HeyJaredHugh’s Substack
Michigan-based thoughts on environment, culture, politics and stuff I like.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 25, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 12, 2026
Latest issues
My unwitting heroes (opens the original)
Read excerpt
A woman I reconnected with recalled a conversation we had long ago that helped lead her to a career path that’s rewarding and useful.I don’t remember it. (I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast.) But I was glad.It isn’t the first time someone’s sprung the “You told me such and such way back when and I’ve never forgotten it” on me. It got me wondering how many similar, otherwise trivial, encounters with others have impacted me in wildly disproportionate ways, and the other party probably has n
How a .100 hitter became a baseball star (opens the original)
Read excerpt
The first friend I made after we moved to East Lansing in the summer after 7th grade was John. John was on a Little League baseball team. I asked John if I could join. He said he’d ask the coach.When I saw John again he told me I was on the team.There was a catch. The coach said the roster was full, and I’d be taking playing time from others, so it would need to be a unanimous vote of the team after practice. So John spread the word that I’d hit .400, led my Ohio league in home runs and was team
How a push mower, an editor’s unruly hair, and hothead boss created a legendary newsroom moment (opens the original)
Read excerpt
(quoted speech in this column is obviously not verbatim, but accurate in spirit and context to the best of my recollection!)Newsrooms of the past were chaotic, irreverent mosh pits of stress replete with high-decibel swearing, phone slamming, deadline stress and brilliance shrouded in a persistent haze of cigarette smoke.I’m glad I experienced the waning days of that culture, but careful not to romanticize it. Sexism, hostile editors and second-hand smoke are no fun. But, my God, did we have fun
My vacuum is my therapist (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Karen’s never put a drop of gas in the new car she bought in January, 2025. It’s been a game to see how long we can go until she has to pump gas herself. So I keep it full. There was a close call earlier this year when she was traveling – but she explained the challenge, and her travel partner kept the streak going.Pumping gas is the man’s job in our household. But traditional divisions of labor tend to blur around here.For instance, I can’t fix anything. I have no aptitude for manly things like
Roundabouts, local cops and other random mildly interesting thoughts (opens the original)
Read excerpt
I have random thoughts. Daily provocations and curiosities. Momentary irritants and unexpected moments of Zen. And nowhere to put them.Reddit has a forum called “mildly interesting” and these seem to fit that category. So scroll on past if you don’t want to see a bullet list of mildly interesting things that my mind fixates on.1. I just got back from a dinner overlooking a golf course. What I saw shook me. A man walking, followed at a respectful distance by his wheeled golf bag keeping perfect p
Publishing over time
Last 90 days. Choose a month to open its work.
Recurring subjects
Named in the text we hold. One piece can cover several.
Audience
No verified audience measurement yet.
About this data
Counts cover the work we have indexed. Tone needs enough text and a confident classification. Excerpts and episode notes are not full articles or transcripts.
Identity or attribution wrong? Suggest a correction.