A Kings

  • Symphony of Pirates and Hope

    By a guy who thought he was heading to a classy evening of culture… and absolutely wasn’t prepared for what happened instead. Last weekend, the neighbors and I went to see the famed Richmond Symphony Orchestra. And I have to say, they did not disappoint. It wasn’t merely music — it was an explosion of…

    AKings

  • Siargao: Paradise, Mosquito Nets, and the Night I’ll Never Forget (No Matter How Hard I Try)

    Back in the summer of 2014, I found myself heading to a remote island in the southern Philippines called Siargao. I’d only ever seen it in documentaries and YouTube videos, where tanned, muscled surfers carved through perfect waves while backpackers with dreadlocks “found themselves”—as if a mirror wouldn’t have been an easier and significantly cheaper…

    AKings

  • Bumper to Bumper with Buffoons: A Driver’s Rant

    By someone who used to be chill, but then you parked like a clown. I’ve been watching people lately—just sitting back and observing the slow-motion car crash we call “society”—and I can’t decide whether the world is spiraling into the abyss, or if I’m simply becoming a grumpier, less tolerant version of myself. It used…

    AKings

  • Where the Past Walks Beside Us on Independence Day

    Today as the sun comes up over in Richmond, Virginia— I find myself thinking about this city and its past. Richmond is not afraid to show its history. It carries it right out in the open, where you can see it, feel it, with the scars laid bare. It’s not hidden or polished. It’s in…

    AKings

  • Lessons in Flight and Falling: A Midlife Mountain Biker’s Tale

    There comes a time in every man’s life when he must accept the simple, horrible truth: he is no longer twenty and realises that the mountain is no longer a metaphor—but an obstacle. Before I hung up my mountain biking gloves and retired to the smooth, civilized tarmac of road cycling, where the road, for…

    AKings

  • What the Rain Brings

    It’s raining. The kind of rain that doesn’t just show up, it settles in like it’s unpacking for a long stay. Looking at those clouds right now, I’d say they’ve paid the rent and brought a suitcase full of gloom. My little dog—wise soul that he is—is curled up in the corner, taking one look…

    AKings

  • On My Way to Houston

    By A Guy Who Just Wanted a Quiet Flight and Maybe a Hug It’s been a month since I saw my girlfriend. We live apart—she’s in Houston, that vast, sprawling circus of freeways, mad drivers, and more concrete bridges than sense. I live in Richmond, Virginia, which, if you read my last bit of rambling,…

    AKings

  • The Thin Blue Line

    The police. Yes, I know. They’ve had a bit of a PR disaster lately, haven’t they? A few bad apples, and suddenly the whole force is treated like they’ve been plucked straight out of a gangster movie. The whole institution’s been shoved into the same moral trash can. And of course, as if summoned by…

    AKings

  • Nature, Noise, and Nostalgia: A Walk Through Deep Run Park

    You ever take a walk just for the sake of walking? No destination, no ticking clock, just you and the great wide somewhere? That’s how my mornings usually start at Deep Run Park, with my little four-legged philosopher buddy. He’s got this whole meditation thing down—sniffing at every tree like he’s deciphering ancient scrolls, leaving…

    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

  • 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