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Part of what we like to do here is cover sick people doing sick things. In the past, we’ve covered junkyard angels and the Last Cowboy. Now, for a man from the younger generation who grew up with our editor in chief in the backwaters of Aiken, South Carolina. What’s sicker than a hometown?
In his mid-20s, MACHI is already a man of many hats. He’s a college soccer coach, a Cardano savant, a part-time student, and he runs his own podcast, Organic Thoughts Podcast, with another hombre from Aiken, Troy. On the podcast, they invite people on to talk about what they (the people) do – crypto, music, science, etc – and to have nice, plain-old conversations, organically. The podcast, in their own words:
Organic Thoughts Podcast is a platform where ideas, ideologies, and opinions can flow freely, whether you sit across the aisle or on the same side. Through authentic relationships and conversation we open the door for freedom of speech and ingenuity. Let’s dive deep and enjoy ourselves to the fullest.
Machi invited our editor in chief onto Organic Thoughts Podcast recently. Friends and former classmates and teammates, they discussed life after college, traveling West, inspiration and aspiration, politics in the South, racism at Aiken High and Georgetown Law, soccer, and more. Here’s some of what Machi had to say.
An interview
DISPATCHES: Why’d you start Organic Thoughts Podcast and what’s your vision for it?
MACHI: I don’t really subscribe to paid truths, so any type of media that promotes people or has an agenda behind it, I feel like there’s missed messaging and mixed messaging at the same time. Originally me and a couple buddies, like Troy, blended our companies. Troy has a clothing and management company. We were all downtown in Aiken and I remember I was back from college for a day and I was like man I feel like everyone just does the same thing. You go to work at the factory, you go work at the site [Savannah River Site, a DOE nuclear waste facility that employs many of Aiken’s skilled, STEM professionals], or you go try to work as a doctor and pay back hella debt. And it’s really tough navigating what to do rather than deciding for yourself. But with the podcast we could interview different people to get their perspectives and hear about people in a particular field with experience getting something.
For example, senior year I was graduating with a Bachelors in Chemistry from USC Aiken and I was really invested in patent technology. My podcast helped and I got my mentor on to talk about his patents. The question is, are you willing to give everyone the free game and make it an even playing field?
D: What’s the wildest moment on the podcast — or a memorable person or story?
M: We were talking about the advancement of AI and we dropped this Jan. 2019 and earlier in that episode we were talking about Alexa being able to listen and keeping docs and files on you and 3 months later in April, Business Insider comes out with an article about Alexa listening and Amazon’s in a battle and I was like…
‘Cause me and Troy been talking about some shit to where everything comes full circle. At this point we’re like, Yo bro we’re not second guessing ourselves anymore. We can see some shit coming but we have to be aware that we can be wrong too.
We were also talking about AI sex robots [prescient, again, see Harpers’ most recent cover story] and it was like what if with this VR shit they made gloves to the point where you could put on a body suit that someone else has and they’re using the glove on you… It’s kinda like metaverse sex. Someone’s going to be like, I had the first metaverse baby, and that’s going to cause a shitstorm everywhere because nowadays you can’t even talk gender.
D: I listened to a pod you did on the checks and balances of racism the summer of 2020. I know these are big questions, but where do you think the civil rights movement is now versus a year or two ago? Are politics changing in the South? Do you see things changing with the Biden administration?
M: I don’t want to be the monolith here, but what I see immediately is I don’t believe there’s one party or two parties in our current government that will give the checks and balances that are needed. Racism’s in the laws, once you dismantle the laws you can dismantle the system more to create a kind of equity. There’s documented history of someone my age, you know, their great grandfather could’ve owned a slave at one point and they’re talking like, That was back in the day, there are no hate crimes, but if you think about it, that’s two generations removed. That’s not that far. Their dad is very close to that.
I just think that now we’re in a situation where we can clearly identify who are the wolves in sheep’s clothing. If anything, we can’t help everybody out. Trump was like I’m going to wear this on my sleeve. Things are more out in the open now. I’m not saying Trump’s strictly racist, but he might have unbiased racism that he doesn’t realize. Now it goes back to our current President where he’s so cool with Black folk that he says, You’re not Black if you didn’t vote for me. It’s like, okay, both of you guys are doing similar things. Biden has no room to tell people who they are and who they aren’t. But if you ever look at how they address other marginalized communities — LGBTQ or Asian descent — it’s very soft spoken, controlled, mannered, scripted. With Black folk it’s like alright buddy we’ve been here before. This time I’ll cancel your HBCU funding and we’ll figure that out down the road. I don’t think with any particular party there’s going to be changes. I think there’s a third party that needs to come into play at some point.
D: Working with young people and students 8 years later, do you get the sense things are changing? Kids are growing up and this generation’s going to be more aware?
M: I put it this way man: I think honestly at this point with the education and background a lotta people have in this country now, racism’s a choice you know what I mean? There was this kid I went to high school with, I remember at soccer practice one day he started sagging and he was like Yo man Machi do I make you more comfortable? and to come back into class and say racism isn’t a thing… Look you mayo jar you’re exhibiting exactly what you’re saying isn’t true. I just don’t understand how people can [be in denial] because it’s very blatant. But I’m honestly glad that the cover’s off nowadays. Now it’s just like is there going to be a Civil War after World War III gets done?
Their history argument, it’s not like it’s not valid right? Your family was part of the Confederate flag, it’s not a lie. Just understand what the Confederacy actually did and don’t sugar coat it. Ms. Moore [our US History teacher in high school] told our class a story one time where she went to a mechanic and she saw the mechanic had a Confederate flag up in his shop and she said this makes me uncomfortable and left. And I remember 16-, 17-year-old kids telling her she was wrong for that.
We’re all coming to school with a lunchbox. That’s a lot different from someone who has to walk home and figure out their breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It took me a while to figure out there were some people who were going to be waiting on breakfast and lunch. I’m just glad my parents opened the blinders kind of early for me. They flipped the hatch and were like Hey this is the world. Being like, Hey as a young black male these are some heroes. I was born on MLK day and that was automatic conversation. I remember watching Martin, it was a cartoon and like it was so dope to me. I’m not going to say I exhibit the end all be all for Black folk. Some don’t agree that I date a white woman. There are still biases against me. We all have to figure out the best angle to work together at the end of the day because one stereotype isn’t going to trump another one.
It’s great being able to interact with students still and see how far they’ve progressed. It’s nothing compared to what we were saying back in the day. Like dude I mean you couldn’t live a day without a racist joke when we were growing up and now it’s like, alright, nobody really talks about that. It’s all about what the new trends are or what’s happening social media-wise. They just like a hip culture. When I hear things I need to address I say Ok there’s no reason to call a woman a bitch, no reason to call a Latino or Hispanic person a name. Once y’all start treating each other with respect, it’ll go a long way. Some people have caught onto it, some need to get better.
D: What’s it like being in Aiken as an adult?
M: Like, I’m not an Aiken body, but it would be nice to do something for the community. I split my time between here and Asheville. Being an adult here in Aiken now… I’m trying to get to a business. I’m trying to record. To get people to give me game on what worked for them. I have my own book of ideas and things to do. Patents. I’ve got one idea on figuring out how to harness the energy of the human body and put it back into a source. At this point I’m trying to formulate and get myself together. It’s cool that I’m 25 with a head coaching college job. Now I can maybe get into a D1, D2 assistant coach position or be considered for a community college job.
Aiken also has some of the cheapest property around. Think about being in a place where you could travel to Milan for 3 weeks or go do business in Sacramento. And your job’s going to let you travel for free. That’s the way I’m trying to figure out to leverage my life. I’m working on AWSC for a cloud architecture associate, so if I can get into that world… I’m in a groupchat with people, they’re doing it: one guy flew out to England, was on his laptop you know in London, he left the States and he’s chilling, but he’s still doing the work he likes to do.
D: What do you do for your own personal growth?
M: This podcast has made me become comfortable with being uncomfortable. So like with you know certain people I probably never would’ve asked them if I could record with them or pick their brain if I didn’t have my podcast.
You’ll be standing like you can see somebody… it’s kinda like when you’re dating and you see a nice looking woman at a bar, and it’s on your tongue but you have 1, 2, 3 seconds and if you don’t say it you can either walk away knowing that you could’ve done something forever or you can just shoot your shot and at this point I’m like I’m going to shoot my shot. If they tell you no, there’s 7 billion people on this earth dog! It's like lying to yourself until it becomes true. But if I believed it the whole time, was it really a lie?
D: Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?
M: Really, just happy doing something I want to do. It would be great to get into professional or collegiate soccer. The ultimate goal is I needa get healthy again so I can play. I’m on my 4th torn ACL; I’ve got 3 on my left, 1 on my right. Chiropractor was like They’re going to have to go in and they’re going to have to put a pig ligament in your leg. I laughed because I’m allergic to pork. I don’t know what I can do. But it would be nice to train religiously for 3 to 5 months, then I start touching the field and I’m with a trainer there, the whole 9 yards, also eating right. I want to shoot my shot at least trying out for pro. I don’t know if you remember Mitchel Myers, shoutout to Mitchel, but he just got signed by Memphis FC.
D: When’d you fall in love with soccer?
M: I used to go practice with Vee Baku when I was young. I would guest play with the Rovers.
D: No way, I was on the Rovers.
M: What?! No way hahaha. I guess we’ve been playing together for a while and didn’t know it.
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