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Late Night Grooves #152

WHOT Episode 152 – “Goat Head” by Brittany HowardHosted by Mangus Khan [A subtle organ hums. Bassline slow as molasses. Then her voice: soft, wounded, precise.] “You’re listening to Late Night Grooves.WHOT. The signal that lives in the margins. I’m Mangus Khan. And this is Episode 152. Tonight, we don’t just listen. We reckon. Because some stories don’t fit neatly into a melody. Some…

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Kimonogate 7

Chapter 7: Something Like Closure The dirt was damp with last night’s rain, soft and fragrant with that specific smell—wet grass, worms, and whatever memory felt like when it came up without warning. Mayor Brindle stood at the edge of the shallow grave, this time with permission. There was no trench coat. No flashlight. No midnight panic.Just a city-sanctioned backhoe, a cordoned-off patch of…

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Awe Without Agreement

Daily writing promptHow important is spirituality in your life?View all responses Why Spirituality Still Guides Me, Even Without Certainty Spirituality isn’t just important in my life—it’s foundational, not in a rigid or performative sense, but like a compass in the dark: quiet, steady, essential. It’s how I move through the world—not by chasing answers, but by honoring mystery and the many…

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Kimonogate 6

Chapter 6: Confrontation and Confession The room smelled like burnt coffee and unspecified rage. The HOA meeting was held in the Oakbend Community Rec Center, which doubled as a yoga studio and tripled as a flood evacuation site. Rows of mismatched plastic chairs filled the linoleum-tiled room, each one squeaking indignantly as residents shifted in them like irritable pigeons. Myrtle wore a…

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Morning Vibe: Let the World Wait

Track: “Ambre” – Nils Frahm (Still and Returning, Track 3) Not every morning asks you to rise. Some ask you to remain. To linger in the quiet space between breath and intention. To sit with yourself, not to fix or forge ahead, but simply to be. That’s where Ambre meets you. Nils Frahm doesn’t compose for the ear. He composes for the in-between. The held breath. The overlooked thought. The…

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KIMONOGATE 5

Chapter 5: The Kimono Reawakens It began with the sprinklers. Not all of them—just the mayor’s.At 12:13 a.m. sharp. Every night. A hiss, then a cough, then the sudden rhythmic chk-chk-chk of mechanical rain. His lawn lit up in droplets under the sodium streetlight, painting the grass silver and slick. No one else’s sprinklers turned on. Not Myrtle’s. Not the Watsons’. Not the scorched patch…

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Late Night Grooves #151

WHOT Episode 151 – “Baptized in Muddy Water” by Ayron JonesHosted by Mangus Khan [It begins not with fire, but with tension. Guitar feedback hums like a warning. Then the chords drop—heavy, unapologetic.] “You’ve found your way to Late Night Grooves.WHOT. And I’m Mangus Khan. Episode 151. And if you’re hearing my voice tonight, maybe you’ve been somewhere dark. Maybe you’re still…

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Surviving the Shipwreck: Truth, Even If It Makes Us Uncomfortable

Who writes history, anyway? Is it a bunch of old men in a room, swirling sherry like it’s holy water, declaring what mattered and what didn’t with the confidence of people who’ve never been told to clean up after themselves? Do they lean back in leather chairs and decide what’s worth remembering, while the rest of the world cleans the dishes, changes the linens, and quietly disappears? Because…

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Black Card Revoked (And I’m Okay With That)

Am I a Snob? I wish I could say no. That I’m above all that—ego, elitism, the subtle flexes wrapped in “taste” or “refinement.” I’ve tried, seriously. I’ve had the talks, done the therapy. I even cracked open the workbooks—are they still called that? Maybe it was a podcast. Or one of those journaling things we do when someone who shouldn’t matter (and whose name I can’t even remember) says…

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Morning Vibe: The Quiet Return

Track: “Ilumo” – Toska Not all comebacks are grand. Some arrive like breath you didn’t realize you were holding. That’s where Ilumo lives—in the liminal space between stillness and motion, absence and emergence. Where February Sea lingers in the hush of loss—George Winston’s piano etching frost on memory—Ilouma steps gently into the thaw. It doesn’t try to inspire or uplift in the usual sense.…

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This Is How I Survive: Ink and Breath

Daily writing promptHow do you practice self-care?View all responses The dawn slowly burns away the remnants of the night. It’s already hot, but most of the world still sleeps—for now. Soon, they’ll rise. They’ll fall into motion, surrendering to the bustle, the pursuit of progress, the comfort of productivity. There’s a kind of faith in the checklist, in the belief that doing enough will make…

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Macro Monday

PHOTOGRAPHY – MACRO

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Late Night Grooves #150

WHOT Episode 150 – “Sweet Thing / Candidate / Sweet Thing (Reprise)” by David BowieHosted by Mangus Khan [Needle down. Soft, dissonant piano creeps in. A slow breath. The mood is already uneasy.] “One hundred and fifty episodes. One hundred and fifty nights of ache, sweat, signal, silence. And we mark it not with triumph, but with transformation. This is Late Night Grooves.WHOT—the hottest…

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The Open Door

Part IV of the Spiral Series The spiral pulled her north. She didn’t decide. Not really. The artifact simply leaned in that direction, its hum stronger when she faced the mountains, weaker when she turned away. Her dreams ended there too—in jagged silhouettes etched against a dying sky, clouds crawling like wounded things. She stopped asking why. On the third day, the silence deepened. Not…

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Whispers of the Page

Not all stories wait to be told—some write themselves through us. I wonder—do we write in our sleep,not with handsbut with something older—a pulse beneath the thought,a breath beneath the breath? Are the things we writejust the dreams we couldn’t hold—wet leaves stuck to waking,falling off before we knewthey’d landed? Maybe the page is the mirrorwe forget we’re looking into,and every line is a…

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Morning Vibe: No Rush, Just Breath

Track: “February Sea” – George Winston Some mornings don’t need a soundtrack that lifts you up—they need one that lets you sink in. That’s what “February Sea” by George Winston does. It doesn’t try to motivate you. It doesn’t chase drama. It just exists, quietly, patiently, like it knows exactly what kind of emotional weather you’re in and doesn’t mind sitting with you in it. It’s one of those…

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Kimonogate 4

Chapter 4: The Collector Mayor Brindle only entered Room 14 on Sundays.Not for the quiet. Not for the privacy.For containment. The room had no windows. Just four beige walls, the smell of municipal-grade carpet cleaner, and the faint static crackle of a vent that hadn’t worked in years. It wasn’t an office, exactly. It was… a chamber. For reverence. And regret. He flicked on the fluorescent…