The Pebble Girl: Interview with Author, Artist, and Abuse Survivor, Aisling Creegan Part 1 – Episode 58
Dara presents the first of two parts of an in-depth interview with author, artist, and abuse survivor, Aisling Creegan.
Why Idealism Matters and the Proximity Principle of Enmity – Episode 57
Dara begins this week’s episode by looking at the Irish discomfort with self-approval and putting it in the context of small-island, village mentality. He argues that it is a product of a damaged national psyche that leaves many Irish people with a pathological self-deprecation born of superstition and distrust of success.
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The Art of Disarming Oneself, or How to Live with Defences Down – Episode 56
In this week’s episode Dara reflects on a week in recovery from Covid and realises he enjoyed dropping down to his slowest gear. It prompts him to think about the benefits of living with one’s defences down. He argues that it makes us more receptive and more capable of seeing positive things in the world.
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Barbaric Yawps and Righteous Howls – Cries from the American Poetic Heart -Episode 55
Compromised by a cold-induced fogginess of brain which precludes his normal freestyling approach, Dara decides to recite some American poetry from the Confessional School, and cautiously takes on Allen Ginsberg’s Howl as the closing piece of this verse-drenched episode.
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Blazing Baby Blues and a Killer’s Grin – Saying Goodbye to Ray Liotta – Episode 54
Dara kicks off this episode with a revelation from his daughter, follows it with a plant the size of three Manhattan islands, and then discusses a black actress getting hate online after appearing in a new Star Wars tv series.
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The 1st Birthday Episode! – Receiving Transmissions of Joy – Episode 53
In this episode Dara is very pleased to be celebrating a year of The ClearOut. He revisits the last twelve months and talks about some of the other ways he was spending his time.
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Dispensable White Men, or Who’s Coming to Replace Me? – Episode 52
In this episode Dara thought he was going to keep it light and stay firmly in the positive psychology territory of inspirational quotes and personal motivation, but he ended up being led by the recent mass shooting in Buffalo to look at the ideologies of hate and division that are currently enjoying a disturbing level of popularity amongst certain demographics.
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Stepping into the Breach, or The Quandary of Heroes – Episode 51
In this episode Dara is thrust back to his childhood by a concert of John Williams music, and specifically the music of the Star Wars films. That event, and his recent watching of Matt Reeves’s The Batman, gets him thinking about fictional heroes and what role they fulfil in our lives, and why in his late forties he is still happy to consume these heroic tales.
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Conscience and the Stand Against Puritanism, or The Journey from Dip-Dabs to Hitler – Episode 50
Episode 50 is here and we’re going long! It is an absolute whopper of big ideas and small confessions. Dara informs on himself and his lifelong relationship to sugar and how a recent flashpoint with his daughter raised for him ideas relating to addiction and puritanism and the absurdity of righteousness.
Life Above and Below the Surface, or Listening to the Deep Respondent Self – Episode 49
In this mental health-focused episode, Dara reflects on a recent spell of bad form and speaks openly about some of the personal trickiness he has faced over the last couple of years. He talks about his marriage and his skirmishes with depression and presents an argument for being okay with a range of emotions and perceptions that are conventionally considered to be negative.
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