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Weekend Culture

Enjoy personal essays, book reviews and excerpts, cultural commentary, and other delights delivered with Free Press flair.

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Ancient Wisdom: At 96, I Still Live a Great Life
Do I think of death at my age? Of course I do. Then again, I think of Moses, who lived to be 120. That gives me some hope.
Jack Miller
Ancient Wisdom: When Darkness Comes, Don’t Flinch
My wife no longer knows my name, but when she looks at me, I want to believe her gaze says, ‘I see you,’ as if something inside her still remembers.
Michael Tobin
What I Went Through to Meet My Daughter
A thousand miles from New York City, the place I call home, there’s a clinic that vows to help women with ‘unexplained infertility.’ I traveled there…
Madeleine Kearns
How to Have a Happy Retirement
Coming to terms with being alone is crucial. Solitude is an older person’s need, something that has to be built into a day like all the other…
Gerald Marzorati
How to Build the Perfect City
If we make our neighborhoods better, we make our lives better, which makes our society better.
Chris Arnade
She Lost Her Husband. I Lost My Wife. Now We’re a Couple.
Love’s more complicated the second time around. The sweetness doesn’t erase the sorrow. The feelings coexist. We have each lost the love of our life…
Marty Goldensohn
The Free Press Guide to Summer Reading
Abigail Shrier on Douglas Murray. Nellie Bowles on Jesus. Niall Ferguson on his favorite sci-fi novel. This is the ultimate Free Press reading list.
Isaac Grafstein
The Secret of Good Grandparenting
Let your children be the parents they want to be, not the parents you want them to be.
Julie Rose
Virginity Is the Last Taboo
A secret? A prize? A burden? A social construct? I asked a dozen women who didn’t have sex until later in life: What does ‘virginity’ mean to you?
Kat Rosenfield
When the Phone Stops Ringing
I enjoyed the prestige of touring with famous singers, but I knew—absolutely knew—that it was not my true destiny.
Steven Blier
When Iranian Missiles Interrupt Shabbat Dinner
As missiles rain down on Tel Aviv, every invitation issued to Shabbat dinner and every Frisbee thrown on the beach has become an act of defiance.
Polina Fradkin
I Was a Bad Dad. Then My Son Gave Me a Second Chance.
In my 30s, I wasn’t there for my three older kids. Then I had a fourth the year I turned 59, and he was my redemption staring me in the face.
Joe Nocera
Suzy Weiss: How Disney Girls Grow Up
Plus: How much sex is too much sex? Bob Dylan does something very weird. And a new memoir about celibacy.
Suzy Weiss
Stop Striving and Have a Baby
Growing up rich in Manhattan, I was taught that becoming a parent meant your life was over. My baby daughter has taught me something else.
Nicholas Clairmont
Suzy Weiss: My Afternoon with the Vibe Coders
Plus: Tech feuds, Jesse Armstrong’s new movie, Taylor Swift’s grudges. And more!
Suzy Weiss
How Much Plastic Surgery Does a Woman Really Need?
Here’s the thing about being an older woman: You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. So you might as well please yourself.
Mimi Swartz
Suzy Weiss: Can Men Make Friends?
Plus: We made the straight men of The Free Press review ‘Sex and the City.’
Suzy Weiss
Lionel Shriver: I Lost Control of My Body
What happens when a freakish bout of medical misfortune stops a writer from writing?
Lionel Shriver
Ambition Will Only Get You So Far
Sitting at my mother’s bedside, getting a glimpse of the abyss, I had my revelation: Professional zeal is a finite resource.
Emily Yoffe
Suzy Weiss: It’s Over for Anthony Bourdain’s Fanboys
This week, our culture czar stumbled into a dinosaur bodega and read ‘Heartburn’ for the first time. Also, she has another show about middle-aged…
Suzy Weiss
Goodbye Oakland A’s. Hello Oakland Ballers.
Oakland has lost three major sports teams in the wake of rising crime and homelessness. But a new independent league baseball club aims to give the town…
Leighton Woodhouse
Suzy Weiss: I Stand with America’s First Granddaughter
I called up Greg Gutfeld to talk late night, watched a new Gen X divorce show and all of Kai Trump's TikTok, then went to a right-wing gallery opening…
Suzy Weiss
What OnlyFans Is Selling
The booming adult content site offers titillation. But it also offers so much more.
Kat Rosenfield
Suzy Weiss: Bill Belichick’s Very, Very Young Girlfriend
Plus: I love boxing movies, and I hate Google Glass.
Suzy Weiss
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