This is not a normal episode of The Shift. The camera is fine. Mark is fine. But the chair is flipped.

Season 2 opens with a special episode in the tradition of last season's two-part ”How I Became the Professional Storyteller” series with Araya Baker, in which Mark sits in the guest chair while someone else asks the questions. This time, there was only one person he wanted to do the asking. It’s only fitting that season 2 concludes with the person who helped kick off the season, Darnell Lamont Walker. 

Darnell is a writer, death doula, Emmy-nominated creator, founder of Passport Required, and one of the most quietly essential voices in contemporary American storytelling — who came to this podcast as a guest and left as a new friend. A new friend who showed up to Mark's birthday party. A friend, Mark, slid into the DMs respectfully after seeing Darnell's book announcement and knew immediately he had to be on the show. A friend whose book Mark has texted about to what sounds like dozens of people.

Darnell interviews Mark the way a death doula would, not with softballs, but with the questions that only make sense when you've already thought about the end. What story about your life do you hope survives you? What parts of yourself no longer feel important? What are you still becoming? What has disability taught you about time?

What follows is one of the most intimate and revealing conversations Mark has had on his own show. About audacity as a survival strategy. About the freedom of no longer needing to prove people wrong. About representation and what it means to be the possibility model you never had. About grief, loss, and the Billy Porter song about time. About love and why you can't project-manage it. About crip time. About the lunch ladies at his university who pretended to swipe his student card when he didn't have enough meal swipes, and how he has tried to be Ms. Ebony to everyone he meets ever since.

Order Darnell's book. It's called Never Can Say Goodbye: The Life of a Death Doula and the Art of a Peaceful End. Mark's been telling everyone about it. Now you know why.

Guest Host Bio:

Darnell Lamont Walker is a death doula, Emmy-nominated children’s television writer, producer, and explorer. Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, he creates spaces worldwide for healing through storytelling, end-of-life care, and workshops on grief, resilience, unlocking the writer within, and radical empathy. He joyfully lives in the Chattahoochee National Forest of North Georgia.

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Order Darnell’s Book: Never Can Say Goodbye

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Disclaimer Note: The captions in this video are auto-generated, and while we try to ensure accuracy, you may notice a typo or error. Thank you in advance for extending grace.