Cynthia Barnes has been a freelance writer for Phoenix New Times since June 2025. She’s been a freelance writer with Voice Media Group’s Westword since November 2019. She kicked around the world for a while before landing in Colorado. A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, her work has appeared in Food & Wine, AAA, the Boston Globe, National Geographic, and 5280, to name a few. She loves dives – both scuba and bars – baseball, the Oxford comma, and live music.
