What I’m reading: Substack Edition!
I have quite a few Substack newsletters to which I subscribe and read regularly. I would love to hear what newsletters/blogs you follow (Substack or otherwise) - please share yours in the comments!
Politics & Current Events
Dan Rather’s Steady and Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American both provide thoughtful reflection about current events. In a similar vein, Judd Legum’s Popular Information offers daily news stories. I also read Claire Potter’s Political Junkie. I’ve been following Dr. Potter’s writing since around 2006, and appreciate the intersection of history, popular culture, and politics that she brings. To round out this category, Paul Musgrave’s Systematic Hatred focuses on the sharing of scholarship in international relations and political science.
Health
Katelyn Jetelina’s Your Local Epidemiologist and Emily Oster’s ParentData have been so valuable for keeping up with COVID and other health- (and parenting-) related research. They both are very skilled at translating science research into easy-to-understand posts.
Technology & Communication
Casey Newton’s Platformer is “a daily guide to understanding social networks and their relationships with the world.” This is an area very far outside my expertise, and I always learn something new from reading Platformer. Mike Caulfield’s Taking Bearings is an interesting mix of posts about teaching information literacy, and I appreciate the education perspective he brings.
Reading & Writing
John Warner’s Biblioracle Recommends is for anyone passionate about books. I particularly appreciate the recommendations based on the last 5 books a reader has read - it’s a great way to get ideas for what to read next. I also enjoy reading The Mudsill, which is a “collectively-written periodical publication featuring non-fiction reporting and commentary, creative works of poetry, prose, photography, and art, and cultural criticism and reviews,” curated by L.D. Burnett.
Two Bonus Newsletters
Neither of these is hosted by Substack, but both are deeply thoughtful and well-researched curation sites. Literary Hub is a home for curated stories about “literary life and culture” - excerpts, original works, articles about the craft of writing. If you love to read, and particularly read about writing, this is for you. Maria Popova’s BrainPickings, which she describes as a “one-woman labor of love exploring what it means to live a decent, substantive, rewarding life,” offers weekly essays connecting philosophy, culture, science, and the arts. It does everything, and beautifully.