HeyJaredChris Erskine
Columns on life, laughter, and the occasional gin, from a 30-year Los Angeles Times writer who refuses to slow down.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 16
- Latest publication
- Sep 30, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Aug 8, 2026
Latest issues
A Superhero of the Ordinary (opens the original)
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You can’t ever become a fuss bucket.That’s so dull and predictable. And the last person you should ever bore is yourself.So I slip into the too-cold lake. For the first 15 seconds, I am insane with chill.Then, as with much in life, the idea starts to grow on me … this swim across the little bay, the autumn sunlight skidding across the water, sideways like a book…laterally, like a flip to the tailback Read more
Double the Pumpkins (opens the original)
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Fall? Make mine a double. Double the tailgates. Double the pumpkins on the porch. Double the time I go kicking through the sycamore leaves — if I can find enough sycamore leaves. How about pinecones? Who doesn’t love pinecones? Double my childhood memories of pumpkin patches, and corn stalks lashed together in frosted fields. Double the go-ahead touchdowns. Double the goo in my pumpkin-spiced latte. Double the chowders, the chilis, the stews. Read more <
Lessons From Our Pets (opens the original)
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It’s a good day to be a Siberian husky — misty, moody, with grace notes of fall. White Fang likes everything about it. And she hates that fall thunders by so fast.Fang is a mellow dog, loves people, unless you show the slightest hint of fear, then she foams at the mouth and lusts to taste your blood, your tendons, your teeth.Like Hollywood executives, or corrupt popes, she traffics in the fears and aspirations of others. I suspect it’s a way to mask her own self-doubts. Read more
L.A.’s Best Restaurant (opens the original)
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You can go a long way on kindness and humor, and you can go a long way on being caustic and sly. Your life. Your choice. Self-interest guides almost everything we do — some people more than others. Oddly, we’re attracted to both species: the very selfish and the invariably kind. A personal note of condolence to those who make the wrong life choices, over and over. Helluva rut. But if it feels good, do it. I’m not your mother. Read more
Baby-Sitter for Hire (opens the original)
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If only I could get the dishwasher to work better on the spoons.If only the gardeners next door would not swoop in the day after I wash the car.If only I had held on to that Apple stock.If only I were taller, richer, wiser.If only I had more chin.Someone asked the other day: When was the last time you thought about the best day of your life?My response: I had one? Read more
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