[00:00:01] Speaker A: I'm Leela Rhe.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: And I'm Nick B.
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Listen, we're just two single girls from the city of Roses discussing all things love, lust, and perception.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: And roses are a symbol of all things beautiful about love.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: But as you know, love can get a little dirty. So we're here to talk about it.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Dirty Roses podcast starts now.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Hey, I'm Lee Laree.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: And I'm Nick B.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: And welcome to Dirty Roses podcast. Now, as you know, we're wrapping up season four. And I'm so excited because I said excited again. God damn, I can't get.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: But you can be excited.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: I can be excited.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: This is a reason to be excited.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: This is a reason. So, as you all know, me and Nick B. Met in high, middle school, 7th grade, because this is when I went to Beaumont Middle School. We have the yearbooks on the table here. And so, in a way, to celebrate our one year anniversary of our show, we are ending it with some people that we all met, or I met, at least around the same time. You probably knew some of them beforehand. Yes. So we are doing our Beaumont reunion reunion.
That felt very Oprah like.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: It did.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: It did.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: But then the crowd is like, yay. You get a drink.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: You get a drink.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Unless you want water.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Unless you want water. We don't serve water around here.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: We got juice and liquor.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Juice and liquor and frozen pineapples that be hitting. So we're gonna go around and I'm gonna let everybody introduce themselves. So. And just, you know, I went to Beaumont. And what you did afterwards, that means me.
Okay.
[00:01:28] Speaker C: My name is Ngum Sue. I went to Beaumont with everyone here after Beaumont. I attended Grant high school, and then I went on to Mississippi State, and I now babysit celebrities.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: That sounds like a dream.
Can I select who I want to babysit?
[00:01:49] Speaker D: A lot more excited.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: I just give out free resources.
All right, mister.
[00:01:58] Speaker D: My name is Jeron Tucker. I went to Beaumont, of course, then went on to Grant high school, Howard University, Hu.
Now I currently work at the Multnomah county courthouse in the family law department.
[00:02:11] Speaker A: I forget he has been on several game shows.
Family feud. I felt like y'all was on Wheel of Fortune. My mom.
[00:02:20] Speaker D: Yeah. And I got a little cameo.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Anyone? Any money?
[00:02:23] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:24] Speaker D: We won the first episode.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: Right?
All right.
[00:02:36] Speaker E: I am John Zawaska, and I went to Beaumont and went on to Grant. And I'm that white boy from Lisa.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Hey, that white boy. The white boy. The first kid.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: For our listeners who've had a chance to listen in season one, episode one, one of the questions that I posed to Lee was, tell me about your first kiss. And so, for anyone who wants to know, the man behind the name.
Here we go.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: The man behind the kiss.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: The man behind the kiss.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: And we got some questions about that. I've got some questions about that first kiss. We'll dive into that a little bit later, because I've already heard Lee's story, but now I need to talk to him.
Yes.
[00:03:16] Speaker C: I'm starting to ruin.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: I'm Tashanna Strickland. Jordan.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: Hey. Hey. Hyphenated name. Okay, come through.
[00:03:24] Speaker B: I went to Beaumont, and then I went to grant with everybody except for you.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: She's the outcast. Nick B's the outcast.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: She's the winner.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: Are we?
[00:03:35] Speaker D: I was on the game show.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Elementary school.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: Okay, we're gonna talk about, first of all, how Portland people still beef over high school, like, 85 years later.
Well, no.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: So Lila Ri was talking about how she ran into someone just out and about in the city, and they are not from here. And their experience and getting to know the locals is that everyone references high school.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: And what was it she asked you?
[00:04:10] Speaker A: It was why we were still so close. And, like, it's kind of weird that we're all still close. And then it was, y'all still be beefing, like, because, you know, if you go anywhere and you'd be like, oh, what high school you went to? Oh, I went to grant. Oh, I went to Jeff.
Whatever. You know, I'm saying, like, we really do be beefing over high school, and they thought it was really weird because we're really close.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Right? And as a prime example of that, I will give you guys a great visual audio of what. I mean, I'm the only one who chose the best school in this color in the town to go to.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: Allegedly called polytechnic.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Hi.
And so because I'm so awesome and great, you know, they did not choose wisely, but I love them.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: So your school.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: Name after what?
[00:04:57] Speaker A: A fountain, man.
[00:04:58] Speaker E: The bubblers.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: Vincent Simon.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: He made the Benson bubblers. You don't even know. This.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Provided a lot of quenched.
[00:05:21] Speaker E: He had water. Y'all don't have water?
[00:05:26] Speaker B: What about it?
[00:05:26] Speaker E: For us to drink?
[00:05:27] Speaker A: Yeah, she says she's quenching thirst.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: I feel like. Everybody stay hydrated. You feel me? You're welcome.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: You're welcome.
It's all good.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: I actually didn't know that. I knew that he was wealthy. I knew that he.
Well, because you know what it was initially, I thought that he was, like, involved in something because grant generals, right? So I'm thinking he was, like, a historic figure. And I asked him, I was like, who is this Benson? What did he play in our history? And she's like, oh, well, you know, he was a wealthy man who donated and created, like, this school. And I was like, okay, so he's an aristocrat. That's all I knew. That's all I had for it.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: I didn't know anything about the bubbler, right?
[00:06:05] Speaker B: But now. But now I feel very honored. But now I feel honored that I was helping everyone quench their thirst. So you're welcome.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: You know, how about this? We feel honored that our school had to teach you about your school's history.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: You guys are honored to be in my presence.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: Moving on, moving on.
We're gonna let her think that, because she did ride the short bus, so I am.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: Everybody wrote the public bus in middle.
[00:06:32] Speaker A: School, and folks don't do that anymore. That is facts.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: I got rides in high school. I got rides in high school, not middle school.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: But listen, so what else was that?
[00:06:43] Speaker B: The 33.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: The 33 and then the 72. No.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: Was it the 72 that went up in Fremont?
[00:06:51] Speaker A: 33. But what was one that went up in there? Oh, yeah. No, the one that went up and down.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: 33Rd.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: So I'm gonna say this.
I live within walking distance, and me and a group of friends who lived, like, close proximity would always walk together. But there were some days where we're like, we don't feel like walking up the hill. So we would catch the bus for two blocks and then get off. Like that was legit. Like our plan.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: Was anybody else here involved?
Was anybody else here involved in the 8th grade life? Marchathon from the school down Fremont?
[00:07:26] Speaker A: Wait, what the fuck was that?
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Does nobody. I swear. Okay, I know for sure Tracy was, but I feel like we were headed towards your house, and I just remember everybody yelling out, 8th grade boy. As we were, like, walking down Fremont.
[00:07:41] Speaker D: And it was called the what?
[00:07:42] Speaker B: I made up the march. Oh, it was like. It was a whole.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: So maybe this is the only people that did not go to. Grant did this, because Tracy went to Madison and you went to Benson.
We were all worried about our scholastic achievements.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: You guys were trying to get into the rail blues.
Everybody was trying to get in.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: You did.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: So, first of all, I joke, but that is an absolute honor, because I know that it was not easy to get into. So congrats to that.
[00:08:11] Speaker E: If it came, you know, there are just a bunch of entitled white people.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: Are there royal.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: Are there royal blues today still, as, like, I have no idea no.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:23] Speaker E: No idea.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: What was that lady's name with the big hair?
[00:08:24] Speaker D: What was her name?
[00:08:25] Speaker E: Dori Jarbo.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:08:29] Speaker E: The shit if you were in the choir. Everyone got into all the other.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: We gonna start telling stories about Grant in a second.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: I know, right? I'll be like, so, but we're moving.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: To Vincent Beaumont, so, wait, I do have a question, though. So what was everybody's favorite teacher at Beaumont?
[00:08:44] Speaker B: Mister Eldegonde.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: El Tagande was dope.
Oh, damn.
So Miss Jenkins is a bodybuilder right now. She is. She bodybuilds. Yeah, she's always been strong. Like, athletic strong, but she's, like, strong strong. Now, remember when she tried it for the LA Sparks and she tried it for the basketball? WNBA? Yeah.
Yeah. She's always been tall. I remember one day, it was taker. It was take your. She did. We were also always going to do a few. So she was that girl. Yeah. So for those of you all watching and listening, our teacher, Miss Jenkins, was one of the PE teachers. And she was, like, the coolest black lady ever in life. And we used to.
She was your health teacher. Okay. So we would. But we would always go and hang out in the gym during lunch hour. We sometimes would skip class and go hang out in the gym and get a note from her. She let us play music over the intercom system.
I remember one time.
Listen. So I remember one time, it was take your kid to work day, right? And I didn't feel like going to class, so I had Miss Jenkins write me a note to me, be her kid for the day. And Miss Knuton was like, you can't do this. And I was like, why not? And she was like, she's not your mom. She's not your parent. And Miss Jenkins was like, I want her to come to work with me today. And I was like, and she wants me to go to work with her today. And so, for the whole day of school, I was in the. I was in the gym.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: I had two favorite teachers, though. I loved Miss Jenkins, but I also loved Miss Thompson. And I feel like we went to her house once for some reason. I don't know why.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: Back in the day, we hung out.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: With teachers, but the other faculty that stood out. And I thought he was cool, miss.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: He was cool.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: I didn't get the memo.
[00:10:35] Speaker A: I didn't. He was cool. And there was a reason why he was cool.
He was.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: Found out later that he had a whole second type of lifestyle, okay?
[00:10:46] Speaker A: Like a seven foot tall sasquatch looking man with a mullet. She had a mullet and a big ass diamond earring.
But he did. He had all the.
So he had this big diamond earring. He had flashy jewelry.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: White guy.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: I don't think you're the white guy.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: Very.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: No, no. He was very much your Miami vice Muller wearing, probably the sleazy car salesman looking like dude who was always. But he was our. He was our disciplinarian. So if you ever got in trouble, you got sent to his office and you got. Did. He's the one that suspended or expelled you.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: He actually. Well. Cause I got into another fight, and he let me.
The fact that you was fighting.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: He was cool. He was real cool. But we're gonna explain why he was so cool, because we found out years later, oh, no, let's do this. He was also our dare person, which is dare to keep kids off of drugs. Right. It was a very big. It was a very big thing. It was a very big thing in the nineties was to keep kids off of drugs and crack cocaine. Right. Cause that was the big thing. So we found out into our adult years that miss was actually slanging cocaine and crack and weed out of the school.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: It was probably the most of them.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. There was lots of ways that that happens, but, yeah, I remember there was a time where they set up the metal detectors at the schools, and we had to walk through them, the surprise metal detectors. And there was a year that they set the metal detectors, and a kid. I forgot which kid it was, but he ran out the metal detector. Right.
I'm not quite sure who it was.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: He had bad skin.
[00:12:38] Speaker D: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Are we supposed to say that?
[00:12:42] Speaker B: That's not what I was expecting to.
[00:12:43] Speaker A: Say, but no, but the kid ran out, booked after him, chased him down. We found out later that the kid had, like, a coffee canister full of weed. Right. Well, I feel like later on, I feel like mister was the one that had to catch him, because if he didn't catch him, he was going to get caught, because it was probably his weed that the kid had, but got busted to jail for being a whole drug dealer.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: But then when he got out, he was working at a mattress place.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: Oh, I never heard the after story is where he kept his money in drugs.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: I just remember running into him randomly one day, and he was like, hey, Nicole.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Oh, my God, that is great.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: Now, you went from being in the schools to being in the mattress store.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: There's no felony records, restrictions at the mattress store.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: It was on Broadway.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
Okay, so we did that. But who was everybody's favorite? So we said, elta Gande. Miss Jenkins.
[00:13:53] Speaker D: 7Th grade.
[00:13:55] Speaker A: Oh, my God. I probably was Miss Thompson.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: Miss Thompson.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: So we're gonna go.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: I always thought of her as, like a grandmother. And now looking back, she probably was only in her forties.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: You know, like we have.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: Like we have fathers growing.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: No offense, John, but y'all be aging quickly.
Damn it. But you were gonna say what was your favorite?
[00:14:26] Speaker C: I'm gonna say the unpopular.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:14:29] Speaker C: I am going to go with Miss Green.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: Oh, we love Miss Green.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: She was the most impactful.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:37] Speaker C: Supposed to get to that. But I enjoyed. You were always gonna get a laugh in her class.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:43] Speaker C: So it was like, even if she was hard on you, because she was gonna be hard on you. She was funny. There was some.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: It was the fact that she rolled up to school in a limo every day.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: I cannot.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: She wasn't getting dropped off. No doubt.
[00:15:01] Speaker A: You know who I like? I liked Mister Arden. Did anybody else have Mister Arden? Oh, he was. He was a good math teacher. Yeah.
Did you. Oh, nice. Is he still alive? I know that sounds mean. Teacher, right? Is he teachers?
Yeah, he was dope. I loved him. Okay, what was one of your. Okay, and then we're gonna do this one at a time. Cause we begin loud. Okay. So one at a time. He's like, my editing is gonna be shit.
So what was. If you could pick one moment to be your favorite moments or most memorable moment of middle school, what was it?
[00:15:40] Speaker E: Are the memorable, great moments from middle school?
[00:15:43] Speaker A: There's a lot of them, I feel.
[00:15:44] Speaker D: Like only because they were so far back. That's what's making it so hard.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: While they're thinking, yo, you. No, go ahead, go ahead. You're our guest. No, I was just saying, like, probably, like going to bagel land.
Sometimes I still see, like, when I'm.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: In town, I still go. If I'm in the area, I will. Because you got so bagel lamb, for those of y'all that don't know, was across the street from our school, made fresh bagels every day. If you were lucky, you caught them dollar or five dollar bags or whatever bags, them day old bagels. And they might have had a cheese bagel because the cheese bagel sold out first.
But it was so every morning, most of us would go to bagel land before going to school. We'd get two bagels most of the time, one for breakfast and one for lunch. And that was it. We would eat bagels and then drink strawberry awareness.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: Fruitopia.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: The fruitopia machine was it.
[00:16:41] Speaker C: That's how I eat bagels now. Everybody eats them two at a time.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: No, you have to. And did anybody else do. So I did it where that little middle piece of cheese that was in the bottom, you had to say that at the end.
Oh, that was the best. Okay, what was your favorite moment?
[00:16:59] Speaker B: My favorite moment was actually, and I know that not everybody was able to go.
I didn't even say anybody.
So what I remember most is that I felt feel like my mom had me so inappropriately dressed again. Okay, listen, let me explain.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: First it was a flannel at high school and now you're inappropriately dressed.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Yes. So I was looking, and this is probably why the flannel outfit came into play.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: You were a whole whore in 8th grade.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: So first of all, the dress was from deb. So it's not even like as a pricey. Okay. And it was a black mini dress with white on the top.
[00:17:49] Speaker A: I remember that dress.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: Black and white flower. And I remember my hair was up, but I was the only one in there who looked like I was on my way to a club and everybody else is in jeans.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: To be fair, Nicole, Nick B. Has always been a curvy tall girl who looked grown as fuck. It just is what it is. Because we talked about this in season one, the 8th grade, the class trip where you would get hit on by grown men at Union Station in DC.
[00:18:15] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, they get crazy.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: And now when you think about it now, but to think back about it, you're like, does anybody want to get hit on by people at the train station?
[00:18:21] Speaker A: We're like, yes, let's do it.
Why was that a thing that we were doing? And me with my Shirley Temple curls and my jail down bang was like, yeah. And I was like, why is no one hitting on me? I'm 2ft tall.
It's not a flex, honestly.
[00:18:37] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:18:38] Speaker C: Oh.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Oh, God. Okay, favorite moments. Okay, anybody else, what's your favorite moment?
[00:18:42] Speaker D: I think mine might be the.
It was really fun. I don't think I really went to like, any dances.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: Cause I was.
Anybody remember dancing in the circles?
[00:18:57] Speaker B: But not even just from that one dance alone, but we had other dances. And it always seemed like the dance at the time is everybody was like in this line of a train, guy girl, guy girl, guy girl. Yeah, we're all just doing this.
[00:19:08] Speaker A: You had one hand out, you're like, yeah, we're just gonna rock this on that free dance.
But I do remember dancing in circles. Like, it was like. It would be like a group of girls, and we were all in one circle. It was girls in Jaron. It was girls in Jaron. And we're all doing this.
And Jonte, right? And Tracy. But it was. She could dance, let me tell you. So I was just telling Nick Beatus the other day that Tracy and I used to go to her house and we would make dance routines up. But Tracy, now, Tracy's a really skinny girl. Really skinny white girl like this, right? So she could dance her ass off, but she was so skinny. And back then, the dance was the tic, right? Remember? And you were ticking. But neither Tracy or I had hips. And I was like, how do you tic, girl? She was like, girl, dude, she's like, wear big pants and pull your jeans up. So she would grab it by the belt loop and then pull her jeans up to make it look like she was ticking. And I was like, oh, my God, you're so smart. And we were walking around just ticking all day long, creating wet.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Just pulling your jeans up your butt.
That's hilarious.
So what were your guys most memorable moments?
[00:20:22] Speaker A: It was the kiss. It was the kiss. It was the kiss on the bus.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: John, Lisa, your best moment?
[00:20:30] Speaker A: It was a kiss.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: Okay, so I was also gonna say this.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: You're having flashbacks.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: So we had an elective trip that we took to the west coast to.
[00:20:43] Speaker A: Do like a little east coast, east.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: Coast to do a little tour. Sorry.
[00:20:47] Speaker A: And it's a little tour of like five states.
[00:20:51] Speaker E: Visit the foundations of the United States.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: Just that.
We started in Philly. We started in Philly.
Yeah.
Oh, God.
[00:21:07] Speaker E: But remember the weird ass town names, Williams?
[00:21:10] Speaker A: I remember blue balls and intercourse. I bought.
Yes.
I intentionally bought magnets and keychains from those towns because I was like, we.
[00:21:27] Speaker E: Were doing that bad stuff on that trip. We're learning about their religion. It's like no engraving images. So I remember someone I was with. I'm not gonna mention names, would be like, click, click, click, click. Or amish kids.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: It wasn't me, was it?
But you know how it was with cameras and pictures. Clearly. Right? He was like, I ain't saying no names, but yeah.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: So on this trip, you two were on the same bus?
[00:21:53] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: Now, the story that I've heard is that Lee was dared. Is that right? You were dared to. Okay. Did you know this? Were you? Did you know it was a dare?
[00:22:03] Speaker E: No idea.
[00:22:04] Speaker A: Okay, so I knew it was the lies, cuz we were. Okay.
[00:22:07] Speaker E: I didn't know it was coming because we were playing that game on the.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Bus, it was a truth or dared game. Yeah. So it was. It was all of us. And everybody was, like, daring. You kiss so and so. Kiss so and so and so. Then someone. Right? So then someone was like, was it.
[00:22:21] Speaker D: Moved on one bus?
[00:22:22] Speaker A: No, there was two buses.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: So I wasn't on their bus.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: We were on the cool bus.
[00:22:25] Speaker E: What was the bus driver's name? Black guy.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: Ray.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: You remember this? Not.
[00:22:30] Speaker B: You remember Ray.
[00:22:32] Speaker C: It was that extra rain. It was super tall.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: I have no clue. There were parts of this trip that were very foggy.
They were very foggy. But so I got. So I was like, I got there, and they're like, I remember it was Keela. It was Kila. She was like, I dare you to kiss John. And so I was like, okay. And so then John was sitting on the other side. Like, I was in this seat, and it was the aisle, and he was on the other seat. We literally, like, poked our heads through the aisle, and we're like.
And then lean back. He was all red faced. I was all red face. I was like.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: So was that real red face? Was that your first kiss, too? Was that. That was your first. Oh, it was both your guys first kisses.
[00:23:12] Speaker A: Awesome.
[00:23:14] Speaker E: But you were on the other, but voice hadn't changed.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: Were you at least taller than Lee? Because Lee's short.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: I feel like, john, you were short back then.
[00:23:25] Speaker E: I'm not. I wasn't. Maybe I was tallish.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Okay. I don't know why I remember him being short. Okay.
[00:23:34] Speaker E: I was never taller than Kwanesha until she stopped growing.
[00:23:37] Speaker A: Nobody was like, I was always.
[00:23:42] Speaker B: I've actually been this height since 15, so there's that. I stopped growing in, like, the 7th grade.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. He's probably at work, you know, beating up.
[00:23:56] Speaker B: Quanesha and I actually went to college together too, so that would have been great for her to be on here. So shout out.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: Shout out to. We couldn't get everybody on the show. I wish we could have. We'll do this again. But I just. It was a lot of people, and we have a lot of good.
[00:24:08] Speaker D: The b squad.
[00:24:09] Speaker A: The b squad.
No, you know what remember, I remember really vividly was when Selena died, and we had. So me and Jeron had spanish class, and we had mister Woodruff. I did.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: Does everybody remember their spanish name, though?
[00:24:25] Speaker A: I was Luna.
[00:24:26] Speaker B: I know you don't, because you.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: She was in French.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: I was in the same class. I was Luna.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: I was Mariana.
[00:24:37] Speaker A: Mariana. Okay, okay, I got one.
You didn't take any.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: How did you get out of it in middle school?
[00:24:50] Speaker A: Because I feel like we all had.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: To do either French or.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: No, he was either french or Spanish. You had to.
No.
[00:24:59] Speaker B: This is why you kept getting kicked out of stuff, because you didn't follow directions, sugar.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: They were like, why are you bonnets? I took you by.
[00:25:12] Speaker D: Yeah, because the thing was, if you. It was optional in middle school, but if you took it in middle school, then you could start second year.
[00:25:20] Speaker A: Got you. I just know that we. We made. We had pinatas. One party. We made. I made quesadillas.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: I just want to point out that it was an elective of a class to take, and she elected not to take any of them.
She just didn't go.
What?
What?
[00:25:51] Speaker A: Finished. Okay.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: Right. This is really making me wonder, like, why, mister, probably on your head, like.
[00:26:00] Speaker A: He was trying to recruit you for his business.
You don't want to take the.
[00:26:06] Speaker B: Oh, God. Shannon said, I ain't got no spanish names.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: I'm surprised, like, I'm gonna send y'all to Columbia for your 8th grade class trip.
[00:26:17] Speaker B: She had time to get in trouble. She had the time to get in trouble.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: I'm sorry. I got real off here. I'm sorry. I'm just like, yo, she elected not to go.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: What are some ins. What are. What are some inside jokes in spanish class? Oh, my God. He made us watch every Selena video. There was, like, enrique Iglesias. We met. We watched all the videos, like, and then we watched Cinco de Mayo was.
[00:26:48] Speaker B: Always the best day.
[00:26:49] Speaker A: It was. It was. That's. I think that's the day we had. Yeah, I was.
[00:26:53] Speaker B: Shannon even get no tacos?
[00:26:54] Speaker A: He didn't. You could have.
[00:26:55] Speaker B: Mama made tacos.
[00:26:58] Speaker D: When we dab in the textbook, we would have, like, people to read.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: Tishana looked real left out.
[00:27:16] Speaker A: Why are you. Hold on. Why are you here? You have no memories with us?
Damn it. Oh, my God. Okay, so what are some. Some inside jokes that y'all had with friends in middle school?
[00:27:29] Speaker B: I just made one tonight.
[00:27:30] Speaker A: Okay, I'm gonna tell you this. So, me and gum were, like, best. Best friends, like, unstable. So we had a notebook. So we had this notebook that we put together that we wrote notes in. Like, we wrote each other letters back and forth, and we would, like, give the notebook back and forth and back in class, and we would literally be like, hey, I sent you a note. And that was the whole thing.
And so I remember I found that notebook, like, later on in life, and I was reading it. I was like, first of all, we ain't shit. We ain't been shit for years. We talk so much shit about people.
I should have write.
[00:28:09] Speaker B: Forgets nothing. She forgets.
[00:28:11] Speaker A: If you want to call somebody a bone collector, I'm a bone collector. I have a box full of the notes that we used to fold up. Like little football, the little. The mailers with the little pull tab. Like, I have all of those. Yeah.
[00:28:24] Speaker B: Anybody else have inside jokes that they remember or something that just stood out?
So I remember, like, it was a real popular thing to leave some sort of a catchphrase when you were signing yearbooks. Like, did you. Was there something you consistently said in someone's yearbook when it was the end of the year?
[00:28:41] Speaker A: Like, that was your sign off.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: Your sign off.
[00:28:48] Speaker C: I would do, like, the two dots.
[00:28:49] Speaker A: It was a smiley face underneath. Like, the U was always a thing. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
And she was always like, I'm bubba gum.
[00:28:57] Speaker B: I remember, like, I thought I was so fancy because I came up with this phrase that was like, yeah. Stay fresh and crunchy, never mold.
I don't. Never mold. Never mold.
And then just my name. Stay fresh and crunchy, never mold. And to me, I was like, bars? I mean, genius. Oh, that's what it was for me. Okay. I was like, ain't nobody gonna top that.
[00:29:42] Speaker A: Do you remember when she used to.
[00:29:43] Speaker B: Say shit like, yes, and crunchy, like food for thought? It was always food for thought. And she was like, what do you like? If you shave. If you shave a peach, is it not a nectarine? Am I wrong, though? If you shave a peach, is that not a nectarine? It's the same fruit. Don't stop. Is it still a bus stop? No.
Makes you think. Makes you think.
[00:30:05] Speaker A: Were you smoking back then?
[00:30:06] Speaker B: No.
No.
And I was really curious about it, and then I was like, if we're looking at the same thing and I see red and you see blue, is it not purple? I mean, like, if we.
I do. I'm saying it for her earlier.
I'm not gonna do it now.
Thank you, my friend.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: One?
[00:30:27] Speaker B: Which one?
I do remember that one.
It has a rap, too. It was like, you make my heart beat every time. Wait, wait, wait. Okay, here it goes. Like, you make my heart beat every time I cross the street. You got me thinking I want your body those big brown eyes, they have your fine. Got me thinking I want to spend some time with you, baby boo.
How was that Taco Bell?
[00:30:54] Speaker A: Why? Why is this a thing?
[00:30:57] Speaker B: Yes. Yes, yes.
[00:30:59] Speaker A: So you've been writing reps your whole life?
Oh, my God.
[00:31:08] Speaker B: Always been a little creative.
[00:31:10] Speaker A: Okay. So, looking back at yourself as a middle schooler, what was your dream job or your plans for yourself in the future like that you thought you were gonna do?
[00:31:21] Speaker C: Oh, I for sure thought I was gonna be a professional athlete. I was going to be the NBA. Not WNBA.
I was playing sports.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: I always thought soccer was.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: It was.
[00:31:34] Speaker C: But middle school, I was heavy into basketball.
[00:31:37] Speaker A: She wore jerseys every day with the fucking overalls and the goddamn bang that hung over her face. Like this.
[00:31:53] Speaker C: I swore up and down, and I will. Academically. I was like, I'm gonna be a pediatrician.
[00:31:59] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. We had a business. Her and I had a whole plan. So I was gonna be. I was gonna be a business major, which I still did. She was gonna be a doctor. Our other friend, mahogany, was gonna be an engineer. Architect. So mahogany was going to design the hospital. She was gonna be the lead doctor, and I was gonna be the one that managed the business administration. Yeah. And we all went different ways.
[00:32:23] Speaker C: I mean, I.
[00:32:24] Speaker A: She got the degree. I got the degree that I expected to get. Yeah. But.
Yeah, it's weird.
What was your goal?
[00:32:33] Speaker D: Mine was to be an attorney. Oh, yeah.
No, it is funny because I actually went to law school for a year.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: Did you?
He was like this, I'm going to will of fortune.
[00:32:50] Speaker B: My money, rub me my bag.
[00:32:56] Speaker D: I had quite a few jobs since I left the law school, but then I still ended up at a courthouse. Family law.
[00:33:02] Speaker A: Makes sense. Okay.
[00:33:04] Speaker D: It's weird, but, yeah.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: Okay, so your dream was.
[00:33:06] Speaker D: I mean, it's somewhere in that.
[00:33:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Dream adjacent. There you go.
[00:33:11] Speaker D: I like that.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: What about you?
[00:33:13] Speaker E: I always wanted to be, like, a radio announcer for laser games.
[00:33:16] Speaker B: I can see.
Yes.
[00:33:20] Speaker E: Laser gear.
[00:33:20] Speaker A: I had, like.
You totally still could.
[00:33:26] Speaker B: What do you do now?
[00:33:28] Speaker E: I've been a butcher for 20 years.
[00:33:30] Speaker B: Oh, not you cutting stuff up.
[00:33:33] Speaker A: But I.
[00:33:33] Speaker E: Like. I'm in charge of butchers now. I don't have to do the manual labor.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:33:38] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:33:39] Speaker E: But, yeah, I always wanted to be on the radio or calling games or on NPR.
[00:33:44] Speaker A: I totally could.
[00:33:45] Speaker B: You have the voice for it.
[00:33:46] Speaker A: You do.
[00:33:46] Speaker E: I was gonna say, like, I always wanted to do it. And then when I got went to college, I did what my parents wanted to do and didn't go for broadcasting or something else.
[00:33:54] Speaker B: You can always tap in.
[00:33:55] Speaker A: I'll say, listen, let me plug you. I got the plug with the blazer.
You do.
I got you.
[00:34:04] Speaker E: I don't know if they let me.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: They need someone to do. I love that. Let's talk after. I'm gonna plug you.
What about you, tish? I wanted to be a nurse. Oh, you want to be a stripper?
You wanted to be a nurse.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: I wanted. I had my life plan.
[00:34:34] Speaker A: I didn't want to be married.
[00:34:36] Speaker B: I didn't want to have kids.
[00:34:37] Speaker A: I was gonna be a nurse. I was gonna. I tell my mom, like, I did. I did not want to have kids.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: I was going to have a couple dogs.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: I was going to be a nurse. Really?
[00:34:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:34:45] Speaker A: That was my dead ass.
[00:34:46] Speaker B: That was.
[00:34:47] Speaker A: None of that happened. I don't even get a college.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: Do you have any dogs?
[00:34:50] Speaker A: No.
[00:34:51] Speaker B: James won't let me get one.
[00:34:52] Speaker A: She got kids, right?
[00:34:56] Speaker B: He won't let you have a dog. He won't let me have.
[00:34:58] Speaker A: I'm gonna drive.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: First of all, don't come for the black people that like cats.
[00:35:07] Speaker A: Damn. Why the two mixed people up here got cats?
She's like, my point exactly. Nick, be, what was your goals?
[00:35:15] Speaker B: So, you know, I wasn't really clear what I wanted to do. I just know that I wanted to do something in arts. And so I did go to college for graphic design. And, I mean, it didn't really pan out. I know that. I remember working for a footwear company out here, and, like, it was just really tough to try to navigate getting into that field. So I was like, well, this isn't working. Let me just go get an MBA and try to make myself a little bit more marketable. And now I work in finance, of all things, and my ass can't add.
[00:35:42] Speaker A: Okay, we have learned this all this weekend, so very.
[00:35:47] Speaker B: It's really odd. I never saw myself working in the capacity of numbers, but that's what I'm doing right now. What about you?
[00:35:53] Speaker A: My goal was to run her hospital.
[00:35:55] Speaker B: But how did, like, what differed?
[00:35:57] Speaker A: And I got to college and was doing the business degree, but then I learned that I loved music and radio and marketing and that kind of a thing. So I.
I did do radio in college, and I did radio when I came back here a little bit. We do a podcast now, you know, but I took the marketing degree and put it towards more community stuff. So I do a lot of community things with the nonprofit that I work for. Yeah. During my day job, you know, I'm sorry. I was screech open people giving out resources.
Okay. Um, I think. Okay. So I said this one thing for me was funny, that I was dating a guy in middle school, so we had a boyfriend was talking, right?
And another boy asked me out, and I told my boyfriend that this boy had asked me out and they wanted to fight on the playground for me.
[00:36:44] Speaker B: What?
[00:36:45] Speaker A: It was a whole thing.
[00:36:46] Speaker B: Did a guy fight over you on the playground?
[00:36:47] Speaker A: They were going to two. Two of them. Two guys.
It was. And it was like a scene of a movie.
[00:36:53] Speaker E: So talking about like 13 year olds.
[00:36:55] Speaker A: We are. It was a whole thing. I felt straight in, out there on the playground with me.
[00:37:11] Speaker B: I was on the playground with her, digging imaginary holes and singing songs. Yes, yes. Okay. That happened.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: So wait, I gotta. So y'all remember Pierre? He was older than us by a year.
[00:37:22] Speaker B: No, no.
[00:37:23] Speaker A: Okay, okay.
And then. And then Jason. Jason was our grade. He little chunky boy had a crush on me.
Anyways, he asked me out and I said, apparently, I said no with a really long delay. Because Andrew.
[00:37:43] Speaker B: A long no is a yes.
[00:37:44] Speaker A: Made fun of me for saying this cuz they're like, he asked you out? You were like, no.
[00:37:52] Speaker B: Why did you.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: And I felt so bad. Cause they laughed about it. For they still. Andrew will still like on Facebook comment and be like, no.
But yes.
My boyfriend found out and he got mad. And they went to the playground, and it was like. Pierre was walking from this on the big. The big open grass field, right? Pierre's walking this way. Had a whole bunch of people behind him. Cause everybody knew about it. Jason was walking this way. It was each of them walking with.
[00:38:20] Speaker B: The whole Michael Jackson video.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: It felt like it. It was like, should have beat it. And I'm over there, like, don't fight. Please don't do it, everybody.
[00:38:32] Speaker B: I remember.
[00:38:32] Speaker A: Cause. Okay, so y'all going to Beaumont was like my black experience, right? So I had all the black girls, like, finally getting black friends, right? And they was like, girl, they about to fight over you. And I'm like, please.
Oh, my God. But that was like, one of my funniest moments at the time. It wasn't funny. It was great.
[00:38:59] Speaker E: So I got the first kiss.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: That's so funny. Cause, yeah, the older guy wanted me to meet him behind Papa Aldous.
It wasn't Papa Aldo, it was Papa Aldo's. And he was like, meet me behind Papa Aldo's. And I was like, okay. And then I walked home really fast.
[00:39:21] Speaker B: Back in the day, back when we were in middle school, you could get Papa Aldo's, aka Papa Murphy.
[00:39:25] Speaker A: Yeah, switched.
[00:39:26] Speaker B: You could get a family sized pizza for $10 back then. Does anybody remember that?
And I only. But I only remember that because of high school with the dances. My mom would buy ten of them, spend $100, and they'd be big old pizzas. And she'd feed everybody. And they were only $10 today. They're like, in 30 almost bucks from.
And you gotta cut it yourself and cook it yourself.
[00:39:51] Speaker A: Okay, so what was it, like? Did anybody, like, have secret crushes in middle school? And who were they? I know who yours was.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: I remember someone had a secret crush on me and tried to act like they weren't talking about me in front of me, so they did. And it was. This is the part the nickname was. The most obvious nickname.
[00:40:10] Speaker D: Nicole.
[00:40:11] Speaker B: They'd be like. They'd be like. They'd be like, so have you talked to NBA today?
So full name Nicole, last name Bane. That's where Nick B comes from. And they just thought that adding the a, like, I wasn't gonna figure it out.
I'm like, I hear you.
[00:40:29] Speaker A: What is that?
Wait, who is this?
[00:40:34] Speaker B: Go and say it.
[00:40:35] Speaker A: It's not a bad thing.
[00:40:36] Speaker B: I believe it was, Mel.
[00:40:38] Speaker A: Oh, no.
[00:40:42] Speaker B: And the conversation with him was with Harvey. We were sitting in Miss Thompson's class.
[00:40:47] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:40:48] Speaker B: And they were at. We were at the same, like, quad desk setup situation. And they're like, we talked to NBA today.
I'm gonna say something later.
And I'm just sitting here like, y'all ain't slick.
I thought it was cool because, like, nobody ever, like, he never said anything to me, so it's not like he ever, like, really came up to me. But they. I knew they were talking about me because they were always weird and acting like little teenage boys, but, yeah. So I was flattered.
[00:41:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, God. Who was? Y'all? See, guys.
[00:41:36] Speaker C: You would never even imagine that these super fine men lived in Portland.
[00:41:42] Speaker B: But isn't it also wild that back then, obviously nobody needed any clearances to come onto our school campus.
That ain't happening today. But, yeah, folks are just walking in.
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. So we were done. I was in Miss Akavain's class, and I remember Xavier was. He was supposed to be here today, but Xavier was in my class, and he ran out. Cause he was like, it's time. It's time. And he ran in Miss Akavain's class, went to the teacher's lounge. Cause all the teachers were in the lounge watching it. He ran back in. He ain't guilty. And we. Yeah, we all cheering and stuff. And some of our teachers were like, mm hmm.
But we were like, yeah. It was like a whole celebration. Oh, God. Yeah. They were like, you're getting an f.
[00:42:31] Speaker E: The school got shut down. Cause someone saw a rifle. Someone carrying a rifle.
[00:42:42] Speaker D: Like, everybody get against the wall.
[00:42:44] Speaker A: I do not remember that. I was in Miss La Grant's class doing home egg, and we were right by the window, and we were always wanting home ec.
[00:42:52] Speaker B: I never got it.
[00:42:53] Speaker A: You never did home egg. That's how we're gonna make spaghetti. That's how I made spaghetti against.
Oh, my God.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: Okay. I don't remember the verdict and everything. I don't remember stuff around OJ, but I do remember Tupac.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:43:21] Speaker B: Yes. It was our birthday. It was my birthday, actually, that he actually died on my birthday. And we were going to Oaks park skating for my birthday that year. And I just remember everybody crying, skating in circles to tupac songs. And then I remember that play the biggie song after, and I got mad. Everybody was.
[00:43:39] Speaker A: So, listen, I was in Mister El Tagande, I think it was our math class, and Harvey was in my math class. And remember Harvey was, like, the biggest. He had his nose pierced. He was like. He wanted to be Tupac so bad. He was crying. I never seen a boy cry, so. And he was tall. You know what I'm saying? Like, I was like, harvey. Oh. And then I remember we got to high school, and that's when shook. I'm not sure.
That's when Biggie got shot. And I remember Harvey. Like, that's what he get.
[00:44:13] Speaker B: That's what he get. He took a personal, though. Like, yo, you don't know them.
[00:44:17] Speaker A: It was. It was.
We talked about that, how Portland was not considered west coast. Like, we don't get to. We don't get the right to be, like, tupac fans.
[00:44:31] Speaker B: Even today, people still want to ask me where it's located. Yep. They'll still ask today.
[00:44:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:36] Speaker B: They think we're in the middle of, like, near Colorado or somewhere. They're like, so, you.
[00:44:46] Speaker A: Know, oh, my God. Oh, God. I, like. There's so much to go through.
[00:44:53] Speaker E: My crush was always Michaela's.
[00:44:56] Speaker A: Oh, I shout every guy's crush.
[00:44:58] Speaker B: I think almost every guy.
Every guy had a crush on Kayla.
[00:45:04] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:45:06] Speaker D: Melvin was trying to get with her, and he kept, like, sending her notes.
Everybody was around, like.
[00:45:19] Speaker A: Oh, no. You know, oh, my God.
[00:45:22] Speaker E: Me and Joe and Matt used to sit around and talk about girls is saving outside by our mirror.
[00:45:30] Speaker D: Our hero, Stanley, but we called him Joseph.
[00:45:46] Speaker A: Dang. My crush was actually.
[00:45:56] Speaker B: Listen, everybody loved Matt.
[00:45:58] Speaker D: I got my pair of Mc hammer pants, and we died when he wore those to school one day.
[00:46:13] Speaker B: We had talked about him joining the reunion show. He was just like, I'm a little shy. I don't want to do it. And I was like, that's cool. Maybe you can watch. And I forgot to have him. He could have been here watching.
[00:46:22] Speaker A: So let me tell you this, though. I got my very first perm. So I always had mixed girl hair that I didn't know what to do with this. So I remember there's a few stories around this. So I'm gonna go with the perm one first. So I got my very first perm. And you know anybody who had their first perm? You walked around with a goddamn comb all day long, brushing your hair because it felt so silky. So I okay. Tatiana looking like, nah, I don't remember that. But, yeah, he was walking around like this.
I had a perm. And I walked around the playground with my comb. I was doing this all day long. And I remember Rick and rip.
He walked up to me. It was like, you gonna give me a hug or something? And I was like, what? He was like, your hair look good? I was like, oh, I get a permit. People like me. But I remember this. I remember. I remember walking up to Max in the playground with my perm and my comb in my hand, like, hey, Matt, you know, this ain't giving out.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: This ain't what I heard.
[00:47:15] Speaker A: I'm loving him. Matt.
[00:47:17] Speaker E: Hey, Matt, you out there?
[00:47:20] Speaker A: And Matt knew I had a crush on him. Cause he'd be like, with his Adam's apple.
He had the biggest Adam's apple on.
[00:47:32] Speaker B: Y'all gonna leave Matt to Adam Apple alone?
[00:47:36] Speaker A: But I'm gonna tell you the other story about hair. So our other good friend.
[00:47:40] Speaker B: That was Batika.
[00:47:42] Speaker A: That was high school. I remember. I have pictures of that. It's actually in the book. Batika's in the book. But my other hair story was. Remember Keela?
So Kila thought I didn't know this until late after the fact. But she thought I had a weaver. So she told me to put pink curlers in my hair. And put my ponytail in the microwave. And I was trying to figure out.
[00:48:06] Speaker B: How to do that, how to make that happen.
But no, that's, like, the first time I really straightened my hair. This is high school, not middle school. But the first time I tried to straighten my hair for real, I had pe that day.
[00:48:22] Speaker A: Oh, sh.
[00:48:22] Speaker B: So because my hair is pretty, like, fine, it naturally started to curl up when I was sweating. But my next class was welding.
And so in my head, what I determined was, is that to make my hair straight, all I needed was a flat iron, which is heat. So what I did in my welding class was. Is I took the piece of my hair that had curled up a little bit, and I pulled it real tight and made it as straight as I could. And I put my head next to the welding machine so it would, like, flash, flash it straight, only.
Only. Only instead it just flittered away.
And I smell like burnt hair the rest of the day. And there wasn't no bath and body works that could help me out. No spritz, nothing.
Because. No, because it made sense. It makes sense if heat straightens it. And there's clearly heat coming from this welding machine. And if I hold my hair just nice and tight and straight, then it will just freeze it. Straight is what I thought was gonna happen. Do you remember when you put the clear deodorant on your legs because it was like lotion, because it was moisture. It was 97% moisturizing. And so I was going to. I was going to. I was actually going to a concert with this one right here. We were going to go to see boys to men. And I was wearing a little dress, and my legs were a bit ashy.
[00:49:51] Speaker A: She was like, I'll make.
[00:49:52] Speaker B: Okay, so listen, but listen. For my legs to be ashy, as light as I am, and for me to recognize the ash, I needed to take immediate action. And what I had on me was 97% moisturized dove lotion bar. And so that's what I did.
[00:50:07] Speaker A: And y'all wonder why she is still single again.
[00:50:12] Speaker B: Your friend is amazing. It's amazing. Just stop it there.
I keep y'all happy and laughing.
[00:50:24] Speaker A: What did you do?
[00:50:24] Speaker E: Remember me in 6th grade? I had long hair. I was a pre pubescent little eleven year old, but I had long hair, and I thought it was the coolest thing. And so I was at a restaurant one day, and I was walking towards the boys room, and this old man put his hand on my shoulder, was like, girls room's that way.
[00:50:43] Speaker A: Girls room's that way.
[00:50:44] Speaker E: I cut my shit off the next day.
[00:50:48] Speaker A: Oh, God.
[00:50:49] Speaker B: He hair shamed you. Why?
[00:50:50] Speaker A: You called the boy all the time.
[00:50:52] Speaker C: We had a substitute, and I think it was Miss Green's class. She had a substitute. And I didn't know the teacher. I thought maybe the teacher knew my mom or something like that. And maybe I did know the teacher and. And I don't. Somebody was talking, and so I was giggling at whatever they were saying. Cause I'm the big giggler. And the teacher was like, young man.
[00:51:13] Speaker A: And I'm still giggling. Cause I didn't know who they were talking.
[00:51:17] Speaker B: Can't be talking.
To me, it wasn't me. I had the same moves I have now.
[00:51:23] Speaker A: It wasn't me.
[00:51:24] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:51:24] Speaker A: It's your man.
[00:51:28] Speaker B: I remember you doing the bounce all the time.
[00:51:33] Speaker A: He had to go all the way.
[00:51:35] Speaker B: Down, and he'd come in, and then.
[00:51:37] Speaker A: He would come back up.
I went to college doing that.
[00:51:44] Speaker B: There was never any music playing, but he was bouncing all the time, everywhere.
[00:51:51] Speaker A: Everywhere, all day, every day.
Oh, my God.
[00:52:11] Speaker B: Unsolicited, bouncing for no reason.
[00:52:15] Speaker A: Did he add the arms in at one point? It was just going up and down.
[00:52:19] Speaker B: And then. Don't let mo money. Honeymoons was out that year, too.
So then it was like a little Harlem shake with it, too.
[00:52:30] Speaker A: No, you know what, Jerome? You know what we used to do all the time is you would go and you would put your shirt over the heater. Oh, yeah.
And he would let it blow up, and he would just sit there and look at you.
[00:52:42] Speaker B: Why is he making mad eye contact?
Why are you making mad eye contact?
[00:52:51] Speaker A: Cause he was always shivering. Oh, my God, that was hilarious. I remember. Okay, so one time. So me and gum. Me and gum used to hang out all the time, like every day, whatever. And so one summer, we decided that it was like, after the 4 July went to the school, so she lived by Irvington, and we would go down there, and we decided, for whatever reason, it was a good idea to shove firecrackers inside the little balance beam, the wooden balance beam, and light.
[00:53:21] Speaker B: When you say wooden balance beam, you talking about the teeter totters?
[00:53:24] Speaker A: No, it was like the balance beam. Like, you know, the wooden thing that you would walk across, you know, whatever it was a balance beam. And so there was, like, little holes in the edge of it. So we stuck a bunch of fireworks in it, and we lit it on fire, and then it starts to smoke, and we're like, oh, shit, hold on. So then we. We go back to our house and see, because her mom's to always go to McDonald's and keep the big. The big cups, the blazer games. So they had the big plastic cup. So we went to her house and we filled up a bunch of cups with water. We're walking back down the hill, and fire trucks are pulling up, and we're on fire, smoking.
[00:54:06] Speaker C: But then we went over by. So y'all remember those garbage cans with the tin tops?
And we had those little bees, the little bee things? And you light them and they go and they fly up, and then they're back, right? So that's what it was. We had those things. We had set it up on top of the garbage can and we lit it and they go, so y'all the.
[00:54:25] Speaker B: Little thugs that are causing us more inspired.
[00:54:30] Speaker A: We both have two big ass plastic cups of water here and there's fire trucks everywhere. And we're like, we're like, we can't keep walking down there because they're gonna know it's us.
[00:54:41] Speaker B: So we're trying to be cool.
[00:54:42] Speaker A: So we're like, just drink the water.
So we started drinking it like we meant to do that and we're like, we're gonna go away.
And went back and my mom's like, oh, what's going on down here? Nothing.
Oh my God.
[00:54:59] Speaker B: I literally have to take care of.
I had no idea.
[00:55:06] Speaker A: What were y'all thoughts about high school? Leaving, leaving Beaumont?
[00:55:14] Speaker D: I guess it was. Cuz it was going up the next step, like something bigger and.
[00:55:18] Speaker B: Yeah, so because you guys always say middle school, did it feel like a hard transition or high school?
[00:55:24] Speaker A: Sorry.
[00:55:25] Speaker B: Did it feel like a hard transition? Because you guys were kind of like all going together.
[00:55:28] Speaker A: You kind of already knew each other. Honestly, I feel like we kind of. We didn't drift apart, but we all started making new friends because it was like everybody was coming and there was more people to choose from. So we started making new friends and I just. Our friends got bigger. Yeah. Yeah, that's how I feel. I don't know.
[00:55:43] Speaker C: I got heavier into sports, so just like, more things. And I knew what my goal after high school was. So I was like, okay, gotta stick with this, gotta do this, gotta do that. And I was in whatever classes I was gonna be in.
[00:55:57] Speaker A: But.
[00:55:58] Speaker D: And then the circles too, they evolved over time because like, freshman year I was hanging out with like Malcolm and Ricky. And then sophomore year, I joined the gents and then I was hanging out with Jermaine and Rashad.
[00:56:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
That's how I felt.
[00:56:12] Speaker C: I was like, oh, great, okay.
[00:56:14] Speaker A: I was in my mega. Because I got to Beaumont, I was like, black people, yay, we got the grand. I was like, grand.
It was. I mean, that's. I think that's when I got heavily into black stuff. Like I was doing like the, like.
[00:56:26] Speaker D: President of the Unity club because we didn't.
[00:56:30] Speaker A: Because they would let us have a black student union at the time. We were. Had to have the unity club.
[00:56:36] Speaker B: Did anybody else have to take math in the portable out back at Beaumont?
[00:56:43] Speaker A: No, I don't think I had anything.
[00:56:57] Speaker B: It was me.
[00:57:03] Speaker A: We love Sharifah.
[00:57:06] Speaker B: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. It gets better, it gets better, it gets better. Yeeka.
Mario.
We didn't know we were in the slow class.
[00:57:24] Speaker A: Oh, God.
[00:57:25] Speaker B: We didn't know we were in the slow class. Oh, God. It was out back behind the chorus building.
[00:57:31] Speaker A: Wait.
[00:57:42] Speaker B: She was in there, too? And so, yeah, I was just wondering.
Didn't know if anybody else.
[00:57:55] Speaker A: Wait, did anybody.
Did anybody else have a period where they worked in the office? Cause I worked in the office first period, and I gotta check everybody in for being late. Yes. I felt so cool writing them notes. Oh, man. And then when everybody would get in trouble.
[00:58:10] Speaker B: Wait, why did you have a period where you worked in the office?
[00:58:13] Speaker A: You didn't. Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:58:17] Speaker B: Oh, now you know about elected.
Oh, now you're versed in electricity.
[00:58:24] Speaker A: She said I was getting a real life work experience.
[00:58:27] Speaker B: I think. I think was. So then was drama in elective, because I remember. Okay, then maybe that's why I didn't do that, because Linda Lynn.
[00:58:37] Speaker A: Lynn.
[00:58:37] Speaker B: Miss Lindholm was my husband.
He was my husband.
[00:58:49] Speaker A: Got you.
Wait, so y'all did. Y'all did drama instead of gym?
[00:58:54] Speaker D: No, I was a stage hand.
[00:59:06] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:59:07] Speaker B: But the musical is called princess in the mattress or once upon a mattress.
Who, Marcus? Mariam. I don't think Mariam was in any of the plays.
[00:59:18] Speaker E: She was in a play that I sang, and I was just.
It was Christmas from around the world, so it was. We were singing. We had a Kwanzaa song. So I had all these white people going, coogee, chug.
[00:59:36] Speaker A: That is so Portland.
[00:59:44] Speaker B: Okay. I don't know. That was an actual Beaumont production. Or if that was, like, a class, probably.
[00:59:49] Speaker E: Yeah, it was the winter.
[00:59:51] Speaker D: Oh, they did do, like, a winner.
[01:00:01] Speaker B: Was in Once upon a mattress.
[01:00:03] Speaker E: So they got. My parents bought the video. The VHS. Yes. I'm sure it's somewhere. But I remember Emily looking at Mario going, oh, Miriam, you're too much.
[01:00:20] Speaker A: In the middle of this.
[01:00:21] Speaker B: Perhaps.
[01:00:23] Speaker A: I cannot.
I remember dance class when we. Me and gum were in dance class, and we took dance instead of pepper. And Jonte and Durante were in our class, and it was like the time of our freaking lives.
[01:00:39] Speaker C: So much fun.
[01:00:40] Speaker A: And Miss Ruby. Ruby. Ruby was our african dance teacher, who was also an african dance teacher. The drummer. Yep. And then we had. We had a tap dance. It was african dance and tap. And the tap dance teacher looked like Debbie Allen, but she had, like, really thin hair that she used to dye. She had this comb that she would comb the dye through her hair and it would stick to her.
[01:01:01] Speaker B: Ew.
[01:01:02] Speaker A: And it was like this red dye on her scalp. And then it would come down her sideburns and her face, and she'd be, like, tapped.
And I remember. So if y'all don't know, Jonte is a professional dancer on tour with Beyonce. Oh, my God. Couldn't be here. You know, next time he said he was going to be here, right? We're making. We're making things up again. Here we go.
[01:01:32] Speaker B: You know what? No longer responds to my DM's.
[01:01:34] Speaker A: And then Durante is. Durant is a. Like, a choreographer, too. He's doing choreography. He was the lasers blazers choreographer. Yeah. So. But they were, like, the best dancers, hands down in Portland, and they went to Jeff. They were part of the Jefferson dancers and all that stuff. But I just remember feeling so cool because we were dancing with them, and I was like, yeah. And I remember one time, Dante was like, you've got pointed feet. You've got an arch. You're a dancer. And I was like, I am a dancer. John, say yes.
I used to love John Tay. Oh, my God.
[01:02:16] Speaker E: I remember a flag or something.
[01:02:19] Speaker D: I remember that army schizo commercial.
[01:02:25] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. Oh, God. If there was one thing that you could say just taken away from your middle school experience, what would it be?
[01:02:34] Speaker C: Just all the friendships. I would say, like, you know, again, I don't know who was talking about earlier people, you know, coming to Portland and talking about or asking you about your high school, and you're this and you're that. Like, middle school, I thought was very similar. Like, we all kind of fit into mostly the same high school. We won't go there again. But, like, even then, we still all stayed friends, and we still all, like, have this. We can literally sit around and keep key and all that still.
[01:03:05] Speaker B: So what about you, Jerome?
[01:03:07] Speaker D: Yeah, I think probably piggyback on that is it's kind of like. Yeah, the friendship that we took from it, because, I mean, we still have them, which is kind of crazy, because, I mean, how long ago? Cause I keep forgetting how old I am, so it's been, like, we're talking about 25 years.
[01:03:21] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, we graduated in 97, y'all.
[01:03:25] Speaker D: And I don't even do, like, social media and stuff, and I'm still here in touch with these people from that. We were kids.
[01:03:32] Speaker A: Like, these people.
[01:03:35] Speaker B: These people.
[01:03:39] Speaker A: Oh, God, I love it. John, what about you?
[01:03:42] Speaker E: I would say friendships, but I think if I could go and, like, talk to me, I'd be like, it's gonna be good, man. There's a lot of that angst going into high school, and, like, where you know, 14 year olds trying to figure out who and what you are. Like, you have no fucking clue, right? You know, just being able to be like, it's gonna. It's gonna work out. It's gonna be exciting.
[01:04:01] Speaker B: You're good.
Keep my hands to myself.
[01:04:09] Speaker A: We gotta do a redo at the 8th grade dinner dance just so she can go.
We gotta wear the same outfits. Take that same picture.
Oh, my God. Nick B, what about you?
[01:04:25] Speaker B: Favorite takeaway from middle school? I would say what you guys are saying, just the friendships that have lasted for so long and the memories, like, I mean, things are just so different today for, I think, middle and high school kids. And I feel that we were definitely at the advantage for having less technology and more actual bonds. So that was no Covid and clearly no security in the schools until that one day.
[01:04:51] Speaker A: One day a year.
[01:04:53] Speaker B: What was your best part of middle school?
[01:04:55] Speaker A: I want to say, keep taking pictures. I would.
I was like the historian. I feel like I'm like the one that I walked around the camera all day long and that went, she's like, ma'am.
But no, I mean, I think everyone talks about living in the moment, but I also feel like it's really important to capture those moments. You know, I'm saying? And if you can have a good balance of doing it, do it. Because, I mean, like, before we got on camera, looking at pictures was, like, so nostalgic. And so I just love those moments and being able to relive them. So where can people find y'all? If you want to be found, you.
[01:05:29] Speaker B: Want to be found.
[01:05:30] Speaker C: I mean, I guess my socials are public, so I must need to be found. All my socials are. My first and last name and Gumsu ng. U m s u h. Okay, that's it.
[01:05:42] Speaker A: All right.
[01:05:43] Speaker D: Like I said, I don't do social media.
[01:05:50] Speaker B: Be like, if you see me at the courthouse, it's probably some stuff that went down.
[01:05:55] Speaker A: You don't know me. When you see me, I'll be on.
[01:05:58] Speaker D: The second floor at the window.
If you get that divorce restraining.
[01:06:14] Speaker A: Damn it.
What about you, John?
[01:06:17] Speaker E: Y'all can hit me up on AOl. Instant message.
[01:06:20] Speaker C: Aol Chuck.
[01:06:21] Speaker B: What? But all of you have dialog. Only if you have dial up, though.
[01:06:29] Speaker E: Real is on. Zawachka. J O h n Z w a S C h K A.
[01:06:35] Speaker A: Okay, right, Jay Z or Jones.
I love that. Jay Z before there was Jay Z. Right.
[01:06:46] Speaker B: And where can we find you? Facebook to Shannon, Strickland, Jordan or Insta.
[01:06:52] Speaker A: Is pretty underscore strict or business. Yes, plug in.
[01:07:01] Speaker B: Or my business page is sent to be candles. The number two, not the word to. And you can find that on TikTok.
[01:07:09] Speaker A: The best case out there.
[01:07:11] Speaker B: And I think you guys will have seen we featured you as one of our businesses last season. So if you need a name to match your product, here she is. And this is how you can find her.
[01:07:21] Speaker A: Nick beat. Where can they find you?
[01:07:23] Speaker B: So I can be found on all platforms of Dirty Roses podcast. May that be our website or our TikTok Facebook, Instagram. And if you want to reach me specifically, I can be found on Instagram. Ickbe Nickbe. That's nick with a K. And Miss Lee Laree. Where can we find you?
[01:07:38] Speaker A: You can find me everywhere. I'm Leela Rhee on all social media platforms, leighlarie and dirtyrosespodcast.com. and this wraps up our season four. Thank you, guys.
[01:07:54] Speaker E: Thanks for having us, sis.
[01:07:58] Speaker B: Guess what, Rose buddies? We are thrilled to introduce our new sponsorship packages. Be sure to hit us
[email protected]. to inquire how we can showcase your brand on our platforms.
