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. 

Hello girls at the New Yorker Hotel work on the Daily News Crossword Puzzle Contest.

The Hidden Politics of the Crossword Puzzle The Hidden Politics of the Crossword Puzzle

Take it from me: A crossword clue can be debated with the kind of fervor normally reserved for corporatist propaganda and outright racism.

Nov 15, 2025 / Natan Last

US Senator John Fetterman speaks during the grand opening of The Altneu Synagogue.

When I Was John Fetterman When I Was John Fetterman

I was one of the senator’s most dedicated consultants—until I saw a side of him that made me sick.

Nov 8, 2025 / Leah Abrams

Director Woody Allen leaves Manhattan surrogate court in a car, New York, June 10, 1993, following a second day of hearings on efforts by ex-lover Mia Farrow to undo his adoption of children.

Woody Allen’s New York—and Mine Woody Allen’s New York—and Mine

The director’s vision of New York City once seemed aspirational, but his endorsement of Andrew Cuomo suggests he may not understand the city beyond its fiction.

Nov 1, 2025 / Stephanie Wambugu

The author and his mother.

How My Grandmother Remembers the Nakba How My Grandmother Remembers the Nakba

In 1948, my family fled Palestine when Zionists took over. I pieced their story together from a box of letters and diary entries.

Oct 25, 2025 / Tareq Baconi

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