Mike’s Manifesto .013
THOUGHTS ON SPORTS, MUSIC, TECH, AND THE LIFE IN BETWEEN - Captain’s Log .013
“I am what time, circumstance, and history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.”
— James Baldwin
THE OPENING
This week’s manifesto is going to be a little behind. A last-minute trip to participate in a brothers’ charity golf event, while also celebrating one of my good brothers 42nd Birthday. Just a good weekend to connect with my brothers and check in. Have conversation about where we are mentally as we age gracefully, what is scaring the shit out of us as we have a little more life behind us than ahead of us, and what crossing a specific threshold means for future growth. Vulnerability…
🏀THE GAME—SPORTS THROUGH A CULTURAL LENS
Carolina In My Mind
The Stanley Cup has a new home in the South. It now resides in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Carolina Hurricanes captured the illusive Stanley Cup after defeating the Las Vegas Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals, 4 games to 2. It is amazing to know that 20 years later, the team who was a newly added team in the NHL due to relocation and hoisted the Cup in 2006, are champions again. The city is well behind this team and the younger generations get to a chance to experience what a championship does for a city.
But I would be remiss if I did not point out an observation that is gaining more steam by the day. NC, specifically the Triangle area, is growing at alarming rates and more people are migrating here. It is the kind of growth that can either lift a city to greater heights — or destroy the fabric that made it a hidden gem. Insert the Raleigh MLB push.
Since 2018, there has been a grassroots push to garner enthusiasm and support for bringing a professional baseball team to Raleigh. The movement is pure in its intention, the question I always ask is, can the city handle THAT?! That remains to be seen, but with different reports of MLB teams looking to relocate due to stadium financing issues, i.e. Devil Rays and Athletics, to the new CEO of the Carolina Hurricanes willing to throw resources into bringing a team here, to NC government officials negotiating cash amounts to apply to the budget, just in case, is not slowing down the train of momentum for this happening.
C.R.E.A.M…
🎵THE SOUND—MUSIC AS MEMOIR AND MOOD
Playlist Sessions
Going forward, this section might not always be thoughts or reviews on what I am listening to. I will start to use this to share playlist that have been consumed my ears and soul recently. Check out the playlist below:
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/soundscape-001/pl.u-pMyljolS0v7mEZ
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/soul-speakers/pl.u-aZb0ge0FPEyMKR
📡THE DOWNLOAD—TECH THROUGH LIVED EXPERIENCE
Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day is more than a sale. It’s an annual stress test for the economy and an honest reflection of who we are as consumers.
Every year, millions of people set alarms, build wishlists, and refresh pages for deals on things they didn’t know they needed until Amazon told them they did. That’s not coincidence, that’s architecture. Prime Day is intentionally designed to manufacture urgency around consumption. And we participate willingly, almost enthusiastically, every single time.
But what does it reveal about us? Our obsession with the latest gadgets, the newest devices, the most updated version of something we already own tells a deeper story. We have been conditioned to equate upgrades with progress. To believe that the next phone, the next tablet, the next smart home device brings us closer to a version of our lives that feels more complete. That creates the level of convenience that we should be crafting on our own.
The market and the major companies watch Prime Day closely because consumer spending tells the truth about financial confidence in ways that reports and projections never fully capture. When people spend, it signals belief in stability. When they don’t, it signals something else entirely.
Prime Day isn’t just a shopping event. It’s a mirror. And what it reflects about our relationship with technology, consumption, and fulfillment is worth examining long after the deals expire.
❤️THE REAL—LOVE, GRIEF, GROWTH, COMMUNITY
Make Space When You Hear God Talking
Steve Harvey is one of the last people I ever want to quote, but a broken clock is right twice a day. I called my cousin, Sandra, last week to check in and just pick her brain about a few things I have been feeling lately.
In one specific topic she mentioned a story she saw on socials, where Steve Harvey recanted his famous story about him going to his mother about wanting to buy a new car and the lesson she teaches him in that moment. He says to his mother, “I am going to buy a new car.” She mentioned to him; you have a car out there sitting on blocks. He goes again after getting paid, claiming the same story about wanting a new car, to which his mother replied, “I know boy, but your old car is still sitting out there on blocks.” After the 6th time of him going to his mother about wanting a new car, he finally asked her why she kept mentioning his old car. Her response was a valuable lesson, we can all attest to. She says after telling him he finally made room for the car in the driveway, “You can’t ask God for something and then don’t make ready to receive it.”
Because God is always talking. God speaks through our loved ones, the random elder in the grocery store, sometimes even a child who happens to take a liking to us. The question is always whether you’ve been quiet enough to listen—or honest enough to act on what you already heard.
There is a particular kind of self-sabotage that doesn’t look like destruction from the outside. It looks like hesitation. It looks like overthinking. It looks like talking yourself out of the very thing God already confirmed in your spirit because you don’t trust yourself enough to use the faith you claim to carry. You say you believe. But belief without movement is just a feeling you haven’t committed to yet.
We manipulate ourselves more than we realize. We convince ourselves that something is right because we want it to be—because it’s comfortable, familiar, or fits the timeline we created for ourselves. We dress up the wrong thing in the right language and call it discernment. But deep down, beneath all the justification and noise, we knew. We always knew. God had already spoken. We just weren’t ready to receive what is being said because receiving it required us to let go of something we were, maybe even, are still holding onto.
That’s the part nobody talks about. Sometimes the leap isn’t just into something better—it’s away from something that was never meant to stay. And that departure, as necessary as it is, requires a courage that only comes from trusting God more than you trust your own comfort.
Pay attention to what God keeps placing on your heart. The thought that won’t leave. The feeling that resurfaces every time you try to suppress it. The person God brings into your life at exactly the right moment to answer a prayer you stopped believing would be answered. Those are not coincidences. Those are confirmations.
The signs were never hidden. We just must be honest enough to stop pretending we didn’t see them—and faithful enough to move when we do.
WESS RECOMMENDS — 3 LINKS THIS WEEK
SUBSTACK
Jazz music to me is many things, and this specific piece, spoke to how Love is like Jazz.
SONG
ZURI — “Satisfied”
The song is speaking to a specific person, but you could miss it if you do not listen closely.
READ OR WATCH
Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That’s the Weight of the World)
If you have not watched the doc, due yourself a favor and go watch it now. The Elements!
Golf is frustrating, but also freeing in the same breath…
— WESS