MARCH 8, 2024 VENDOR VOICES To sports and basketball fans and ALL people! Do y’all remember the Detroit Shock basketball team? If not, then I’ll refresh your memory. The Detroit Shock was a Women’s National Basketball Association team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006 and 2008 WNBA champions! But, in 2009 the Shock were relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma and then in 2016 moved to Dallas, Texas where they were playing under their new name, the Dallas Wings. So, we all been missing the Shock the last 15 years in the Detroit area. However, I have exciting news! The Detroit Shock are BACK as part of the new Women’s Basketball League. Recently, I met up with their General Manager and coach, Coach Bill Schnorenberg. Here are the main points from our meeting: First, he talked about the many championship basketball teams he are “Defense and Run;” they will always be in attack mode! • The team goal, according to Coach Bill, is “To NOT lose a game but WIN a championship. • Watch in-person games in at the HOSEA HILL Groundcover vendor No. 532 Wayne State University Field House basketball arena in Detroit. So, we are excited and thrilled this season. Let’s go out to welcome back the Shock and support them. Thank you for supporting Groundhas coached. Yay, we can expect/ anticipate more championships in Detroit soon! • First game should be June 1 of this year. • The team will be incorporating a playing style similar to that of the Detroit Pistons Bad Boys team (known for their dominating defense play style in the NBA). • Coach said the team’s best skills cover News. I will be following the Shock team and updating everyone on their process in upcoming Groundcover issues. If you would like to listen to my interview/meeting with Coach Bill, then search YouTube for “Groundcover Detroit Shock” and enjoy! Also, I have some copies on CD, just request a CD from me (hosea.rap@yahoo.com) or Lindsay Calka and we will try to get that for you. Stay blessed! GROUNDCOVER NEWS The Motor City welcomes back the Detroit Shock 7 General manager and coach of Detroit Shock, Bill Schnorenburg (pictured right) and Hosea’ Hill at the Graduate Hotel in Ann Arbor. Questioning the role of social norms in fulfillment Regardless of whatever perceived role you play in the world, do you feel like you have fallen short of greatness you should have been destined for? Then you are one of many people occupying this world of silly and fantastical dreams that give the impression of some unidentified sense of competition, regardless of the nature of your character. This seems to be prevalent in most cultures, some more than others. Believe it or not, there are some tribes in Antarctica that value social unity versus the blatant one-upmanship found in Western culture. These are people with a very small population and they are quite isolated. The nature of their situation very likely requires cooperation for survival. It goes without saying that this is definitely not the case in our society. You could go so far as to say that this driven need of superiority over our peers could be viewed as a condition forced upon us, that regardless of our individual beliefs and ideologies the acquisition of wealth has been of the greatest importance in social norms. For people to be considered worthwhile in Western countries, monetary success is thought to be necessary. Generally we all desire happy productive lives, especially when one can acknowledge what a gift and blessing sentient life can be. Naturally, upon such a consideration you certainly wouldn't intend to squander it. Yet we find such privilege in a world that overlook: these imposed conditions and laws that seem to keep you on some predestined path are not laws of nature, nor a law of our observable universe. It's nothing more than the law established by the people who wield the largest measures of power. They are more or less JAMES MANNING Groundcover vendor No. 16 we're told has various conditions. You can be born into an assured paradise with endless possibilities, or the seemingly opposite side of the coin, the pure misery of a hell where you are condemned regardless of any actions you might take to mitigate the economic disadvantages dealt at birth. This can make life appear to be glaringly unfair and can psychologically condition people to experience limitless promise or inescapable despair. These experiences can further compound the belief that your life is rigged to follow some predestined path. Also these can be factors that would ultimately shape a person's outlook and even their personality. However this entire mind-warping mess can all be attributed to the type of world you find yourself living in. Especially if it is one that drills into your head that material gain is your only route to happiness. But this is not always the case with all people for a simple reason that we can easily play? People simply imitating actions that have proven beneficial to others? Is such behavior a major factor of the way things work? Or is it a small part in some complex design intended to manipulate a populace? It's something so perplexing and far-reaching dictators, whether pulling strings in obscurity or in your face 24/7. They're dictators and self-appointed gods of these warped values; sadly it's a very effective illusion. And so we navigate our lives in a way that can seem like a race to obtain greater wealth believing it will profit our existence. Yet what's funny is that many of us fundamentally know this is not always the case. Of course the achievement of wealth and power, while appealing to most, may not always play a vital role in an individual's desires. So why is it so damn prevalent? That's a question that utterly drives me up the wall. Is this perhaps some form of Darwinism at — and yet powerless over certain people, especially where a person's definition of value is concerned. Some people see value in rare metals and other representations of currency, while others stake worth in more crucial needs of life such as the air we breathe and food we consume. This article isn’t intended to provide any answers or life-changing insights. This is just an acknowledgment of the endless questioning and searching all of us share and of identifying what is truly important in the limited time we are given. I highlight the unending human inquisitiveness into the nature of existence. Life is what you make it. 6
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