the official substack essay masterpost

if you're looking for recommendations to deepen your understanding of the world, come and stop by, take a look around; updated Feb 2026

Feb 21, 2026

about a year ago i heard about substack for the first time. i wish the circumstances had been sweeter. we can pretend substack was shared with me like a secret whispered softly to me by the spirit flowing through the universe, or by a cute woodland creature as i walked through the woods, or maybe it was sent to me in a dream straight from the moon itself.

but no, i found substack while i was doomscrolling on tiktok.

since then, i’ve made it part of my daily morning routine to sit down after my breakfast and read at least three pieces i come across. my long list of bookmarks, recommendations sent from other accounts, random essays from the substack home page, who cares. i rarely ever stray from this routine.

after a full year of reading three articles a day, i’ve realized i’ve never actually saved my favorite pieces in one place. and thus… the substack masterpost was born! originally i made this to keep in the drafts, just for me, but i figured why not make it available for everyone.

if you’ve been looking for recommendations or if you’ve been feeling like your home page is getting too repetitive for you, please come and browse! i’ve collected a pretty wide variety of personal and informational essays, i’m sure there’s something here for you to dive into. bookmark away!

my most recent:

before i get into the long list of essay recommendations, check out the latest posts from my very own substack + the film journal i work for

EyeCandy

Moana, from where...?

As someone with Native Hawaiian ancestry, I was excited to see Disney’s new feature film, Moana (2016). However, I was skeptical of what I was about to see. Would it be an accurate portrayal of cultures that seldom get screen time, except for when their land is marketed to visitors to buy? I was skeptical because…

9 years ago · 4 likes · 1 comment

feel free to send me your own recs in the comments, even if it’s just self promo. i can’t promise it’ll be included, but i can promise i’ll read it!

recommendations!

*new finds at the top, scroll down for older posts

Internet Bedroom

zines will save your life

Zines have been in my life longer than most romantic partners and friends I’ve had. And since they’re currently having A Moment, I thought what better way to kick off a new season of Internet Bedroom than with a love letter to my favorite medium…

a year ago · 1906 likes · 52 comments · rachel moss

letters from sash

the sims franchise as a mirror for western society

We’ve seen a shift in culture in 2026, with a lot of us moving towards more conscious consumerism, analogue living, and being more intentional with our time. One moment that made me feel very aware of this change in energy was hearing the announcement for the newest Sims 4 expansion pack: Royalty and Legacy. Yes, you heard (or read) me correctly. A new …

2 months ago · 58 likes · 48 comments · sash 🎀

& Other Curiosities

How to Look at Art: A Beginner’s Guide to Seeing Like an Art Historian

So I hear you’re interested in learning more about art history…

a year ago · 891 likes · 12 comments · Brie Lee

boring things

100 resolutions for a more whimsical 2026

A friend of mine told me she started focusing on having more fun new years resolutions and that it helps her actually stick to them and enjoy them the whole year, and I honestly LOVE that idea. I love making my new years resolutions and goals for the year, but if I’m honest many of them are goals I continue to work on year after year, with a few extras …

3 months ago · 2661 likes · 49 comments · kyla james

indie pop diaries

The shame in lesbian music

I graduated in 2023 with a bachelor's in Gender Studies from Lund University in Sweden. I chose to write my bachelor's thesis on lesbian music. Finding community in queer artists' fandoms, both at shows and online has been a lifesaver for me since I came out as lesbian in 2020, as well as before that when I was closeted. I have found endless comfort in …

a year ago · 791 likes · 47 comments · Ida Hildebrandt

The 25 Reset

I’ve protected my peace so much, I’ve accidentally made myself boring.

I’ve protected my peace so much, I’ve accidentally made myself boring…

8 months ago · 3350 likes · 127 comments · Niamh Duffy

★ starburned ★

Kill your scarcity mindset! Be delusional!

When was the last time you took a risk…

3 months ago · 1509 likes · 85 comments · Sophie Lou Wilson

EyeCandy

#West4Ham- An Itemized list of Kanye West Songs that Tell the Tale of America’s First Treasury Secretary

2016 has been a shit year. Celebrity deaths, Brexit, the American election, and the rise of Harambe. It’s been awhile since we’ve collectively as a world felt the sting of such an unforgiving year. Luckily for us, 2016 is almost over. And the end of the year marks the release of The Hamilton Mixtape…

9 years ago · 6 likes · 1 comment

The Ink-Stained Desk

The Literary History of the Haunted House.

This article, and all my work, is made possible by the incredible generosity of my paid subscribers. Your support is particularly important for longer projects such as The Genre Genealogy Series, which I intend to continue offering for free to everyone. If you enjoy my writing and would like to support me in continuing to produce in-depth content, consi…

5 months ago · 1072 likes · 21 comments · C M Reid

offline crush

what's your digital attachment style?

I love personality quizzes. I’ve taken quite literally every single one in desperate attempts to understand myself better. Enneagram? 4w5. Myers-Briggs? INFP (or ENFP depending on how optimistic I am that day). Love language? Quality time. If there’s a quiz that promises to explain why I am the way I am, I’ve taken it…

2 months ago · 92 likes · 59 comments · ✧ brooklyn 𓆏

crumbs of the loaf in my skull

Vampirism as a Sexual Metaphor

The Sexuality of Nosferatu (2024…

a year ago · 3343 likes · 59 comments · Belle

Sproutstack

Is Mike Wazowski Jewish or Polish?

What the fuck are you talking about…

5 months ago · 3333 likes · 176 comments · Russell Sprout

Dharma Bum Poetess

Useful Websites for Creative Inspiration

Here’s a list of websites that inspire me and motivate me creatively…

6 months ago · 12919 likes · 109 comments · Harley Claes

𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖊𝖘 𝖔𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖚𝖓𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖊

the ancients were more stylish than you: Fashion and Magic in the Ancient Mediterranean

☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★✧˖°☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★✧˖°☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★✧˖°☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★✧˖°☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★✧˖°☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★✧˖°☆⋆…

5 months ago · 137 likes · 15 comments · 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖊𝖘 𝖔𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖚𝖓𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖊

vibes & voicenotes

Babe, just delete your Instagram already

It’s July 2019. And I’m in a bad mood…

a year ago · 7288 likes · 341 comments · katie morley

Telling the Bees

The Mainstreaming of Loserdom

I know the title is provocative, but let me make my case first. Over the past few years, something has shifted in the perception of acceptable recreational behavior, or the way people talk about their hobbies: people are gleeful to admit they have no hobbies, no interests, no verve. Somehow, one of the main “hobbies” accepted by the masses is staying ho…

2 years ago · 25305 likes · 871 comments · Tell the Bees

Cafe Hysteria

Leisure as a Dream Job

Last year, I wrote about what The New York Times dubs “pop’s middle class”: talented pop artists who have accrued loyal followings but failed to effectively ascend to - or remain within - mainstream pop royalty. In August 2023, writer Shaad D’Souza cited Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, Troye Sivan, Kim Petras, Ava Max…

7 months ago · 1182 likes · 45 comments · Madison Huizinga

whispers of oizys

the decline of social rituals and its impact on community

I suppose I first noticed it when some of my essays on Substack gained traction, particularly those with personal reflections. Then, I see comments from several people using a vulnerable piece of mine to do free promotion and link to their newsletter. Their own Substack. Their own thing. Misreading the room so precisely and completely, it cou…

7 months ago · 532 likes · 39 comments · tunmise adebowale

Lesbian Del Rey

How To Be Funny

Humour provides a paradoxical forced exposure and relief of the same fears…

2 months ago · 31 likes · 3 comments

angel cake

maybe you just need to see a movie

at 3:43 pm on a sunday, i received a google calendar reminder for a 5:30 pm showing to see The Mastermind, a new film from Kelly Reichardt starring Josh O’Connor, which is reason enough to get me in a seat; however, the second i was affronted with the fluorescent glow of my iphone screen i felt a subtle twinge of self-imposed dread to gather the momentu…

5 months ago · 748 likes · 26 comments · emily north

The Wreck Room

Taylor Swift is not the English teacher she wants you to think she is

I remember it like it was yesterday, because it was…

7 months ago · 4950 likes · 560 comments · Tara Maggs

IS GOOD

7 Writing Tools That Aren’t ChatGPT

Hi <3 I’m a freelance writer and Creative Director based in Brooklyn. I write and creative consult for brands on everything from tone of voice to product launches to day to day copy needs. I write across CPG brands (like OLIPOP and Synergy Kombucha), beauty brands (like Dieux, Roz, and ELM Biosciences), entertainment brands (like A24 and FX), and lifesty…

8 months ago · 4214 likes · 157 comments · Allie Carr

Assemblage

Why does everything look infantilized?

If you’re like me, you have been bemoaning that they “just don’t make things like they used to.” I’ve heard myself speak these words while opening the drawers of 100% wood media consoles at antique stores, caressing the fabric of a heavy wool Burberry skirt in my grandmother’s closet, and considering the weight of a vintage sterling silver dessert spoon…

a year ago · 3829 likes · 128 comments · Maryah

Daiquiri Chat

How To Archive Your Social Media (Before It's Obsolete)

In the summer of 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed my grandparents’ house. Dozens of family photo albums, my mother’s baby clothes, her mother’s cast iron skillets, my favorite toys, and a home founded with love and built over decades all washed away…

6 months ago · 705 likes · Alexis Durante-Tierney, Helen Vogelsong-Donahue, and born digital

Lesbian Del Rey

the lost art of movie theaters

The worst thing a movie can be is mediocre…

5 months ago · 34 likes · 29 comments · liv ₊˚⊹ ᰔ

offline crush

how to use the internet again: a curriculum

The most common (and easiest) thing to do on the internet is complain. The range of topics varies from person to person, but one consistent grumble circles around The Algorithm and it’s incorrect assumptions about what a person might want to consume…

5 months ago · 3294 likes · 113 comments · ✧ brooklyn 𓆏

rent free.

reading sylvia plath doesn’t make you radical babes.

there are phrases i reach for so often it is as though they are old, reliable lovers of mine. one of them is you lie like a rug woman; i reach for her whenever i surprise myself which has, of late, b…

10 months ago · 2241 likes · 129 comments · ayan artan

letters in bloom

to love with a sentimental heart

i keep every letter from loved ones, believing each word was chosen with care, holding on to the feeling of someone reaching out, just for me. every sentence, every comma, every sign-off feels like a tiny time capsule, proof that a version of someone once knew me in a certain way, once cared for me in a particular moment…

a year ago · 6265 likes · 74 comments · ella

The Living Philosophy

Nihilism vs. Existentialism vs. Absurdism

In the 19th and 20th centuries, modernity came into its fullness and with this maturation, the vestiges of the religious worldview began to fall away revealing a crisis of meaning that we’ve come to call Nihilism…

4 years ago · 10667 likes · 145 comments · The Living Philosophy

Tumse Na Ho Paayega

How to live an intellectually rich life

Go to the main page of Wikipedia…

a year ago · 9725 likes · 301 comments · Utsav Mamoria

Helen Higgins

The Erotics of Intelligence

Attraction is mostly physical. We’re told by scientific studies, and an impressive amount of research, that body shapes signalling fertility, symmetrical faces, and clear skin are all signs of human attractiveness. We tell women to wear red lipstick. We tell men to grow their facial hair. We might like the way that som…

8 months ago · 22623 likes · 920 comments · Helen Higgins

one cup of tea

you’re not for everyone, and that’s okay

I used to anchor my happiness to the happiness of others. If people around me were smiling, if they felt cared for and enjoyed my company, then I could finally breathe, as if I had earned the right to exist…

7 months ago · 19812 likes · 211 comments · janelle

Tim Seyrek

Does Language Shape Thought? From Philosophy to Neuroscience

Just as surely as no leaf is completely identical to another, so surely is the concept 'leaf' formed by arbitrarily dropping these individual differences [...] and now awakens the notion that there exists in nature, apart from the leaves, something that would be 'the leaf' - perhaps an original form according to which all leaves would be woven, drawn, m…

7 months ago · 11382 likes · 154 comments · Tim Seyrek

postcards by hasif

Why Can’t I Just Be Good at Something?

I keep asking myself this question like it’s the simplest thing in the world, though I know it isn’t. Why Can’t I Just Be Good at Something? Not extraordinary, not brilliant, not once-in-a-generation, just good. Just enough to hold it in my hands and say…

7 months ago · 1194 likes · 72 comments · hasif 💌

Giulia On Giulia

Stop Romanticizing A Quiet Life.

Sure. Everybody needs some time off. Everybody should be happy by themselves. Everybody must take a quiet moment alone. But please, don’t romanticize a quiet life…

a year ago · 786 likes · 40 comments · giulia ⭐️

postcards by hasif

Things I Find Authentically Chic

There’s a different kind of charm in people who don’t try too hard. Not the ones constantly chasing aesthetics or curating everything for Instagram. I’m talking about people who live in a way that feels deeply natural to them, where everything they do is a reflection of their inner rhythm. The way they carry themselves, the way they interact with things…

8 months ago · 2740 likes · 40 comments · hasif 💌

the garnet

i’m kind of in love with everyone

For the first time in a long time, I’ve been meeting new people every day. I just started college after going to school with nearly all the same people my whole life. Now, everywhere I look is a face I don’t recognize. I’m kind of in love with them all…

2 years ago · 2155 likes · 122 comments · grace

✩ where the girls go to feel

why I no longer aspire to be the cool girl but instead a raging bitch

It’s 2020. The world is in lockdown…

8 months ago · 11333 likes · 250 comments · ⋆˖ ࣪⭑ meredith ⋆˖ ࣪⭑

New Motives

Women hate women who go for what they want.

I find myself very drawn to women who throw a map on the wall, stick a pin on a given destination and move mountains to get there. These types of women absolutely fascinate me. I’m enamored by them…

a year ago · 4016 likes · 185 comments · Ali Kriegsman

shoes and shots

discomfort is the price you pay for a fulfilling life

I find myself asking this more and more: since when did boundaries and routine become more important than growth, adventure, and being there for others? Why do some people dread going to the plans they made, and would rather go to bed early so they can wake up for their morning routine? I won’t lie, I’ve been a victim of this. I think after the pandemic…

7 months ago · 63769 likes · 700 comments · jacqueline

heavenly

Almost, it almost happened..

Regret’s and almost’s… Two things that we let take over our lives. And they seem quite similar from afar but they never feel the same; one is leaving, one is not being able to stay—one is a mistake, one is an unknown. And regret i can heal from, for it’s momentary. Regret is forgiving that person, only to find out they never deserved reconciliation—it h…

7 months ago · 21 likes · eve⋆˚࿔

one cup of tea

the slow burn of becoming yourself

For as long as I can remember, I’ve carried a quiet question inside me…

9 months ago · 56979 likes · 688 comments · janelle

whispers of oizys

i aspire to be a disagreeable and selfish woman

As I’ve gotten older, I realised that many women are people pleasers who are too kind and overly selfless. Oftentimes, this is what gets some women killed, betrayed or hurt. Women laugh at jokes that are not funny. Not only unfunny but cruel, off-handed, dipped in a lacquer of misogyny and deflection. We do it automatical…

a year ago · 3991 likes · 173 comments · tunmise adebowale

Useful Fictions

Maybe you’re not Actually Trying

Two things happened for me over the holidays five years ago: I went to rehab, and I acquired a cyberstalker. These were not entirely independent events. The stalker was someone in India who’d started following me when I was playing poker, who came to believe we had a close personal relationship and that my tweets were c…

10 months ago · 22038 likes · 327 comments · Cate Hall

diaries of a thought daughter

things im learning in my 20s

the older i get, the more i realize things…

a year ago · 4571 likes · 52 comments · Gabrielle

postcards by hasif

Does it ever get better?

I’ve asked this question in so many different ways…

8 months ago · 6147 likes · 138 comments · hasif 💌

Mirrored Longings

Slow Films for Summer Nights

Much like summer reading, for me, summer movies have to fit a specific kind of feeling. Sometimes I want a zippy action flick, but more often, I’m looking for something to settle down with after a long day in the heat, clutching a glass of lemonade and listening to the crickets outside. Maybe I watched it for the first time on a summer night. Maybe it’s…

9 months ago · 870 likes · 67 comments · Melody Schwarting

girl with a silver earring

i'm sick of hearing about your boyfriend

girl with a silver earring is powered by readers like you! consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to support my work …

a year ago · 24952 likes · 607 comments · aslı

Toni is Typing

Actually, Everything Is That Deep.

I've been told on numerous occasions that I ask a lot of questions, and this is true. I do, in fact, like to examine and dissect information when it's given to me. I see this as an essential quality to navigate day-to-day life, and I'm noticing more and more as the world continues to burn right before our eyes that this quirk…

2 years ago · 15207 likes · 38 comments · Antonia George

postcards by hasif

Make yourself a priority

Why are you letting other people ruin your life? Like, genuinely, what are you doing?? This is your one life, your one freaking shot at being a real person, not a background character in someone else’s plotline, and you’re spending it asking yourself if you're allowed to rest, if you're allowed to say no, if you're allowed to be mad, if you're allowed t…

9 months ago · 1552 likes · 51 comments · hasif 💌

milk and cookies

things i do when i’m losing myself again

there’s a particular kind of disorientation that doesn’t announce itself loudly. it doesn’t come with a meltdown or a moment of clarity. it just slowly seeps in, quietly, until one day you realize you haven’t laughed in a while, you haven’t felt like yourself in a while, and the person you’ve been moving through the world as — this distracted, overstimu…

10 months ago · 53293 likes · 592 comments · ayushi thakkar

postcards by hasif

Your Favourite Days Are Still Ahead

Some of your favourite days haven't even happened yet…

10 months ago · 883 likes · 36 comments · hasif 💌

noted, by hannah cao

sentences that have altered my perception

You ever hear or read something that makes you walk around the block for a while? Taking deep breaths, nodding, like how has this never occurred to me before? In all the big and small ways, these are sentences that I wrote down in margins, on bills fished out of my tote bags, across pages of my journals…

a year ago · 44686 likes · 937 comments · Hannah Cao

The Science of Being

the “let them” theory

if they treat you like shit, let them. not because it doesn’t hurt, but for the fact that trying to control the behaviour of people who have already made a habit of hurting you is an endless trap. yo…

10 months ago · 27115 likes · 416 comments · lina

You Get What You Need

I see love in everything and love sees everything in me too

And the longest con of all is that you will spend years of your life trying desperately to remain detached from any and all things that have the potential to hurt you, and in doing this, you will end up missing out on a lot of messy, beautiful things. The longest con of all is that after a lifetime of attempting to remain an unshakable force, you will f…

a year ago · 9618 likes · 160 comments · Nina Motter

postscriptbyliv

you never really know anyone

I first heard the word sonder from a man on TikTok in 2020—an unlikely oracle, but he was crying, and I was listening…

a year ago · 44046 likes · 468 comments · liv jarrell

if you scrolled to the end of this, wow! thanks for looking through this large masterpost and i hope you found some good pieces to bookmark for later. feel free to send me recs in the comments (even if it’s just self-promo), i can’t promise they’ll be included (sorry) but i will read everything sent to me!!!

please please please send me your recs. and if you’d like more from me, subscribe or bookmark this post. i’ll be updating this post every time i upload something new, so stick around!

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