Last week, I have announced at Patreon that I’m moving the operation to Substack.

I gave every Patron a complimentary subscription for the first month. If you’re reading this, chances are you are such a person, with a comp that will run out on July 2. At that date, you will have to decide if you want to continue getting subscriber-only posts for $7/month or $70/year. I hope the things you’ll see in this first month will convince you to stay.

Some of you have already made up your mind. I see that several hundred people have switched to a paid option and made the first payment. Many have chosen an annual rather than a monthly subscription, which is cheaper for you and costs less in transaction fees for us. Some people have opted for a “founding member” plan, which allows you to pay a custom, bigger amount. All of this is deeply appreciated.

This post is the first TGS episode published through Substack. It’s my conversation with noted philosopher and public intellectual Cornel West and philosopher Teodros Kiros.

We discuss their book, Conversations with Cornel West. Along the way we engage vigorously with one another on themes of religion, politics, aesthetics, identity, and nationalism. We find many points of agreement. It is a rich and intensive exchange.

Some timestamps:

0:00 Teodros's new book, Conversations with Cornel West

1:04 Cornel offers spiritual counsel to Glenn

11:06 Between commercialization and democratic decay

20:52 Glenn: “The glass is way more than half-full” for Black Americans

29:26 The centrality of Black music to Black experience

36:03 Cornel’s Chekhovian Christianity

43:40 What system, if any, can replace American capitalism?

56:42 The meaning of 1776

Notice that this post doubles as a podcast episode.

To subscribe to the RSS feed in your podcast app, click on the "listen in podcast app" link in the audio player, which will generate a private RSS for you, or you can access it from your account settings. There, you’ll need to click on a link called "Set up your podcast app."

Please, let me know in the comments if the new system is working, and if you have any questions or requests.

I’m looking forward to experimenting with different kinds of content, paid and unpaid, here at Substack.

I’m excited to embark on this new chapter with you!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe