Welcome, and welcome back!

Welcome back, New Schoolers, and to those just settling in, welcome to The New School. From New York City’s subtropical humidity to a stream of cultural drops that kept us on our toes, this summer certainly
brought the heat. Although we couldn’t share it in real time, we’ve curated a collection of our editors’ favorite reads, listens, and watches from this summer. How did we do that, you ask? By leaning into our favorite pastime: consuming entirely too much media.

From Lorde’s comeback album Virgin, to pop trio FLO’s Access All Areas, and the multi-hyphenate girl
group KATSEYE’s Beautiful Chaos, our playlists stayed full. And what’s summer break without binging your favorite movie series? For us, that meant going through all eight Mission: Impossible films and all four
chapters of John Wick (quiz us!). We caught Wes Anderson’s latest star-studded romp, The Phoenician Scheme, and fell victim to the Saja Boys’ spell in Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunter.

We read everything from Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh, a biography by Robin Givhan, to E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman. We tuned into Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty (at this point, we’re Team Conrad-seeks-peace) and Love Island Season 8, where America’s sweetheart Amaya “Papaya” Espinal stole our hearts. We wandered through exhibitions such as John Singer Sargent’s Sargent and Paris at the Met, Hilma af Klint’s What Stand Behind the Flowers at the MoMA, and Takashi Murakami’s JAPONISME → Cognitive Revolution: Learning from Hiroshige at Gagosian.

Whether or not your list looks anything like ours, we hope you found a little time this summer to recharge
— or at least fall headfirst into a new book or show. We also rounded up a few of our go-to campus spots (that don’t break the bank!), covering eats and things to do. Consider this an invitation to read, stream, and listen like no one’s watching, and to keep that creative momentum going with us. We hope to see you in the
newsroom, even if it’s just to debate which side of the TSITP love triangle you’re on.

– New School Free Press Editorial Team

Music

• Access All Areas by FLO
• Beautiful Chaos by KATSEYE
• Beautiful Losers by Simon Joyner
• Tropicoqueta by Karol G
• Virgin by Lorde

“This summer, Lorde returned to the music scene with a sonically powerful album exploring the complexity of gender, the pitfalls of love, and growing up in the spotlight. A personal favorite:
the stripped back confessional Clearblue.” – Zora Edelstein, Arts & Culture Editor

Movies

• KPop Demon Hunter
• All 8 Mission: Impossible movies
• Lilo & Stitch (2002)
• The Phoenician Scheme
• All 4 John Wick movies

“I honestly can’t think of a more perfect series. The nonstop action and beautifully choreographed fight scenes of each film make this series worthy of revisiting on a regular basis. And if you consider yourself a dog person, then John Wick is definitely for you.” – Kea Humilde, Executive Editor

TV

• Mad Men
• Love Island Season 8
• The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3
• Squid Game Season 3
• Quarterback

“As someone who’s deeply passionate about sports, I’m grateful to Quarterback for providing me with a much-needed football fix during those long five months between last season’s Super Bowl and
next year’s games.” – Kea Humilde, Executive Editor

Books

• The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffman
• The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin
• Make it Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh by Robin Givhan
• The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
• Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval

“Equal parts deeply disturbing and strangely moving, Paradise Rot chronicles the queer sexual awakening of a foreign student living with a codependent roommate. Though this bizarre and hallucinatory novella is perhaps the antithesis of a ‘beach read,’ I read it in a single tanning session. It’s freaky, heady, and (literally) dripping with sapphic desire. What more could you ask for?” – Lillian Heckler, Executive Editor

Spots Around The City

(that don’t break the bank)

• Village East by Angelika (2 blocks from Stuy, and half-off Tuesdays for members!)
• Music in Washington Square Park (Every day, for free — but you should tip the musicians)
• Smalls Jazz Club (West Village — No cover after midnight!)
• Your local libraries! (New School UC, NYU Bobst, NYPL Jefferson Market Library, and Tompkins Square Library)
• Union Square Greenmarket (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday)
• Museums and galleries in the city you can access for free/pay-what-you-wish as a resident: MOMA, MOMA PS1, The Met, The Whitney (under age 25), The Gagosian, AMNH, Jack Shainman Gallery, David Zwirner, The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery
• Check out NYCforFree and TimeOut for more!

Our Go-To Eats & Sips Around The City

• Senza Gluten (gluten-free)
• Ladybird (vegan)
• Maman (has allergy-friendly options)
• Lincoln Market coffee
• La Cabra
• Isshiki Matcha
• HeyTea
• Bagel Buffet
• Travelers Poet & Friends
• DORADO Tacos & Quesadillas
• NAYA Union Square

JOIN THE NEW SCHOOL FREE PRESS

The New School Free Press is an independent, student-run newspaper at The New School, covering stories that matter to our students, faculty, and staff. Our coverage includes news, arts and culture, written and illustrated series, feature stories, opinion pieces, and multimedia content. Our newsroom is supported by a robust creative team that includes illustrators, designers, web developers, photographers, videographers, copy editors, and social media editors. We are open to all students at The New School, regardless of major or year! While some newsroom or design experience is preferred, we provide ample training for those without experience to ensure that all our staff are equipped to succeed in their roles. To join the Free Press and receive more information about our first full staff meeting of the year, register your interest using the link below. The form can only be accessed via newschool email.

Staff applications link

Subscribe to our newsletter

Header photo credits: 1. Dove Williams, 2. Redens Desrosiers, 3. Dove Williams, 4. Dove Williams, 5. Aditya Gandhi, 6. Megan Liu, 7. Jordan Fong, 8. Dove Williams, 9. Dove Williams, 10. Dove Williams