Podcast
Secret Third Thing
This is a show about contemporary culture. First Things editors Virginia Aabram and Germán S. Díaz del Castillo discuss modern, online trends. Are they good, bad, or a secret third thing?
- Episodes
- 9
- Releases
- Monthly
- Typical length
- 1 hr 24 min
- On air since
- 2026
- Latest episode
- 1 week ago
Episodes
9 episodes, newest first
-
1 hr 33 min
Three TikToks in a Trench Coat (ft. Meagan O’Rourke)
Episode 9
Show notes
Further reading:
• Maegan's X account.
• "Lara Trump and Katie Miller Cite Junk Poll About Gen-Z Tradwives," by Meagan O’Rourke (Reason)
• NYU Professor Ruby Thelot -
1 hr 6 min
The Second Death of Charlie Kirk (ft. Katherine Dee)
Episode 8
Show notes
Further reading:
• "Your Phone Isn’t a Drug. It’s a Portal to the Otherworld," by Katherine Dee (New York Times)
• "The Kirkification of Our Troubled Times," by Brady Brickner-Wood (New Yorker) -
1 hr 31 min
Pope Leo's Unified Church (ft. Fr. James Martin)
Episode 7
Show notes
Further reading:
• What Happened at Vatican II by John W. O'Malley
• If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, by Eliezer Yudkowsky
• Work in Progress: Confessions of a busboy, dishwasher, caddy, usher, factory worker, bank teller, corporate tool, and priest – A Funny, Wise, and Inspiring Spiritual Memoir, by James Martin -
1 hr 20 min
Christianity Is Not a Tool (ft. Kelly Chapman)
Episode 6
-
1 hr 2 min
The Church of Claude (ft. Dan Hitchens)
Episode 5
Show notes
Further reading:
• "Magnifica Humanitas" by Leo XIV
• "AI Doesn’t Know What It’s Doing" by Thomas Fowler (First Things)
• "The Future of Reading" by Wessie Du Toit (First Things)
• "A Boomer, But An Augustinian" by Jacob Phillips (First Things)
• "The Pope Should Be Going to War Against A.I. Why Isn’t He?" by Matthew Walther (New York Times)
• If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, by Eliezer Yudkowsky -
1 hr 39 min
Conservative Culture Isn’t Real (ft. Dave Greene)
Episode 4
Show notes
Further reading:
• All of Dave Greene's essays: "Letters from Fiddler's Greene."
• Dave's YouTube channel. -
1 hr 22 min
Timothée Chalamet Is Right About Art (ft. Suzy Weiss)
Episode 3
Show notes
Further reading:
• "Timothée Chalamet & Matthew McConaughey" by Variety & CNN Town Hall.
• "The Case Against Aesthetic Castration" by Adam Lehrer (Compact).
• "Marty Supreme mirrors Timothée Chalamet’s desire" by Germán Saucedo (The Spectator)
• "It’s Over for Anthony Bourdain’s Fanboys" by Suzy Weiss (The Free Press) -
1 hr 34 min
Dimes Square: An Oral History (ft. Nick Allen)
Episode 2
Show notes
Further reading:
• "Frontier Cities" by Nick Allen (IM-1776).
• "New York’s Hottest Club Is the Catholic Church" by Julia Yost (New York Times).
• Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right by Laura K. Field.
• "The Party Politics of Sovereign House" by Emma Green (New Yorker)
• "Reconstructing the Mystical Feminine from the Ashes of the Feminine Mystique" (The Portal) -
1 hr 24 min
The Fanfiction Reckoning (ft. Veronica Clarke)
Episode 1
Show notes
Further reading:
• "The Fanfic Temptation" by Veronica Clarke.
• "The Goon Squad" by Daniel Kolitz.
• The Absolute Degeneracy of Modern Writing by The Second Story.
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