A Kings

  • The Salad Bowl, Mad Cows, and Algebra: Notes from a Salinas Interlude

    By someone who kept showing up, and somehow became part of the scenery. During those foggy interludes when life had decided to dropkick me in the face, I found myself back in California—specifically, Salinas. I’d gone there not for the scenery, which is mostly lettuce and a worrying amount of dust, but because it was…

    AKings

  • The Road to Laguna: Traffic, Hot Dogs, and Mild Madness

    By someone who survived a Malibu jam with only a Hyundai and a hotdog memory. Years ago, I decided—because why not—to take a road trip from Salinas to Laguna Beach. And not the usual efficient, soul-crushing, Interstate-5 kind of trip. No. I took the scenic route. Monterey. Big Sur. That glorious, winding stretch of coastline…

    AKings

  • The Weight of Silence, Echoes of a Broken Heart

    July 2012. I flew back to California with a broken heart, not like a girlfriend bad breakup kind, nor the one that stings when life simply doesn’t go your way. No, this was something deeper, something that reached into my very core and shattered everything I thought I knew about love, trust, and the life…

    AKings