SUNDAY · OCTOBER 25, 2026
Street Soldiers
Dr. David B. Weems Sr.
My experience with Alive & Free
I came to learn. I have work to do. The prescription goes on me first.
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Tonight
SHOW FACTS
Sunday, October 25, 2026
Zoom check-in: 8:55 p.m. Pacific / 10:55 p.m. Central.
My conversation: approximately 9 p.m. Pacific / 11 p.m. Central.
Full show: 8–10 p.m. Pacific / 10 p.m.–midnight Central.
Street Soldiers Radio · KMEL · YouTube · iHeart
Host: Dr. Joseph E. Marshall Jr. Use the private Zoom invitation for entry.
MY ROLE IN ONE SENTENCE
I just completed the three-day Alive & Free Prescription training, and Dr. Marshall asked me to come on Street Soldiers and talk about what that did for me.
One answer at a time. Pause after the main point. Let Dr. Marshall come back in. Times are approximate; follow his lead.
Open the conversation
Opening · about 20 seconds
Dr. Marshall, thank you for having me. I came into this training looking like I had it together. But I knew something was missing. I said in that room, “I'm a cycle breaker, but I wasn't breaking the cycle of violence.” That's what I needed to see.
If I have only one minute
Dr. Marshall, thank you for having me. I just completed the three-day Alive & Free Prescription training, and I'm here as a participant sharing what it showed me.
People saw my degrees and thought I had arrived. My children were seeing me get aggressive with my own family. I called it standing up for myself. They were telling me that was violent.
Then you held up that balloon. I realized there wasn't a gap in me. I was full of things I hadn't named.
I'm a cycle breaker, but I wasn't breaking the cycle of violence. This training gave me language. Now I have to practice what I learned. The prescription goes on me first. If you recognize yourself, learn about Alive & Free.
Five things to carry into the conversation
ONE | Success did not tell the whole story
MY WORDS IN THE ROOM
“I'm also one of the people that look the most put together, from my accolades to the materials that I have.”
READY TO SAY
People saw my degrees and thought I had arrived. But I knew what I was still carrying. I was asking questions, praying for answers. I needed to understand what was happening inside me.
ALIVE & FREE TEACHING
Recognizing learned violence in yourself; accomplishments do not replace examining your thinking and behavior.
TWO | I finally had words for what I was carrying
MY WORDS IN THE ROOM
“I didn't have terms, vocabulary, what was happening.”
READY TO SAY
I had picked up little breadcrumbs through life. But I couldn't explain the road to somebody else. The training gave me names for things I had lived with. Now I could recognize bad advice and bad examples, including what I was passing on.
ALIVE & FREE TEACHING
The disease framework and its four germs: bad advice, bad example, bad instruction, and bad information. Credit Dr. Marshall and the Alive & Free teaching team.
THREE | The balloon made it personal
MY WORDS IN THE ROOM
“There's not a gap there. I'm just full.”
READY TO SAY
When you held up that balloon, I saw myself. I was full of things I couldn't even name. I watched people share their stories, and I started understanding what I was carrying. Then you told me the next step was learning to manage what was in that balloon.
ALIVE & FREE TEACHING
Managing the emotional residue of anger, fear, and pain. Recognizing the balloon is a beginning; it does not mean the work is finished.
FOUR | My children were telling me something I needed to hear
MY WORDS IN THE ROOM
“I didn't even know I was teaching them violence.”
READY TO SAY
I was a present dad. I could talk about education. But my children were seeing me get aggressive with family. I called it standing up for myself. They were telling me, Dad, that's violent. I had to listen to what they were seeing.
ALIVE & FREE TEACHING
Good advice alongside a bad example causes confusion. Taking responsibility includes the behavior your children see.
FIVE | My grandson wanted me outside with him
MY WORDS IN THE ROOM
“And he just wants me to play outside.”
READY TO SAY
I work in technology. I caught myself wanting to get back online to see what I was missing and what money I could be making. My grandson wanted me to throw the ball. That brought the conversation about attention and family right home to me.
ALIVE & FREE TEACHING
Examining what fills the balloon; asking who controls your use of social media; putting people ahead of material values.
What I came to understand
I looked finished. I still had work to do.
Everybody thought I had arrived. I knew I was still lost. My accomplishments did not tell the whole story of how I was thinking or how I was treating people.
The training gave me language.
I didn't have the terms or the vocabulary. When Dr. Marshall held up that balloon, I recognized myself. There wasn't a gap in me. I was already full. I needed to learn how to manage what I was carrying. The balloon and the Prescription are their teaching. I am a student of it.
The prescription goes on me first.
I have to start with my own behavior. Then my family. Then the rooms where I already work and serve. I want the people closest to me to see the difference in how I respond.
Questions I may hear
How are you associated with Alive & Free?
READY TO SAY
I just completed their three-day Prescription training in San Francisco. I'm a recent participant. Dr. Marshall invited me to share my experience on Street Soldiers. I'm speaking for myself and what I took from that room.
Are you an instructor or a representative of the organization?
READY TO SAY
No. I'm a recent trainee and tonight's guest. I can tell you what I recognized in myself. I'll let Dr. Marshall speak to the program and its teaching.
What brought you to the training?
READY TO SAY
Micah had been pointing me toward it. I was coming from a family funeral, sitting in an airport, and looking at the material he had sent me. I started recognizing myself in it. I had been looking for words to explain something I was carrying. That helped me understand why I needed to be in the room.
Why would a man with your education need this?
READY TO SAY
Because my degrees didn't tell you how I responded when I felt challenged. People could see success. My family could see me get aggressive. I could explain education, but I wasn't always seeing the example I was setting. I needed to listen.
What hit you hardest?
READY TO SAY
The balloon, Doc. I thought there was a gap in me. Then I saw that balloon and said, there's not a gap there — I'm just full. Anger, fear, pain I hadn't named. Recognizing that was the beginning. Learning to manage it is the work I still have to do.
What did you learn about violence?
READY TO SAY
What stayed with me was the way Alive & Free teaches us to recognize learned violence. In the training, we talked about bad advice, bad example, bad instruction, and bad information. I started asking what I had absorbed and what I was passing on. I could give my children good advice and still confuse them with my example.
How did this change the way you see yourself as a father?
READY TO SAY
I was a present dad. I thought I was breaking the cycle. But my children were watching me get aggressive with people in my own family. I called it standing up for myself. They were telling me that was violent. I had to hear them. I'm a cycle breaker, but I wasn't breaking the cycle of violence.
Where does your work in technology fit?
READY TO SAY
It made me examine my own attention. My grandson wanted me outside throwing a ball. I was thinking about getting back online and what I might be missing. He just wanted me to play. That gave me something very personal to think about when we talked about who's in control.
Are you saying the training fixed everything?
READY TO SAY
No. It helped me recognize what I was carrying and gave me words for it. I still have to do the work when I'm frustrated, when I feel challenged, and when my family needs me to listen. I can't call the work finished because I can finally name it.
Will you bring this into schools or your community work?
READY TO SAY
I want this learning to shape how I show up in education, church, mentoring, and community. I have to apply it to myself first. I'm talking about what I intend to practice, not announcing a program or a partnership.
Can you give us the full Prescription?
READY TO SAY
Dr. Marshall, I'd like you to give that in your words. What I can tell you is where it landed with me: I have to take responsibility for my own behavior and the example I'm setting.
What would you tell somebody listening tonight?
READY TO SAY
Let yourself learn, even if people think you've arrived. I had to pause and listen to what my family was telling me. If you recognize yourself in what I'm saying, learn about Alive & Free. I found language there that I needed.
Longer answer · David, what brought you here, and what did you discover?
READY TO SAY · ABOUT 30–45 SECONDS
Micah had been telling me about this training. I was coming from a family funeral, and he sent me the material while I was waiting in the airport. I started recognizing myself in it. People saw the degrees, the job, the things I had, and thought I had it together. But I knew something wasn't right. I didn't have the words for it. Coming into that room helped me put names to what I was carrying and what I was showing my children.
Longer answer · What was the moment that stayed with you?
READY TO SAY · ABOUT 30–45 SECONDS
That balloon, Doc. I had been thinking there was a gap in me. I couldn't explain why I felt that way when people thought I was doing so well. Then you held up the balloon, and I said, “There's not a gap there. I'm just full.” I was full of things I couldn't name. Hearing people share helped me recognize that. And you told me the next step: learn to manage what's in the balloon. That's the work I have to do.
Longer answer · How did this change the way you see yourself as a father?
READY TO SAY · ABOUT 30–45 SECONDS
I was a present dad, and I thought I was breaking the cycle. My children were getting an education. But they were also watching me get aggressive with people in my own family. My daughter and my wife had to talk to me about it. I was saying I was standing up for myself. My children were saying, Dad, that's violent. That was hard to hear. I said in the training, “I'm a cycle breaker, but I wasn't breaking the cycle of violence.”
Longer answer · You work in technology. How did that part of the training land with you?
READY TO SAY · ABOUT 30–45 SECONDS
It made me look at myself. I told the room about my grandson wanting me outside, throwing the ball. And I was thinking about getting back to social media, what I was missing, what money I could be making. He just wanted me to play. So when we talked about who's in control, I had my own example. I talked about using technology for a specific task, and learning to have days off from it. I have to pay attention to that too.
Longer answer · What are you taking home, and what would you tell someone listening?
READY TO SAY · ABOUT 30–45 SECONDS
I have to keep learning how to manage what's in my balloon. You told me, “Don't let your circumstances dictate your behavior.” I need that when the moment comes up. And I want to be able to explain the road to other people, because for years I didn't have the words. I told the young people there that hearing their stories showed me how much more I had to learn. My advice is to pause and listen. Let yourself learn, even when you think you've arrived.
What stayed with me across the training days
The framework starts with me
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
As I remember it, we were asked to look for the message for ourselves. Alive & Free uses the disease framework to help us recognize learned violence. The four germs are bad advice, bad example, bad instruction, and bad information. I had to ask what I had absorbed and what I was passing on.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
I came in thinking about what I could bring back to other people. I had to recognize myself in the teaching first.
Thinking before the visible behavior
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
We talked about the thinking underneath violence, including the commandments of violence. We looked at warning patterns such as mean mugging, territorial conflict, repeated incarceration, and pressure from a group. The point I carry is to examine the thinking before I defend the behavior. Those are teaching examples, not labels for everybody in a neighborhood or everybody standing with friends.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
I was calling my aggression standing up for myself. My children were seeing something I wasn't willing to name.
The balloon: anger, fear, and pain
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
Dr. Marshall described emotional residue: anger, fear, and pain that we keep carrying. The balloon made that visible to me. Hearing people speak helped me put names to what was inside. Then he brought me back to the next step: learning to manage it.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
There's not a gap there. I'm just full. Recognizing that gave me somewhere to begin. I still have to do the work.
Wisdom and the old survival thinking
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
Dr. Marshall distinguished wisdom from advice that keeps us operating inside a dangerous situation. I remember the example about bringing a knife to a gunfight. The question was why I was accepting the fight in the first place. I had survived with ways of thinking I had not stopped to examine.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
I knew how to survive some things. I needed to look at whether I was bringing that same thinking into my family.
Coachisms for the moment that comes up
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
We practiced short words of wisdom so they could come back to us under pressure. Dr. Marshall connected the coachisms to Coach and the elders. Two stayed close to my own account: “Don't let your circumstances dictate your behavior” and “You're only one bad decision away.” We also heard “Good advice, bad examples cause confusion” and “How well you listen determines how long you live.”
BRING IT BACK TO ME
Doc, when I told you what my family was seeing, you reminded me not to let my circumstances dictate my behavior. I need to remember that when I feel challenged.
My example has to match my advice
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
The leadership conversation kept coming back to the example young people see. I can talk about education and still show them aggression. Being present and providing materially do not settle the question of what I am teaching through my behavior.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
I didn't even know I was teaching them violence. My children could hear my advice, but they could also see how I acted.
Lady E and background music
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
Lady E described background music as that inner signal we often recognize after we ignore it. She used the music in a movie to make it easy to understand: we hear trouble coming and want the person to stop. She asked us to pay attention to that feeling in our own lives, and to distinguish a warning from encouragement to try.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
Lady E gave us language for that feeling when something isn't right. For me, it connects to learning to pause and listen.
Music: hear the message as well as the beat
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
We spent time looking at the messages in music, lyrics, and images, including what children hear about men, women, conflict, and money. The question I carry is what I am accepting and modeling. I don't need to turn that into an argument about an entire genre or repeat the harsh language we discussed.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
What stayed with me was the responsibility adults have for what we put in front of children. I have to pay attention to the message I'm helping repeat.
Social media: who has my attention?
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
We talked about social media, self-image, family closeness, and who is in control. My own example was simple: I wanted to get back online, and my grandson wanted me outside. I spoke about using technology for a specific task and learning to have days off from it.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
My grandson wasn't asking about my marketing or what money I could make. He wanted me to throw the ball. I needed to see what had my attention.
Fatherhood includes listening and sensitivity
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
In the fatherhood conversation, we considered a father as a teacher, a leader by example, a protector, and a provider. We also heard about kindness, patience, listening, support, and being able to express emotion. Those words made the conversation larger than a paycheck or simply being in the house.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
I was a present dad. I still had to listen when my daughter and my wife told me what they saw in my behavior.
Learning from the young people
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
We stayed for the young people's class and the family meeting. I heard them trying to name what they wanted for their lives. I recognized the search for a different path. I told them that hearing their stories showed me how much more I had to learn.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
At fifty-four, I was still learning in that room. I had to pause and listen. The young people had something to teach me too.
Conscious thinking and practice
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
The room returned to the difference between hearing an instruction and carrying it into the next decision. We talked about thinking for ourselves, practicing what we learn, and having people we can turn to when a difficult moment comes. I cannot make my next response better just by knowing the vocabulary.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
I want my family to see the change in how I respond. That's where I have to practice.
Roots: responsibility with care
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
During Roots, we watched a father respond after his son lost the goat. He asked whether his son was hurt, acknowledged that people make mistakes, and taught him what to do differently. Dr. Marshall brought us back to personal responsibility and valuing the child over the loss.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
I remember that father checking on his son and then teaching him. I need to be able to take responsibility and help my children learn without making them feel less valuable.
What I want to build in my family
WHAT I REMEMBER OF THE TEACHING
We talked about naming what we want, instead of spending the whole conversation on what we want to escape. I heard that as a call to be clear about the family life and example I want to create. I am speaking about what I took from the room, not promising that a thought controls everything that happens.
BRING IT BACK TO ME
I want to pass on things I wasn't given. I want to be a father and grandfather who listens, who is present, and who keeps learning.
If the conversation goes deeper
Why I stayed that evening
MY RECOLLECTION
We were hungry and had been there a long time. But I wanted to stay with the young people. I had been trying to understand this for years. Hearing them work through their questions helped me recognize my own.
KEEP THE BOUNDARY
Keep their names and private family experiences theirs.
The road I was trying to explain
MY RECOLLECTION
I had been homeless from fifteen to nineteen. I picked up pieces of guidance along the way. I went on to get my education, but I didn't know how to explain that road to somebody else. In that room, I was finding language for what I had lived.
KEEP THE BOUNDARY
Use this only if the conversation calls for more background. My accomplishments are context, not the point of the answer.
Family and learning to receive love
MY RECOLLECTION
I talked about finding a family that showed me love and support, and learning how to give those things. Now I am learning how to be a grandfather and pass on what I wasn't given. I still need people who help me learn.
KEEP THE BOUNDARY
Leave private family origins, medical history, and relatives’ identities out.
Reconnection and the first step
MY RECOLLECTION
I shared that my daughter came back into my life and became part of our blended family. I want her to have a good relationship with her mother. I have had to do things I didn't think I could do and take a first step. That is part of what fatherhood asks of me.
KEEP THE BOUNDARY
This happened in my life before this training; do not present it as a result of these three days. Leave the legal dispute and private details out.
Educated violence
MY RECOLLECTION
I used the words educated violence because I was recognizing my own behavior. My education had changed some parts of my life. I was still carrying ways of responding that could hurt the people closest to me.
KEEP THE BOUNDARY
Keep it about my self-recognition. Do not label other people, imply a physical assault, or make it a new official program term.
My lines from the room
MY WORDS
“I’m a cycle breaker, but I wasn’t breaking the cycle of violence.”
MY WORDS
“There’s not a gap there. I’m just full.”
MY WORDS
“I’m alive, but my mind’s still back there.”
MY WORDS
“I didn’t even know I was teaching them violence.”
MY WORDS
“I didn’t have terms, vocabulary, what was happening.”
MY WORDS
“And he just wants me to play outside.”
KEEP THE MEANING
“My mind’s still back there” describes the thinking I carried. It does not mean I was incarcerated. Use one line, explain what I recognized, and pause.
Introduce me
Short | about 15 seconds
I'm Dr. David Weems, an educator, technologist, husband, father, and grandfather. I just completed Alive & Free training in San Francisco, and I'm still sitting with what it showed me.
Medium | about 30 seconds
I'm Dr. David Weems. I've spent about fifteen years in school systems, and I run a consulting practice in education and technology. I just completed the three-day Alive & Free Prescription training. I walked in looking accomplished. I walked out knowing I still had work to do on myself and how I show up for my family.
Full | about 60 seconds
I'm Dr. David Weems. I'm an educator, a technologist, a husband, a father, and a grandfather. I've spent about fifteen years in school systems, and I run a consulting practice in education and technology.
I just completed the three-day Alive & Free Prescription training in San Francisco. People saw my degrees and the material things and thought I had arrived. I knew what I was still carrying.
I thought I was a cycle breaker because I had broken cycles around money and education. But my children were still seeing me get aggressive with my own family. I had to face that. The training gave me language for what I had not been able to explain. Dr. Marshall invited me here to talk about that experience. The work starts with me.
My association and guest role
ALIVE & FREE / OMEGA BOYS CLUB
I completed the three-day Alive & Free Prescription training in San Francisco. I am a recent participant and an invited Street Soldiers guest.
READY TO SAY
I'm here to give my testimony. Dr. Marshall and the Alive & Free teaching team can speak for the program. I can speak for the man who sat in that room.
KEEP THE RELATIONSHIP EXACT
Alive & Free / Omega Boys Club is the connection I am describing, not Boys & Girls Clubs of America. I am not claiming certification, staff or board membership, spokesperson status, or an official partnership.
Landmines · read silently
No completed cure
The training helped me recognize patterns and gave me work to do. I cannot promise the same experience for everybody or say three days finished my work.
Teaching language stays teaching language
Disease, germs, medicine, and Prescription belong to the Alive & Free framework. Do not turn the analogy into a literal infection or medical diagnosis, advise about medication, or claim the training replaces mental health care.
Credit the teachers
Credit Dr. Marshall and the Alive & Free teaching team for the framework and coachisms. Credit Lady E for background music. These are not my inventions.
My family deserves privacy
Keep relatives’ names, medical details, adoption and paternity history, legal and child-support disputes, and funeral threats out. My accountability is enough: my family saw aggression, and I needed to listen. Do not imply I physically struck anybody.
Micah’s testimony is his
I can say Micah brought me toward the training. His spoken word, special-education history, Mind Over Barriers, Oakley work, and school-to-prison-pipeline mission remain his story.
Other fathers’ accounts stay theirs
The father who called his son to apologize and the father who described being in jail alongside his son were sharing their own lives. Do not put either account in my mouth. My family-reconnection account is separate.
Keep the language clean
Leave out profanity, slurs, threats, and sexual language. If needed, say “my daughter’s mother.” Keep the meaning without reenacting the confrontation.
Stay out of the technology detour
Keep this answer with my attention, purposeful use, and my grandson. Do not repeat broad claims about cookies, AI training, listening, incognito privacy, or access after declining cookies. Do not promise perfect AI-image detection.
Intentions are not results
I want to apply this in family, education, church, mentoring, and community. Do not announce a district rollout, an HBCU program, certified instructor status, a partnership, or measured violence reductions.
Let Dr. Marshall give the full Prescription
Do not guess the complete sequence, official wording, program statistics, or graduation totals. Say: “Dr. Marshall, I’d like you to give that in your words.”
If Kemba comes up
Keep her story attributed. Do not use her experience as my biography, recite uncertain legal details or statistics, or equate clemency with exoneration. Return to what I recognized in my own choices.
Do not take every side road
Avoid sweeping claims about music, politics, historical events, or what someone else was thinking. Keep the attention on the experience I came to share.
Keep the show logistics private
Follow tonight’s invitation for entry and timing. Keep the Zoom link off air. Do not announce a cancellation or recording status without the host confirming it.
Bring the answer home
If I lose my place
The part I can speak to is what I recognized in myself.
If the answer gets too personal
I want to keep my family's private details private. What matters here is that they saw aggression in me, and I needed to listen.
If asked for claims beyond my experience
I'll let Dr. Marshall speak to that. I'm here to share what the training showed me.
If asked whether the work is finished
No. Now I can name what I was carrying. I still have to practice what I learned.
If asked about somebody else’s story
I'd like to bring that back to what I recognized in my own choices.
Questions I can give back to Dr. Marshall
If he invites a question
Doc, when I recognize that my balloon is full, what should I practice next?
How do I keep my example consistent with the advice I give my children?
For somebody listening who recognizes themselves in this, where would you have them begin?
Ask one. Give him room to answer.
Close
Closing · about 20 seconds
Dr. Marshall, thank you for giving me language for something I had been carrying for years. I have work to do, starting with how I respond to the people closest to me. If you're listening and you recognize yourself in this, learn about Alive & Free. The prescription goes on me first.