The author (third from left) found she was able to make deep connections with other women over articles they read.
Courtesy of Pressley Frevert.
I used to tell people I didn't know how to keep a friend.Sure, the statement was self-deprecating, but it was also true. I don't talk to anyone I went to high school with. I stay in touch with just one college classmate. I have brought no childhood friendships into adulthood.I had friends, but they were what I called "microwave friends." We worked together and chatted while we heated up our lunches in the office microwaves. I developed enough of a rapport with some of those people to hang out outside of work. But when one of us left the job, we left the relationship, too.I wanted a friendship that would stick. So 10 years ago, in a wildly out-of-character move, I sent a cold email to a local blogger asking to join an articles club she was forming.Yes, an articles club — like a book club, but one where you read long-form journalism instead of novels.The blogger replied. I went to my first meeting. And, a decade later, I'm still going.It turns out that reading an article about, say, how the Pope feels about people panhandling sparks the kind of discussion that quickly moves relationships beyond the microwave phase.This articles club was the hack I needed to make friendships stick.How it worksOne person volunteers each month to choose the three articles everyone in the group will read. We source our articles in one of two ways:
