The Weekly welcomes its newest reporter from the north end of Monterey Bay.

Hey there, Monterey County. 

My name is Aric Sleeper. After more than a decade of writing news at the other end of the bay, I am stoked to bring my experience as a journalist to the residents of Monterey County.

Growing up, I was always known as a storyteller, but I didn’t consider myself a writer until my early 20s when I devised the plot of a novel while working a customer service job during college. It was then that I changed my major from pre-law to English with a focus on creative nonfiction. 

Having graduated from college during the Great Recession, I took a job as a laundromat attendant and later a line cook in Yosemite National Park just to get me out of the Midwest. In the shoulder seasons, I accumulated writing internships and eventually paying gigs along the Central Coast. 

Later, I landed a job at the Good Times in Santa Cruz before moving on to the sports and lifestyle magazine Santa Cruz Waves and ultimately to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, where I reported on topics ranging from city council meetings to corpse flowers, protests and chili cook-offs. 

At the Monterey County Weekly, I’ll be covering news in the cities of Seaside, Marina, Sand City and Del Rey Oaks. In addition, I’ll cover transportation issues, crime and the court system. 

And please note that I’m the third A(E)ric(K) currently employed at the Weekly, so if you call the office with a juicy news tip, please specify which one you’re looking for: Sleeper, Chalhoub or Cushman. 

Feel free to drop me a line.