Aiight Den

In this episode of the Rich Spinster Podcast, Alexis talks about Miss Rachel officially earning her invitation to the cookout, the importance of having tough conversations, and the wisdom to know when it’s time to stop talking and walk away. She also makes the case for why, with everything going on in the world, we desperately need some GOOD news every now and then.

From serious reflection to sharp commentary, unexpected laughs, and a few other things along the way, this episode has everything you’ve come to expect from Rich Spinster: truth, a little fun, and plenty to talk about.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's just all about love and life and living in freedom. That's what that's what it's all about for me now. Welcome to the Rich Spencer Podcast. I hope you all had a wonderful week. A lot has been going on in the world this week, and I was thinking about what I really wanted to talk about this week with the podcast, right? I want to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart. You know, a lot of people who know me know that Mr. Rogers and Mr. Rogers neighborhood was my world growing up. If you are an elder millennial or a part of Generation Flex, meaning like the younger generation Xers, Mr. Rogers was a major part of your upbringing. If you were lucky, he's mentioned in my bio on my Instagram page at Rich Spencer. He is mentioned there because he was such an influential figure in my life. And I still don't play about Fred Rogers. But let me tell you something. That's it. She cares about the children. All children. She believes that all children should be safe and happy and free and they should learn and they should be loved. I mean, these are very basic things. And Miss Rachel is using her voice to stand on business in that way. I have a great niece. My great niece, Yaslin, does not play about Miss Rachel. That's the person that gives her joy. She smiles every time she sees her. Miss Rachel gets her attention like nobody else. She and Miss Rachel have a bond. And what I'm not gonna do is let anybody mess with Miss Rachel because to mess with Miss Rachel is to mess with Yaslin. Miss Rachel's not getting canceled. Miss Rachel is getting invited to every cookout, every play, every birthday party, every baptism. It does not matter. Miss Rachel is getting an invite and she has an army of love protecting her. It's so crazy that you can say something so basic, like children should be safe, children need protecting. And you get pushback. And I don't feel like we should live in a world or that we should accept or buy into that kind of pushback. And there's not a lot of people who are doing that these days. I mean, Miss Rachel is actually teaching children. Yo, Miss Rachel went to an immigrant detention center to spend time with the children. Miss Rachel is using her social media to say Nolan Wells. To be against what Miss Rachel is for is to be against the best of humanity. We're protecting the good at all costs. Like get the fuck out of here, people. I'm gonna tell y'all something that Miss Rachel won't. If you don't believe that all children should be loved and cared for, if you don't believe that all children should be safe, fuck you. That's what Ms. Rachel won't say, and that's what Mr. Rogers wouldn't say, okay? Because sometimes in life, y'all, sometimes it simply comes down to a fuck you. We're not doing this shit anymore. Like, I don't understand where we got to a point where we have to just kind of like tiptoe around motherfuckers who are immoral, who are full of hate. They don't give a damn about children once they get here. They're okay with them being bombed. They're okay with them being in detention centers. They're okay with them being hungry. They're okay with them being unhoused. These people don't have morals. They have an agenda. We have created a society where we have allowed people who have a hate-filled agenda to feel comfortable. You gotta do better. So this week I was I was thinking, I was having a conversation. This conversation wasn't going well. And it wasn't going well because of that person's inability to hear me. And at the end of the conversation, I hit the person who I love very much. I hit them with the eye then. Do you know that place? That place where you realize you're having a conversation and you realize whatever you are giving here, you it's unable to be received by the listening parties. If that party is even listening. And you just go, okay. And okay is only followed up by I then okay and I then are two totally different messages. I then means I'm not gonna give any more time to this. I've already tried to tell you probably multiple times, it's a place where you know that the universe is about to put belt to ass, and there is nothing else that can be done to stop it. Listen, once you get to a place of I then in life, it feels a lot better there. It does. It just feels a lot better. It feels a lot better than okay. Because okay means I'm just gonna let this go. Probably for now. Maybe I'll touch back later when you are in a place where you can receive what I'm telling you. But once I am at the all right then, oh, the conversation is over. I feel like those are lessons that should be taught from childhood. Know when to say okay and know when to say alright then. I was like an okay person probably until about 10 years ago. Yeah, I would say about 10, 11 years ago, I was an okay. My okay has turned into an all right then, and I've been better for it. I really have I have been better for it. And of course, there were there were some things you can't be alright then about. There's some some things you just have to keep pushing and you have to keep trying. There's a lot of things in life that I have experienced that if I would have just said all right, then it would have saved me a lot of headache. So I just want to share that message. That message of all right, then it's so important. I can only say it's okay for so long. And then I'm gonna hit you with the aye then. You all, here's something that I'm noticing. The older I get, the stronger my reaction to some things are. There are some things that I never liked, but they gross me out more now than ever. Like I can't stand to see somebody brush their teeth, right? I cannot stand it. Watching that, I can't watch it. I hate seeing like the the toothpaste. I hate seeing the toothpaste foam up and I hate seeing that on the mouth. I cannot watch anybody spit at all, but especially spit toothpaste, I cannot watch that. If I ever look in a sink and there is dry toothpaste or toothpaste or toothpaste foam, I can't I can't deal with it.

unknown 8:00

I can't deal with it.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

And even in film, so even in movies, I when someone is brushing their teeth, I close my eyes. Um, if someone spits, I close my eyes. I can watch people kiss, but I am repulsed if I see any saliva. I just and I'm mentioning this because I was watching something online and I saw someone take her drink and it had a straw, and she sipped from it. And then when she moved the straw away from her mouth, there was a string of saliva attached to the straw just for a second. And it took all I could to not vomit. I don't know what that is. If somebody else out there has this condition, let me know. But it is so strong, it is such a strong impulse to want to hurl. And it is so strong that I try to avoid um looking at people, frankly. I try to avoid looking at people. You all, I received two cards this week. Two cards, and I was so happy to get both of them. I was thrilled to get both of them. She's a friend of mine, and she wrote a card to me in cursive, and I was so happy to receive it. We had had breakfast recently, and she just sent a card like, thanks for meeting me for breakfast. It was just such a nice thing to receive. I love receiving cards. I love receiving handwritten notes. The other note that I received was from one of my sorti sisters, and it was like a thank you note, and it was just so nice that she even sent a thank you note because she didn't have to. It's just for a present, a birthday present that I sent her that took forever to get there. But it really touched me that I received those two cards, and I actually keep notes that people send me and cards, and I keep things like that, and I actually take the time to go back and reread them. It means so much to me that like somebody's gonna sit down and take the time to write something to me and to put, you know, put it in an envelope or put it on a nice stationery and mail it. I remember being a little kid, I loved writing notes, I loved writing little letters to people. I would write the longest letters to my friends at school. I mean like six-page letters. What was I talking about? I don't know. Just how we're gonna be friends forever. And it took me six pages to say it. Those were the good old days. You remember writing notes in class, and then you folded the note up in a very cool way that you would learn from somebody, you would walk down the hallway and you would hand your friend that folded note, feeling proud of yourself. I was waxing poetic at eight. I mean, I would be writing notes in class, and I would say, Hey girl, what's up? So I'm sitting here in Miss Williams' class, and I'm looking at the flowers on her desk because it was her birthday and her husband sent her flowers, she said. And those flowers on her desk remind me so much of that skirt you wore last week. That skirt was so pretty. And there's baby's breath incorporated in the bouquet, and that baby's breath reminds me of the lace trim that you put on your socks. Beautiful. So, girl, what do you think they happen for lunch today? I look back on it and I was like, yeah, that's who I was, and that's still kind of who I am this past week. Barack Obama turned 65.

unknown 11:56

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Happy birthday, Mr. President. We miss you. You know something that I saw was so beautiful? It really warmed my heart. It was a video of Joe Biden, and I'm assuming this week, walking into a restaurant. I think it looked like New York City, but I don't know. And he walked into the restaurant and someone said, I miss you. And and people looked and everybody started applauding. And it was nice to see him getting that sort of love. Joe Biden is sick and much sicker than I thought, according to his son Hunter's reports. And I just want peace and comfort and love and appreciation shown to Joe Biden because he deserves it. And that counts for something. I was thinking this week about just kind of like the culture of the country right now. We've created a society where it's just too easy for really bad people to succeed at whatever they're trying to do. Good people are sometimes too damn good for their own good. And what do I mean by that? I mean, how many times have we seen someone speak some foolishness, whether it's in your family or a friend, or whether it's even at work? And you hear them spewing bullshit and nobody says anything. People look at each other and they may shake their head, or they may send a Slack message or a text message and say, Can you believe X, Y, and Z? This is so awful, but nobody says anything. How many times have you guys even like worked somewhere where the best people end up leaving because the worst do so well there and excel? It's like the shit always floats to the top. Usually what they want is power, status, money. They're willing to do almost anything. And we have made this society one in which it's too easy for them to just do what they want to do. Because good people know that other good people aren't gonna do shit. Let's deal with people in the manner which they deserve. There's no need to appear fair, there's no need to play that game anymore because we see there's a side in this country that doesn't play that game. There's a side in this country that doesn't give a fuck about good. They don't give a fuck about morality, they don't give a fuck about their word. They know that they're not going to keep it when they say it. And what they know more than anything is nobody's going to hold them accountable, as we see. Who's gonna check them, boo? Who's going to check them? Good people are so afraid of being labeled problematic. Good people are terrified of being labeled problematic. I feel like when a good person doesn't say anything, they're worse than the person committing the offensive act. Because they don't believe that. They know better, but they are afraid. Fear of uh fear of being the odd man out is something else. You know, we shouldn't expect back up, but we should fucking have it. Oh, there was uh another thing I wanted to mention is before we even get started. We have, you know, we've had primaries going on, we still currently have primaries going on before we even get started, okay, with the midterms. Let right now, let's go ahead and ignore anybody, absolutely anybody that's trying to still tell you that the two parties are the same. Those are old arguments don't apply. That app that applied to the old world. We're not in that world anymore. Can we just not have that argument anymore? Can we just not have the argument like like you need to discuss and figure out who you want to vote for? Those fucking undecided voters that are full of fucking shit. I feel like those undercited voters just want to be on CNN. Like, I don't know. I'm just not sure. What what do you mean you're not sure? You're losing your fucking farm now. You still you still unsure? What? These people are crazy. Saw this woman online and she was like, I don't care if women lost the right to vote because I trust my husband to to vote the right way. What do y'all hear me? This woman was like, Yes, I trust my husband to make the right decision. So if I lost my right to vote, it would not matter to me. The interviewer said, she said, but but what about your ideas, your thoughts? You don't want to have a voice. And she said, I trust my husband. I know my husband. And I said, Well, damn. Because listen, I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Nobody gets embarrassed like a woman who proclaims, I know my husband. Listen, that I know my husband, that right there. Know your husband if you want to. What I decided to do this week, which is something different from me, I usually just like, you know, scan the internet. I just can't do it anymore. I can't, you know, I go to TMZ only to find out, you know, has somebody I cared about passed away. Right? Like to me, like TMZ is for obituaries. They're for like the death reports. And I'll go to TMZ. Oh my god, this person passed away. They're from my childhood. I'm so sad. Okay. I can't do it anymore because I saw the most horrific headline. I'm not even going to repeat what the headline was because it was traumatizing to read. And I was like, why would this headline be there? And this is the way I feel like the internet, it creates a world that is so scary and horrible. And it makes people fear other people. And when I read that headline, I thought, what in the world would possess them to create this headline? Why do I need to know that this happened? I'm not somebody that that is interested in reading about the worst people in society. I read that shit this week and I was like, you know what? I'm done. I'm good. I I downloaded some audible books. I was like, I can't, I can't, I can't do it. And it's always something like that. You know, I need I need a place for good news. Maybe just like on this podcast, maybe every week I will start this podcast or in the podcast with something absolutely wonderful that has happened in the world or has happened in my life this past week. Maybe that's what I'll start doing because we all need some good news. We need more good news because it's like every day someone's saying, Oh my god, look at this horrible thing that has happened. Oh my God, how could they have said this? Oh my god, how could they have done this? No, I need some good news. Can somebody just tell me some good news? I want to know, did you bake a pie this week? Was it good? Is your child getting ready to go to the fourth grade and she's so excited about school starting and you went and had her braids done and she looks adorable? Did your baby learn how to swim? Did you wake up one morning and you just looked at yourself and you felt like you were the most beautiful woman in the world? Because you are. Did you receive a joke from a friend? Was it funny? Tell me the joke. Damn it, tell me some good news. Are you finding success at the gym? Are you finding success at your job? Did someone hold the door for you and then smile at you in a way that you felt like y'all connected in those two seconds and you're carrying those two seconds with you for the rest of the week because you know the bullshit is coming. Yeah. We all need more good news because there is just a lot going on. Shocker con! My dog's barking. Thank you for listening to the Rich Spenster Podcast. You can listen to the podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts, and you can listen to this podcast in its entirety on YouTube at Rich Spenster, and follow me on Instagram at Rich Spenster. Have a beautiful week, everyone, and I will talk to you soon.