Substacks recommended by Isabel Cowles Murphy

Recommended by Isabel Cowles Murphy

She's Gone Chilaquiles

By Anna Schott

essays, memoir, food analogies

I love everything Anna writes, without fail.

- Isabel Cowles Murphy

Baby Brain

By Charlotte

Welcome to Baby Brain, a space where I – Charlotte, hi! – write about family life with three small children – Poppet (m, 5 years), Pickle (m, 4 years) and Peach (f, 1 year.) Those are not their real names. These are real stories from our days ☕👀

The Feral Stack

By Summer Koester

Spicy, unfiltered cultural commentary that zooms out while digging deep... from an award-winning writer and cultural anthropologist.

Raising Myles

By Marc Typo

A first-time dad writes letters to his newborn son, Myles, every Monday, sharing the joy he didn't experience himself with the world. Inspired by Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Between the World and Me."

Noodling

By Whitney Voûte

Noodling as a playful way to tackle big and small questions about life and the human experience. Just exploring and reporting back. I like to laugh A LOT.

[B]OLD AGE with Debbie Weil

Sharing what it's really like to get old, from the blessings to the bullshit.

Funny, tender and filled with wisdom: Debbie is the kind of woman I want to grow into.

- Isabel Cowles Murphy

Hold Nothing

By Elena Brower

Dedicated to practice, study and listening.

Make Pure Thy Heart

By Paolo

Life through the lens of a curious vegan, absurdly optimistic creative. Centeredness & Clarity through creativity in the way we see things.

Letters from a Muslim Woman

By Noha Beshir

Dispatches from one woman's life as a Western Muslim told through the lens of mental health, faith, and the multi-generational immigrant experience.

Noha expands my sense of the world through her deeply personal takes on life, motherhood and faith. She reminds me that the universal human experience is found in each of our specifics.

- Isabel Cowles Murphy

i hate these people

By daisy cashin

Figuring out the universe through some good old loathing and resentment. These are ill-tempered and ill-remembered love bits from the Shitstorm.

The Pamplet

By Kristin Posehn

high-stakes info, casual feels

Whenever I get an essay from Kristin, I stop what I'm doing and read it. Then I read it again. Her pieces are both personal and well-researched: I feel myself expanding into her words.

- Isabel Cowles Murphy

On Things

By Madeleine Dore

A miscellany of thoughtful essays, daily observations, and handpicked poems exploring the things we do, feel, and encounter in our everyday lives. Lovingly assembled by Madeleine Dore to help inspire, comfort, and invite you to ponder ✨

Thrivin', not Drivin'

By Mary B

Riding my bike instead of driving my car, during historically high gas prices and inflation

Mary delights me!

- Isabel Cowles Murphy

JENOVIA'S WEB

By Jenovia

The agony and ecstasy of life, love, and being human.

Rich, pulsing, poetic: every time I read a piece by Jenovia I feel both tender and electric, filled with a sense of what's possible and what's true.

- Isabel Cowles Murphy

FEED THE MONSTER

By B.A. Lampman + Feed the Monster

Art, inspiration and kinship, plus personal essays of the vulnerable persuasion

How Not to F*ck Up Your Face

By Val Monroe

philosophical and practical advice for anyone who's ever looked into a mirror

Let's Not Be Trash

By Stanley Fritz

A newsletter for multi-dimensional men, and anyone who can relate to the stories, experiences, and feelings. We write about sex, patriarchy, sexism, love, Hip Hop, Politics, Social Justice, Race, More Race and Ruminations

Broke But Moisturized

By Dia Lupo

a slice-of-life newsletter on beauty and aging, dispatched from American suburbia