Science and Health Writer Eryn Brown

I’m like a Good Vinaigrette

Eryn Brown is a freelance writer and editor based in Los Angeles who covers science, medicine, and health. Before moderating a Zócalo panel discussion about the effects of social media on our children—“Is the Internet Turning Our Kids Into Zombies?”—she talked in the Zócalo green room about the perils of giving medical advice as a science journalist, the history of her hometown, Atlanta, and the joys of living in Los Angeles.

Q:

What screen do you spend the most time with?


A:

My iPhone.


Q:

Under what circumstances can a journalist who covers medicine feel free to give people medical advice?


A:

Never.


Q:

What do your children complain to you about most?


A:

Food. They’re picky.


Q:

Netflix or Amazon?


A:

Amazon Prime.


Q:

What’s the hardest thing for you about home renovation?


A:

The unexpected.


Q:

What’s your favorite thing about living in Los Angeles?


A:

Living with the great weather and with more space, in combination with all the interesting stuff to explore. Los Angeles is just all-encompassing in nature.


Q:

What salad dressing best embodies you?


A:

I would like to think that I’m like a good vinaigrette: I have a lot of quality ingredients that are blended together in a way that’s very interesting.


Q:

What do you miss most about Atlanta?


A:

There’s a real sense of place in the South. One of the things I miss about Atlanta is that there’s a lot of sense of history there—not in the clichéd Southern way of history, but a lot of interesting post-war history that was a big part of my parents’ and my grandparents’ lives growing up. And when you leave it, you leave it behind.


*Photo by Aaron Salcido