We were lucky to catch up with Adam Schirling recently and have shared our conversation below.

Adam , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

My mission as a gonzo journalist has always been simple and to the point: Bringing a voice to those traditionally ignored by mass media and the American Public as a whole. Too many Americans go through their daily lives with absolutely no idea how others live in lifestyles they consider alternative or even taboo.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I began my journey as a writer while I was still in the Navy deploying to the Middle East frequently. On my journeys, I frequently found myself having fascinating discussions with people from lands far away from the Nevada desert I grew up in. After a while I realized that these stories were worth hearing, and I started my journey with just that: Doing gonzo style interviews with folks that fascinated me. This led to me founding Drunken Absurdity, an online magazine that I ran for 3 years publishing dozens of my own interviews and writing, but also the writing, poetry, photography and modeling of dozens of contributors across the world.

During this time I also began writing freelance for various magazines and newspapers around New England, usually focusing on covering everything from tattoo conventions, sex shop grand openings, and in depth interviews with sex workers around New England. In keeping with gonzo journalist style all my work was usually done in the back of various bars and strip clubs around New England. I was also very fortunate during this time to publish 3 print books: A collection of essays from Drunken Absurdity, a poetry book with Boston poet John Dervishian, and a collection of my personal stories and essays. All 3 are still available in libraries and for sale online.

Since the pandemic, my writing career was on hiatus while I focused on other creative projects like jockstrap modeling and traveling the country in an RV with my now former finance. After discovering her cheating on me two months ago a week before our wedding, I decided the time for a writing hiatus was at an end and have been enthusiastically resuming my work with a new photojournalism project specifically covering the dying American Southwest dive bar, as well as a new poetry book and short story collection.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

As can be expected from living an alternative lifestyle that has led me to living around the country and interacting with the very deepest of underground communities: I can be very exhausted by all of it. I throw myself completely into my writing and art, and it leaves a piece of me behind with every interview I’ve ever done. Very recently I was engaged for 3 years to a local Vegas artist who was unfaithful to me and stole a great deal money from my family and I, and that has taken quite an emotional toll on me. But as with every good writer, using the pain and hurt of betrayal by people you trusted is the best source of fuel for new projects.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Despite all of my hard work with Drunken Absurdity from 2010-2014, it was extremely difficult to maintain an online platform of that size by myself. I did all of it from website creation to moderation to editing to finding new talent to feature while also designing new logos and artwork for merch constantly. Eventually I had to take the platform down due to extreme burnout. But it never fully died, and I have still kept the interviews alive in other platforms, and have used my hard work experience running DA to help me in face new projects in 2025.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @gonzo.absurdist
• Other: https://linktr.ee/ajschirling

Image Credits

All self shot except one by Kahlo Dior