Living, Together features 21 writers and organizers on chosen family, hacking adulthood, and other lessons communal living can teach us about the future of housing in America.
At age 29, when Samantha Paige Rosen made an unexpected move back home, she was surprised to find how much she loved living with her parents again. Inspired and curious, she began searching for others who had redefined home and community. The essays and Q&As in Living, Together are about carving out spaces of communal connection and joy in our 3-bed, 2-bath starter home culture. Although they recount life at different stages and in different regions, these stories showcase the delights and tradeoffs of more dynamic shapes of “home.”
Across sections on family, intentional community, and what lies beyond housing, readers will hear from voices like:
Kristen Arnett, whose found family kept her afloat, from weddings to hurricane season and everything in between
Kim Stanley Robinson, who describes the magic of communities that are led by everyone
Sarah Thankam Mathews, who founded a pandemic mutual aid group and discovered, like so many of us, how essential connection and care are in times of crisis
Rodney M. Bordeaux, who explores how strength and unity are inextricably tied to life on First Nations reservations
Communal living isn’t just for cults or millennials with a pipe dream. Amidst the climate crisis, a hostile housing market, and the loneliness epidemic, Living, Together opens a window into how people in the US are thriving through collective care. This book invites us to imagine what new opportunities for connection exist when we push through the walls society has built for us.
Samantha Paige Rosen’s writing on identity, the arts, and culture has appeared in the Washington Post, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Slate, Them, Literary Hub, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and lives outside of Philadelphia, where she is a freelance writer and editor, a writing tutor and coach, and an amateur potter. Living, Together: Reimagining Community in the Age of Disconnection is her first book.
Rosen will be in conversation with Washington, D.C. locals and Living, Together contributors Hannah Grieco & Rhaina Cohen.
Rhaina Cohen is an award-winning producer and editor for NPR’s documentary podcast, Embedded. Her work, often focused on social connection, has aired on numerous podcasts and radio shows, including Hidden Brain, Invisibilia, and All Things Considered, and her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New Republic and elsewhere. The recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Cohen is a graduate of Northwestern University and Oxford, where she was a Marshall Scholar. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, friends, and her friends’ children.
Hannah Grieco’s debut short story collection First Kicking, Then Not is out now from Stanchion Books. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, The Independent, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, Brevity, Craft, Poet Lore, Shenandoah, Fairy Tale Review, The Offing, and more. She writes a monthly literary column for the Washington City Paper and edits prose for a variety of independent presses and literary journals. Find her online at www.hgrieco.com and on most social media @writesloud.
Ayesha Rascoe will moderate the conversation with Rosen, Cohen, and Grieco. Rascoe, host of NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday and the weekend host of the Up First podcast. In these roles, she interviews newsmakers, entertainers, and politicians, bringing her signature wit and sharp perspective to the stories shaping the national conversation. Beyond the airwaves, Rascoe is the editor of HBCU Made: A Celebration of the Black College Experience, a collection of essays highlighting the profound impact of historically Black institutions. She is a proud alumna of Howard University. Rascoe joined NPR in 2018 and quickly became a mainstay of the network’s programming. Before stepping into her role as host, she served as a White House Correspondent, covering three presidential administrations. She earned a reputation for her incisive questioning in the briefing room and reported from major international events, including the 2019 Hanoi Summit with Kim Jong Un and President Obama’s final NATO summit in Warsaw. During this time, she was also a regular fixture on the NPR Politics Podcast. Her versatile career includes guest-hosting It’s Been a Minute and appearing as a frequent contributor to Pop Culture Happy Hour.