A Kings

Good morning. It’s early, the coffee’s still finding its way into the bloodstream, and the sky outside hasn’t quite made up its mind what kind of day it wants to be. I know how it feels. Today is my mum’s birthday. And this is the first one she isn’t here for. Walt Whitman said we…

By a man who is beginning to wonder if we’ve misplaced it There are days when I look at America and think, For God’s sake, can we all just calm down and get along? North against South. Left against Right. East against West. Republicans against Democrats. Men against women. Israelis against Palestinians. Everybody against everybody,…

By a man who still remembers where he was when the world changed. Some mornings stay with you. September 11 is one of them. Twenty-five years ago, America woke up on an ordinary Tuesday. People made coffee, got children ready for school, hurried through traffic, and headed to work. Someone was late. Someone was saying…

By a guy who was sitting in a restaurant in Saudi Arabia on a Tuesday morning when the world changed, and who has never quite forgotten the silence that followed the news… There are days that belong to history, and then there are days that seem to belong to something deeper than history. Days that…

by a man who has spent his entire life apologizing for Waffle House and would now like to retract every word of it Here is a thing I have learned this summer. If you want to know what’s wrong with America, turn on the television. Any channel. Doesn’t matter. Within four minutes a man in…

By a man who went in for a haircut and came out looking like a mushroom, only to discover that this was somehow the least surprising thing that happened that day. Yesterday was my stepson’s 21st birthday. The original plan, as far as I understood it, was for us to have a quiet dinner. Nice…

by a guy who has driven too many interstate miles, eaten gas-station breakfast burritos of questionable ingredients, paid at least one medical bill that looked like the GDP of a small island nation, and still thinks the view somewhere between Virginia and the Appalachians is one of the best things on Earth. America is a…

By a guy who once built a bicycle from spare parts and a father’s patience Fatherhood. I know. This is the sort of subject a man should approach the way you’d approach a live electrical wire in a flooded basement: carefully, preferably in rubber boots, and ideally while someone else is dealing with it. Everyone…

By a guy who spent $12.99 and accidentally started a war It is early evening. I have just finished charging the battery on a remote-control 4×4 truck in bought from a discount store because I am a man of taste, sophistication and restraint, and apparently taste, sophistication and restraint currently retail for $12.99. Four-wheel drive.…

By a guy who has learned that in a Houston summer, the only sane response to the heat is to stop resisting and lie down in the shade like the grass does The afternoon comes down on Houston like a lid on a pot, and everything under it goes slow and soft and dreaming. The…

by a man who came from somewhere else, did it properly, and is furious watching the rules change for everyone behind him I was not born here. I want to say that first, plainly, because everything I’m about to say only means anything once you know it. I came to England as an immigrant, with…

By a guy who still remembers the sound of childhood On my father’s side of the family, my generation wasn’t very large, but I had cousins who were a constant part of my life. Or at least I did once. That particular branch of the family tree feels more like a memory now than a…

By a man who has been stabbed in the back so many times he’s considering a punch card system There is a peculiar kind of magic that happens between two people who genuinely like each other, and it has nothing to do with proximity, WiFi signal, or how recently you’ve spoken. You know the sort…

By a man who queued behind three Scotsmen at a Boston bar and watched them order the last of it. So. The World Cup. Held, for reasons that will be argued about by men in pubs for the next forty years, in the United States of America — a country that, until roughly six weeks…

By a guy who washed his car just in time for the rain to do it all over again. There are hot days, and then there are Richmond days in July, where stepping outside feels less like opening your front door and more like volunteering to be steamed like a dumpling. It’s absurd. Even Georgie…

By a guy who remembers when “out of office” actually meant you were out of the office There was a time—gather round, children—when work had the decency to end. Properly end. You’d arrive in the morning, do your job, perhaps argue mildly with a colleague about something trivial, drink tea that tasted faintly of cardboard,…

Reflections from a man who has never stopped believing in America. Two hundred and fifty years. By the standards of the great civilizations of history, America is still young. A nation measured not in millennia, but in centuries. Yet in those 250 years, it has accomplished something extraordinary. It has endured revolution, civil war, economic…

by a guy who came for the food and stayed because he couldn’t find the exit There are cities that ease you in gently. A polite handshake. A modest offering. Perhaps a sandwich and a quiet park bench. And then there is Houston, which does not shake your hand so much as grab you by…

By a man who would rather argue about woodland creatures than politics, but here we are. I must begin with a confession. I’m slightly hesitant to write this because these days Americans are about as calm and unified as a wasps’ nest someone has just attacked with a lawn mower. The country appears split into…

By a guy whose heart finally found its missing piece. Some songs are written in a studio. Others are written in the quiet moments between heartbreak and hope. This one is different. These are my words—the ones I carried through lonely nights, broken promises, and the long road of wondering if love would ever find…