Living, Together

21 writers and organizers on chosen family, hacking adulthood, and other lessons communal living can teach us about the future of housing in America

Featuring Kristen Arnett, Rhaina Cohen, Kim Stanley Robinson, and more

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.“This stunning anthology is a powerful, generous reframing of what it means to build a life—a reminder that connection, interdependence, and shared responsibility are not fringe experiments but ancient inherently human qualities that have the power to heal the world.”
—Sophie Lucido Johnson, author of Kin: The Future of Family

“A lively collection that invites us all to consider how we might live together. No need for a total commune vision; this book lifts up the joys of cohabiting with friends, family, and chosen family even if only for a short while. And, crucially, the stories teach us how to envision living together, navigate the reality, and depart with gratitude and grace.”
—Casper ter Kuile, author of The Power of RitualSamantha Paige Rosen’s writing on identity, the arts, and culture has appeared in the Washington Post, Harper’s Bazaar, Slate, Them, BOMB, 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.