Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn
This is what the world needs now: two free-thinking “seasoned” Black women speaking their truth and inspiring others to do the same. Shaped by 45 years of friendship that began at the prestigious Brooklyn Technical High School through the Ivy League, medical school, marriages, divorces, triumphs, parenting queer children, life-threatening illness and many many amazing adventures. Each week, besties Leslie Osei-Tutu and Angella Fraser will push against boundaries in love, culture, careers, faith, politics and out-dated assumptions about women of a certain age. Remember, you’re never too old to change your mind…or your hair! (but more on that later :-)All views are our own and do not reflect the views of our institution/company. Information provided is not intended to serve as medical advice.
Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn
Bonus Episode - Car Talk
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Leslie is feeling a bit unsettled that she didn't know a fundamental truth about Angella after 46 years of besti-hood: she likes muscle cars AND just bought one! Will this shake the foundations of their bond?
Enjoy another hilarious exchange in this bonus episode of Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn.
Visit Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn website for behind-the-scenes extras.
Hey Les. Hey Ange. How are you doing, babe? I'm doing great. How are you? Welcome to another episode of Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn.
unknownBrooklyn!
SPEAKER_01I don't want to start like laughing and joking and stuff until we get the intro out and you do your Brooklyn thing.
SPEAKER_00Okay, okay, okay. Good, good, good call.
SPEAKER_01But we come in laughing, isn't that something? Because we're always laughing. One thing I just want to uh tell you is that as you were saying, Brooklyn, do you know Marcus does that now when he says Brooklyn?
SPEAKER_00Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01Mom does that now when she says Brooklyn.
SPEAKER_00Wow, that's it's going viral. That is lovely. So lovely. Yeah. So it's um my um I'm a little delayed, but it's okay. We can have our our uh editor work his magic. Yeah, he's so awesome. Shout out to Matt. Hey Matt. Hey Matt, thank you for all you do for us, making us look like we know what we're doing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um so, folks, we are here. This is kind of in between season two and three. Um, because we're not ever not gonna give you content. We realized that it wasn't a good thing to leave such a gap between seasons one and two. You were not happy with us. And um, we don't have to because guess what? We kept talking in between those seasons.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we just we kept talking every day, several times a day.
SPEAKER_00Um, but you know, we were new, we're still new, but what um we learn as we go along, and um so something happened um over the last day or two. It seems like it's been weeks, but it's been the last day or two. And um as we were talking about it, and um there were some revelations that came out of it. Podcast. So here we are.
SPEAKER_01Always. It's like here we're sitting with we're talking, and it's like, you know what? This should be it on the podcast. So then we even go as far as to say, let's stop talking about it so that it's new.
SPEAKER_00Because I want to surprise you.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, so that nothing is rehearsed.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, right, exactly. Because we don't want to do that, but so what happened was um so here I am in my Wonder Woman t-shirt. Whoop, whoop, I should have worn mine. I know, I know, but I should have worn mine, I know we didn't coordinate, we just said that hey, we're just gonna come as come as you are, and um so that's what we did. But anyway, so I decided to get a new car. And oh boy. And you'll find out what kind of car I got. But first, know that Leslie was shocked that this is the car that I wanted. She was shocked, and I'm like, how could you not know?
SPEAKER_01So listen, let me just let me just give my side of the story. Okay, go. One, I did not realize that there were things about you, especially fundamental things like what you admire and like in a car. I didn't really know. That's fundamental. That's fundamental. That's fundamental.
SPEAKER_00Okay, okay. I think fundamental is my favorite color.
SPEAKER_01I don't think it's but I like in cars. Because from what I've learned, and I didn't learn all of it because you promised that you would reveal some of it on this podcast. Oh, okay. That there's a whole backstory to why you like this particular car or this genre of cars or what have you that I didn't know about. This is you and Mark's thing.
SPEAKER_00This is me and my brother.
SPEAKER_01The other thing, I'm still gonna believe that the only reason you needed to swap your car is because I just bought a new car.
SPEAKER_00Wait, okay, hold on. So this is Leslie's gonna say Leslie just bought this. Leslie just bought her fourth car. Yes, you heard me right. Her fourth car. So the fact that I didn't get triggered in car number one, nor car number two, nor car number three. And now she's thinking I'm biting because in her first her fourth car, I decided to get a car. That's really you've you've held back. Okay, yes.
SPEAKER_01You've held back all this time, and now it just burst open.
SPEAKER_00No, I just had to do it. Um, so the backstory is that when I was growing up in Brooklyn, my family um, you know, we emigrated from Jamaica, and my mom um came to America before the rest of us did. And by the time we came up, she had already bought a brownstone, and so we had this beautiful, happy life in Bedsty in a brownstone. And my brother, who was always into cars, our father was a master mechanic, uh, among other things. And so he was always fascinating by cars, and he is two years my senior, so I'm just PP kluck kluck behind him, and so I got fascinated. Guys, this is when Legos were just one color, they were like a light blue, yes, Legos didn't always have color. Yes, oh come on, you're not that old. Look it up. We had light blue Legos, and we would string up, because you know, brownstones, they are they're narrow, but they go deep back. So we had our dining room, living room, and like a sitting room um right in line with each other, and we would um hook up a string, some type of um cord, um, probably like a fishing wire between the rooms, and then we'd we we would create the Legos with the with the wheel on top, and we would let it run down the length of the string. Yeah, so we would see things fly. It was it was amazing. We had such a just such a beautiful um childhood just experimenting with your single-color Lego, with our single-color Lego. Oh my gosh, the amount of joy that we got out of those things. Um so my brother ended up being an engineer, an aeronautical engineer, and as did I, because I just why you went into engineering?
SPEAKER_01Okay. Right.
SPEAKER_00Um, he continues to be very much into cars, me not so much, but growing up with him, I knew every car. I all I needed to know, all I needed to see either the the back of the car, you know, where the lights were, the shape of the lights. Um, I could spot them like a mile away. And um, there were certain cars that we really liked, that he really liked. Uh-huh. And I just kind of pee pee cluck cluck behind him. Okay. Um, Mustang Mark V. Um, the Corvette, it was up there, but we just did that just because, just to be nice. Okay. But we really liked like the muscle cars.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00I started to like the muscle cars. So the um Charger, the Challenger, um, those I've always, always, always liked.
SPEAKER_01And and it's shocking. Even the Camaro. Because this is like Dukes of Hazard stuff, you know. Bo and Luke Duke. So it's like I can't even relate to this. This is something like uh, to me, a um middle America, yeah, or or Southern America. Right. Uh, not what a black female would I don't get it.
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't get it. Miss Barry Manilo fan. Don't judge me.
SPEAKER_01Don't don't get on the manalo. Don't go there.
SPEAKER_00Don't don't judge me. Okay. But I've always loved these cars. And so I was kind of done with the little mini SUV that I got, um, mostly for for business, but I'm like, now's the time. This is what we we're telling everyone, right? Make your next chapter your best chapter. And I decided to get what I really liked.
SPEAKER_01And um wait till you guys hear and see a picture of this car. It's like mind-blown. I'm like, are you kidding me? So this is why we had to talk about it.
SPEAKER_00So I got home, opened the garage, and it could barely fit in the garage. So it's because it's long. I never knew that it was, I shouldn't say it could barely fit. We have to remove a few things for it to fit because the trash cans we have to kind of reorient, but it's beautiful. I keep opening the door. What kind of car is it? It's I got a charger.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh, a Dodge Charger. Beautiful. It's so beautiful. And it's dark red, it's like candy apple red.
SPEAKER_00It's like it's like cherry red, actually. It's like the red of my BMW a little bit. But I didn't realize how many red cars that I have had. But I didn't, I wasn't looking for a red car at this time, actually. I I wanted blue. Oh green. I wanted green.
SPEAKER_01That's your favorite color.
SPEAKER_00But the green that I had my favorite color. Yes, yes, you do. Um, but it didn't have all the features that I liked. And then I saw a blue one that was nice that had some features, but it had it was a GT, not interested, too much power. I was I was so nervous test driving it. I'm like, if I press this accelerator, I am gonna hit this other car. I'm gonna go up under this other car. So no on that one. And so this one had all the features that I liked, and it was red. And you reminded me that my GTI was red, my first car.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've had quite a few cars.
SPEAKER_00I had an SUV. Remember that big one when the kids were little?
SPEAKER_01That was white.
SPEAKER_00No, that was the second one. Remember, I had one that was fire engine red? Yeah. Don't you remember when I drove um all your um nephews and Omari? We all went to Virginia.
SPEAKER_01Virginia?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was.
SPEAKER_01We were in the white one because I remember there must have been about 19 people in that car. Yes. And I just remember like the kids didn't have a seat, so they had to sit on the floor and use like our legs as the back as a seat.
SPEAKER_00Please don't come after us. Please don't come after us.
SPEAKER_01But no, I mean that was what we did.
SPEAKER_00There was no place for them to go. There was no place for them to go. It was just everybody getting. It was bigger than the yeah, than the Sienna.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_00So that was real.
SPEAKER_01Here you are with your big car again. I can't even imagine what I'm gonna look like. What you're gonna look like when you're in it.
SPEAKER_00I can't wait. And guys, so I already decided with this car, whatever it was, I was gonna get a decal, a black boomer besties from Brooklyn decal. I was gonna put it on the back. Don't, don't, don't tempt me because I'll have it whole, I have the whole car wrapped. Don't tempt me, Leslie. Do not tempt me. Don't because you know I'm feeling myself now. So I'm getting a decal in the back. I'll get one to for you. Did you mention bumper sticker? You mentioned a bumper sticker. I'm not putting a bumper sticker on it.
SPEAKER_01No, you don't have to, but you know, I I wear my little bumper stickers, but it's okay.
SPEAKER_00So it's gonna be plastered. Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn's gonna be plastered on the back. And last thing I'll say for now is that it's almost the same color red as the as our logo. I cannot wait.
SPEAKER_01But it's also almost the same color red as your signature lipstick.
SPEAKER_00No, that one is a little more blue, blue, red. This one is a little more orangey, orangey red. Um but the important thing is that it coordinates with our logo because this is the epitome of um what Black Women Besties from Brooklyn is all about, which is making your next chapter, your best chapter, living your best life.
SPEAKER_01Okay, getting that red charger if that's what you want. That red charger, if that's what you want, because what it shocks me that you want to charger. I you see, but no, I understand the backstory.
SPEAKER_00Okay, okay. Do you feel like you don't know me? Am I a fraud?
SPEAKER_01Well, I kind of it shocked the hell out of me. I'm like, what? I thought you were kidding.
SPEAKER_00I know you did.
SPEAKER_01I know you did because it's never come up before. I've been with you many times through car buying and things like that. You've never said, I want a muscle car. No. You know?
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't I don't know if I think of it as that. It's just uh it's a muscle car. I it might be. It's just that it's not how I thought of it. To me, it's just pure nostalgia.
SPEAKER_01I see.
SPEAKER_00I feel good in it. I took it for a spin today. I just rode like um there's a a huge um lake and park, Jordan Lake, um, and drove there, has a nice um sunroof, and had Sardet and Earth, Wind and Fire, and Stevie Wonder playing, and it was just yeah, that is a nice that's a nice one. So you're happy for me? I am. Okay. I'm happy for you.
SPEAKER_01I'm very happy to see you.
SPEAKER_00I'm happy. I just need to figure out where to put the trash cans.
SPEAKER_01That is going to be that is my issue, but well, I'm glad we recorded this little uh tidbit in between our seasons. We're gonna come back um with quite a few of these little uh nuggets, I'll say. Just interesting conversations and things that uh bring us closer to you all and you closer to us in between our seasons of juiciness.
SPEAKER_00And we are planning out another amazing season. We're gonna go a little deeper and deeper into um some topics that may be considered controversial or taboo or all the things. Um, but one thing I want to say before I leave, because um, you know, we I want you to think about what you are denying yourself. What is it that you have desired that you worked hard for? Um, I'm not gonna say honestly that I don't feel some kind of um uh guilt may be too strong a word, but some kind of um apprehension about treating myself like this, doing something totally for me. Um and I really had to push against that because everyone wanted this for me, you know what I mean? And so the idea that maybe I shouldn't, and um does this make sense, and what do you what do you think you you're doing, that type of thing. Um, I had to push through that. And so I want to encourage you all to think about what it is that you are denying yourself, um and why you're denying yourself, you know, like you know, think about what are the stories that you might be telling yourself.
SPEAKER_01Right. Are those stories still valid? Yeah, were they ever valid? Yeah, you know, one thing that I have wrestled with for not so much anymore, but in the past, whether or not one, that I deserved to treat myself to some of the things that I wanted, but two, whether or not doing so was selfish of me. You know, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So we do have to investigate, um, investigate things like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, because I have no problem bending over backwards and doing for others. Exactly. You know, I wouldn't question if you know, um, my son or my husband wanted something that was, you know, very expensive or more than what I thought they needed or whatever. You know, if the fact that they wanted it or asked me and I was able to provide it, you know, I would be happy to do that. But yeah, I scrutinize the things that I would want for myself a little bit more. And um, it's something that you just have to think about.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So make sure you think about that and um and um get what you need. Get what you need. All right, guys. We'll see you next time. Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01And this was another brief episode of Hey, let's call this a selected short. Okay. Does that um does that show? We can't we we can't own that because there's a uh NPR seg uh show called Selective Shorts. But um, this was a selective short by Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn.
SPEAKER_00Brooklyn. See you next time.
