Kate Ryan

As an Uber driver, I have the privilege of talking to and eavesdropping on a sampling of L.A.’s finest, ranging from the clinically insane to the simply self-absorbed. As a writer, there is no end to the amount of inspiration my passengers provide.

Alison learned from her grandmother how a plastic smile could take you places—especially in a place like Hollywood.

We all love our dogs. However, some of us take it a little too far, convincing ourselves that our dogs are actually our children. You call your dog your “baby” one day, and the next thing you know, you’re pushing him or her down the street in an expensive stroller. How did we get here? Trust me, it’s a slippery slope. Here are 12 signs you might have a dog-child.

The birds abandon their posts in the pepper trees, sending tiny, oblong leaves raining to the ground.

Is flagging potentially offensive material taking the PC movement too far?

Eva, having stayed up the whole night preoccupied with death and time, planned to call in sick.

I saw my old babysitter at a women’s wrestling cage match.

He died a violent death. I saw him myself, flopping between wooden blades, his head bent back strangely.

She gropes for attention while he dies in the other room.

Someone would always cook in their tighty whities, his package at eye level for the person doing French homework at the kitchen table.