The Metro: New book aims to redefine partnerships with friendship at the center
Written by NPR’s Rhaina Cohen, “The Other Significant Others” follows the lives of peoples whose friendships have taken the form of life partners.
In her new book, "The Other Significant Others," NPR's Rhaina Cohen explores the lives of people who have defied convention by choosing a friend as a life partner.
Today is Valentine’s Day, and people across metro Detroit are spending time with their loved ones. But romance is not the only kind of love that’s important in people’s lives.
NPR’s Embedded producer and editor Rhaina Cohen spoke to The Metro co-host Tia Graham on Wednesday to talk about her new book, “The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center,” which follows the lives of peoples whose friendships have taken the form of life partners. Many of the people in the book are friends who own a home together, co-parent or are a caregiver.
Everyone has their own definition and interpretation of friendship, Cohen says. People who’ve formed these life partner friendships do not have a roadmap or legal structure to help navigate their lives.
Cohen met her friend, called “M” in the book, living in Washington D.C. She says they lived about a five-minute walk from each other and integrated into each other’s lives. “M” and Cohen went to work gatherings together and were each other’s plus one at weddings.
“This went beyond what I was told friendship could be,” Cohen said.
One thing that’s challenging for friends is taking your relationship to the next step, finding ways to become closer. Cohen says deciding to take a friend to an event you might take your significant other too could grow the relationship.
“That could create an opportunity where you move from a surface level friendship to one that’s deeper,” she said.
Use the media player above for the full interview with Rhaina Cohen.
More headlines from The Metro on Feb. 14, 2024:
- Technology has changed the way people meet and date. The Metro co-host Nick Austin spoke with Wayne State University Professor Stephanie Tong, director of the Social Media and Relational Technologies Labs, about how technology affects decision making in relationships.
- Miranda Dooshack and Meema Davis, the first lesbian couple to get married in Missouri, share the many iterations of their relationship — from marriage to co-parenting to running a business together — on NPR’s StoryCorps.
- Detroit, Grand Rapids and Flint have the highest rat populations in Michigan. WDET’s Sam Corey sat down with Renault Arseneau, Dearborn’s code enforcement manager, to learn more about what Dearborn is doing to keep rats away.
- The Detroit Board of Water Commissioners was created on this day in 1853. Detroit Public Television’s Annamarie Sysling dove into the history behind Detroit’s Water Works Park for WDET’s CuriosiD podcast.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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