Author | Speaker

John Kralik

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and went to grade school there and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I graduated from Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio, and then attended the University of Michigan, from which I received a B.A. (1975) and then a J.D. (1979). After that, I practiced law in Los Angeles for 30 years, including at the firms of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Miller Tokuyama, Kralik & Sur and Kralik & Jacobs, as well as on my own as Kralik & Associates. In September 2009, I was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to be a Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Grateful Thoughts,

An Author’s Blog

THE $4OO, OOO SECRET MY DAD TRIED TO TEACH ME

THE $4OO, OOO SECRET MY DAD TRIED TO TEACH ME

    With aging, each passing day brings greater urgency to get things done in the inexorably evaporating time of my life. Not just all the things I must do for my job but also the things I must do to nourish family relationships, and just to keep my head above the...

Let’s not replace the lawyers.

Let’s not replace the lawyers.

 The advent of ChatGPT has provoked what can only be described as panic about artificial intelligence (“AI”). The most notable instance is the open letter signed by over 2,000 very smart people at the Future for Life website, calling for a six-month pause in...

What are people for? My first close encounter with ChatGPT

What are people for? My first close encounter with ChatGPT

The advent of ChatGPT has caused the resurgence of the alarm that began with the invention of computers. If we can all be replaced by computers, what then are people for?  What are people for? The first time I felt dread from this question was more than 50 years ago,...

The Song that Inspired Me to Let my Freak Flag Fly

The Song that Inspired Me to Let my Freak Flag Fly

In the spring of 1970, David Crosby’s voice persuaded me to stop cutting my hair. Before 1965, my hair had been short, but I was satisfied with it. The barber shop was a friendly place, and a young man could expect to read an entire good comic book and chew a few pieces of sugary bubble gum while waiting.

In the Inland Empire, A Few Good Men. (F3 Continued.)

In the Inland Empire, A Few Good Men. (F3 Continued.)

In my last blog, I explained how I had come across F3, a workout group that seeks to foster the three “F’s” of fitness, fellowship, and faith. There are 3,500 such groups in the United States. There are none in Los Angeles. I thought briefly of filling the L.A. void...

F3: Combatting the Sad Clown Syndrome

F3: Combatting the Sad Clown Syndrome

On September 25, 2022, I read an article in the New York Times entitled "For Suburban Texas Men, a Workout Craze with a Side of Faith" by Ruth Graham. Two things about the article struck me. First, the fiery epicenter of “F3,” the faith-influenced workout "craze" to...

The Loss of My Mother

The Loss of My Mother

My mother, Rita Hennessey Kralik, died February 15, 2022. Though I managed a eulogy, I’ve avoided reflection on her death since that date. Perhaps now it is time to try as there will be holidays without her. The fact of her absence cannot be erased by any amount of...

To Slow the Serious Spread of Supercilious Accusations of Stupidity 

To Slow the Serious Spread of Supercilious Accusations of Stupidity 

On August 29, 2021, Lance Morrow wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “You Are Living in the Golden Age of Stupidity.” I recognized Lance Morrow’s writing, his distinct voice. I had been reading it since his essays in the ‘70’s graced Time Magazine,...

The Comfort of Crowds

The Comfort of Crowds

The pandemic brought with it a fear of crowds. If a respiratory virus was not scary enough, the crowds that gathered despite it seemed to be instruments of anger, whether destroying public buildings or storming the capital, or just burning things, humans congregated...