's just a passion I've always had. I've always wanted
to learn to fly. And then you know it's expensive.
So you know, I'm a man of means now, so
I can I could afford to do some of these things.
I'm like, you know, one day I woke up, bro,
like a year and a half ago, and I was like,
what am I waiting for? I was about a year ago.
I said, what am I waiting for?

Speaker 5 (01:34:26):
Like? I can do this?

Speaker 7 (01:34:28):
And just one day I went into there's a flight,
there's a I live in Hillsboro, so there's a there's
an airport here in Hillsboro, a local you know airport
for you know, small planes. And I just went in,
took the Discovery flight, loved it, and I knew I
would love it. This is this guy who's afraid of heights,
and I'm flying and I loved it, and I said,
I signed up right away, and I've now I'm doing

(01:34:50):
I'm hopefully in another year or so, i'll get my
license and I'll be able to you know, rent the
plane or whatever and fly somewhere wherever I want, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 8 (01:34:57):
Like it's just exciting like this is, and.

Speaker 7 (01:34:59):
It's also looking at to be honest with you guys, too,
is like I'm at the twilight of my career. I'm
at a place in my career now where i can retire.
Like guys like thirty we're talking thirty years since we
see each other whatever, whatever, like thirty two years, thirty
two years. Right, I'm fifty five, twenty five, they say, Right,
So I'm tier one. As they say in education, tier
one means you can retire as long as you got

(01:35:20):
twenty five years in and your age fifty five, you
can retire.

Speaker 8 (01:35:23):
I'm right there.

Speaker 7 (01:35:23):
I'm on the cusp. So for me, it's like I
look at retirement as a commencement. It's the beginning of
something new. And so I have opportunities, like I said,
in higher ed and other places, and I'm going to
take advantage of that and to be able to leave
one profession and still get paid like what, like somebody's

(01:35:44):
gonna pay me for the rest of my life.

Speaker 5 (01:35:46):
That's a different level of first gen bro.

Speaker 7 (01:35:49):
Like, it's amazing to think about the journey to get
to this point, especially giving the political climate and what's
going on in the country and everything now. So for me,
it's nice to know how other options and that I
can parlay all of what I've known, what I've learned
into something that can help people, and it can help
help develop the next generation of administrators and or young

(01:36:10):
people or whatever. I'm open to whatever, Like I've literally
I have so many other things I want to do,
you know, Like I said, flying is one of them.
I've been doing South So lessons now, Jerry, I gotta
get in touch with my Latino roots. The one there,
the one dance that I can't do.

Speaker 8 (01:36:30):
Man, it ain't good by chat on, no problem, freaking sousa.

Speaker 6 (01:36:32):
Man.

Speaker 8 (01:36:33):
It's it's fun, fun to do, hard to master, let's
just put it that on. But it's fun.

Speaker 5 (01:36:38):
It's an art for it.

Speaker 6 (01:36:39):
It's an artful like anything else. Just to take your time,
trust the process and learn the craft.

Speaker 8 (01:36:42):
That's it. So that's what I've been doing.

Speaker 7 (01:36:44):
That's been like my passions lately and just enjoying life man,
And I'm just trying to I'm really trying to just
enjoy life. And I think i'll tell you this too,
you know, if you don't notice, I'm a lot thinner
than I was before. So that's been a journey as well.
So that's another part of my life that's been in
the last eight years, just taking care of myself and
getting healthy and being able to I wouldn't be able

(01:37:05):
to fly if I wasn't healthy.

Speaker 8 (01:37:08):
There's a weight limit, bro. So when I first investigated flying,
I couldn't do it. That was too big. I couldn't
do it.

Speaker 7 (01:37:15):
So when I got all the stuff together, it all,
you know, kind of when everything started to come together,
it's just like life right now.

Speaker 8 (01:37:20):
Life is good, man.

Speaker 7 (01:37:21):
I just I'm living, I'm enjoying, I'm traveling, I'm doing
a lot of things that I just never thought i'd
be able to do.

Speaker 8 (01:37:28):
And it's just it's just good. Life is life is
really good, right So.

Speaker 5 (01:37:31):
As we've come full circle in this journey.

Speaker 6 (01:37:34):
Beautiful story, brother, beautiful story, and congratulations to all your
successes and successes you yet to experience. Let's let's let's
do a quick flashback. We're back in eighty nine, coming
out of La Fayette. You're going into Colgate. Are there
any words of wisdom Edmund Ruins today would give to
that young brother going into Colgate.

Speaker 5 (01:37:57):
And tier two or or flip side B side.

Speaker 6 (01:38:01):
Is what would be the words of wisdom you would
give to the Edging coming out of Kogate going into
the world that uh would be of value?

Speaker 5 (01:38:12):
You were mentoring your younger self.

Speaker 7 (01:38:15):
Man, man, this is deep right here, Jerry, this is deep.
This goes deeperod to you and me. I'll be honest, like,
don't take I'm putting people on a pedestal, you know
what I mean. I have to learn that the hard way,
you know. To me, like I think that I'm always
very very romantic kind of guy. Like you know, certain

(01:38:37):
things when you're young and you don't know you you
think things are like what you see on TV or
in the movies, and they're not. Life is not like
that A hard lesson to learn that, you guys, as
a young person, I think I would advise myself to yo, relax, bro,
you're good dude, and be a man like just you know,
be strong.

Speaker 8 (01:38:57):
It's okay to be strong.

Speaker 7 (01:38:58):
And so like going back to being a big guy
and having to shrink myself so people could feel comfortable
with me. I needed to learn to allow myself to
be a big It was okay to be big because
I'm not going to hurt people, you know.

Speaker 8 (01:39:11):
Instead, I was saying like it was I didn't know.

Speaker 5 (01:39:13):
I didn't know how to maneuver that you had internalized
their projections on.

Speaker 7 (01:39:20):
But I took it like it was my thing, and
I owned it in a way that I should never
have owned that. I should have been mad enough to
be able to move past it. And it took a
long time for me to learn that. And so you
learn your lessons the hard way, and sometimes that's okay
because it's all part of growing, you know. So giving
myself grace and so I think I would tell myself,
give yourself some grace, relax, you know the things that

(01:39:43):
you think or this fantasy, get that out of your head.
Focus on the task in hand, stay focused. So to me,
that that's one of the things I would say the
young ade going up, the guy who graduated from Kogate
after graduation, like, I don't think I would say a
lot other than stay the course, like just because I
think at that point I started to really understand certain

(01:40:04):
things and take your time, and I did, and I'm
glad I did. I think for me, those are the
kinds of things I would probably just remind myself that,
and also that you know what, don't shy away from greatness.

Speaker 8 (01:40:16):
Don't don't shy away from it.

Speaker 7 (01:40:19):
And I've always been like like just like not like
I don't there's too much attention, Like no, it's okay,
you can handle it. I think a lot of things
that I thought I couldn't handle it, I not only
handled it, but I excelled at it.

Speaker 8 (01:40:32):
And I needed to. I needed to. I need someone.

Speaker 7 (01:40:35):
I would tell myself that you can handle that, you
got this, You're okay, You're gonna be okay, and yeah,
life has been. Life has been because of that. Once
you start learning those lessons, everything else is to make
it falls in place. Everything falls in place. And so
those are the kind of things I would say to myself, Man,
you know, just you're gonna be.

Speaker 3 (01:40:52):
A last question, last question, And it's more of an opportunity,
uh to just promote, share, push an initiative, cause something
that is important to you that you want our listeners
to learn more about support. There are AOC folk they're

(01:41:13):
kogate their students, and we always offer this opportunity for
our guests to say, Hey, this is important to me
and I want y'all to listen, learn, show some love.
What is it like you'd like to plug?

Speaker 8 (01:41:27):
So I would?

Speaker 7 (01:41:27):
I would say for me, like going back to my
roots and education, like I would love for young people
who want to go into education to reach out, Like
I know a lot of people and I would I
want to keep it real with them, like this isn't
like what it was back in the days, Like it's
a lot. You got to really excuse me, you got
to really want to do this, Like don't go into

(01:41:49):
this thinking like oh you know, you know, you know
the whole saying those who can't teach, right, that.

Speaker 6 (01:41:55):
Was it's not just a job when you're punching the clock. Yeah,
I packed, and you're impacting lives. The severity of your role.

Speaker 8 (01:42:04):
Your role is deeper than you can even imagine. And
I'm telling you I.

Speaker 7 (01:42:08):
Just got a text message from a kid on Messenger today,
mister Ruiz, do you remember me? I'm like, yes, I
remember you're a middle school like they still to this
day look at you a certain kind of way, and
if impact that you could have on young people. And
these are young adults now that are reaching out to
me as grown men and women who have their own kids.

Speaker 8 (01:42:25):
They remember the impact I had on their lives.

Speaker 7 (01:42:29):
So for me, young people, people who are Kogate or
anywhere else listening to this, you want to be educated
by all means, reach out to me on social media.

Speaker 8 (01:42:37):
I would love to talk to you, love to hear
what it is.

Speaker 7 (01:42:40):
Why are you're attracted to this profession so I can
vest in a way to say, hey, this may or
may not be for you, and let me tell you why.
Because I think Jerry said it perfectly like for me,
the impact that you're going to have on the lives
of people, it matters that you want to do this.
You gotta don't go into this thinkingness, punch the clock,
punch out. It's not It's deeper than that. It requires

(01:43:04):
a level of love and understanding that that's different than
any other job. Because you take take, You're gonna take
a lot of stuff home with you when the kid
is coming and smelling and you know what's going on
because they're being abused. You got to figure that out.
Kid is acting up, and you don't try to figure
out why they're acting up. You just send them to

(01:43:24):
the principal's office every two minutes. You're not taking the
time to understand where that kid is coming from. There's
a lot to this job, man, that you have to
really be about. And if you're not about that, then
don't bother because you're gonna hate it. You're gonna be miserable,
and you're gonna drag everybody down with you. And one
of the things with schools, and if you get to tenure,
that becomes even a bigger problem. So I'm giving the

(01:43:46):
teachers who are tenured who hate what they're doing, and
I can take to get rid of them. Takes an
enormous amount of work. No one wants to do that work.
Sometimes you got to, you gotta bear down to do it.
But it's like it's not worth it. And I rather
get people in the profession from the jump who understand
what it takes and really want to do it. And

(01:44:07):
if you do, you'll be fulfilled. It's a very fulfilling profession.
It's a great profession. But going for all the right reasons,
you know. So to me, that's what I would like
to impart to people out there who are looking into
the education press great profession.

Speaker 8 (01:44:19):
Just know what you're doing.

Speaker 7 (01:44:20):
And I would go back to what Jerry said, don't
rush through the process, like don't don't get your administrative
degree and immediately try to get a job. Sometimes just
take your time. Yeah, everything will come together at the
right time. You'll know and everything click.

Speaker 8 (01:44:33):
So yeah, that's what.

Speaker 3 (01:44:35):
Any words, brother nah man.

Speaker 7 (01:44:38):
Yo, just grateful for this opportunity. Man, seeing you too,
and it just it just brings back to such great memories.

Speaker 5 (01:44:44):
Yo.

Speaker 7 (01:44:44):
By the way, to talk about memories, so I could
I could talk, Yo. Yeah, I remember y'all had the
house and man is it?

Speaker 6 (01:44:52):
Man?

Speaker 5 (01:44:52):
What the hell was?

Speaker 7 (01:44:55):
And I remember going over there and y'all may paying
cakes or waffle ever had pancakey waffles with corn syrup.

Speaker 8 (01:45:04):
You guys. And so there's a lot of little things
like that.

Speaker 7 (01:45:08):
You two guys, Yo, you two guys did a lot
that was like the too coolest cats and koge And
I was like, and I remember corn syrup, you ate it?

Speaker 8 (01:45:22):
Ya could cook?

Speaker 7 (01:45:23):
Man, I ain't gonna know, I ain't good I was like, Yo,
not do now, man. I remember I said, Yo, these
guys could throw down, man, a lot of fun. I
remember going to the super Bowl at the apartments when
you guys are doing it.

Speaker 3 (01:45:34):
You remember that.

Speaker 7 (01:45:35):
I remember a lot of things, man, just a lot
of memories of you guys, and just I learned so much.
And it's just, you know, I have just all my memories,
Like I don't dwell on negative things. I've never been
that person. I just kind of like always think of
all the fun, positive, great, great great things. So you
guys hold a very special place for me, man, And
I just want you to know that, like I really
am glad to be here and really talking to y'all

(01:45:57):
and just reminiscing and going back.

Speaker 3 (01:46:00):
Well, I mean, i'll say this hopefully you know you'll
listen to more shows right after these shows. And I
say that because what you're here is this theme of
people getting poured into and then they pour into students
that come behind them. That's right, And so I'll speak

(01:46:21):
for Jerry and that and that like that makes us
feel good to hear that our efforts of showing love
to students that came behind us based on the fact
that people showed love to us, because if you listen
to some of these shows from people from the class
of eighty eight, eighty nine, eighty seven, you'll hear these
are the people that actually mentored us, right, and so

(01:46:43):
we're showing love to them. So it's always nice to
hear folks who come after us who remember, like, yo,
I appreciate what you did. I appreciate you. You know,
we came by the house apartment. All of that was
us saying, Yo, here's our way, we upperclassmen, we seniors. Now, Yo,
let's show these brothers how you do, how to help
them make this journey just a little bit easier so

(01:47:05):
that we can get out of here and become the important,
amazing leaders impacting changing their lives.

Speaker 8 (01:47:12):
Yes, we're doing so.

Speaker 6 (01:47:13):
And to our point, you know, it's it's been consistent
in five seasons that we hear from brothers in the
sixties and seventies and talking about like we're talking about
the pioneers, the cats who fought for a cultural center,
of the guys who fought for an HRC talking about

(01:47:34):
how they influence underclassmen and how those and we've been
able to connect the dots via decade almost like tracing
our lineage to how it got to us from how
they who influenced those who influenced and they referenced professors
and they and it's just dope and so it just
to ours point.

Speaker 5 (01:47:53):
You know, it was a byproduct. We didn't know when
we started this podcast where it was gonna go. And
it's been phenomenal and.

Speaker 6 (01:48:00):
To see the beauty of that, that sort of inherited
legacy that maybe not everybody gets, but there's always a
core of folk who recognize the value of that and
feel the need to and it happens organically.

Speaker 5 (01:48:15):
There's no handburg right, there's no orientation. It's not part
of o us.

Speaker 6 (01:48:19):
But we all have our professor who had our influences
and taught us about our identity and our history and
our culture and were stealth with it right.

Speaker 5 (01:48:28):
Wealth today they saw the educrats.

Speaker 6 (01:48:30):
And how they was working right, and they knew how
they had to move and so I and both of
us work have worked on higher edge. So we also
see now how they were, you know, managing job security
at a persiuture, but at the same time trying to
be like, yo, we got disciples, we got to educate, right.

Speaker 7 (01:48:49):
So you guys are doing it, so you can. So
everybody knows Alvin, Al and Jerry we're doing it since Colgate.

Speaker 6 (01:48:57):
This the same.

Speaker 8 (01:48:59):
But you see year going on after Gate.

Speaker 7 (01:49:02):
They've been doing You've been mentioning and doing this kind
of stuff for us, even back then you were doing it.

Speaker 8 (01:49:06):
It's so apparent.

Speaker 5 (01:49:07):
This is why it's like, that's.

Speaker 7 (01:49:09):
Why I said, my memories are always very fine, man,
They're always good because regardless of whatever, there was always
like just y'all. I said, there's always mad love. Y'all
always show mad love. Y'all were always like that, and
that those are the things that stick out for me.

Speaker 6 (01:49:22):
Man.

Speaker 8 (01:49:22):
Like I said, I remember the remember corn syrup, So
that tells you everything.

Speaker 5 (01:49:26):
Right this I didn't even remember.

Speaker 8 (01:49:31):
Ville was our senior year, right, So we were at.

Speaker 6 (01:49:34):
A point where we were like, yo, were just ready
to get done with this spot, right, and we're just
gonna survive Earlville.

Speaker 5 (01:49:39):
We was gonna roll up, we were gonna do it right.

Speaker 6 (01:49:44):
And so every once in a while somebody comes up
with their Erville story, right because oh I that not
everybody had access to Earth like it was intention.

Speaker 5 (01:49:55):
It was a select basis that you know, So oh yeah, Yeah,
that's a great course. Sorry, I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:50:04):
That this has been another episode of Aftergate season five.
Thanks so, I guess thanks to our listeners. After Gate
is always powered by the fire Life Podcast Network, so
make sure you check us out in the future on
all of your favorite podcast stream and platforms. Many more
dope episodes to follow, and remember that the codgate of

(01:50:24):
your day is not the codgate of today, and it's
certainly not the cold gate of the future. Peace family.

Speaker 1 (01:50:34):
You hear that, listen closer, that, my friend is the
definitely side of focus. It drowns out all the useless
noise that can clutter the moly nay sayers don't exist, haters, smaters,
the peanut gallery. Who's that When you're in your zone,
all that noise and all that buzz is just elevator music.

(01:50:56):
So enjoy your journey, focus on your goal and bad
ask in the quiet role that is progressed, because when
it's your time to shoot that shot, spit that verse.

Speaker 5 (01:51:05):
Or close that deal, the only voice that matters is yours.
The fire Life

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Ep 5.6 - Edwin Ruiz

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep 5.6 - Edwin Ruiz