An Anthem for Everyone Who’s Ever Googled Their Name
“At first, I was indiscriminately adding other Paul O’Sullivans on Facebook. It was like a joke. Then I realized, ‘Hey, wait a minute, we’re all musicians.’”
How Two Young Hippie Friends Grew Up to Live Very Different Lives
“I’ll complain to her about how I couldn’t find a parking spot at the Nordstrom sale, while she’s complaining to me about how her goats have hoof rot.”
What Are RAs’ Social Lives Like?
“I was always in a fishbowl. I felt like I was not just Alex, but Alex the RA.”
How Two Candidates Became Friends, and Ran a Joint Campaign
“Maybe there should’ve been some animosity, but we’re both naturally not drawn to unnecessary conflict.”
A Harebrained Scheme to Sell Christmas Trees on the Streets of New York
“People were in the right place at the right time. That’s its own small Christmas miracle, I guess.”
The Case for Buying a House With Friends
“Looking around our culture, I think a lot of people are starting to experience the limits of individualism.”
These Friends’ Collaborative Playlist Has Strict, Elaborate Rules
“Technology nowadays allows people to have music that’s personalized to them … but it also allows people to collaborate in ways that we weren’t able to before.”
Navigating the ‘Old Boys’ Club’ of Science, With a Friend
“It allows me to do my science better when I feel like I have a community.”
How Friendship Changes at the End of Life
“People become frightened at the end of life. Sometimes I see them moving away from friends as they get sicker.”
On Being Happy for and Jealous of a Friend at the Same Time
“It can be hard to be really close to someone who’s trying to do the same thing that you do.”
A Teen-Run Book Charity and the Friendship It Built
“To know that there were people in my school doing things that I had dreamed about doing was really crazy to me.”
Whom Would You Trust If You Were Trapped in the Airport During a Coup?
“We were strong for each other. I don’t think I could have been as clever or as grounded had it been just me by myself.”
Befriending the Queen of Chess
“These idols I’ve had, they were just like real human beings, not some distant star that wouldn’t even talk to you.”
The Unique Friendship Between Astronauts
“Spaceflight makes you try to be a little bit more understanding, a little bit nicer, and try to see other points of view. Because all of humanity is right down there and you’re looking at it.”
They Met in an Elevator; Now They Travel the World Together
“Our motto is: ‘Follow soccer, see the world.’”
An Existential Reading List for Middle-Aged Men
“To be known completely and to be loved is a very profound experience. Adult males do not often have that kind of an experience.”
The Friends Who All Cosplay the Same Character
“You see a lot of cliques in the cosplay community ... But what’s been nice about our friendship is that there’s never any competition.”
The Ukulele Queens of Deerfield, Illinois
“I think our society wants older women to sit down, shut up, and go knit somewhere in a corner. And that’s not what we’re doing.”
Coming of Age on Cape Cod in the Summer of ’71
“The house was a magnet for all kinds of people to come and be with us, because it was such a special place.”
What It’s Like to Join the Freemasons
“The only competition in Masonry is to see who can be the better person.”
The Friends Who Listen to BTS Together Stay Together
“Fans are often prone to saying, ‘This band saved my life.’ BTS made us realize we have to save ourselves.”
How to Win Friends With Influencer People
“What we do—nobody really understands it. I have a lot of friends who don’t work in this space, and they think I’m just having two-hour lunches all day.”
Why Friendship Is Like Improv
“If I’m onstage with people I’ve been performing with for 20-some years … I never get left hanging.”
A Friendship Forged Through the Gay-Rights Movement
“I have a strong sense of public engagement as something that is our moral duty, our social duty, but also is really fun.”
When You Give a Friend a Kidney
“From the moment I thought Scott might need a kidney, it was just a given to me that I was giving him mine.”
The Friends Who Have Been Playing the Same Game of Dungeons & Dragons for 30 Years
“It’s an excuse for us to constantly keep in touch and not drift away.”
The Friends Whose Kids All Have the Same Rare Disease
“It’s a backwards kind of friendship. You get in with the most vulnerable parts of your heart first.”
The Boring Intimacy of the All-Day Group Chat
“Any little decision, I always have to consult them. There’s never a moment where I’m not considering, What would Jess and Sha tell me to do?”
Two Boy Scouts Met in an Internment Camp, and Grew Up to Work in Congress
“Out of that short experience came this wonderful, beautiful relationship. I just love Alan.”
Onboarding a New Friend
“Everyone in the office was like, ‘Are you the new Courtney? She was amazing.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have such big shoes to fill.’”
The Moms Who Were Extremely Online in 1993
“In the early days, it was so hard to describe us. People were like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
Stumbling Into Adulthood, Alongside a Friend
“She got me to look at things in the future instead of just the present. Kelli had planned so much for herself that I think it started to rub off.”
When Your Friend Moves to the Other Side of the World
“It did come as a shock when she told me that she was leaving. It was like, Well, we’ve only barely begun.”
Losing Religion, Gaining a Friend
“People didn’t really understand what it was like to grow up the way we grew up. It was so great not to have to explain that to Ariane.”
Crossing the Border to Hang Out With Your Friend
"Going to Nuevo Laredo for lunch or dinner was no big deal. We would do that all the time, without even really realizing we were crossing a border."
The Songsmiths of Sesame Street
“The rule was you should never go over the heads of the kids. Anything that appealed to adults had to appeal to the kids too.”
Being a Pastor Is More Joyful With a Friend by Your Side
“To be able to talk about things that only we as young women clergy experience is really comforting.”
When the Jezebel Comments Section Went on Vacation Together
“We had been talking about doing a big group meet-up somewhere and we picked Dollywood.” “It was one of the most wonderful moments of my life.”
The Evolution of a 20-Year Pen-Pal Friendship
“I saw her as who I would have been if I grew up on a farm in Apple Canyon Lake. And I think she saw me as the same thing, but reversed.”
How 14 Friends From the Vietnam War Lost and Found One Another Again
"It was a lot more than just cavalry guys getting together. We really became true family."
The Fan-Fiction Friendship That Fueled a Romance-Novel Empire
“We have two relationships. We have to talk about money, and then we have the friendship.”
A Friendship Baked in the Great British Bake Off Tent
“You need a bowl or a whisk, and one of your baking friends will get it for you. You know those trenches in the war? It’s kind of like that.”
He Returned His Friend’s Sweatshirt 20 Years After He Borrowed It
“It became my most meaningful piece of clothing that I owned.”
When a Teacher Becomes a Friend
"I think we just started coming to Mr. O's room for lunch. I don't even know if we asked permission. Probably not."
What It’s Like to Make a Friend on Bumble BFF
“People can be really judgmental, like, ‘What’s wrong with you that you can’t make friends by yourself?’ But it’s honestly really hard to do it naturally.”
Introducing ‘The Friendship Files’
A new series that tells stories of human life through conversations with friends