Contributing Writers

Stephen K. Hirst

Stephen K. Hirst is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared for the BBC, Rolling Stone, VICE News, Ars Technica, Wired, Slate, Salon, Business Insider, The A.V. Club, EGM, The Huffington Post, and Red Star.

A former educator, he has taught at the CUNY College of Staten Island, Qingdao University in China’s Shandong Province, Woosong University in Daejeon, South Korea, and the Excel Language Center in Cusco, Peru.

He is a Florida native who currently lives in the Tampa Bay area, alone. He has no pets. He owns a Pac-Man tabletop-style arcade machine like the ones they used to have at Pizza Hut, which does double-duty as his dinner table.

Ryan Harris

Ryan Harris is an Atlanta based writer and humorist. That’s a fancy way of saying “clown.”

Jonathan Padua

Born and raised in Pearl City, Hawaii, Jonathan Padua holds an MFA in Fiction from New York University and a JD from the University of San Diego.

The child of Filipino immigrants, his work and writing have been dedicated to covering topics reflecting his upbringing; immigrant rights, just representation in the justice system, and fairness, diversity and equality in American politics.

In his spare time he enjoys reading conservative blogs and forums because you must know your adversary well and because often his blood pressure is too low.

Nick Raven

Nick Raven is a creative generalist and Colorado Springs fanboy with a passion for municipal politics and policy.

Born a military brat in West Germany with a dream of directing computer animated films before everyone was doing it, Raven writes, designs, edits, produces and tells stories across a variety of media. In 2014, he created The Nth Review, a YouTube channel that focuses on long-form video game essays.

Raven is an urban planning enthusiast and local activist who wants people to make their cities better places to live. His favorite game of all time is X-COM: UFO Defense.

Sean Beaudoin

Sean Beaudoin is the author of five novels and the story collection “Welcome Thieves.” You can find his writing on art, culture, music and politics here, at Sean Beaudoin Studio.