A Kings

  • Georgie: The Housemate Who Never Blinks

    Living with Georgie is always having company—even when you didn’t ask for it. Not the spooky, lurking-in-the-shadows kind of company, but a small, fluffy dog with trust issues who seems convinced the world might fall apart if he’s not glued to your side. A little dramatic? Absolutely. He’s got the emotional range of a Broadway…

    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

  • Richmond is Melting and So Am I

    By a man who thought Virginia summers were supposed to be charming and full of fireflies, not the actual fires of hell. It is currently 102°F in Richmond, Virginia. That’s not a heatwave—that’s the sun filing a restraining order against us for getting too close. The weather app isn’t even pretending anymore. It just says…

    AKings

  • 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

  • The Hunters Return: A Memorial Day Reflection

    America is having a bit of trouble with her image these days. Like a teenager whose going through some changes — hormones swirling, emotions swinging wild like a kite on a particularly windy day. She’s not bad, mind you, in a phase. Just confused, maybe. Awkward. Kicking out at the world, not because she’s cruel…

    AKings

  • The Wild, the Weird, and the Wonderfully West Virginian

    January 2013. I rolled into Lewisburg, West Virginia, at precisely 8 PM after a long but admittedly beautiful drive from Pennsylvania. It was the kind of drive that makes you feel like you’re in an advert for winter tires—curving roads, mountains, light snow, and just enough loneliness to feel dramatic but not suicidal. First impressions?…

    AKings

  • Flying: The Sky’s the Limit, Sanity Optional

    Flying used to be glamorous. I’m talking about the golden age—suits, silk ties, champagne served by flight attendants with teeth so perfect they could light up a runway. It was the Concorde, it was Pan Am, it was James Bond having a Vodka Martini “shaken, not stirred”. Now? It’s not travel. It’s airborne livestock logistics.…

    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

  • 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