The weekend is here—and so is a brand-new newsletter from The Free Press. The plan is: We’re going to give you a break. The week is over, and maybe you don’t want to read about the economy or whatever’s happening in Washington; maybe you want to look up from the headlines and think about what life’s really about. Maybe you just want to be delighted, or distracted. That’s what The Weekend Press is for—and it’ll land in your inbox every Saturday, first thing.
In it, you’ll find the weekend’s Big Read—which might be the smartest essay you’ll read on that memoir everyone’s talking about, or an eye-opening profile of a controversial novelist, or a personal story by our beloved farm correspondent, Larissa Phillips, or—as today—a dispatch from Glenside, Pennsylvania, where Kara Kennedy reports on a tent revival for the TikTok era.
You’ll also find the latest edition of Second Thought, Suzy Weiss’s weekly dissection of the zeitgeist. I regret to inform you, as her editor, that today I permitted her to use the phrase “hubba bubba” to describe the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
On top of that, we’re launching a new column, Two Drinks. Each week, a Free Presser will invite a news maker, a trendsetter, or a power broker for—at least—two drinks (because as everyone knows, the conversation really gets interesting after you order a second round).
To kick off the series, Joe Nocera sat down with the journalist who knows Wall Street better than any other, Andrew Ross Sorkin. He cohosts a show on CNBC, writes a newsletter for The New York Times, and somehow also managed to find time to write an epic new history of the Great Crash, 1929. After two drinks, Sorkin admitted to Joe that his wife has banned him from writing another book—until the kids are in college.
Scroll down to find all this, plus a few bonus treats. Enjoy! — Freya Sanders
Gen Z is finding God on their smartphones—via things like the Hallow app, or the wildly popular podcast Girls Gone Bible. The show, which began just two years ago, is now so powerful that its (frankly gorgeous) hosts, Angela Halili and Arielle Reitsma, were chosen to deliver the opening prayer at President Trump’s pre-inauguration “victory rally” in January. Now, they’re coming to a major city near you, as part of a national tour.
We sent Kara Kennedy to the opening night in Glenside, Pennsylvania, to find out why these women’s followers say things like “I feel like I was staring at Jesus” after meeting them. “Though their aesthetic is more Hooters than holiness,” Kara writes, “this is moral instruction pure and simple,” and it’s seducing a generation that’s lost its way.
A copy of ‘1929,’ released Tuesday, has been going round the Free Press office, so we can confirm: Andrew Ross Sorkin’s history of the world’s worst financial crisis reads like a juicy novel. It’s The Wolf of Wall Street set in the world of The Great Gatsby. Sorkin met Joe Nocera at the hotel where one of the traders in the book wrote his suicide note in 1940—and explained how he brought the past to such vivid life.
If that Sydney Sweeney ad taught us anything, it’s this: Hotness is back. So Suzy Weiss had high hopes for this year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, which happened Wednesday in Brooklyn. In this week’s Second Thought, she reviews it—and rolls her eyes at the critics who say it’s not inclusive enough. “If they really wanted to empower women, they’d stick a set of wings on Malala and call it a day,” says Suzy. She also has thoughts about gold, diamonds, and gold-digging girlfriends.
We’ve published a few other treats this week, starting with Woody Allen’s blockbuster tribute to his muse. . .
How should you spend the rest of this weekend? Senior Editor Emily Yoffe has ideas. . .
📖Read. . . Mick Herron’s Slough House series. In the depths of lockdown misery, I discovered these hilarious and twisty novels about a group of incompetent British spies (known as the “Slow Horses”). Retreating into the world he created helped save my sanity, so thank goodness Herron is prolific. The ninth installment, Clown Town, came out last month.
📺Watch. . . the Apple TV+ adaptation of Herron’s novels, of course. It’s called Slow Horses, and season 5 is ongoing. This is a rare case when book and show enrich each other rather than detracting. The books do have more coruscating wit, but Gary Oldman as the flatulent genius overseeing this motley band is worth the subscription fee. If you’ve seen this show already, I also recommend the tightly plotted, psychologically acute French series Soldiers, about a military counterterrorism unit in the hinterlands of Mali.
🖼️ See. . . the work of still life painter Rachel Ruysch, who died in 1750 at 86, and was, according to The Boston Globe, perhaps the most famous Dutch painter of her day: “For a while, she outsold Rembrandt.” This mother of 10 was then largely forgotten by the art world for more than two centuries—until now. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has a blockbuster exhibit of her works, scenes so vivid you want to reach out and touch. (An alarm will go off if you try.) Digital screens cannot do justice, but here’s a taste:
That’s all, folks! Tell us what you think about the first edition of The Weekend Press—or just tell us about a great art exhibition near you—at Weekend@TheFP.com.
Love it - nice to take a break from politics and hard news. Looking forward to next week’s edition.
(I like the rotating header graphics, for what it's worth)