HEATDRAWN Media introduces Maroon Astro, a travel magazine from someone who went
Written and photographed by Ethan Ward, it sends one free issue a month, and every pick says how long he stayed and when he last checked.
LOS ANGELES — HEATDRAWN Media has started Maroon Astro, a travel magazine written and photographed by founder Ethan Ward. Its first monthly issue went out Nov. 1.
Maroon Astro publishes stories and photographs from places Ward has been in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the U.S., along with picks of where to stay, eat, and go. Every pick carries a label with how long he was there and the month he last confirmed it still holds. When someone else paid for a stay or a pick, the label says so. Every picks piece also lists what he’d skip, and weekend trips count as trips.
The magazine is for people who didn’t grow up taking trips, and for anyone who feels they don’t travel enough. It’s named for the maroon Chevy Astro that Ward’s family drove from Maryland to North Carolina or Georgia to see his grandparents.
“Growing up, we didn’t have money for vacations. The trips I remember are the five of us in that van, and I didn’t have a passport until I was an adult,” said Ethan Ward, founder of HEATDRAWN Media. “In 2020, I was afraid I might die without ever seeing Paris. I went for Paris and came back wanting a different life. I haven’t lived in the U.S. since 2023, and wherever I go, whether it’s for two weeks or a year, I live there.
“Other people’s trip photos can make your own life look small. A photo shows where someone stood. It doesn’t show how long they stayed, what it cost, or who paid. So every pick in Maroon Astro says how long I was there and when I last checked.”
Issue 1, “13 years in L.A., and why I left,” leads with why Ward left Los Angeles after 13 years. It follows with 13 places in the city he’d still send people and a short report on why some Paris shops close for weeks in summer. The site also carries the travel essays from INHERITANCE Magazine, HEATDRAWN’s magazine from 2025 to 2026, rebuilt with stories from Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Bangkok, Bali, Dublin, and Cebu City.
Maroon Astro is free at maroonastro.com, with one email a month. It’s also on Instagram and Threads at @maroonastro. HEATDRAWN Media also publishes Interested Party, an independent magazine about what AI is doing to our work, money, health, and culture, reported through Black lives, which sends its first edition Dec. 1.
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About HEATDRAWN Media
HEATDRAWN Media is an independent studio for publishing, audio, and screen, founded in 2020 by product strategist and journalist Ethan Ward. Everything it makes is researched, fact-checked, and true to the people it’s for. Its work includes Reputation, a podcast on homelessness in L.A. that won a 2023 Housing Narrative Award; The Thread, a newsletter that won the 2026 Online Journalism Award for Excellence in AI Innovation; and INHERITANCE Magazine, whose essay “The American Experiment” won two awards in 2026. The studio also makes podcasts, series, and campaigns for brands and organizations.