

Varn Vlog
C. Derick Varn
Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Varn Vlog is the pod of C. Derick Varn. We combine the conversation on philosophy, political economy, art, history, culture, anthropology, and geopolitics from a left-wing and culturally informed perspective. We approach the world from a historical lens with an eye for hard truths and structural analysis.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 13, 2022 • 1h 16min
Julian Assele on the Paradox of Christopher Lasch
Please support our Patreon. For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more.Julian Assele ( @Catholicclod) is a writer and researcher who writes on socialism and Marxism. Like me, Julian has an anti-GOP conservative background and, like me, was influenced by Christopher Lasch on both his past right and current socialist politics. Julian wrote a piece abandoning the late Lasch's thought at Athwart: https://www.athwart.org/abandoning-christopher-lasch-elites-labor-republican/ Crew:Host: C. Derick VarnAudio Producer: Paul Channel Strip ( @aufhebenkultur )Branding Design: Djene Bajalan and C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Videos Design: Jason Myles, Dejene BalajanSend us a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

Oct 10, 2022 • 1h 47min
Spencer A Leonard on Marx's journalism, Bonapartism, and Imperialism
Please support our Patreon. For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more.Spencer Leonard was the editor of Sublation magazine at the time of this recording and is a founder of the Platypus Affiliated Society. We discuss his upcoming edited and annotated edition of Marx and Engels on Bonapartism: Selected Journalism, 1851-59. We also talk about the problems posed by new left scholarship and political tactics, the seeming failure of the millennial left to respond, and the problems of Bonapartism and Imperialism from the 19th century to the 21st century.Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew:Host: C. Derick VarnAudio Producer: Paul Channel Strip ( @aufhebenkultur )Branding Design: Djene Bajalan and C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Videos Design: Jason Myles, Dejene BalajanSend us a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

Oct 7, 2022 • 1h 35min
Jason Myles of TIR on Woodstock, Nu Metal, and Politics, Part 1
Please support our Patreon. For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more.We discuss an article by Jason Myles on the legacy of Woodstock. Jason Myles is the primary host of This Is Revolution and a musician with Bitterlake. We discuss rock and roll and politics. Here is the article discussed.Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew:Host: C. Derick VarnAudio Producer: Paul Channel Strip ( @aufhebenkultur )Branding Design: Djene Bajalan and C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Videos Design: Jason Myles, Dejene BalajanLinks and Social Media:twitter: @skepoetFacebookYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeSend us a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

Oct 3, 2022 • 2h 40min
Nick Marcil on Crises in Education
Please support our Patreon. For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more.Nick Marcil is an education policy activist and organizer. We discuss the problems of the PA college system, the problems of collegiate re-organization in a neo-liberal economy, and the complexity of secondary and primary education. You can find him at @MarcilNick Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew:Host: C. Derick VarnAudio Producer: Paul Channel Strip ( @aufhebenkultur )Branding Design: Djene Bajalan and C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Videos Design: Jason Myles, Dejene BalajanLinks and Social Media:twitter: @skepoetFacebookYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeSend us a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

Sep 29, 2022 • 1h 50min
Sean Capener on Medieval Money, Usury, and Origins of Modern Racial Thinking
\Please support our Patreon. For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more.Sean Capener is a post-doctoral fellow at Dartmouth. His research interests include time, debt, slavery, philosophy, and political theology. We discuss his dissertation, The Time That Belongs to God: The Christian Prohibition on Usury in the 12th-13th Centuries and the Making of the Subject of Debt. You can follow Sean Capaner at @seancapener Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew:Host: C. Derick VarnAudio Producer: Paul Channel Strip ( @aufhebenkultur )Branding Design: Djene Bajalan and C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Videos Design: Jason Myles, Dejene BalajanLinks and Social Media:twitter: @skepoetFacebookYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeSend us a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

Sep 26, 2022 • 1h 42min
Amelia Davenport on Mary Marcy and Cybernetics
Please support our Patreon. For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more.Amelia Davenport ( @davenportofcall) is a writer, podcaster, and editor for Cosmonaut Magazine. She has edited and revised the work of Mary Marcy and has also dedicated significant time to studying the socialist ends of cybernetic theory, system logic, and logical positivism. There is some wind and other background noise in this audio that could not be edited out. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew:Host: C. Derick VarnAudio Producer: Paul Channel Strip ( @aufhebenkultur )Branding Design: Djene Bajalan and C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Videos Design: Jason Myles, Dejene BalajanLinks and Social Media:twitter: @skepoetFacebookYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeSend us a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

Sep 22, 2022 • 1h 7min
Joel Wainwright co-author of Climate Leviathan about Possible Futures
Please support our Patreon. For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more.Joel Wainwright is a professor in the Department of Geography at Ohio State University, where he teaches about political economy, environmental change, and social theory. Along with Climate Leviathan (Verso, 2018), he is the author of Decolonizing Development (Blackwell, 2008) and Geopiracy (Palgrave Pivot, 2012). We discuss the dimness of the future and possible ways out.Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew:Host: C. Derick VarnAudio Producer: Paul Channel Strip ( @aufhebenkultur )Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesLinks and Social Media:twitter: @skepoetFacebookYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeSend us a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

Sep 19, 2022 • 1h 35min
Cooper and Taylor from Machinic Unconscious Happy Hour on Felix Guattari
Please support our Patreon. For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more.Cooper Cherry and Taylor Adkins from Machinic Unconscious Happy Hour podcast come over to discuss the legacy and work of Flex Guattari with me today. We talked about Guattari in general and his essay, "Everyone Wants to be a Fascist." Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew:Host: C. Derick VarnAudio Producer: Paul Channel Strip ( @aufhebenkultur )Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesLinks and Social Media:twitter: @skepoetFacebookYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeSend us a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

Sep 15, 2022 • 1h 45min
R.C. Roberts on Wilfred Bion and Ideology
Please support our Patreon. For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more.R.C. Roberts is the author of ferocia amini and is a semi-autodidactic scholar of existentialism and psychoanalysis, we spoke about the legacy of Wilfred Bion and the uses of his work for political thinking. Sartre also comes up. We focus on later Bion, his views on reversible perspective, thinking, and the ineffable as well as the implications on theories of ideology.Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew:Host: C. Derick VarnAudio Producer: Paul Channel Strip ( @aufhebenkultur )Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesLinks and Social Media:twitter: @skepoetFacebookYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeSmells Like HumansLike spending time with funny friends talking about curious human behavior.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showSend us a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

Sep 12, 2022 • 2h 4min
Glenn McDorman of Claytemple Media on the Weird
Please support our Patreon. For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more.Glenn McDorman is one of the founders of Claytemple Media, and a co-host of several of their podcasts (Elder Sign, Hanging Out with the Dream King, Gene Wolfe Literary Podcast, and Atoz). We discuss "weird fiction" and speculative fiction in general.Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew:Host: C. Derick VarnAudio Producer: Paul Channel Strip ( @aufhebenkultur )Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesLinks and Social Media:twitter: @skepoetFacebookYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeSend us a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic