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
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving, I hope you are (like me I hope), shaking off the dark thoughts that were brought on by the way the world seemed to be going off the rails, the way people were saying things that were the opposite of true, and embracing nonsense proven wrong long...
Fear, Part II
The other things I wrote when I put the word “fear” on the screen: The latest word is that we must live with the virus. Some of us have postponed our date with it, but it will come, and even the vaccines cannot guarantee the outcome of that destiny. Sooner or later,...
Fear, Part I
Fear I thought I’d put that word on paper this week. For a year and a half it has entangled the entire area. The third record album I owned was Déjà Vu, by Crosby, Stills Nash & Young. (The Turtles Greatest Hits and Waiting for the Sun by the Doors were first and...
I Have Always Loved Audiobooks
Almost as far back as I can remember, listening--to something--has been a prerequisite for falling asleep. At first it was a choice. Now it’s more of a habit. Or, more honestly, an addiction. It started with the transistor radio I snuck into my boarding school. There...
The Smiles of Strangers
Let me make clear that I offer no opinion here as to whether masks should have ever been required, or when they should stop being required. My only opinion is that there should be a day when they should stop being required. And further, and just as importantly, there...
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 Scene on a Lake
My new book Three Bodies by the River is a work of fiction, but you will recognize places in it, including the “river.” A key scene takes place on a lake in Northern Michigan. When I wrote the scene, I had in mind a lake where I had spent five summers teaching young...
Man’s Search for Meaning
It’s Mother’s Day, 2021. For the first time in 14 months, we walk through the doors of our church. Looking around, old friends are recognized. The seats seem full, though some are held empty. We see the joyful faces of the singers, singing out, singing at last, that...
Falling Asleep in Court
The narrator in my new novel, Three Bodies by the River, is a lawyer who won his best verdict in a case where he appeared to fall asleep. The novel is set in the ‘90’s. While sitting through some long trials during that decade, I became intrigued by those who would...