by Jen Hirt and Cat Rios
The People’s Bridge is a hybrid essay combining photos, archival footage, and writing — some of it fragmented, some of it expository, some of it lyrical. When we started this project, we wanted to focus on the graffiti. But as we explored the actual territory and geography of this urban ruin in the middle of a capital city, we also wanted to comment on failed infrastructure and irreconcilable visions of a city’s future. What was once a proud crossing, The People’s Bridge is now defined by barricades — an archive of disuse.
Click image below to view the essay.
Catherine Rios is the author of short stories, articles, and screenplays, and she is co-author of the book, Murder in the Garment District: The Grip of Organized Crime and The Decline of Labor in the United States. Her work is the recipient of several awards and grants, including the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship for Literature, the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at Penn State University, and the Sundance Institute Screenwriter’s Intensive Fellowship, Philadelphia.
Jen Hirt is the author of the memoir Under Glass, the essay collection Hear Me Ohio, and the poetry chapbook Too Many Questions About Strawberries. She is the co-editor of two anthologies: Creating Nonfiction: Twenty Essays and Interviews with the Writers; and Kept Secret: The Half-Truth in Nonfiction. She is the editor of the Journal of Creative Writing Studies, and an associate professor at Penn State Harrisburg. Read more of her work at jenhirt.ink
SLAG GLASS CITY · Volume 11 · February 2025
Header image by Catherine Rios
Leave a Reply