Cover Photo: Photo by Erica Cavanagh
Photo by Erica Cavanagh

A Conversation with Adrian Shirk

“The conversation between the past and the present in New York is always kind of ambivalent.”

In September 2015, we published “This Building is Yours,” an essay by Adrian Shirk which retells the story of how feminists in 1971 took over an abandoned building in New York before NYPD seized control twelve days later. Shirk’s essay was part personal narrative, part architectural history; this intersection continues with “Then and Now,” her monthly column which examines the personal and cultural histories of some of New York’s architecture, from a closed sugar refinery factory in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn to the former headquarters of Robert Moses, perhaps most instrumental in the redesign and reshaping of New York during his tenure as Parks Department commissioner. The author of the upcoming book Shirk and I chatted via Google Hangouts to discuss her column, her fascination with architecture, and more.

Catapult

And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy

And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy

Catapult

Mensah Demary is editor-in-chief of Soft Skull Press. His writing has appeared in The Common, Unruly Bodies, Vice, Salon, Slate, Literary Hub, and elsewhere. Find him on Twitter @futuremensah.