The Weekend Read

The Weekend Read is a series of first-person narratives and dispatches with a political through line. You can read these essays every Saturday on our website—or in your inbox if you subscribe to our Substack. 

Ashton Lansdell of the Los Angeles Queens celebrates after scoring against the San Francisco Firebells in game two of the Women's Pro Baseball League Championship.

The Punk-Rock Appeal of the Women’s Pro Baseball League The Punk-Rock Appeal of the Women’s Pro Baseball League

The new competitive circuit captures the energy and DIY spirit of punk, while promoting a surprisingly sturdy vision of civic belonging.

Oct 31, 2026 / G’Ra Asim

A server room at a data center.

What’s It Like Inside a Data Center? What’s It Like Inside a Data Center?

Northern Virginia is laden with structures that house data for Fortune 500 companies. I went inside just one of those monstrosities that bothers its neighbors.

Oct 24, 2026 / Paris Marx

On the Fernald campus. From left to right: Walter Jr, Walter Sr., Tom (the eventual father of Barbara and Winton), Helen (the author’s great-grandmother), and Katherine.

My Family’s Dark, Hidden History With Institutionalization My Family’s Dark, Hidden History With Institutionalization

My great-great-grandfather was the namesake of an infamous institution for the disabled. From long-neglected records of the property, the lives of forgotten people were uncovered....

Oct 17, 2026 / Oliver Egger

A view of Meta (Facebook) headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on May 15, 2026.

How I Fell Through the Cracks at Facebook How I Fell Through the Cracks at Facebook

A chronic illness forced me out of my software engineering job. What would have helped me most was a workplace union.

Oct 10, 2026 / Natalie Mead

Statue of a miner by the artist Raymond Roux, to memorialize Alès’s having been a mining town during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Year I Taught in a Former Coal Mining Town The Year I Taught in a Former Coal Mining Town

Teaching in the South of France, I learned that equality was just a story teachers told about themselves.

Oct 3, 2026 / Brianna Di Monda

Crews clean up the area of a pro-Palestinian encampment at UC Irvine in Irvine, California, on Thursday, May 16, 2024.

The Promises and Compromises of the University of California The Promises and Compromises of the University of California

I grew up in a neighborhood manufactured by the University of California, Irvine. It felt like a utopia for academics—until the university forsook its mission of serving the publi...

Sep 26, 2026 / Sara Krolewski

View of nude sunbathers on the beach at Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways, New York, New York, August 1, 1982.

What Remains of Riis? What Remains of Riis?

A new members’ club has revived Riis Park’s long-vacant bathhouse, reopening old questions about whom the People’s Beach is really for.

Sep 19, 2026 / Eric Schwartau

On the set of Cosmosquare Films’ “Hanging On”

Notes From Evictionland Notes From Evictionland

Eviction is practically baked into the way Britain manages its tenanted homes. Here’s how it played out—over and over again—for my parents.

Sep 12, 2026 / Jessica Field

A shepherd reading,, by Johann Heinrich Roos (1631–1685).

How a Creative Mind Lives in Nature How a Creative Mind Lives in Nature

Working in the wilderness could not satiate my intellectual impulses. But for the protagonist of Hothouse Bloom, the binary between mental and physical labor is what calls her.

Sep 5, 2026 / Dan Sinykin

Outdoor typewriting class for secretaries, 1932.

Confessions of an AI Editor Confessions of an AI Editor

At the start-up I worked for, I was judged not by my ability to be a good reader but by my capacity to become one with a machine.

Aug 29, 2026 / Diya Isha

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