Sesame and Lilies

Episode Nine: David Albertson and Jason Blakely

Sesame and Lilies — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 23:01:37 GMT

We spent an hour and a half talking to David Albertson and Jason Blakely about their new book Utopia for Our Century: A Manifesto of Hope, for which both of us—both Sesame and Lily—contributed endorsements. It is a book very much prompted by the political, social, and spiritual moment in which we find ourselves, but it is also a kind of manifesto of per…

Before Albertson and Blakely

Sesame and Lilies — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 22:03:15 GMT

Tomorrow, the two of us—Sesame and Lily—will be talking to David Albertson and Jason Blakely about their new book Utopia for Our Century: A Manifesto of Hope. As ever, we are releasing a preliminary bit of chatter between the two of us, touching lightly upon tomorrow’s interview, but mostly taking stock of the current state of things, weighing it in the balance, and finding it wanting. We discuss the sad story of Jason Arday, the current political situation, the disappointing quality of today’s political scandals, blue books, surgery, the failure of perfect beauty and perfect moral goodness to establish any stable relationship between themselves, Ross Douthat’s odd estimate of the relative proportions of evil on left and right, 60 Minutes, time and tide, tide and time, POTUS and Natalie and First Love, and many things beside.

Episode Eight: Tom Holland

Sesame and Lilies — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 23:29:59 GMT

This month, our guest is the wise, witty, and mercurial Tom Holland, historian, novelist, podcaster, and raconteur. The conversation ranged not necessarily widely, but at least nimbly. We discussed his work, with a special emphasis on his book Dominion, which concerns the history of Christianity and its effects on the formation of Western culture, of mo…

Tom Holland's School Days

Sesame and Lilies — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 22:54:30 GMT

Tomorrow, deo volente, we shall record a conversation with Tom Holland, despite having discovered at the last moment that he is not, in fact, the fellow who plays Spider-Man or Telemachus, but rather the distinguished British historian. As is our wont, we have recorded some idle banter on the Vorabend. Our topics, as ever, were no better organized than our wandering wits. We discussed, among other things, J. D. Vance’s recent “memoir” of his “conversion” to “Catholic” “Christianity”, Integralism, Christian Nationalism, Post-Liberal Orderlies, J. D. Vance’s natural resemblance to the demonic titan at the end of Ghostbusters, the mystery of American white Evangelicalism, the Great Library of Alexandria, the World Cup, the utter spiritual vacuity of J. D. Vance, J. D. Vance’s blood-and-soil resentments, Rhode Island’s ethnic mix, Tom Holland (not the historian, the actor who plays Spider-Man), and Tom Holland (not the actor who plays Spider-Man, the historian), and much much more.

An Interim Posting

Sesame and Lilies — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 23:35:59 GMT

Due to certain shifts in various schedules, our conversation with Tom Holland (the historian, not Spider Man) will appear later in July; but we thought we should catch up in the interval, with one another and with the circumstanding world. Our conversation ranged far and wide, covering such topics as our deplorable indolence, Gene’s forthcoming book Automated Vistas, Thomism, the nature of capitalism, Rad-Trad-Catholicism, cannabis as opposed to bourbon, bourbon as opposed to cannabis, the misnomer “post-industrial”, Greeks, Nigerian Greeks, Kenyan Greek Demigoddesses, Homer, Helen of Troy, the infinitely repellant J. D. Vance, Vance’s ingenuity in finding his way to Catholicism while scrupulously avoiding any contact with Christianity, the hyenas of Brideshead Revisited, why so many culture warriors are so uncultured, why so many self-appointed champions of Western Civilization are so eerily ignorant of Western Civilization, Lupita N’yongo’s entrancing smile, ethno-nationalism, the Kalevala, the nature of myth, why DBH blew his stack or flipped his wig or lost his cool at Jonathan Pageau, THC, the unbearable lightweightness of Jonathan Pageau’s mind, racism, cosmopolitanism, and much much much more…

Episode Seven: China Miéville

Sesame and Lilies — Thu, 28 May 2026 23:18:12 GMT

We had a long conversation with China Miéville—novelist, ailurophile, essayist, historian, editor at the journal Salvage, political thinker, and extraordinarily affable soul—that was a thorough delight for us from start to finish. We began with a discussion of China’s latest novel, The Rouse, which officially arrives on 15 September and which he has cha…

A Slow Boat to China

Sesame and Lilies — Wed, 27 May 2026 22:22:42 GMT

Tomorrow, we shall conduct a conversation with the always delightful China Miéville—novelist, essayist, historian, an editor of Salvage, scholar of Marxism, provocateur (in a distinctly amiable way), and generally good soul. Here, as we always do, we have recorded a preliminary conversation between ourselves, touching upon our upcoming guest, but also upon whatever crossed our rapidly aging minds. Topics included the Republican primaries in Texas, the curiously explicit alignment between the new right and sexual predators, Marx, materialism, ideology, Magnifica humanitas, AI, transhumanism, Marxist accelerationists, Little Richard, Hegel, cashiered bishops, why one of us (DBH) would probably be a bad pope, and Have Gun, Will Travel.

Episode Six: Phil Christman

Sesame and Lilies — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 01:11:47 GMT

We spent an hour and a half in conversation with Phil Christman—essayist, cultural critic, Christian socialist (or some kind of leftist), tortured soul, lecturer in the writing program of the University of Michigan, and much else beside—and enjoyed ourselves immensely. We started with matters political and religious and ended with matters literary, find…

On the Road to Christman

Sesame and Lilies — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 23:36:35 GMT

In a couple days’ time, we will be interviewing Phil Christman, if we can lure him out of his lair with carrots, candy, and blandishments. He is elusive, admittedly, but his appetites are his singular weakness. We discuss him for a few moments here but, as is our wont, we let the conversation take its own course. Most of the topics we addressed concern the current state of the world, the grief of the Orbánistas, mad journalists (well, one at least), herpetology, dipsomaniacal directors of the FBI (well, one at any rate), Pete Townshend’s love of God, and many other things beside.

Episode Five: Ray Minniecon

Sesame and Lilies — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 16:03:08 GMT

Ray Minniecon is a pastor and elder Indigenous statesman, and is a descendant of the Kabi Kabi nation and the Gurang Gurang nation of South-East Queensland, as well as of the South Sea Islander people of Ambrym Island. He graduated in Arts from Murdoch University, Western Australia and since has been a distinguished local and international Indigenous l…

Before Minniecon

Sesame and Lilies — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 23:02:35 GMT

In a day or so, we shall post our conversation with Ray Minniecon—pastor, elder Indigenous statesman, scion of the Kabi Kabi and Gurang Gurang Nations of South-East Queensland, theologian, and many other things beside—who will join us from Sydney. As is our habit, we are posting a brief conversation between ourselves beforehand, only lightly touching on the forthcoming interview. Our principal topics, expressed in halting speech and with hooded eyes full of despair, are such matter as war, Peter Thiel’s lectures on the antichrist, post-humanism, global economic collapse, and the politically neglected Trump base of anthropophagous voters.

Episode Four: Richard Seymour

Sesame and Lilies — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:42:54 GMT

We conducted an interview with the writer, editor, and political theorist (as well as all-around thinker on things both grave and gladsome) Richard Seymour. It began with a fascinating description by Seymour of his intellectual biography, his movement away from a certain kind of Marxist materialism in the direction of both a more reflectively idealist v…

Before Seymour

Sesame and Lilies — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 01:45:49 GMT

In a few days, we shall interview Richard Seymour, writer, controversialist, editor, political commentator, interpreter of Marxism, homme de gauche, and a good many other things. As is our wont, we have recorded an exordial conversation between the two of us, touching only glancingly on what is to come when we talk on Seymour, and focusing instead on the general state of things as they depressingly are at present.

Episode Three: Rupert Sheldrake

Sesame and Lilies — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 21:48:06 GMT

Rupert Sheldrake has had a long career in the sciences and almost as long a career in provoking indignant reactions from dogmatic materialists and physicalist reductionists, principally in the life sciences. He has been a consistent critic of mechanistic models of nature for many decades, but always within the bounds of experimental discipline. Much of his work and thinking has concerned the enigmas of “memory”—taking that word in a very broad acceptation—not only within conscious life, but also within the structure of all self-organizing natural systems. A great deal of his intellectual development has also, however, had a distinctly spiritual dimension, beginning with his own “conversion” (so to speak) from a materialist vision of reality to one open to the transcendent, and taking him, by way of Indian religious thought and philosophy, back to Christianity (with a bit of guidance from Bede Griffiths).

He has a Substack publication of his own, entitled (obscurely enough) Rupert Sheldrake.

The conversation was delightful.

Before Sheldrake

Sesame and Lilies — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 22:12:36 GMT

In a few days time, we shall record an interview with Rupert Sheldrake, who for decades now has been asking whether certain of the paradigms that the sciences conventionally obey do not often force us to discount evidence that ought not to be ignored and to avoid speculations that ought to be ventured. If this were merely a matter of playing the persist…

Episode Two: John Milbank

Sesame and Lilies — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 23:02:51 GMT

John Milbank joined us from Nottingham. Never a slave to fashion, John eschews needlessly fast WiFi speeds, so excuse the quality of the video. His voice is clarion clear, but his visage a little cloudy. It scarcely matters. The conversation was one of great substance, occasional levity, and considerable energy, and it was a delight to spend 90 minutes …

On the Eve of Milbank

Sesame and Lilies — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 01:29:38 GMT

Tomorrow, we shall record our conversation with the wise and wizened Alasdair John Milbank, famed in song, story, and bawdy anecdote. This is merely a kind of preface, adumbrating the topics we wish to raise with John, but also dashing off on certain obliquely relevant tangents: Alasdair MacIntyre, Prime Matters, the notorious R.O.D. (Dreher, that is), …

Announcement for the Next Interview

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 17:51:27 GMT

Just an advance notice (or warning): The next interview to appear on Sesame and Lilies will be with the mercurial—or, better, puckish—John Milbank. Barring unforeseen delays, it will be posted in two weeks’ time. The topics will be philosophical, theological, political, and (if things go as we hope they might) culinary.

Episode One: Tara Isabella Burton

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 17:03:21 GMT

Welcome friends! Our first guest on Sesame and Lilies is Tara Isabella Burton. Tara is a novelist, historian, and cultural critic, and is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Catholic University of America. She is the author of Social Creature (2018), Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World (2020), The World Cannot Give (2022), Self-Made…

A Correction, and an Announcement.

Sesame and Lilies — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 23:09:36 GMT

Sorry, friends, but we have a correction to make — a subscription to Sesame and Lilies will be $5 a month, not $3 as we’d posted originally. Substack’s rules — no subscriptions for less than $5 a month.

In happier news, on Friday, November 14, we’ll post our first interview, with the novelist, historian, and cultural critic Tara Isabella Burton. It was an easy-going and illuminating conversation. Subscribe and see it!