Cohabitation Nation

Would you rather be asked your age or your cohabitation status? | Posted 12:05 PM

While I am not a smoker, 26% of my fellow thirty and almost-thirty somethings are. This fact, combined with New York City's smoking ban, allowed for plenty of opportunity to spend quality time on the sidewalks of the East Village at last night's Book of Ages launch party. Conclusion: Asking random passerby, "Are you 30?" is a great way to sell books, but be sure you have books to sell.

First guerilla marketing, soon guerrilla book signings-- what could possibly be next? Marriage? "Bring a wife home to your house when you are of the right age, not far short of 30 years, nor much above; this is the right time for marriage." -- Hesiod, c. 8th century B.C. [Quote and smoke stat from the book].

"The convoluted logic of marriage protection" | Posted 12:46 PM

Thomas Lang on Rick Santorum in The American Prospect.

Cohabitation at 30 | Posted 10:56 AM

The Book of Ages is available now. It promises not just to be a great birthday gift and amusing guide for the aspiring thirtysomething*, but could also spark a discursive explosion akin to the coining of the term Generation X. Stay tuned!

*A person conducting telephone surveys called our home last year, and Dorian fielded the call. During the survey, he asked how old she was. She said, "29." He laughed, and said, "Yeah, right. That is what everyone says. How old are you really?"

Cohabitation in Youngstown, OH | Posted 3:31 PM

Welcome to listeners of the Saturday with Morris Ray show on WKBN 570 in Youngstown, Ohio, who heard about Cohabitation Nation on the air today.

Cohabitation Nation, indeed | Posted 2:43 PM

Business Week reports on Unmarried America:

But just because matrimony is good for society doesn't mean that outmoded social benefits are -- especially when so many kids are not living in the kinds of traditional households that current social policies favor. As more and more companies begin to loosen the connection between benefits and marriage -- and partners who act like they are married are treated as if they are -- it's likely that there may be even higher rates of cohabitation and even lower rates of marriage, as has already happened in Europe. The difference, though, is that European countries have stronger social safety nets in the form of long, subsidized maternity leave policies; good part-time jobs for mothers; and tight-knit extended families, who help care for children born to single parents.

Divorce and girls | Posted 11:35 AM

Steven E. Landsburg at Slate.com pens a piece about the Gordon Dahl and Enrico Moretti research addressing the provocative question, "Do daughters cause divorce?"

Dorian enters the fray and hypothesizes that perhaps "divorce causes girls."

Over the top cohabitation quote of the day | Posted 7:21 PM

"Getting married, to me, is a huge commitment -- way bigger than buying a house... Getting married costs a lot of money, and you don't get a lot of payback." [From dailycamera.com]

On the road | Posted 10:12 PM

Back from a whirlwind trip which included my 11th* high school reunion, an Alternatives to Marriage Project houseparty fundraiser and board meeting, and lots of hours in the car with D.

Popular topics of discussion at the reunion: Cohabitation, marriage, kids.

At the party: Cohabitation, marriage, kids.

At the board meeting: Cohabitation, marriage, kids.

In the car: The striking improvements to bathroom quality at gas stations since our youth. What cause this upgrade was fodder for a good 45 minutes... apparently we're not alone in noticing things like this. Could it be legislative action? Indeed, what could be next for "big oil"?

Dinner tonight on the way home at Cafe Zog in Providence, which has a copy of a Jason Tanz NYT article on "36 hours in Providence" on its wall and makes a really good veggie reuben.

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* our class didn't get it organized for the 10th; better late than never.