Today · Jonthan Hickson

July2

July 2, 2022·42 min·4 clips

A woman dressed normally lies on the street, making Jonathan Hicks question how she ended up there.

This episode compiles three July 2022 installments of Grown Folks Talk by Baltimore-based host Jonathan Hicks, who goes by God's Boy. He opens with a story of seeing a well-dressed young woman lying on the street two days in a row and wonders what condition pushed her over the edge. He then reflects on his July 4 weekend rest and a drive through Green Mount Avenue, where he observed the neighbourhood being gentrified by white residents. He argues that relocation incentives paid to newcomers should also be available to long-term residents who built their lives in inner cities. Turning to scripture, he invokes the line that if a man works he eats, arguing that giving to able-bodied beggars flips the Bible's meaning, and citing Jesus's bread distribution as requiring legwork. Hicks talks about his own finances, crediting God for showing him how to pay his bills without help. In a second installment, he explores fatherhood, asking whether a father ever stops being a protector of his children, even when they are 50 or 60. He extends the question to strangers on the street, balancing his heart against the scripture. A third installment recounts seeing four shirtless white men under umbrellas on Washington Boulevard, which he links to warnings he once heard about a zombie-like drug from New York. He argues men have dropped the ball since the pandemic, pushing women into jobs men should be doing. He recalls D.C. summer jobs as a young person and mourns the decline of recreation centres. He criticises televangelist Creflo Dollar for reversing a 12-year-old teaching on tithing and tells listeners to leave any church whose pastor keeps accepting their money to buy jets. A final installment describes a man asking for food, to whom Hicks replied with the advice 'J.O.B.' He recounts fear of aggressive squeegee kids in Baltimore, including one who allegedly killed a driver after a bat confrontation, and calls for laws restricting them. He closes with thanks to God, a friend named Strong who once urged him to hold on for a better job, and his mother's refrain that she will always be praying for him.

As heard by us

A rough roadside monologue that turns small sightings into questions of duty.

The episode keeps returning to a small, uneasy scene: a man spots a young woman on the street, second-guesses his first read, and keeps worrying over what responsibility looks like there.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a bus-series monologue about a street encounter, duty, and being a protector.

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