Marin Lately, a satirical publication founded Feb. 2025, pokes gentle fun at Marin County culture. Patrick Heij is the creator of Marin Lately and a San Francisco native with an extensive background in media, bringing wit and experience to his publication. We sat down with Heij to discuss his creative background, process, and mission with Marin Lately.
Disclaimer: this interview has been modified to enhance readability and brevity. The speaker’s original meaning and tone have been preserved.
Can you tell us a little bit about your personal background?
I moved to Marin in 2019, but I know it well. My mom’s whole side of the family is from here; Archie Williams was even her teacher. My sister lives in San Anselmo, and she has two kids. I grew up in the city, but I spent a lot of time here. When I had my first kid, basically the first decision I made was to move to Marin.
What attracted you to journalism?
I have always been a humor writer at heart, but I found that if you want to be a writer, you’re gonna have to be open to just about anything they’ll let you do for money. I started my career at a small magazine in San Francisco, and they hired me mainly because I was a funny writer. But I think the secret to Marin Lately is that I know how to do journalism formally.
What made you decide to start your own publication?
I lived in New York for 10 years, and while I was there, I worked in television, writing for The New Yorker and The New York Times. Then I moved back to California, and I found there’s nowhere for me to go. So, I eventually had to start my own thing, and I wish I hadn’t waited so long to do that.
What was the process of creating Marin Lately?
I wish I could say something poignant. It just coalesced as an idea really quickly back in January. It was over the course of a week, and I came up with what it’s called and then what it’s about. I bought the domain, I found a publishing platform, and I just started doing it. I really had no idea if anyone was reading it.
What was your intention in beginning the publication as an anonymous author?I wasn’t trying to be anonymous forever, but this kind of thing works a lot better if you can do it quietly and build it up before someone can come and tear it down and discourage you at the very beginning.
How did you come up with the name of your publication?
Marin Lately plays on a temporal idea—like the New York Times, it’s tied to ‘time.’ But ‘lately’ is intentionally unserious, which some people still don’t quite get. None of it is super calculated.
How do you think online platforms like Nextdoor have shaped the way people view Marin?
A lot of the source material comes from Nextdoor, which sets a bad tone for places like Marin, where the newspaper has receded. If you were to just read Nextdoor, you would think that everyone here hates each other. What you read on there has a major effect on how people feel about each other. So Marin Lately is meant to be an antidote to that, like a technological phenomenon or whatever it is.
What is your process of writing stories and gathering ideas?
Sometimes when I’m stuck, I’ll just leave the house and just look around Marin, but it requires some processing. It’s not just something you pick up off the street; you need to think about how it ties into some bigger issue. The other part is looking at newspapers to see what’s actually going on in the world, and finding ridiculous ways to apply that to Marin, as in “National Guard Self-Deploys to Marin County.” Marin Lately is meant to be a protected area and a distraction from what’s actually going on during this crazy and inescapable time. I’m just trying to project some sanity into the world.
Did you always have that comedy lens growing up?
This publication is just me being a class clown on the page. Anytime I was given an assignment, I did my work. But I would usually attempt to write something funny. That’s my impulse.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Marin Lately is meant as an act of love for Marin. It’s the one thing about this place that I felt was missing, especially because I’m a parent, and stuff can get really serious. I just hope people don’t take it too seriously.
Fredrick Stephenson • Apr 17, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Consider the garbage disposal.
The garbage disposal is nothing short of an amazing instrument, and yet it is invariably taken for granted.
Consider: it takes in water, coffee, leftover soup, sometimes boiling hot, sometimes cold straight from the refrigerator. There is a seal where the spinning assembly comes out of a motor housing, a spot where water will inevitably go where it ought not to go but only after many years. This is with a steady, unbroken assist to the water from gravity.
Consider: This writer’s household had occasion to remove the outer collar for a double scrub, and the workings of the chamber became visible. There is a good reason for the outer collar’s existence and further evidence of the garbage disposal’s extensive ancestry, evolution and constant development.
Consider: The garbage disposal performs efficiently, reliably and with a minimum of noise even though its notmenclature is probably at the bottom of the kitchen nomenclature. Well, trash compactor is probably in the same etymological, semantic and semiotic neighborhood, come to think of it, but that is a whole different ball of wax if one might excuse the expression.
Consider: Many garbage disposals are equipped with an emergency port through which the provided angled hexagonal wrench can be inserted in order to release the spinning assembly, should it encounter something hard, solid and almost certainly entirely inappropriate for placement in a garbage disposal. The spinning assembly can be turned backwards and/or forward in order to release the inappropriate object for removal or even crush it in order for the noble garbage disposal to complete its task after all.
Consider: Garbage disposals are not without their risk factors, as attested by various and sundry cutlery with distinctive markings. There is also the small possibility of foodstuffs flying out of the entry port, despite the presence of the outer collar. Special note must be taken of the danger in case the electricity is turned on to the garbage disposal while the double-ended angled hex wrench is in place: serious danger occurs in this situation and anyone thinking, “I wonder what would happen if I did . . .” is guilty of a serious offense against something, kitchen decorum or community safety or mechanical integrity or something.
Consider: Even the most traditional kitchen engineer will admit that “garbage disposal” is an awkward term. Alternatives can be, however, equally awkward albeit in a different way: “sanitation composting assistive device” is clear and accurate but rather too long. ”Food matter converter” is perhaps equally accurate and briefer but carries clinical connotations that can be unfortunate. A commercial nomenclature might do well but for copyright reasons cannot be used directly; it is a brilliant combination of the function, that of disposing of items and materials that need disposing and a comprehensive word covering the range of functions, to “dispose.” That is to say, it can do it “all.” Negotiations for the use of the term are ongoing and it is hoped that the term will come into universal use the way an adjustable open-ended spanner made by a company called The Crescent Tool Company came to be called, simply, the Crescent wrench.
In conclusion, the observer will note that at no time was this machine referred to or described with the term “lowly,” quite the contrary, the noble machine that can serve so many years so efficiently and dependably receives respect and admiration from the general populace. We may say, “Well done, Mr. G.D. Machine!”
Andrew "8-Ball" Alcatraz • Jan 27, 2026 at 10:58 AM
it’d be nice to be able to actually read this guy’s articles but unfortunately half of them are locked behind a paywall for some reason. oh well
the ones I did read weren’t incredibly funny but it’s possible he’s just holding all the good ones for ransom