It’s taken nearly 60 years but finally I’ve accepted my nature as an introverted person, delighted to be alone. I’m no longer furtive about or ashamed of it. And the process, paradoxically, has got me slowly un-hibernating. Being alone is deprogramming in a frantic world. I can rejoin it now that I’m far more myself. Perhaps you can relate to this?

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Steve Johnson taught at the University of South Wales for many years on outward-facing, employability-focused modules, partnering with external organisations. He also led its 'Community of Engagement’ programme, enabling ground-up routes of progression. Now ‘retired’, one of his main interests still lies in finding sustainability models for community radio in Wales. He hosts the Cardiff City Phone In and Creatrium podcast series, and works with award-winning on-demand hospital radio service YYFM. We had a wide-ranging discussion about all this and more.

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The special guest for this episode of The Bite is political writer, podcaster, and all-round good guy Don McGowan. Join us as we talk about resistance and UK politics, podcasting, and whether and how to make use of the free publication platform Substack.

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Jill Ebsworth is a Canadian and Welsh poet and artist who, like many, experienced many obstacles to creativity until it started breaking free in later life. Join us as we chat about midlife creative renaissance, generational curses, and being enough.

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In this episode connected to the Five By Five Times Substack, I peek through the hole of what is unknown through the stone of the known, to explore the myths and meanings of hagstones. Read along here: https://fivebyfivetimes.substack.com/p/h-is-for-hagstone

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You’ll know the sublime actor Elizabeth Saunders from IT, Orphan Black, Schitt’s Creek, Mary Kills People, and so much more. And, most recently, from FROM. It’s a delight to have her as the first of many guests on this podcast, not least because we’ve known each other for a very long time. Join us as we chat about the 80s, why we’re not goddesses, Catherine O’Hara, and how we’re coping with diagnoses of neurodivergence later in life. Read more about the latter subject here: https://plottwistplay.substack.com/

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Why are normal people acting like norms are still the norm? Nice people need to stop expecting that not-nice people will play nicely. Read along and see relevant memes & etc here: https://takethebite.substack.com/p/disappointed-but-not-surprised

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Sometimes you keep circling back to things you’ve given up. This is true of ‘Morning Pages’ for me. I learned of them around 20 years ago by reading Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. Read along with this episode and see its images and links here: https://theacornmagazine.substack.com/p/mourning-pages

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A love song to a remarkable film. And something I didn’t say and should have: it has a superb screenplay. Read along here: https://fivebyfivetimes.substack.com/p/b-is-for-?

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A bit rambling because *tired*, but looking at how to reframe things so as not to frighten your brain, and some questions you might ask when beginning to explore and reassess your life after the plot twist of neurodivergence awareness.

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