Dustbowl Diatribes: Recent Episodes
Laurie M Johnson & Spencer Hess
We'll dive into discussions of Christian community and Christian anarchism, the thought and practice of Catholic Worker houses and their founders Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day, why we're stuck in cycles of futility, and possible means of transcendence.
Spencer and special guest Caleb Owens interview Laurie Johnson about her newly published book, The Gap in God’s Country: A Longer View on Our Culture Wars. For more information about this book and where to buy it, as well as information about a series of talks she’ll give on themes from the book, check out: https://pmaurin.org/2024/11/02/the-gap-in-gods-country-themes-discussion-with-laurie-johnson-coming-up/
Spencer and Laurie visit with Chris Cutrone, leading founder of the Platypus Affiliated Society and the author of a new book published this year by Sublation Media.
Here’s a link to Cutrone’s latest book, Marxism and Politics: Essays on Critical Theory and the Party, 2006-2024, Sublation Media, 2024.
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Political Philosophy: https://political-philosophy.com Dustbowl Diatribes and Political Philosophy are podcasts of the Maurin Academy, which can be found on almost all podcast platforms!
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Spencer and Laurie talk to Catholic Worker Renée Roden about her experiences in the Catholic Worker movement and what she is doing now as she transitions to a new community. She also discusses the upcoming Peter Maurin Conference in Chicago: Sept. https://www.stgregoryhall.org/maurin.html
Maurin Academy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy
Maurin Academy Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-maurin-academy-311669
Political Philosophy: https://political-philosophy.com
Dustbowl Diatribes and Political Philosophy are podcasts of the Maurin Academy, which can be found on almost all podcast platforms!
Follow the Maurin Academy on Twitter and Instagram for notifications about upcoming events, and get our free newsletter: https://pmaurin.org/newsletter/
Renée Roden is a freelance journalist based in Chicago, with roots in Minneapolis and Manhattan. She specializes in writing about popular religious movements and Catholicism in North America. She is a former live-in community member at Saint Francis Catholic Worker House in Chicago. She writes on Substack at Sweet Unrest.
Alfredo Poggi talks to Spencer and Laurie about his new book Magical Realism, Latin America, and the Appearance of Precritical Theory, published by Rowman & Littlefield. Poggi makes the bold argument for taking Marian visions at face value and seeing them as a powerful antidote to ideology. Poggi uses Latin American literary approach of magical realism to reveal a precritical perspective. From the publisher’s website:
“Magical Realism, Latin American Theology, and the Appearance of a Pre-Critical Theory: Mary versus Ideology explores why the greatest boom of Marian apparitions in history, related by poor rural women and children, occurred simultaneously with the rise of urban elites’ secularizing ideologies—and often in the same countries. This unique glimpse goes beyond the simple stories and symbols of the Marian apparitions, revealing a critique of the modern and postmodern social imaginaries that gave life to innumerable ideologies. Utilizing the Latin American hermeneutic lenses of liberation theology and magical realism, this book demonstrates how popular religion, with its mythical-narrative nucleus, is a space of resistance against the totalizing projects of modernity. Modern and postmodern proposals, like those of Marxist or poststructuralist, argue that one must use critical thinking to evade or at least expose ideologies. Alfredo Ignacio Poggi, on the contrary, maintains that a naïve, or more aptly pre-critical, perception of the world is the best starting point for challenging contemporary ideologies.”
Maurin Academy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy
Maurin Academy Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-maurin-academy-311669
Political Philosophy: https://political-philosophy.com
Dustbowl Diatribes and Political Philosophy are podcasts of the Maurin Academy, which can be found on almost all podcast platforms!
Follow the Maurin Academy on Twitter and Instagram for notifications about upcoming events, and get our free newsletter: https://pmaurin.org/newsletter/
What happens when even basic business can’t be effectively done? How did we get here? Ever thought you were doing someone a favor and they took it as an insult, or worse? Spencer and Laurie digest more of John Rao’s thoughts from various books and try to settle their argument from the last episode. Along the way, they tell some stories about cooperation failures and muse on the role of the mania for understanding everything in one theory. To support the Maurin Academy, consider:
Maurin Academy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy
Maurin Academy Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-maurin-academy-311669
Political Philosophy: https://political-philosophy.com Dustbowl Diatribes and Political Philosophy are podcasts of the Maurin Academy, which can be found on almost all podcast platforms!
Follow the Maurin Academy on Twitter and Instagram for notifications about upcoming events, and get our free newsletter: https://pmaurin.org/newsletter/
Laurie and Spencer discuss the implications and reverberations of the recent Maurin Academy lecture by the last Marxist, Chris Cutrone, and their interview with John Rao on Traditionalism and the Roman School. Both men discussed the time period of the 1848 revolutions in Europe. Maurin Academy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy Maurin Academy Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-maurin-academy-311669 Political Philosophy: https://political-philosophy.com Dustbowl Diatribes and... Continue Reading →
Dr. John Rao drops in to tell Laurie and Spencer a bit about Traditionalism, The Roman School, Dorothy Day's Catholicism, and his critique of Emmanuel Mounier's brand of Personalism.
Co-Founder of the Permaculture movement, David Holmgren, talks to Spencer and Laurie about his analysis and predictions in his book Future Scenarios, his assessment that we are still in the "Brown Tech" energy descent scenario, and the implications for society moving forward. Holmgren Design: https://holmgren.com.au Online Writing: https://holmgren.com.au/permaculture-ideas-and-actions/writings/ Future Scenarios: https://www.futurescenarios.org Maurin Academy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy... Continue Reading →
The micro-micro-niche internet celebrity Zabib take time out of her busy schedule to join Spencer to cover lots of ground in little time.
Spencer and Laurie talk to Dr. Benjamin Peters about his book Called to Be Saints: John Hugo, the Catholic Worker, and a Theology of Radical Christianity. Maurin Academy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy Maurin Academy Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-maurin-academy-311669 Political Philosophy: https://political-philosophy.com Dustbowl Diatribes and Political Philosophy are podcasts of the Maurin Academy, which can be found on almost all... Continue Reading →
Laurie and Spencer interview Lincoln Rice of Casa Maria Catholic Worker, Milwaukee, and author of Healing the Racial Divide: A Catholic Racial Justice Framework Inspired by Dr. Arthur Falls, about what Arthur Falls' strategy to combat racism, Falls' relationship with the CW movement, the humanity of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, and issues of race... Continue Reading →
Mark your calendars! The "last Marxist" Chris Cutrone, one of the founders of the Platypus Society, will be our guest for a live speech on Zoom with Q & A starting at 7 p.m. US Central Time, April 22. Cutrone has given several interviews on our own Dustbowl Diatribes podcast, and he is a frequent... Continue Reading →
Laurie and Spencer interview Nat Bjerke-Harvey of Piccalilli Farm in Manhattan, KS, about what it takes to run a diversified local farm, and the reasons to put more effort and resources into eating seasonally and locally. Maurin Academy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy Maurin Academy Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-maurin-academy-311669 Political Philosophy: https://political-philosophy.com Dustbowl Diatribes and Political Philosophy are podcasts of... Continue Reading →
Spencer and Laurie talk to Michael Martin of the Regeneration podcast about his diatribe against modernity, insights from his literary knowledge, and how he operates his biodynamic farm. The Maurin Academy: https://pmaurin.org Support us on Patreon and receive all our live and recorded classes, podcasts and sessions! https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy
Maurin Academy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy Maurin Academy Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-maurin-academy-311669 Political Philosophy: https://political-philosophy.com Dustbowl Diatribes and Political Philosophy are podcasts of the Maurin Academy, which can be found on almost all podcast platforms! Follow the Maurin Academy on Twitter and Instagram for notifications about upcoming events, and get our free newsletter: https://pmaurin.org/newsletter/
Spencer and Laurie have a second conversation with Dr. Rich Myrick about his dissertation, "Action Libérale Populaire and the Legacy of Catholic Republicans in the French Third Republic." His work covers the period in France that was formative for Peter Maurin, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement.
Spencer and Laurie talk to Rich Myrick about his dissertation, "Action Libérale Populaire and the Legacy of Catholic Republicans in the French Third Republic." His work covers the period in France that was formative for Peter Maurin, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement.
Spencer and Laurie recap their conversations with Chris Cutrone and Martin Chang and contemplate what it means to be potatoes in a sack or Pringles in a tube.
The Cutrone Zone is back for an interesting discussion on the usefulness of the term 'neofeudalism' for understanding capitalism, and a fairly deep dive into what Marxists should think of religion.
In "Take 2" of their recap of the start of season 3, Laurie and Spencer take another look at their conversations with Alex Christoyannopoulos and Sean Domencic, circling around the issues of Christian action as lived out in the Catholic Worker movement.
In part 1 of a two-part recap of Season 3 so far, we discuss our interview with Doug Lain of Sublation Media and the Diet Soap podcast. The original interview covered Lain's trajectory, his views on the theory of neo-feudalism, and the problem of increasing online censorship. As we unpack our conversation with Lain, we spend time on Lain's discomfort with the term "neofeudal" and his preference for "society of control" as a description of the current state of capitalism. We evaluate the tension between the approval of economic concentration/centralization for the advancement of future socialism and the disapproval of the use of corporate power via government pressures to inhibit some speech. We also talk about the tension between Lain's Marxism and our own views on industrial vs. regional/local agricultural production.
Spencer and Laurie interview Sean Domencic, co-founder of the Tradistae podcast (concluded in 2022) and blog, and frequent contributor to New Polity. Both outlets identify with the Catholic Worker movement and tend to be adjacent to traditionalism, but with a critical distance. This conversation helps us explore the Church-centric wing of the Catholic Worker movement.
Here's a repost of an interview Spencer Hess and Emily Larner did with Clark Massey, Founder of A Simple House https://www.asimplehouse.org/, and co-host of the Simpleton Podcast. https://youtu.be/QDYTKgD0C_Y
Spencer and Laurie interview Alex Christoyannopoulis, Reader in International Relations, Politics and History at Loughborough University, London. His article "Leo Tolstoy's impact on Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement" is the launchpad for an interesting discussion of Tolstoy's pacifism and his influence on Day and the movement, as well as the promises and limits of complete pacifism.
Sublation Media's Douglas Lain, YouTuber and host of the Diet Soap podcast, talks to Spencer and Laurie about what he thinks of the theory of neufuedal capitalism, his views on the campaign against "disinformation" in light of free speech rights, and how the two may relate.
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Spencer and Laurie interview Brian Zahnd, pastor of Word of Life Church, St. Joseph, MO. We discuss why some people decide to break from destructive ideas of faith, like Christian nationalism, and why many don't. We also have a conversation about the church's mission and what its role should be on grave issues like environmental destruction and war. Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for our free newsletter, which lists future Maurin Academy seminars, short series and other events. https://pmaurin.org/newsletter/Support us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/maurinacademy?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for our free newsletter, which lists future Maurin Academy seminars, short series and other events. https://pmaurin.org/newsletter/
Spencer, Emily and Laurie continue their conversation about the history and "failure" of the first attempt, instigated by Spencer, to start an urban farm collective, based on sharing resources and labor, in Kansas City. We discuss the various obstacles Spencer, and then Emily too, continued to face as they tried to cooperate with others who claim to share the same values and goals. What does it take to get people who agree they are of like minds to actually consistently cooperate? This is not an easy question to answer, but it gets to the heart of why most experiments like this are ultimately deemed "utopian." If we understand the main pitfalls, does that help us find a way to succeed, even a little
Spencer, Laurie and Emily delve into the history of Spencer's attempt to form a collective of friends in Kansas City, and why it failed. The aim was to pool resources and labor, live better and influence the growing and food scene. The lessons learned are generally applicable and hopefully useful to anyone who is interested in cooperating with others in a quasi-communal setting or getting involved in smalls-scale local farming.
In this Dustbowl Diatribes episode, Spencer, Laurie and Emily have a frank discussion with a small businesswoman with rental properties in Kansas City, MO. Reminiscent of our discussion with Dan Krull on the loss of community gardening space due to development in the city, which makes the city less human and livable, Mary Farmer talks about how a big developer in her area is making it hard for her to stay in business and even harder for her tenants and others in the area who count on affordable housing. Mary points out that the goal of mass-transit and bike-reliant areas of the city may be ideally good, but they backfire dramatically if 1., decision makers fail to consult the people who live there or study their actual habits and needs, and 2., fail to understand what is required for small business people to operate in the areas impacted.
Spencer and Laurie interview Dan Krull about the closure of an innercity agricultural initiative. We discuss the ins and outs of the project, some reasons why it "failed", and the limits (or lack thereof) of education as a means of improving society. Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future Maurin... Continue Reading →
This time we interview Suan Sonna—host of Intellectual Catholicism—to talk about the relationship between the Church and State, Aristo-Thomism and natural law. Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future Maurin Academy seminars, short series, and other events. Support us on Patreon! Dustbowl Diatribes podcast can be found on iTunes, Google... Continue Reading →
Spencer and Laurie interview an Anonymous Pastor, discussing the state of his/her denomination. Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future Maurin Academy seminars, short series and other events. Support us on Patreon! Dustbowl Diatribes podcast can be found on iTunes, Google Podcasts, and Audible. Spotify thought we were a music... Continue Reading →
Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future Maurin Academy seminars, short series and other events.
Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future Maurin Academy seminars, short series and other events: https://pmaurin.org/newsletter/ Support us on Patreon!
Please sign up for our free newsletter here. Dr. Larry Chapp of the popular blog Gaudium et Spes joins Spencer and Laurie for a discussion about ressourcement theology, the inspiration for the international Catholic journal Communio. Dr. Chapp cares for a Catholic Worker farm and, through his blog and numerous YouTube videos, brings his own version of Peter Maurin's "agronomic university" to a larger audience. We share a lot in common with Dr. Chapp, both in philosophy as well as practice, as we also are attempting a Catholic Worker farm, as well as an agronomic university through the Maurin Academy.
Laurie and Spencer interview retired Lutheran Pastor Tom Mundahl. Mundahl has made action the center of his ministry, including leading a venture into Catholic Worker hospitality in a Campus student group. We discuss why it is difficult for pastors to move beyond the comfort zones of their parishioners to lead them into new ways of living and interacting with others. We discuss the obstacle of Christian nationalism as the latest inhibitor of Christian action.
Laurie and Spencer spend some time unpacking the significance of their latest interview with "the last Marxist," Chris Cutrone. Cutrone is one of our favorite Marxist theorists, and talking to him is always thought provoking. Some of the highlights that make this interview different are his ideas on the state of higher education in the US, Cutrone's views on Christianity and church, and his discussion of possible future scenarios including climate change social and economic disruptions.
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Spencer and Laurie interviewed the Platypus Society's Chris Cutrone, "the last Marxist" and our favorite contemporary Marxist, on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. The first half covers Cutrone's life. He explains how he went from a working class, Catholic Reagan-style conservative family to a Marxist, and his journey through education. One element in his journey of particular interest to us is his exposure to Catholic Worker-style Christians at an early age, and what impression that left on him. We get into his thoughts on what constitutes a good education, and whether or not education ought to differ depending on who is receiving it. The second half of the interview delves further into why leftists have a hard time dealing with the working class, whether it's because of their (now) Trumpian conservatism or their religiosity, the future of capitalism, how the environment might fare in a turn toward socialism, and why and how socialists and religious believers might be able to cooperate.
Spencer and Laurie finish their discussion of Season 1 of Dustbowl Diatribes, including a detour into how different Christian theologies can land you in very different places on the environment and the care of other humans.
Spencer and Laurie recap the first half of Season 1 of Dustbowl Diatribes, with a focus on our intention and purpose in introducing themes like taking advantage of "the spoils of Egypt," and concepts like metabolic rifts and the abstract domination of capital, as well as interviews that helped us understand why it's so hard to break away from that domination.
Here's a brief overview of the values and purpose of the Maurin Academy. The Dustbowl Diatribes podcast can be found on iTunes, Google Podcasts, and Audible. Spotify thought we were a music business... Help us spread the word: https://pmaurin.org/donate/
Launching from the last Dustbowl Diatribes podcast in which we interviewed Nik Gaffron about his experiences resisting fracking in Pennsylvania, Spencer and I talk to Nik about why such resistance almost always fails. Why do liberal strategies to getting something good accomplished meet with ruin? We first need to learn the answer to that question, and really have it sink in, before we can hope to accomplish any real change.
Our guest is Nik Gaffron talks to us about his personal experience fighting fracking on public lands in Pennsylvania. We learn a lot about the fracking process as well as the politics and economics, especially how it impacts people who live near a fracking operation. Why do public officials so easily consent to these large-scale industrial operations in or close to residential areas? Why is it so hard to fight fracking in an effort to protect not only public lands but private property and its value? What are the hidden costs financially and to our health?
Spencer Hess and Laurie Johnson follow up with military historian and Maurin Academy partner Bryant Macfarlane to discuss 1. the most likely worst-case scenario regarding our environmental and political future, and 2. the most likely best-case scenario we hope will happen instead. Buckle your seatbelts.
History Ph.D. candidate Bryant Macfarlane joins Spencer Hess and Laurie Johnson for a discussion of the conditions that made for the 1930's Dustbowl and continue to operate today to deplete soil fertility and instigate climate change. Hannah Holleman's book, Dustbowls of Empire is the subject of the first part of our conversation. Macfarlane later explains how Latin Common Law was practiced in the American Southwest prior to the Mexican-American War, and how practices that treated water as communal good rather than private property were eliminated by the advent of the English view of property. That began the era of accelerated metabolic rifts that led to the Dustbowl and our current dilemmas, such as ocean dead zones due to fertilizer runoff.
Spencer Hess interviews Jakob Hanschu on the subject of metabolic rifts (what they are, and their implications for the environment we all depend upon for life) and the abstract domination of capital (the forces that largely control our lives but are not clearly perceived because they constitute our perceived reality). These are difficult concepts because of their abstract nature, but if we do not understand them adequately, we cannot see our way beyond the current system that is destroying our world.
Spencer Hess and Laurie Johnson talk about the "Spoils of Egypt" concept from Christian theology, how it has operated in the past, and what is keeping people from using it now. In the past, Christian theologians have often "plundered" secular theology for its riches, taking what was useful and true in light of Christian revelation, and leaving what was not. Today, much philosophy is left un-plundered because it is perceived to be "evil" and untouchable. This is certainly true of critical theory and Marxism. But while much of the positive claims of Marxism, such as atheism and materialism, can and should be left behind, the deposit of negative theory regarding the abstract and impersonal operations of capital and the market ought to be carried off as spoils, because in order to get anything done we must understand our world accurately.
In this first episode of Dustbowl Diatribes, Spencer Hess and Laurie Johnson explain why they chose "Dustbowl Diatribes" as the title of this podcast, why Spencer made the trailer the way he did, and introduce themselves. Along the way, they bring up some issues this podcast will get into -- climate change and how we're all unable to act effectively to cope with it, what Christian responsibility and response might look like, why we have such a hard time doing anything to fix our social and environmental problems despite such tremendous activity that we can dream of colonizing Mars or building space colonies.
Spencer Hess and I (Laurie Johnson) are getting ready to launch our new podcast, Dustbowl Diatribes, with a discussion of the US Dustbowl in the 1930's in all its ramifications. But this isn't a history podcast. The dustbowl symbolizes a slow moving disaster--environmental, economic, spiritual, political--which is materializing even now. We will be getting at this topic at first through an examination of Hannah Holleman's Dustbowls of Empire. Coming in late March or early April, 2022.