Introducing: The Link Drop
Your Alternative (intervention) to the Social Media Feed
This post is an introduction to a new publication by The Ink-Stained Desk called The Link Drop. It contains links that may or may interest the reader as an alterative to scrolling through social media feeds and consuming short form content. If you wish to just see the links, head down to the bottom of this article. I won’t be offended. In fact, I won’t even know!
Tired of endless scrolling? Get a curated selection of genuinely interesting articles – from SubStack newsletters to academic gems – delivered to your inbox every Sunday. Subscribe to The Link Drop and cut through the noise to discover valuable reads.
The following is the first installation of The Link Drop.
The hypnotic scroll of social media and short-form content isn't new, but its pervasive grip on our attention is increasingly evident. A recent train journey, where every passenger seemed lost in their screens, starkly highlighted this phenomenon to me. This constant consumption of fleeting content raises a key question: Has effortless scrolling replaced the active pursuit of engaging information?
Enter The Link Drop.
Each Sunday, I'll curate 5-10 links to thought-provoking articles, spanning diverse topics and including a weekly gem from JSTOR. Get your free JSTOR accounts at the ready! (no this is not sponsored I’m just so grateful to be able to read 100 academic articles a month for free and want to shout it from the roof tops!)
My promise is substance over fleeting trends, deliberately avoiding the celebrity and political noise. Instead, I’m offering a curated path to genuinely interesting content, free from the usual digital clutter. Consider it your antidote to the endless scroll, offering substance and sparking curiosity.
If you enjoy it, please head over to the publications page linked below and subscribe.
The Future Library: The Future Library is my Roman Empire. A public art exhibit by Katie Peterson that aims to contain new books from well-known authors that cannot be read until 2115. Authors such as Mararget Attwood and David Mitchell have contributed manuscripts already. As an added link here is the artists website that offers further information about the Future Library.
The Future Library and artist ‘Faerie ‘Smut’ is Having a Moment’: National Geographic History and Culture article by Kelly Faircloth. Published February 14, 2025.
The current popularity of "faerie smut" like A Court of Thorns and Roses reflects a long-standing fascination with tales blending romance and perilous magic, directly inspired by folklore such as the 16th-century ballad Tam Lin, which features a proactive heroine rescuing her love from the fae. This enduring narrative emphasizes female agency and the triumph of love within fantastical realms, a tradition that continues to captivate modern readers.
‘The Cat’s Meat Man: Feeding Felines in Victorian London’: essay by Kathryn Hughes. Published February 13, 2025. This essay on the Public Domain Review uncovers the fascinating story of itinerant offal vendors, examining their surprising link to a Jack the Ripper victim and a peculiar celebratory feast led by the renowned Louis Wain.
Photograph by Francis James Mortimer of an itinerant vendor of meat for cats and dogs, ca. 1900. Source. ‘Looking for Virginia Woolf’s Diaries’: On The Paris Review. By Geoff Dyer, published September 12, 2023. Follow Geoff Dyer as he attempts to hunt up all 5 volumes of Virginia Woolf’s diaries; they must be of the same edition and all second hand. A highly entertaining discussion of Woolf and her diaries.
JSTOR article: ‘Four Functions of Folklore’ by William R. Bascom. The Journal of American Folklore 67, no. 266 (1954): 333–49. https://doi.org/10.2307/536411.
Bascom posits that folklore serves crucial roles within a society beyond mere entertainment.
NOTE: You will need a free JSTOR account to access this article. Once signed up, find the article, press the red ‘read online’ button beside the preview, and you’re in!
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. If you’ve never read this much-discussed short story, now is your chance. Provided here for free, thanks to Project Gutenberg. Presented in journal entries, follows the mental deterioration of a woman who is confined to a room by her husband, who is also her physician, under the pretense of helping her recover from what he diagnoses as temporary nervous depression.
So ends the first installment of my new publication, The Link Drop.
If you enjoyed this publication, please subscribe to the Link Drop via the button below.
See you soon,
C M Reid at the Ink-Stained Desk.
I really enjoyed the article in the Paris Review about Virginia Woolf’s diaries. It made me laugh—it captured a sort of acquisitive bookishness that I can fall prey to.