The ClearOut

It's the dawn of a new era for The Clearout as Dara hosts his first interview on the podcast.

Musician and actor Gavin McCaffrey first made money in the arts as a child performer as one of Ireland's legendary Billie Barry kids, gracing stage and screen in professional appearances. Many years later he and Dara shared a dressing room together when they were cast in Shay Healy's The Wiremen, a colourful musical about Ireland's rural electrification scheme in the 1950's.

Gavin talks about plying his trade as a professional musician and being grateful to be able to earn a living doing commercial gigs and getting to work with and learn from excellent musicians in the process. An easy flowing conversation takes in reflections on humility and success, apocryphal tales of famous actors, the collaborative give and take of making art, and integrating the life with a family and all the reponsibilities that come with that - first priority: get home from the gig alive!

Get to hear Gavin's latest track 'Boy' at the end of the show.

Gavin's website: http://www.thehumofficial.com/

Website: https://theclearout.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theclearout2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/

YouTube: The ClearOut Podcast

Email: [email protected]

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this topical episode, once he's dealt with a Hollywood actor's less than enthusiastic response to Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog, Dara gets straight into the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He discusses Putin and looks at his possible motivations for such aggression, and also considers the larger geopolitical implications of the conflict.

He tries to contextualise how people in the west have responded to the conflict, and argues that the limitations of its analysis in the popular media negatively impact our perceptions of the combatants. From there, Dara moves on to look at the word 'stakeholder' and explains why he doesn't care for it outside a business context, seeing it as manipulative, disingenuous, and evocative of Orwell's 1984.

Finally, Dara offers some counsel in relation to getting overwhelmed and unduly anxious by all the bad news in the world - controlling what and how much we consume is central to maintaining a healthy degree of wellness.

Apart from that, there's Western recommendations, Strontium Dogs, and 'mowldy' days...

Marc Maron talks to Sam Elliott: http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1309-sam-elliott

Dara's article on identity politics, featuring the use of 'stakeholder': https://theclearout.com/2021/08/30/wishing-others-away/

The ClearOut episode on the comfort of ignorance: https://shows.acast.com/theclearout/episodes/getting-comfortable-with-chickens-and-ignorance

Website: https://theclearout.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theclearout2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/

YouTube: The ClearOut Podcast

Email: [email protected]

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this deceptively positive episode, Dara is emerging from a fortnight of disruptions and disturbances that have laid him low. Over the course of the show, he examines not only the necessary compromises and recalibrations that must accompany a successful recovery, but also the contradictions that can occur in normally reliable wellness strategies.

He discusses the cartography of our inner world and argues for the strength to be gained from pursuing a deep knowledge of one's emotional and psychological terrain. That strength derives from self-knowledge and self-understanding empowering one to negotiate these varied landscapes with greater success.

He looks at the perspective-giving benefits of removing oneself from the centre of the frame and introduces the idea of a significance scale that can remind us of a healthful anonymity. This also involves recognising the positive aspects of making your world smaller.

Finally, Dara reflects on the current construction of his own life and talks about how he has consciously tried to build something around the things that keep him well. Maintaining the belief in what he has chosen requires tremendous focus, discipline and faith.

Bonus material this week is a charming children's poem that is recited to the background noise of hysterical chickens overreacting to the resident dog at Hashtag Blessed. You couldn't make it up!

Website: https://theclearout.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theclearout2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/

YouTube: The ClearOut Podcast

Email: [email protected]

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode is all about getting rid of the bad stuff in your life, and it starts with having a good old vomit! Having had that unpleasant experience recently, Dara decides to hang this episode's theme around the body's singularity of purpose when expelling something evil from the gut.

He foregrounds the discussion with a scattergun look at poison and how it speaks to a primal dread in us. Poison is looked at in the world of reptiles, historical figures, literature, songs, and of course, movies - fancy a bite of Snow White's shiny red apple, anyone?

The second half of the episode looks at poisonous or toxic elements in our lives and how they can feature centrally in our emotional and psychological landscapes. Dara argues that, like poison, they infiltrate and invade our sense of wellness and peace, and that perhaps they should be removed with the same emetic violence that the body deploys to expel gut-based invaders.

Also, but not only, blocked drains, suspect dinners, and last minute deliveries!

Website: https://theclearout.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theclearout2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/

YouTube: The ClearOut Podcast

Email: [email protected]

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Dara looks at defiance as a central attitude and strategy of wellness. Understanding defiance as an expression of personal conviction allows it to be utilised in the service of personal autonomy. It can inform and be informed by one's certitude, but that certitude is best deployed with an understanding of imperfection and flexibility.

Also discussed is the idea of ownership and authorship of self and narrative. Using Roland Barthes' theory of the Death of the Author, Dara asks whether the self can be understood as a text, and if so, what happens when we present ourselves to the world? How are we interpreted and understood, and what is the impact on our agency?

Conformity and convention are also considered, and an argument is made for the power of stepping outside the tide of consensus without embracing contrarianism for contrarianism's sake.

There is also the discomfort of being forward-facing, the attraction of anonymity, and contrived aesthetics!

Website: https://theclearout.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theclearout2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/

YouTube: The ClearOut Podcast

Email: [email protected]

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Dara starts off by looking at our need for light and also our desire for novelty. These ideas are both connected to how we are visual creatures and how the internet has capitalised immeasurably on this aspect of human behaviour.

Celine Sciamma's brilliant film Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a film very much concerned with the power of seeing, is discussed in this context, but also prompts an exploration of female sexuality, and specifically lesbian sexuality, as presented in film. In extending the scope of the discussion, Dara refers to other films and looks at the difference between male-directed and female-directed sex and intimacy. Power, male desire, and female objectification are central to the differences found.

Staying with the theme of watching, subjective viewpoint is raised as a key mechanism of worldbuilding and our relationship with both reality and ourelves. When that reality is compromised, do we lose sight of ourselves?

Also, Martian interviews and self-sabotaging the podcast with topics too bleak to be tolerated!

Ep24 of The ClearOut (related): https://shows.acast.com/theclearout/episodes/the-fallible-smotherboard-and-the-fear-of-being-seen

Celine Sciamma Vox interview: https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/2/19/21137213/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire-celine-sciamma-interview

Billy Connolly interview on Adam Buxton's podcast: https://www.adam-buxton.co.uk/podcasts/13

Website: https://theclearout.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theclearout2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/

YouTube: The ClearOut Podcast

Email: [email protected]

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Dara delves into the places we carry and store our pain. He looks at how unaddressed wounds can wield a disproportionate amount of power over us and how that relates to our fear of uncomfortable places.

He wonders if how different generations have evolved with access to different vocabulary and frames of reference for emotional and psychological wellbeing has shaped their resilience and toughness differently. He uses 'Snowflake' culture to refract this theory.

He discusses the usefulness of reconditioning our memories to help us better manage our traumas and the benefits of self-knowledge and self-possession in exercising more control over our power and agency.

Finally, the question of subjectivity versus objectivity is raised in the context of survival and self-care. Dara argues that greater understanding of our subjective reality can boost our wellness and resilience, and make us less vulnerable to the subjectivity of others.

theClearOut.com article on natural behaviour and trauma: https://theclearout.com/2016/10/10/its-only-natural/

Website: https://theclearout.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theclearout2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/

YouTube: The ClearOut Podcast

Email: [email protected]

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I want to write this week's information in the first person because I want to unequivocally own all the ideas and opinions expressed in the episode. As a response to the murder of a young Irish woman in Ireland last week, I discuss at considerable length the topic of male violence against women as an expression of broken masculinity, and I offer a defence of my experience of masculinity.

I also look at the discourse that has arisen in the aftermath of the murder, and how in my opinion, in spite of the justified outrage and intense emotionality of the reactions of both men and women, there has been insufficient nuance brought to bear on the discussion. I look at how male crisis can express itself either as self-directed violence or else as violence towards others. And I make a case for greater empathy for male suffering and argue for more collective responsibility in society from anyone who cares about the issue of both traumatised masculinity and the victimisation of women and all vulnerable members of society.

Disclaimer: I won't have covered every single aspect of this, and the aspects I did look at won't have been covered comprehensively. There will be oversights and blind spots, but I think I have avoided being tone deaf. I hope it is clear I spoke from a desire for an improved dialogue around masculinity and how to help women feel safer.

Thank you,

Dara

2019 article on why men are more violent than women from the New York Post: https://nypost.com/2019/01/16/the-scientific-reasons-why-men-are-more-violent-than-women/

2014 article on male aggression from Psychology Ireland: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ie/blog/homo-aggressivus/201409/male-aggression

Website: https://theclearout.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theclearout2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/

YouTube: The ClearOut Podcast

Email: [email protected]

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, Dara is very much focused on zones and spaces - not physical ones, but experiential ones. He argues that we are always entering and taking our leave of different states of mind and emotion and how we behave in different spaces depends on where we are at in ourselves at any given time.

He looks at how the human brain recognises different zones of behaviour and interaction and at how those zones can be made toxic and dangerous by people who betray the understood rules of engagement that are fundamental to everyday human transactions.

He discusses different stages of life in terms of growth and maturation and the rites of passage that may attend them with the resultant change in status. Dara asks if we might not benefit from observing and acknowledging our changing states in a demonstrated and formal way. He also talks about liminal zones and the vulnerability of being in a transitionary stage.

Finally, he concludes with a few thoughts for a recently bereaved mother and wonders what changes we have to make as a society to help prevent similar future anguish.

Website: https://theclearout.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theclearout2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/

YouTube: The ClearOut Podcast

Email: [email protected]

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the podcast Dara has a good look at why the arrival of a new year makes us feel change is both possible and something to which we have all been conditioned. He argues that we shouldn't have to wait a whole year before we try to effect change in our lives.

He discusses his own relationship with recording time through an almost lifelong diary-keeping habit - a habit that has been frustrated this January. Dara reveals his own goal for change this year and accepts that it is no small task. He makes clear that he does not wish to achieve happiness, merely evolution.

There is time at the end for a quick discussion of the sci-fi movie Soylent Green, which made a dire prediction of what 2022 would bring. Thankfully, that particular vision has not come to pass.

Happy New Year everybody!

Website: https://theclearout.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theclearout2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/

YouTube: The ClearOut Podcast

Email: [email protected]

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.