The blog of Ready State, a creative agency

Curt Hopkins, Managing Editor

Curt Hopkins has written about punks in Berlin, gypsies in Granada, and nerds in Nairobi for Newsweek, Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, Salon.com, the San Francisco Chronicle, New Times, and others. He was the founding director of the Committee to Protect Bloggers, the first nonprofit dedicated to the liberty and safety of bloggers worldwide. Curt was the social-media manager for InterActive Corp's InstantAction gaming platform and an early hire at Ask.com, where he took responsibility for tanking its stock. His poems, essays, and plays have been respectively published and performed in a variety of publications and venues throughout the United States.

Recent Posts

Bootstrapping the data on COVID-19

How a group of epidemiologists, public policy wonks, and Silicon Valley designers created a tool to visualize state-level COVID-19 projections in their spare time.

By Curt Hopkins, Managing Editor  |  Apr 6, 2020
Read More

Our HQ is now an LGBTQ Historic Landmark

524 Union Street, the home of Ready State, was recognized by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as having extraordinary value to LGBTQ+ history in the city. As of June 18, it has officially become the city’s fourth LGBTQ Historic Landmark and the nation’s first to focus on a restaurant.

By Curt Hopkins, Managing Editor  |  Jun 19, 2019
Read More

The Sounds of Chinatown

On recent walks through Chinatown, we captured the sounds of the neighborhood through which we walk to work—and in which we grab lunch and happy hour drinks.

By Curt Hopkins, Managing Editor  |  May 16, 2017
Read More

The sounds of North Beach

The identity of where you live is in large part how it looks, feels, and smells. It's also in how it sounds, many of which we tune out. Here's what our North Beach neighborhood sounds like, from tai chi in the morning to the clubs at night.

By Curt Hopkins, Managing Editor  |  Jan 12, 2017
Read More

How to live in Herb Caen’s San Francisco

The late San Francisco Chronicle culture columnist, who made “three dot” journalism famous while articulating the city's unique qualities, loved North Beach and knew how to experience it.

By Curt Hopkins, Managing Editor  |  Sep 29, 2016
Read More

Beyond the greeting card: A visual interview

Ready State Design Director Jodi Wing’s toolbox includes a CAT scanner and a 3D printer. We decided to go low-tech to showcase her most persistent tool: freehand drawing.

By Curt Hopkins, Managing Editor  |  Sep 1, 2016
Read More

Advertise your failures

Customers will engage with relatable stories about the road to success. By acknowledging and recounting them, you can deepen the loyalty of existing ones.

By Curt Hopkins, Managing Editor  |  Aug 18, 2016
Read More

A trail of words: Literary life in North Beach

The Beats and beyond. From Trieste to Vesuvio, The Godfather to The Dharma Bums, Coppola to Kerouac, take a poetic tour of Ready State’s San Francisco neighborhood.

By Curt Hopkins, Managing Editor  |  May 12, 2016
Read More