Hi! Welcome to the fifth issue of The Good Side of the Internet. Super glad to have you here. For a brief run-down on what all the hullabaloo is about, please visit the About page for this publication.
As a reminder, this newsletter has been split into three sections. The first is external links that I truly adored, with my own endorsements and a little explanation about why I enjoyed them. The second is similar, but within Substack. The third is a compilation of all the recommended readings on
over the last month.The ones with the little asterisk next to them come Highly Recommended (by me). Please do heed the trigger warnings if they’re present. For access to paywalled essays, feel free to reach out to me. I’m always open to discuss/debate/listen to your opinions about any of these links. In fact, if that happened, I would ENTHUSIASTICALLY participate, and ascend to a higher plane of joy. Happy reading!
TGSotI Reviewed
As You Thunder or Lightning? | The Paris Review
I have always liked categorical statements that are obviously wrong. When someone says to me “This is the way the world works,” I get very excited, even though of course nobody knows how the world works. Or, even better: “There are only two types of people in the world.” This statement is usually followed by two binary qualities that could be used to define and divide all of humanity. Such a proposition is clearly ridiculous and, to me, deeply appealing. This is perhaps why my favorite game is called Dichotomies.
TGSotI Review: Starting this month’s reads with wholesomeness and delight, this essay is fascinating and fun. It’s written with a very amusing tinge of dryness and I had a great time reading it. I also tried playing Dichotomies with myself but spectacularly failed due to my lack of self-awareness.
Among the Trees* | Emergence Magazine
In this extended meditation on the relationship between place and intimacy, the body and the word, Carl Phillips walks among trees to explore what can and cannot be known.
TGSotI Review: If an article could radiate peace, this one would. With lovely and loving descriptions of trees, odes to their strength, resilience, calm-and-steadiness, and a seamless interweaving of the author’s own history and experiences with them, this piece will make you marvel and let out a deep sigh. Highly Recommend!
A Mother’s Exchange for Her Daughter’s Future | The New York Times
Two lives bound into one story by immigration and illness.
TGSotI Review: I have half a mind to create a new section in this newsletter, solely dedicated to mind-blowingly incredible essays that make you feel something very deeply. I shall call it…Those Essays. This one will be top of the pack. Very personal, very moving, and very well-written.
Hitting Zero* | The Globe and Mail
Three days inside the bouncy, sparkly, girl-powered, extremely hard-core world of competitive cheer
TGSotI Review: I love coming across an article that is so far removed from my sphere of interest and experience, only to get absolutely sucked into the narrative almost instantly. This is so excitingly written and completely engrossing, right from the get-go. Filled with super-cool visuals and an awesome layout, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Highly Recommend!
I re-read my teenage diaries hoping for a dose of nostalgia - instead I was horrified | The Guardian (tw: eating disorder)
Lust, cruelty and a desperate need for attention ... I thought my old journals would bring back warm memories – in reality they were a document of the unique misery and painful insecurities of adolescence
TGSotI Review: I’ve been thinking about growing up a lot, and about how the past is always sweeter in memory than in reality. What better terrible phase of life to dwell on that being a teenager? The amount of courage and coolness it takes, first to overcome the embarrassment of simply existing as a fifteen-year-old, and second to talk about it in such detail…I can’t even fathom it. Unique misery and painful insecurity is right. This one is terrifyingly relatable in some parts, and incredibly written throughout.
Meals for One* | Longreads
On what it means to nourish ourselves and others.
TGSotI Review: A cross-continent, cross-cuisine write up about the role of food in relationships, food as a love language, food as sustenance, how the idea of cooking for yourself modulates over the years across the phases of life, and everything in between. Beautifully written, incorporating Delhi street food and Moroccan cafés in equal measure. Highly Recommend!
Wonky* | The Pudding
An exploration of rhythm and grooves that break the rules
TGSotI Review: I firmly believe that The Pudding is the coolest and most fun website on the Internet. This is another interactive and super interesting piece from them, all about J Dilla’s beats and how they differ from regular time signatures. With step-by-step learning and several beat-inducing buttons to press and go ‘Ooh’ at, this is easily my favourite recommendation for this month. Highly Recommend!
In-house Links
This section contains links to pieces from different Substack newsletters. The reason I’ve demarcated it is because there’s more room for interaction with the authors here. (Also because the formatting is very cute, I love that box.) The ones with the little asterisk are from some of my favourite publications, which are, in my opinion, well worth subscribing to.
On influencers influencing, except, awkwardly, they’re people you know from
One of my favourite posts from
about looking one another in the eye in the age of digital media*
A very eloquent revelation from
*
Apparently a staple of this shindig, a recommendation from
- which made me reevaluate a LOT*
The thodi Masterlist
(I didn’t want to make this section too crowded, so I haven’t included the blurbs for each link. If you’d like some context about each one before clicking on it, I recommend navigating to the thodi issue that contains those blurbs.)
From albums (July 1)
From steups (July 15)
From lèche-vitrine (July 29)
Pictures are the eyes of the face fromHills To Die On (comics)*
fridge poetry (interactive)
2023 Intentions (super late, but still relevant)
Our Business Is Killing (tw: death of a pet)
That’s a wrap for July ‘23! Feel free to make me the happiest person alive by reaching out to discuss any of it. If you want the tinier, but week-lier, version of super fun links (along with poetry, book, and song recommendations, plus a sometimes-nonsensical-sometimes-profound-sometimes-toopersonal writeup), we’d be happy to have you over at
.If you’d like, please share this with your friends. Or your mother. Or on your Instagram story that you share a Spotify link on once in six months. Or anybody who you think would enjoy it. This is a fresh-out-of-the-oven publication, and I am deeply passionate about telling people what to read.
Thanks for reading, and see you next month!
thanks as always💋💋