Hi! Welcome to the eighth 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, 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, but I’ve decided to discontinue 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
The Memory Picture* | Longreads
Being able to prepare for death is a complicated luxury.
TGSotI Review: I’m just going to give you the blurb that Longreads gave me - “In "The Memory Picture," Maggie Levantovskaya helps her aging grandparents plan their burials—and in the process, contends with the strife in their native Ukraine, as well as with their family's long history of resiliency. This is no hopeless slog; it's a frank, loving journey across multiple generations.” At once candid and compassionate, this is easily a TGSotI favourite. Highly Recommend!
Neurosexism: the myth of the male and female brain | The Oxford Blue
A neurological driver of normative gender stereotypes is an attractive concept for the patriarchy. Neuroscientists have worked tirelessly since the dawn of the MRI to find sex-based differences between male and female brains. Virtually all of these claims have been discredited – but headlines such as: ‘Men and women really do think differently, say scientists’ still appear on the front page of The Times, and claims such as: ‘The female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy. The male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems,’ as written by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, are still thrown around: both heedlessly and by design.
TGSotI Review: An excerpt would do a better job here than a review, I think - “This is not to say that there are no differences between men and women outside of gendered socialisation – rather that any sex-based differences that do exist are not binary, but a spectrum that we assign cultural significance to due to our concept of gender. No differences in the brain prove that men are more logical than women, or that women are more suited to certain types of work than men. Yet, the cultural myth of a male and female brain persists, tenacious and incessant, rearing its head to shut down discussions of equality by crying: “But biology!””
This is how rare it is for a hit song to be credited to an all-women songwriting team.* | The Pudding
In 2022, hit songs had 6 songwriters on average: 5 men and 1 woman. But the average conceals a remarkable fact about the 42 songs that cracked the Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. While half of the songs had a songwriting team of all men…Only one had a songwriting team of all women.
TGSotI Review: I adore essays from The Pudding and this one is another treat. Informative and fascinating, and very very visually appealing. There’s an absolutely massive amount of data that’s expressed so masterfully that the disparity being explored is clear as day. Highly Recommend!
The Dark Legacy of Scientific Research Using Marginalized Bodies | The Swaddle
Radioactive roti experiments reveal the troubling history of Black, Brown, and colonized women being experimented on.
TGSotI Review: I repeat: The Swaddle never misses. Another well-researched piece that explores the history of informed consent, or lack thereof, in medical research, and the deeply entrenched biases involved. At times disconcerting and disturbing (reader discretion highly advised).
Three ways of translating a poem | Indian Cultural Forum
TGSotI Review: Three lovely poems that I just had to share in a departure from the regular fare at TGSotI. Enter for the title, stay for the beautiful poetry, leave after the tongue-in-cheek footnote.
I Never Called Her Momma* | The Atlantic (tw: substance abuse, child abuse)
My childhood in a crack house
TGSotI Review: A masterfully narrated personal essay, full of grit and vulnerability. It isn’t an easy read, and the matter-of-fact tone makes it all the more unsettling, but brilliantly written. This sits at the intersection of family, community, childhood, memory, and addiction. Highly Recommend!
Personal Growth* | Granta (tw: violence)
There’s a photograph my mother keeps on her bedside table, next to her vertigo pills and paracetamol, water glass and mobility alarm. An old black-and-white picture of me and my best friend, Clare. The two of us, not yet out of primary school, are in fancy dress, wearing matching white polo necks and black leggings. Our arms are slung around each other, so we’re pulled in close, and we’re holding an outsized pair of cut-out cardboard glasses across our chests. Along the top of them is written: ‘We’re making a spectacle of ourselves’. Clare is head and shoulders taller than me and the specs are askew.
TGSotI Review: Another personal history, more grimness and frankness, even more incredible writing. I am in awe of the writers who decide to trace their difficult pasts on paper for others to read, and to do it so well, too. The strength and vulnerability is evident. 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. The ones with the little asterisk are from some of my favourite publications, which are, in my opinion, well worth subscribing to.
You Have Such A Pretty Face from
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The Trouble with Willpower from
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That’s a wrap for October ‘23! Feel free to make me the happiest person alive by reaching out to discuss any of it. If you want weekly poetry and song recommendations, plus a sometimes-nonsensical-sometimes-profound-sometimes-toopersonal article, 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!
this is as always lovely, thank you
What a wondrous collection! Thank you so much for including me!