Nostalgia Trap

Justin Farrar and I continue our conversation about rock music and the occult by watching the incredibly disturbing Paradise Lost documentary series, which details the case of three young men wrongfully accused of the grisly murders of three children in the town of West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993. With prosecutors (literally) presenting Metallica lyrics as evidence of murderous intent, the case was part of a dark undercurrent in the 1990s, as music and counterculture became targets of intense paranoia, hatred, and violence from all varieties of American reactionaries. We share our memories and insights from this scary, prophetic era in rock history, when America's endless cycle of Satanic panics aimed its sights at the MTV generation. To listen to all episodes of Record Trap, plus the rest of the Trap universe, subscribe! patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

On the third and final installment of our series on the life, work, and legacy of Noam Chomsky, Justin and I talk about Chomsky the Doomer: between nuclear war and climate collapse, he doesn't hold out much hope for the survival of the human race. What makes him such a Gloomy Gus? Reading critically through Chomsky's lectures and writings on the end of the world, we look at the details of his apocalyptic thinking and examine why he thinks we're currently living through the "terminal stage of human existence." But are we really doomed? Or is there a trapdoor to a different future? To listen to the whole trilogy, subscribe to Nostalgia Trap: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Here's another quick clip from Part Two of our trilogy with Justin Rogers-Cooper on the complicated life, work, and legacy of Noam Chomsky. Subscribe and listen to the whole episode, along with all our bonus content: patreon.com/posts/episode-333-noam-69582699

Where does American popular music come from, and what does the devil have to do with it? On Part One of a two-part series on music and the occult, Justin Farrar and I discuss Peter Bebergal's excellent history Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll, as we explore the eerie mythology that haunts the origins of blues and rock. Some of the musicians and other figures mentioned in this episode include Robert Johnson, Clarence Ashley, Big Mama Thornton, Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Tommy Johnson, Skip James, Kurt Cobain, R.E.M., Harry Smith, The Geto Boys, and lots more. For more episodes of Record Trap and access to the entire Nostalgia Trap universe, subscribe at patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Our series on the life, work, and legacy of Noam Chomsky continues with a critical look at Chomsky's signature intellectual work, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media. This episode traces Chomsky's development through the 1970s and 1980s, as he evolved into a fierce critic of state violence and corporate propaganda, while becoming a bit of a radical celebrity himself. Justin has plenty of ideas about how Chomsky's media theories hold up in the era of social media, 8chan, and QAnon. Are our minds really under the control of a unified state power? How does a fractured media, controlled in part by the people themselves, manufacture consent? Subscribe to hear the whole episode and to access our massive library of bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

This week Yasmin and I watch two films, Working Girls (Lizzie Borden, 1986) and Working Girl (Mike Nichols, 1988), as we think about the intersection of sex, gender, labor, and capitalism. Is sex work any different from an office job? That depends: What brand of hyper-gendered humiliation are you willing to endure for money? To listen to this episode, and access our entire library of bonus content, including Campus Trap w/ Ryan Boyd, Record Trap w/ Justin Farrar, and our latest trilogy on Noam Chomsky w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper, subscribe to Nostalgia Trap for just $5 a month: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Ryan's recent trip to Montreal gets us thinking about the connections between cities and college campuses, as we try to imagine more vibrant institutions than the crumbling ones we currently haunt. Of course, creating a better university would mean confronting the ways that capitalism structures higher education, and Ryan shares some ideas from his recent Substack piece about radical teaching practices that aim to decondition students from the hustle mindset and cultivate vibes of solidarity and compassion. Subscribe to listen to the whole episode, along with all of our bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

In the first of a trilogy of episodes examining the life, work, and legacy of Noam Chomsky, Justin Rogers-Cooper joins us for a discussion of Chomsky's younger years: the historical moment into which he was born, the people and ideas that surrounded him, and the formation of his political and intellectual values. In this episode we pay particular attention to the evolution of Chomsky's attitudes about war, fascism, and the state, as we trace his development from academic all-star to public dissident, from prominent researcher and theorist in the field of linguistics to outspoken critic of American foreign policy and leading figure in the American left. Our series will continue on the Nostalgia Trap subscriber feed: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

On our first episode after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, Yasmin Nair and I take a moment to consider the implications: What does this mean for a newly emboldened right? And how can the left find new strategies of resistance? We also watch a particularly brutal episode of Mad Men (S1E3, "The Marriage of Figaro"), which brings our abortion discussion back to the early 1960s and connects concepts of "privacy" to houses, neighborhoods, and bedrooms. To listen to the whole episode, and access our massive library of bonus content, become a Nostalgia Trap subscriber for just $5 a month: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Historian and writer Dan McClure returns to the Trap for a talk about his incredible new book Winter in America: A Cultural History of Neoliberalism, from the Sixties to the Reagan Revolution, which explores how the cruel economic principles we call "neoliberalism" found currency in popular culture in the years since the Vietnam War, delivering us into a nightmare world that protects capital and liquidates democracy. Check out Dan's previous appearance on Nostalgia Trap. Subscribe to the Nostalgia Trap Patreon to access our entire library of bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

On the very first episode of Record Trap, Justin Farrar joins me to lay out our mission statement for the podcast: a regular series of conversations about music, counterculture, and radical politics. What better way to kick off this project than by talking about drugs and The Beatles? The world's greatest rock band didn't just put out classic albums; they also helped introduce a whole generation to the psychedelic experience through their playful artistic engagement with LSD, marijuana, and other tools of chemical adventure. We take a trip through the 1960s to explore how four lads from Liverpool journeyed to the outer reaches of their own minds and packaged the lessons for the masses. Subscribe to the Nostalgia Trap Patreon to access all our podcasts, including Record Trap w/ Justin Farrar, Gender Trap w/ Yasmin Nair, and Campus Trap w/ Ryan Boyd: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

What makes a great teacher? In an effort to avoid becoming completely blackpilled doomers, this week Ryan and I have a conversation about our favorite teachers, from kindergarten to grad school. We try to remember the things that made us want to become teachers ourselves, and wonder if the ideas and practices of our ancient heroes can help guide us through the dark waters of today's campus. Check out Ryan's website Subscribe to Ryan's Substack Subscribe to Nostalgia Trap to access all Campus Trap episodes, along with our entire bonus library

Stories about the past form the ideological foundation of the American project. This week's guest, Alicia Puglionesi, is a historian and writer whose work often focuses on "hauntings" – both real and imagined – in our collective history. Her latest book, In Whose Ruins: Power, Possession, and the Landscapes of American Empire, explores the fake narratives and mythologies created to justify land theft, genocide, and the endless extraction of natural resources for profit. In this conversation, she explains how fundamental elements like oil, water, and atomic power were harnessed by capital through processes of historical erasure and, above all, storytelling. Subscribe to the Nostalgia Trap Patreon page to access our whole universe of bonus content, including our newest podcasts Gender Trap w/ Yasmin Nair and Campus Trap w/ Ryan Boyd: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Digital Humanities? More like Digital Hu-SHAM-ities, am I right? On this episode of Campus Trap, Ryan Boyd and I trade stories about our experiences with the digital pedagogy boom/bust cycle of the past decade or so, in which a whole generation was sold on the idea that computers would somehow make higher education better for everyone (spoiler alert: it didn't happen). So if the COVID/Zoom era finally made us understand that tech can't solve the university's problems, what's our path forward? Is there an opportunity to reclaim and repurpose the campus? Subscribe to listen to this episode and access all our bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

On this week's livestream, Justin Rogers-Cooper joins us to ponder the looming economic wreckage soon washing upon America's shores, and what that means for an already volatile political and social domestic situation. We also reflect on how "delivering the goods" is a critical piece of state power, and what that means for Democrats in a world of inflation, insane gas prices, and impending mass layoffs. Fun stuff! But don't worry, we also consider the personal/psychological elements at play here. Aside from these structural traps, are we also at the mercy of increasingly deranged individuals with unimaginable power? Subscribe to listen to the whole episode: patreon.com/posts/68029440

"What is a woman? What is a man?" Go fuck yourself! Those questions are traps! In this episode of Gender Trap, Yasmin and I talk about the right's absurd yet powerful assault on all things gender-related, and how the left's reactive, academic takes on gender hobble our ability to fight back. What would a popular left vision of gender actually look like? Because it ain't RuPaul! We also, of course, bring an episode of Mad Men (S1, E2, "Ladies Room") into the mix, as we examine how Betty and Don's fucked up 1950s nightmare marriage showcases the trap of Cold War domestic gender roles in dynamic, psychologically gory detail. Subscribe to listen to the whole episode and access our vast galaxy of bonus content, including Campus Trap w/ Ryan Boyd, Record Trap w/ Justin Farrar, and lots more: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Grace Elizabeth Hale is a professor of history and American Studies at the University of Virginia whose work focuses on race, class, and culture in the 20th century, particularly in the American South. Her latest book, Cool Town: How Athens, Georgia Launched Alternative Music and Changed American Culture tells the story of how a small college town in Georgia became a center of indie and punk culture in the 1970s and 1980s, producing major bands like the B-52s and R.E.M. while maintaining a queer D.I.Y cultural scene that's become a significant legend in the annals of American rock. What makes Athens so special? And can that magic be recreated in other places? Subscribe to access all our bonus content, including our all-new podcasts GENDER TRAP w/ Yasmin Nair and CAMPUS TRAP w/ Ryan Boyd: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

On the debut episode of Campus Trap, Ryan Boyd joins me to reflect on how much the stereotypical "college experience" has evolved since our undergraduate days, when a countercultural bacchanalia was still dominant in the popular imagination, if not in practical reality. From the world of keg-stands and bongloads to the sobering realities of 21st century academia, we trace our own paths through graduate school and into a precarious labor market that seems shakier by the minute. How did our collective vision of college transform in the neoliberal era? And now that we're professors ourselves, how do we navigate an increasingly dysfunctional society alongside our students? Listen to Campus Trap and all our bonus stuff by subscribing to the Nostalgia Trap Patreon: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Jason Vuic is a historian and writer whose books tell incredible stories about the unintended consequences of unbridled American ambition. This conversation focuses on his two latest books: The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History and The Swamp Peddlers: How Lot Sellers, Land Scammers, and Retirees Built Modern Florida and Transformed the American Dream, as we explore how the market for cars and houses creates a fertile landscape for cynical opportunism and environmental disaster. Subscribe to access our galaxy of bonus content, including the all-new CAMPUS TRAP w/ Ryan Boyd: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

How does "gossip" intersect with gender and power? If a woman "knows a secret" about a powerful man, what can she do with it? This week Yasmin and I consider gossip as an alternative social media network, bubbling under the surface of our political culture. Of course, Mad Men is a central text here, so we take a detailed look at how the show's pilot uses the concept of "gossip" to lay out the show's themes of identity, patriarchy, and public performance of self. For the full episode and access to our magnifient library of bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Carrie Conners is a poet, writer, and professor of English at LaGuardia Community College; her latest book Laugh Lines: Humor, Genre, and Political Critique in Late Twentieth Century American Poetry explores how American poets since the 1950s engage humor as a political and aesthetic tactic. In this conversation, we talk about the language games of standup comics from George Carlin to Dave Chappelle, and trace the wider shifts in poetry, comedy, and political culture since the invention of the atomic bomb. We also examine how Carrie navigates these ideas in her own poetry, with excerpts from her two excellent collections, Luscious Struggle (2020) and Species of Least Concern (2022). Subscribe to Nostalgia Trap for bonus content, including our newest podcasts GENDER TRAP w/ Yasmin Nair and CAMPUS TRAP w/ Ryan Boyd: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Daniel Chard is a professor of history at Western Washington University whose work focuses on social movements, power, and political violence. His latest book, Nixon's War at Home: The FBI, Leftist Guerillas, and the Origins of Counterterrorism explores the intersection of leftist violence and state repression in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In this conversation, Chard explains how the U.S. government's mission to stop groups like the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army fueled a dramatic expansion of state policing powers that gave birth to the age of total surveillance. Subscribe to access our library of bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Writer, musician, and fellow Wilco-head Jason P. Woodbury returns to talk with me about the 20th anniversary of the band's eerily prophetic album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Our conversation focuses on the process of making the album, as documented in the film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (dir. Sam Jones, 2002), which captures not only Wilco's particular creative agony but the wider cultural moment, a time just before 9/11, just before the Internet swallowed everything, just before all the abstract existential anxieties layered into the lyrics and atmosphere of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot became permanent fixtures of our collective reality. Check out Jason's latest single, "Wealth of the Canyon": https://soundcloud.com/jasonpwoodbury/wealth-of-the-canyon?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing And hear him playing guitar w/ Kitimoto:: https://soundcloud.com/jasonpwoodbury/sets/kitimoto-vintage-smell/s-ttZ6VuJ3Qw8?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing Subscribe to access our library of bonus content, including our all-new podcast with Yasmin Nair, Gender Trap: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

This week Justin and I talk about the idea of "fragile capitalism" in the context of the big crypto collapse, Peloton's hilarious demise, baby formula shortages, and other troubling signs of a global economy on the brink. What happens when the forces in control can't keep the lights on? To listen to the whole episode and access our excellent library of bonus content: patreon.com/posts/66310876

The impending demise of Roe v. Wade occupies our attention this week, as Yasmin narrates some key moments in the wider history of abortion politics over the last 50 years. We survey the racial and class dimensions of abortion access, reel at the scourge of liberal feminism, and gossip about the evil pro-life "Catholic socialists" lurking amongst us on the left. Most of all, though, this conversation focuses on tactics, from the relentless power-grabs of the right to the public demonstrations, mutual aid and OCCUPY experiments of the left. How do we reboot the framework of resistance? Because we're gonna need a reboot. To listen to the full episode: patreon.com/posts/gender-trap-ep-2-66230122

Gender Trap is an all-new podcast series with me (David Parsons) and Yasmin Nair attempting to move the conversation forward on gender and sexuality in politics, economics, and popular culture. In our inaugural episode, we explore the different modes of performative masculinity available to American men, from Alan Alda to Jason Momoa, explain why Mad Men will be a central text for our discussions, and offer some ideas about new ideological frameworks for navigating the trap of gender. All future episodes of Gender Trap will be available exclusively for Nostalgia Trap subscribers at patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

What else could we talk about today? Justin and I go dead alien/queer Marx on the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade leak, and reflect on the idea of "sliding back" on race and gender vs liberal narratives about the inevitable march of progress. The fascists are here. They're making their moves; we know what they want. What are OUR moves? Subscribe to listen to all our bonus content: patreon.com/posts/livestream-5-4-w-66017971

Brian Oliu is a writer and teacher whose latest book, Body Drop: Notes on Fandom and Pain in Professional Wrestling, takes an intensely personal, often brutal approach to analyzing wrestling's weird place in American culture. In this conversation, we talk about the wages of violence, gender, and capitalism in the sport itself, and in the giant corporations that control it. What's "fake"? What's "real"? Wrestling knows that it ain't so simple. Subscribe and access our library of bonus episodes: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

So is Biden gonna cancel these student loans or what? On this week's livestream, Justin and I talk about liberals fleeing Elon Musk's Twitter (lol), get into our predictions about where the student loan question is headed (the Supreme Court, probably), think about the American right's "cult of the gun," and explore the idea of a borderless world via excerpts from Thomas Paine, Noam Chomsky, and Donatella Di Cesare (with special appearances from Billy Joel and Don Draper). To listen to the whole livestream and access our entire galaxy of bonus content: patreon.com/posts/65689550

Justin Farrar's first appearance on the show was a dense journey through the history of rock music and American counterculture, and it got me thinking about (and listening to) The Doors for the first time in years. Like many of us, I grew up with Jim Morrison's iconic presence looming out from lots of different corners: posters in head shops, t-shirts worn by stoned high schoolers, the Oliver Stone movie (and attendant urban legends about Val Kilmer's eerily channeled performance), and above everything else, the weird, ubiquitous music of The Doors themselves, blasting out of oldies stations and tape decks in friends' cars. In this conversation, Justin returns to share his ideas about The Doors as both a musical act and cultural phenomenon, as we consider how the group's pulsing blues rock and dark poetry synced so magically with the apocalyptic historical moment from which it emerged. To accompany this episode, Justin has created 2 different excellent Spotify playlists: The Doors Legacy: Art Rock, Punk, Post-Punk, Goth, Alt-Rock, Experimental Songs from artists influenced by Morrison/The Doors The Doors: California Noir Songs from The Doors that capture the dark underbelly of Los Angeles Listen to the whole episode and access all our bonus content: patreon.com/posts/episode-323-red-65611155

This week Justin and I talk about the right's pedophile/masculinity obsession, from Tucker Carlson and testicle tanning to predictable election-year assaults on teachers and other liberal cucks. Is this just normal American insanity, or is something stranger going on? To listen to the whole episode and access our entire library of bonus content: patreon.com/posts/livestream-4-20-65392882

Gregory Daddis is a professor of history at San Diego State University whose work focuses on the history of the Cold War and the American war in Vietnam. His latest book, Pulp Vietnam: War and Gender in Cold War Men's Adventure Magazines, explores how hyper-violent, hyper-sexualized images of war in macho "pulp" magazines of the 1950s shaped the attitudes of young American men in the Vietnam War. In this conversation, we take a look at the industry that produced these magazines, talk about Daddis' own experiences with military service, and discuss how American culture is part of the deeply gendered and racialized landscape of war. Subscribe to access our library of bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

On this week's livestream, Justin brings us some key ideas from Chomsky, Fanon and, of course, C.L.R. James, as we ponder the questions: How do people become obedient to structures that oppress them? What conditions create solidarity? What conditions breed division? And what do The Doors have to do with any of this??!! To listen to the whole episode and access our entire catalog of bonus episodes: patreon.com/posts/livestream-4-13-65106738

This week Justin and I ask the eternal question: Does the United States' ugly record of horrific interventions in the affairs of other states undermine its claims to moral leadership? LOL of course it does! But, as we look to our Guiding Lights (Chomsky and Zinn) there's always more to the story... To hear the whole episode, join our bonus stream: patreon.com/posts/livestream-4-6-64815684

Peter Staudenmaier is a professor of history at Marquette University whose work focuses on Nazi Germany, Italian fascism, environmental history, and occultism. His latest book, Ecology Contested: Environmental Politics between Left and Right (AK Press, 2021), explores how environmental ideals circulate on both the radical right and left, and how questions of ecology fit into the landscape of conspiracy theories, hyper-nationalism, and fascism. Subscribe to our bonus feed: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Ryan Boyd returns to the Trap to talk about the unique generational experience of an analog childhood and digital adulthood. From Steely Dan on vinyl to David Foster Wallace on paper, we explore the desire to consume art in non-digital ways, and what that says about our fractured electronic existence. Full episode is here: patreon.com/posts/episode-320-west-64258531

Adam Kotsko is a theologian and culture writer who has written a number of books and essays about American pop culture. In this conversation, we discuss his books Awkwardness (2010) and Why We Love Sociopaths (2012), as we explore how shows like The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Sopranos reflect the disturbed social politics of 21st century neoliberalism. Check out our bonus content here: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Jason P. Woodbury is a musician and music writer based in the Sonoran desert. Check out his work on Aquarium Drunkard and his personal site, where you'll find lots of great stuff on music nostalgia, the vinyl world, counterculture, and lots of other favorite Trap topics. In this conversation, we talk about what we gained and lost with streaming music, the 2000s garage rock revival, the evolution of Jeff Tweedy and Wilco, the importance of developing a creative "practice," and the ever-present danger of becoming a grouchy old punk.

The Trap Livestream returns, as Justin Rogers-Cooper joins me for a live conversation about the insane wormhole we seem to be entering: Russia's invasion of Ukraine, gangster capitalism, Nazis, nuclear brinksmanship--plus the Saudis like China more than us now?! Let's get a hold of some narrative threads as the global system unravels/reorders/implodes. Full episode here: patreon.com/posts/livestream-3-15-63839534

What is "apocalypse" and is it always a bad thing? This week we talk with Aaron Thorpe of the Trillbilly Worker's Party podcast about maintaining a positive vision of the future despite all signs to the contrary. In addition to reflecting on apocalyptic fiction like Children of Men and Station Eleven, we consider how the "end of the world" shapes our vision of what's possible. Listen to the full episode here: patreon.com/posts/62904889

Ryan Boyd teaches in the Writing Program at the University of Southern California. His website collects much of his excellent writing, including a number of pieces on pedagogy and the state of higher education that we discuss in this episode. From crippling student loans and shitty mask policies to racist administrations and right-wing censorship, Ryan helps us explore what's wrong, what can be done about it, and why our beleaguered colleges and universities are such critical battlegrounds for the future. Subscribe to support the show and access our huge bonus library: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Historian Henry Maar's new book Freeze! The Grassroots Movement to Halt the Arms Race and End the Cold War examines the ways in which ordinary people confronted the horrors of nuclear war, with a specific focus on the extraordinary Nuclear Freeze campaign of the 1980s. In this conversation, Maar explains the roots of anti-nuclear activism in the United States, and tells us how Ronald Reagan's aggressive Cold War posturing (along with the nuclear apocalypse film The Day After) created an atmosphere of dread that sparked an unprecedented global movement. Subscribe to support the show and to access bonus episodes: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

The always engaging Yasmin Nair returns to continue our survey of how COVID is fucking us up on multiple channels: politically, economically, and spiritually. From liberals cheering on the deaths of the unvaxxed to celebrities spinning off into NFT land—all while the Biden administration tells us to "Google it"—things are looking pretty grim. How do we find hope in this degraded social landscape? Listen to the whole episode: patreon.com/posts/episode-314-hope-62069216

Neil Young occupies god-tier status on Nostalgia Trap, so it's no mystery who we're supporting in his fight with Spotify and Joe Rogan. But this seemed like a good opportunity to talk in more detail about the connections between art and politics, particularly in the context of "the sixties," and our friend Justin Farrar has done a lot of thinking on the subject. Justin joins us this week to talk about Young's musical and political legacy, as we consider the long arc of rock and roll, from Hank to Hendrix, Marilyn to Madonna, and try to articulate why Neil's music means more to us now than ever.

Remember when oil explained everything? Sean from the Antifada podcast joins us for a conversation about the film Syriana (2005) and the politics of oil in the 90s and 2000s. From peak oil theories and endless oil documentaries to the "No Blood for Oil" chants of the anti-Iraq War movement, we explore the history of fossil fuel's slippery place within the larger left.

Am I "queer" because I listen to Belle and Sebastian? Good question! Trap favorite KJ Shepherd joins me for a conversation about masculinity in American pop culture, and that weird line between "hipster" and "queer." Are these identities actually subversive, or are we fooling ourselves? Listen to the whole episode on our Patreon page: patreon.com/posts/episode-311-as-w-61332587

Bill Watterson's extraordinary comic strip Calvin and Hobbes made a huge cultural impact in the 80s and 90s, and remains an all-time favorite for both me and Justin. In this conversation, we talk about what makes Calvin and Hobbes so unique, how it connects to other 20th century comic projects from Peanuts to South Park, and how Watterson's one man crusade against corporate tyranny pre-figured the social politics of "selling out" in the influencer age. And we're joined this week by a very special guest, Justin's 8 year old son, Konrad, who passionately testifies to Calvin and Hobbes' enduring appeal for the youthful imagination. Subscribe for bonus episodes and movie club: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Is there a deeper, more powerful nostalgia trap than the Christmas season? In this conversation, Yasmin Nair helps me work out my mixed emotions about the holidays, as we watch the Billy Wilder movie The Apartment (1960) and consider how its dark vision of philandering married men and "other women" in mid-century New York City shows us the Christmas season as a theater of sexual pathos, performative sentiment, and relentless cynicism. Subscribe for all our bonus treats: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Our epic trilogy on the life, work, and legacy of Howard Zinn concludes with a conversation about Zinn's place in the wider history of the American left. Was Zinn a communist, an anarchist, or what? Justin Rogers-Cooper joins us in reading through some of Zinn's later work for clues, as we consider how his internationalism and pacifism figured into a global vision of socialist solidarity that holds heavy lessons for the current political moment. Full episode here: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

KJ Shepherd joins us to talk about the #FreeBritney moment and the wider phenomenon of diva worship. What makes a diva? And more importantly, how is celebrity fandom entangled with capitalism and queerness? Subscribe for access to bonus episodes and other fantastic treats: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.