Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center
With Rhaina Cohen
Monday, May 13, 2024 7:00 - 8:30pm ET 6pm CT 5pm MT 4pm PT Members: $15 Non-members: $25
Have you ever daydreamed about building your life around friends, like the women in The Golden Girls or Grace & Frankie? NPR journalist and bestselling author Rhaina Cohen has followed people living in just this way—friends who are each other’s housemates, caregivers, and more. Rhaina argues that we need to recognize the significance of friendship at a time when a large share of Americans is unmarried—including nearly one-half of American women aged 65 and older—and when many are feeling the effects of the loneliness epidemic. Rhaina will share how the pairs of friends she interviewed offer an alternative model of a fulfilling life, showing that there are more pathways to finding companionship and support than romance alone. For those unable to attend the live event, a recording will be distributed to all registrants.
The Other Significant Others tells the stories of people who make a friendship the central relationship in their lives—owning homes together, raising kids together, or caring for each other for decades. Like romantic couples, these friends form a “we.” At a time of declining marriage rates and a loneliness epidemic, these friends help us imagine alternative models for a fulfilling life and ask us to rethink which relationships matter most. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for this book for my entire adult life.” — Anne Helen Petersen “I loved [The Other Significant Others] and recommend it to everybody.” — Ezra Klein