A Kings

  • God will put you back together right in front of those who broke you.

    Healing isn’t just personal; sometimes, it happens in a way that others can witness. Not for revenge, but as proof that grace is stronger than cruelty, that growth is louder than destruction. Have a great week everyone!

    AKings

  • Scammers: The Parasites of the Digital Age

    Scammers, the tapeworms of the digital age. The absolute bottom-of-the-barrel, pond-scum-dwelling, mouth-breathing con artists who spend their days preying on the gullible, the vulnerable, and the technologically illiterate. They are, quite simply, a waste of oxygen. The people who wake up every morning, rub their hands together, and think, Right, whose grandma am I stealing…

    AKings

  • Short Pump: How a Simple Landmark Became a Lasting Name

    If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in traffic on West Broad Street in Short Pump, Virginia, you might have wondered—between bouts of frustration and questioning your life choices—how exactly this place got its name. Was there once a pump? And if so, was it really that short? The answer, as it turns out, is yes.…

    AKings

  • Motorized Madness: The Destruction of Sense and Safety

    A few days ago, in the dead of night, the air still, the world quiet, and then—BANG. Not a gunshot. Not an explosion. But the unmistakable sound of an automobile meeting an immovable object at great speed, courtesy of an individual whose decision-making skills had, shall we say, gone on vacation for the evening. The…

    AKings

  • Why Every World Leader Should Be an Astronaut

    Fellow wanderers, armchair explorers, and those who still dream of faraway lands while sipping coffee on the porch. Let’s ponder about traveling. Not the kind where you rush through airport terminals, snap a few pictures of famous landmarks, and call it a day. No, I mean real traveling—the kind that soaks into your bones, shifts…

    AKings

  • Weekend at the dog park

    The weekend mornings at the dog park were like stepping into a storybook, a place where the air seemed alive with whispers of joy and the trees, swaying gently, seemed to beckon all who passed, murmuring their leafy greetings. My little dog knew the magic of those mornings well. The moment he saw me reaching…

    AKings

  • Brain Implants, Smart Fridges, and the End of Sanity

    We’ve entered an era where everyone is shackled to their little rectangles of doom. Not just phones, mind you—watches, bracelets, rings, probably even shoes that send you notifications when you step in a puddle. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, someone comes up with a chip to be surgically implanted into…

    AKings

  • The Last Generation of Mad, Wild, and Free Kids

    Growing up, back in my day, when you wanted to talk to a friend, you didn’t send a text or drop a WhatsApp message—you got on your bike, pedaled furiously through the streets, and knocked on their front door like a proper human being. And if they weren’t home? Tough. You’d find some other bunch…

    AKings

  • Spring’s First Breath

    And what a morning! One of those rare ones that feels like it’s been waiting all winter just to unfold right in front of you. If I had the voice for it, I’d throw my head back and sing—something grand, something worthy of the world stretching its arms after a long, cold sleep. Hard to…

    AKings

  • The Freedom to Disagree

    It’s a strange thing, isn’t it? How people can look up at the same sky and see different things. One man looks up and sees a vast, endless blue, a reminder of possibilities. Another sees the storm clouds rolling in, a warning. And yet, there’s always that third person—the one who insists the sky is…

    AKings

  • We the People, Once More

    These days, there is fear in the air. Not the kind that comes from the deep woods or the things that go bump in the night, but the kind that seeps in when we stop questioning, when we let the loudest voices drown out reason, when we start believing that our neighbors are the enemy.…

    AKings

  • Under Construction: Just Kidding, We’re on Lunch Break

    Ah, roadworks. The mysterious phenomenon that appears only when you’re in a hurry. Need to catch a flight? Boom—lane closure. Late for an important meeting? Bam—detour. Trying to enjoy a Sunday drive? Forget it—congestion worse than a flu-ridden kindergarten. And have you ever noticed those signs on the interstate? “Reduce Speed: Road Work Ahead.” You…

    AKings

  • “Brace Yourselves, It’s Snow… Again”

    Another snowstorm is coming. Again. The weathermen are in full doomsday mode, waving their arms like wacky inflatable tube men, while the town collectively hold their breath as if we haven’t seen frozen water before. Out in the trees, the squirrels are stuffing their faces like they’ve just been told hibernation starts in an hour.…

    AKings

  • A Moment of Reflection

    I’ve been thinking a lot about something I posted recently—about history, about monuments, about the things we choose to remember and how we choose to remember them. And while I stand by what I said, I also recognize that saying it the way I did may have hurt some of my neighbors, people I share…

    AKings

  • I’m Yours

    There’s something about the way we complicate things. Love, for instance. We chase it, we doubt it, we hide from it like it’s something scary, we dress it up, put expectations on it, like it’s a job interview or an algebra equation. But the truth is, love’s not something to figure out. It’s more like……

    AKings

  • The lil Dog vs. The Arctic Wasteland

    Walking through the frozen landscape of our neighborhood yesterday morning was like stepping onto the set of The Day After Tomorrow—except with fewer Hollywood stars and more chance of me slipping on an invisible ice patch and making a complete fool of myself. Everything was frozen solid. The trees looked like they’d been dipped in…

    AKings

  • Frozen Stillness

    Winter has come back to Henrico, and this time, she’s brought her full artillery. Everything is wrapped in ice—the trees, the sidewalks, the cars sitting like forgotten relics in driveways. The grass is gone, buried under a thick crust of frozen rain, and even the squirrels, usually nature’s little daredevils, have called it a day.…

    AKings

  • Avenue of Heroes: Reclaiming Legacy with True American Titans

    This may sound a bit controversial—though, let’s be honest, controversy is just another word for honesty people don’t want to hear—but I overheard a discussion about Monument Avenue and the removal of Confederate statues. One person said, “But it’s part of Richmond’s landscape!” True. But so were open sewers and rickety wooden bridges, and we…

    AKings

  • Climate Change: Balancing Skepticism, Truth, and Survival.

    Let’s start with this: ever imagine if global warming is real? Like, properly real. Not just a mildly inconvenient uptick in summer temperatures where the only real consequence is that your ice cream melts before you’ve even left the shop. I’m talking about apocalyptic, California-on-fire, Florida-underwater, polar-bear-now-a-shark’s-lunch sort of real. Terrifying, isn’t it? But equally,…

    AKings

  • Winter in Richmond, VA

    Well, here we are in Richmond, where winter’s cruel sense of humor is on full display. For weeks, we’ve waited, begged, and stared at the heavens like expectant children hoping Santa would drop a dusting of white magic upon our otherwise dreary January. And finally, yesterday, it happened—the glorious arrival of snow. Not just any…

    AKings