Fruitless

Hello! I was not able to record any new Fruitless this month. Instead, I'll be sharing two old Very Legal, Very Cool episodes. This is the first one featuring Jackal (@JackalJester) You can find a link to the new Very Legal, Very Cool RSS feed here . Here are the original show notes: cw: sexual violence, gore, and racism/racial slurs. In today's episode, Jackal (Mammonburg! @JackalJester) joins Jo...

Josiah is joined by Keanu Heydari (@WoeToChorazin) to discuss queer theory and Christian theology. While liberal Christian denominations have grown increasingly inclusive of a queer individuals in the past decade, they still struggle to make sense of sexual identity and gender. In the broader culture, anti-LGBTQ politics seems to be on the rise. Using the insight of queer theory and Christian theo...

Josiah is joined by AJ to discuss the material and spiritual sides of the culture war. Among left wing circles, it is common to either completely disregard the culture war to focus on "material" politics or become completely enthralled by cultural battles. AJ and Josiah try to find a middle ground and, in the process, discuss the future of the left and online media.  Music  Yesterday – bloom. Stra...

Josiah is joined by Jackal (@JackalJester) to discuss Orientalism in art history. They take some time to look over a few paintings and try to examine what they say about European perceptions of the East, as well as European perceptions of their role in the East.    References Orientalism by Edward Said Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa , painted by Antoine-Jean Gros (1804) The Massacr...

Josiah is joined by Joel Harrison (@profjharrison) of uswithoutThem to discuss the book he’s writing on Christian music of the 1990s and 2000s, specifically bands signed on to Tooth & Nail. This serves as an entry point to discuss the broader religious and political development of millennial evangelicals and the rise of “deconstruction” or exvangelical movements.   References Against by Tad De...

In today's episode, Josiah is joined by Morgan Vander Hart, a good friend and anarchist who is heavily involved in mutual aid work in Des Moines, IA. They discuss the state of radical politics in Des Moines and the Midwest after the 2020 George Floyd protests and the struggle for hope in spite of the increasingly dire political situation in the United States. I didn't release a second episode for...

Josiah is joined by Chris Barker to discuss the Russo-Ukrainian War. The invasion of Ukraine has lead to a lot of scrambling to make sense of the conflict. Chris and Josiah walk through some of the history of Ukraine before offering their thoughts on the future and where they think the left is gets lost. Referenced Works Neonazis & Euromaidan - Aleksey Kochetkov and Stanislav Byshok (Russian p...

Josiah is joined by Francis Cooper (@attnfrancis) to discuss his conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy. Francis and Josiah have been friends for a long time and both went through various "deconstruction" paths regarding their former evangelical faiths. Through this conversation, they talk about their spiritual journeys to high church traditions and what, for Francis, is compelling about Orthodox spiritu...

Josiah is joined by Josh Christianson (@GnomeChamsky) to discuss the Midwest as a region and a concept. The Midwest represent "normality" in the American psyche despite it being a very weird place. It gets treated as a place without history, and it has a mythology of not having a mythology. In a casual discussion, Josiah and Josh deconstruct these ideas and ask what the future of the Midwest may b...

 Brief introduction to who I am and what I’m doing here. Music Yesterday - bloom. In My Dreams - bloom. Find more of Josiah's work here Follow Josiah on Twitter @josiahwsutton ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★