A couple who went to the roof of their apartment building for some privacy to air their differences ended up in a world publicity instead after a guy up there decided to share the details of their conflict via Twitter. But all is not lost. The pair provides a handy snapshot of significant marital and cohabitation trends of the moment. Usually, people are too polite to observe a deep anthropological closeup of a male and female thrashing out the hopes and fears that most human beings share as they search for a mate. That makes this detailed report all the more grimly fascinating — and potentially educational. So perhaps Kyle Ayers, a Brooklyn-based writer and comedian, can be forgiven for his ungentlemanly behavior in live-tweeting the fight of a couple he witnessed when he was hanging out on his roof over the weekend, with the hashtag #roofbreakup. Or for stringing the tweets together on the Storify website later. The gist of the fight seemed to be over the species of relationship that the two young things, one of whose names appears to be Rachel, are in. Is it one of those couplings that leads to a future home, a marriage and a possible family? — “‘I’m not looking for marriage, just what’s right below marriage’ -girl.” Or is it one of those way-station relationships that people hang about in for a while, before heading in the direction they really intend to go? — “‘I just sometimes want to hang out with my friends and my not-you friends’ -guy.” (MORE: The Strange Economics of Cohabitation) From the Twitter version of the conversation — which if it is faked, is very authentically faked — the guy comes off as the less sympathetic party. He tells Rachel at one point to “stop shivering.” He makes desperate-sounding requests: ”Just tell me what you want but don’t make it something f—ing gay.” He gets defensive and resorts to childish retorts: “You think I’m immature? Calling people immature is immature!” He wants to change the subject to![]()
