November '24
The Twenty-First Side
Hi! Welcome to the twenty-first 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.
This newsletter has been split into two sections. The first is external links that I truly adored, sometimes with my own little endorsements. The second is similar, but within Substack. There once was a third, compiling all the recommended readings on over the last month. I’ve since discontinued the mini-TGSotI, so all links can be found in one place, right here.
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. I’m always open to discuss/debate/listen to your opinions about any of these links and would probably ascend to a higher plane of joy.
Happy reading!
TGSotI Reviewed
"Birches" by Robert Frost: An Optical Poem, 2024 | The Met
“When I see birches bend to left and right / Across the lines of straighter darker trees, / I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.” On April 7, 1955, Robert Frost delivered a poetry reading at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Here, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author recites his classic poem “Birches,” in which an older narrator reflects on the solitude of a childhood spent swinging birch trees in the forest. This optical poem illustrates Frost’s recitation with artworks from The Met’s collection juxtaposed with footage of wildlife in Kingston, New York. The event, originally recorded on reel-to-reel audio tape, was digitized in 2020.
who killed the world? | Alvin Chang, the Pudding
I analyzed the top 200 sci-fi films and tv shows every decade from the 1950s to present day. What I found was that sci-fi narratives from yesteryear were quite different from today's stories.
Body All The Way Down | Alexandra Middleton, The Rumpus (tw: eating disorder)
February 13th is the day before Valentine’s Day, and her father has an idea. He tapes together pieces of newspaper into a giant sheet, covering half the bedroom floor, and lays himself down on it, arms and legs prostrated like the Vitruvian Man. He asks her mother to trace his outline with a giant Sharpie. On the left side of the chest, the trace of a heart.
Nostalgia Consumerism Is Everywhere | The Swaddle
Nostalgia is dominating consumer trends, from films, to tech, to fashion, and music. Why is everything “back”, and what’s next?
Your AI Breaks It? You Buy It. | Gabriel Weil, Noema Magazine
If you are struck by rubble from someone blasting dynamite nearby or your neighbor’s pet tiger bites off your hand, you would rightly expect them to compensate you for your injuries. And the law would back you up — even if they took reasonable precautions to keep others safe.
That’s because the law applies “strict liability” to harms resulting from activities it deems are “abnormally dangerous,” or uncommon and capable of generating large risks to others even if those undertaking them are careful.
In much the same way, the development of frontier artificial intelligence systems should be legally treated like housing wild animals or blasting dynamite, because its consequences can also be abnormally dangerous.
How To Respond To Criticism | Daniel Mallory Ortberg, The Toast*
Run into a cave and break your ankle so that people have to come find you and they see you lying at the bottom of this beautiful cave and maybe there’s a waterfall and the light from the crystals makes you look really beautiful and they say “Are you okay?” and you say “I think so” and they say “oh my God have you been here alone this whole time with a broken ankle” and you say “it’s okay” and they say “you’re so brave” and you are brave and you look so beautiful surrounded by cave crystals and everyone stands over you and says “oh wow” and “you poor beautiful thing” and “I’m so sorry we let you run into the cave but I’m so glad we found you” and let them carry you home and promise to be your best friends forever and that everything’s their fault and also they named the cave after you and you’re prettier than all of your enemies and your enemies all died of jealousy while you were in the cave.
Para athletes are elite competitors – not tragic or inspirational caricatures | Priti Salian, Himal Southasian
News coverage of the Paralympic Games in India is stuck in regressive victim-hero dichotomies and needs an overhaul
Clemens Habicht’s kites are spirited single line flyers suitable for all skill levels and wind conditions.
Adapted from the traditional Indian fighter kite, the Patang, the kites are a collaboration with the craftsman and traditions of Rajasthan and Gujarat with a design focus on sustainability.
Why I’m Done Making My Home Look Like a Magazine | Marian Schembari, Cup of Jo
My husband just bought a garden gnome for our front yard. The gravity of this aesthetic decision cannot be overstated.
What Happened to Ice Cube? | Joel Anderson, Slate
He once meant everything to Black kids like me. His descent in the Trump years is a grim reminder of what we’ve lost.
In-house Links
This section contains links to pieces from different Substack publications. Again, the ones with the asterisk are personal favourites.
Like a river flows from *
Everything Sweeter from *
notes from august: I'M THE BIGGEST VICTIM IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! from *
That’s a wrap for November ‘24! Feel free to make me the happiest person alive by reaching out to discuss any of it. For weekly poetry and song recommendations, plus a sometimes-nonsensical-sometimes-profound-sometimes-toopersonal micro-essay, 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. I am deeply passionate about telling people what to read.
Thanks for reading, and see you next month!