Dara Clear

The Process Before The Prize: The Qualitative Approach to Life – Episode 106

In this episode, Dara shares the realisation that he is not goal-oriented. He is all about the process. It’s not the destination, it’s the journey, man! He argues for the stabilising properties of having a process in place and tries to understand why it is that stability appeals so much.

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Safety First! – The Benefits of Safe Places, Safe People, and a Safe You – Episode 105

In this episode Dara looks at the idea of safety as a keystone of wellness. In particular he concentrates on environmental and interpersonal safety. This pertains to the places we live and the people we share our lives with. Are they safe? How do we understand and recognise safety? And why is it so important, anyway?

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We’ve Been Waiting Such a Long Time, and It’s Still Not Here – Ireland’s Eurovision Drought – Episode 103

In this week’s episode, Dara looks at Ireland’s storied relationship with the Eurovision Song Contest, a competition in which Ireland were once utterly dominant but has long since become an arena in which they are serial losers. He recalls his own experiences of watching the event as a child and how it was a source of great national pride and fascination. Ireland was a different country then, a different entity in a very different stage of its development and one that was about to change beyond all recognition.

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May the Nerd be With You!, or Is That a Literal Lightsaber? – Episode 102

It’s been 40 years since Star Wars was the most important thing in Dara’s universe. He recalls his relationship with the original Star Wars trilogy and says why he thinks it was so successful – clean storytelling and clear characters. He argues that those two things got lost in the subsequent movies.

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Foundational Beliefs of Identity and Gender-Neutral Parenting, or How I Got Cool With Being a Girl-Father! – Episode 99

In this episode, prompted by Spike Lee’s He Got Game (1998), Dara examines his convictions as a parent, and recalls how an ill-fated Irish journalist helped him get comfortable with the idea of becoming a father to a daughter. He identifies a pillar of his parenting approach that he hopes he will manage to keep intact. He also looks at the idea of gender-neutral parenting, something he tries to adopt with his daughter.

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Curiosity, Aesthetic Engagement, and the Expression of Self as Anti-Fascist Statement – Episode 97

In this episode Dara wrangles with the purpose and direction of the podcast. He wonders if he’s doing the pod all right or all wrong. Before he makes any radical changes though, he remains clear that he doesn’t want it to be perfectly curated content that becomes bland and generic. He tries to work out who the podcast is for so he can better understand his target audience.

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