A Kings

  • Saudi Arabia, Sand, and Surprise Barbecue

    1998 — Saudi Arabia. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building. Me, a skinny engineering graduate with the wide-eyed optimism of a chipmunk in a nut factory. And let me tell you, if you’ve ever wanted to experience the majestic thrill of absolutely nothing, the desert kingdom delivers in spades. Miles and miles of beige. Not gold.…

    AKings

  • Nostalgia, Travel, and the Myth of the Idaho Girl

    By someone who’s been around a bit and still wonders what happened to all the people who vanished quietly. Lately, I’ve been feeling… well, nostalgic. And not in the soft-focus, violins-playing sort of way, but more like someone opened the floodgates in my brain and out came everything from school uniforms to the smell of…

    AKings

  • Superman, Storms, and the Death of Common Sense

    by someone who just wanted a quiet life, a decent sandwich, and a planet that hadn’t completely lost the plot. So here I am, staring at a blank screen, attempting to string together a story, something, anything— but all I can think about is how worryingly uninspired I feel these days. Not because life has…

    AKings

  • Cruising for a Bruising

    In 2016, I had what I thought was a brilliant idea: a relaxing cruise. Just me, a big ship, the open sea, and perhaps a few dolphins joyfully following along as I reclined on the deck, engrossed in a Tom Clancy novel. I pictured people around me, civilized and happy, united by the common goal…

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  • When Cool Peaked and Never Came Back

    GenX or as I’d like to say it, Gen Us— wasn’t just a generation—it was an 18-wheeler doing a burnout in the parking lot of history while Rock Ballads blasted through the tape deck. It was loud, proud, and occasionally covered in glitter and neon zebra print. Everybody—and I mean everybody—was there. Michael Jackson was…

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  • A Promise Worth Keeping

    We are Americans. Did we forget? We were the ones who stepped in when others couldn’t. We stood up for the small and the voiceless. We gave hope when the world went dark. We didn’t always get it right— truth is, we messed up more than once. But falling short was never the goal. Our…

    AKings

  • Airport Survival Guide: Cry Quietly and Carry On

    The airport. A monument to mankind’s ability to take something majestic—flight, freedom, the sheer glory of defying gravity—and turn it into a sort of bureaucratic cattle prod run by people who think “urgent” is a type of seasoning. Let’s start with getting there. You set off three hours early, because apparently, even though your flight…

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  • Waiting to Be Heard: Breaking the Silence in a Digital World

    I was sitting in the airport terminal, waiting for a flight to absolutely nowhere of any consequence, when it hit me like a misplaced luggage trolley to the shins: no one talks anymore. Look around any departure lounge today, and it’s like staring into a digital graveyard. Heads bowed, faces lit by the cold glow…

    AKings