Hoorf! Radical Care in a Late-Capitalist Heckscape

Send us Fan Mail Chronically ill and dynamically disabled business owner and copywriter Darci Ellenberger joins us this episode for a conversation about running a solo-business while disabled. The thing is, managing a chronic illness or a dynamic disability is already full-time job. With at least 25% of the U.S. population self-reporting some kind of disability, and millions more reporting some le...

Send us Fan Mail Nat Cummings has been doing cosplay for half their life. From appearing at C2E2 as Fiona from Adventure Time in 2016, to creating a themed mini-collection for their fashion class at Whitney Young Magnet High School, Nat has taken their love for costumes and clothing to bold new realms. In this episode, Nat joins Elle to talk about their internship at the Chicago Public Library Tee...

Send us Fan Mail Our personal and brand stories are powerful tools to connect with others, and marketing in the last several years has exploded with story-based strategies for everyone from solopreneurs to huge corporations. Max Kringen, the founder of a Fargo-based story-driven creative studio, joins Elle to talk about the power of story not just for a marketing edge, but for its ability to foste...

Send us Fan Mail Everywhere you look, “Wine Mom” and other alcohol-adjacent identity branding hits us in the face, marketed specifically to women and femmes as a way to unwind and cope with the ever-increasing demands of contemporary life. In this episode of Hoorf!, Elle chats with Kristy Sarausky, a grey-area drinking recovery coach, about grey-area drinking— that nebulous space between sobriety...

Send us Fan Mail Dancer, choreographer, and documentary filmmaker Dan Watt joins Elle for the first episode of March, which is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. He is eager to share his film Everybody Dance, which follows a group of diverse dancers with various disabilities as they prepare for a recital with an inclusive dance studio, Ballet For All Kids. Dan, who is not disabled, and El...

Send us Fan Mail Content note: this episode contains swearing, and is a frank discussion about death, directed death, and medically assisted dying. We encourage our listeners to exercise care while listening to this episode. Toronto-based disability advocate and real-life disabled icon Andrew Gurza returns to Hoorf for their second appearance in this heavy-hitting episode. Andrew and Elle share a...

Send us Fan Mail Content Note: this episode contains swearing Griot Goods owner and exuberant plant nerd Curly Dacs joins Elle for an upbeat episode, where Curly shares some wisdom from the potting bench: people are really just complicated plants. Plant parents of all skill levels (and no skill level at all!) will want to hear what she has to say, so dig into this conversation, forgive yourself fo...

Send us Fan Mail Dextra Hoffman’s talent as a portrait artist first captured Elle’s attention when Dex posted a WiP (work in progress) of Kate McKinnon as Holtzmann on Facebook. Elle quickly procured the portrait (which now hangs in their bedroom), spent a Comic Con with Dextra, and asked their brilliant friend to come on the podcast with the hopes that she would share the story of her grandpa and...

Send us Fan Mail Content Note: this episode contains some swears and discusses the occupation of Palestine Hoorf! Podcast co-producers Elle Billing and Ricki Cummings sit down for a long winter’s chat over the holidays. On their minds: the season of Advent, the occupation of Palestine, and their ache for a something better in the world. Join them for the final episode of 2023 as they light a candl...

Send us Fan Mail Content Note: discussions of parental illness and death; mention of su* ideation, discussion of depression and alcohol abuse. Our host Elle and this episode’s guest Nick Josten have known each other since sharing the improv stage in university. Since that time, Nick has lived in Japan, performed stand-up in Reno, and co-starred in an independent film. During their conversation, he...

Send us Fan Mail Content Note: this episode contains descriptions of a child's coming out from the perspective of a parent, who is candid about her own homophobia. This story is shared with the consent of the (now adult) child, but some of the parent's early conceptions of the queer community are admittedly uneducated.  In this episode, Elle shares an earnest conversation with Jen Blair,...

Send us Fan Mail Austin Foudy is an emerging artist in Boise, Idaho. In this interview, he and Elle exchange some vulnerable truths about living with big feelings, their experiences with alcohol and sobriety, and how painting has given each of them the space to move through their emotions with intention and create something that resonates with others. Subscribe to Hoorf! Radical Care in a Late Cap...

Send us Fan Mail Content note: this episode contains swearing. Karina Blackheart is The Crone Herself — a Women’s Leadership and Whole Life Evolution Priestess. Her spiritual imperative is to live exactly as she desires while guiding others to liberate their own truth, purpose and power. She joins Elle this episode to talk about Big Crone Energy, the joys of getting old and giving zero f***s, and...

Send us Fan Mail Join host Elle Billing as Hoorf! podcast launches its second season with a special two-part episode recorded on a visit to Idaho, where she connected with guest Brandon Connolly. In part one, Brandon shares his experience as an LGBTQ+ community organizer and activist in the state of Idaho, and how he integrates the essentials of self- and community-care into the seemingly daunting...

Send us Fan Mail  Join host Elle Billing as Hoorf! podcast launches its second season with a special two-part episode recorded on a visit to Idaho, where she connected with guest Brandon Connolly. In part two, Brandon illustrates how his life as an amputee leads to frequent encounters with ableism and inaccessibility, as well as his efforts to address the accessibility of the local Pride festival....

Send us Fan Mail We did it! Sixteen episodes, twelve guests, one dog. It’s time for a summer recess. But first, several months and over a dozen episodes wiser, Elle caps off Season 1 with a kind of epilogue in a style similar to how we started, a bit of an audio essay. The State of Hoorf, but less formal, perhaps more rambly, but definitely more gratifying for those of us who enjoy discussing disa...

Send us Fan Mail In this season’s penultimate episode, Elle interviews her younger sister Katrina about growing up autistic and undiagnosed, and how learning to navigate both their neurodivergences and their mental health has facilitated a relationship that wasn’t possible 20 years ago. Elle and Katrina have been described as “exactly the same but totally different” as well as “the day version and...

Send us Fan Mail A recent survey by the ASPCA found that 23 million American families brought home a new pet during the “height” of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media feeds – and let’s be real, our family and friend group chats! – are filled with everyone’s pandemic furbabies. Elle and her deaf dog Winkie came together prior to the first lockdowns of 2020, but like many human-animal companionship...

Send us Fan Mail Who is in charge of the game? Join Elle and her guest, board game reviewer and game show host Nicholas Leeman, for a conversation about what makes a game. Nicholas groks games; Elle is easily overwhelmed by complex gameplay. Instead of an odd-couple episode, we talk instead about how much control we have over our experiences, what it takes to win, and the roles we take on in colle...

Send us Fan Mail The museum is on fire! You only have a few seconds to save a few priceless works of art– what do you grab? Artist and teacher Connie Solera loves what she loves. And she teaches by that example. What we choose to save from the museum – and by extension what we choose to paint, compose, sculpt, write, create – offers insight into our inner worlds. Connie and Elle share an earnest,...

Send us Fan Mail CN: discussion of substance use, alcohol dependency, and recovery; experiences with homophobia. Elle’s long-time friend Karl Dulitz joins the ‘cast this episode to dig into some tender topics. In between the musings about getting old, Karl offers a candid account of his journey through alcohol dependency and the frustrations of accessing treatment, leaning into creative practices...

Send us Fan Mail CN: this episode contains content of a sexual nature, swearing, and poop talk Award-winning disability consultant and potato-chip enthusiast Andrew Gurza joins Elle for her most raucous interview yet. It’s an action-packed episode, touching on their dreams of disability-centered cooking shows, the tensions of caregiving and care-receiving, the ableism of queer spaces, and that tim...

Send us Fan Mail Seasoned podcaster (and longtime friend) Patrick Farnsworth joins Elle for a frank discussion on caring in the age of ecological crisis. After 300 episodes of his podcast, Patrick muses on holding multiple truths at once: the realistic urgency of the present times, and the human need for slowness, connection, care, and hope?  Subscribe to Hoorf! Radical Care in a Late Capitalist H...

Send us Fan Mail CN: this episode contains swearing. Here at Hoorf!, we don’t hustle. Book challenges are not designed for the way our brains and bodies function, so our New Year/New(ish) Books Special Episode offers a spoonie-sized recap of our fav reads from 2022, and a forecast of our TBR stack for 2023. Elle and Ricki manage to squeeze in a decent array of genre: art, manga, religion, fiction,...

Send us Fan Mail As our bodyminds change, so too do our routines and creative practices. Elle sits down with guest Isabel Abbott to talk burnout, silence, plant care, and carving out small pockets of joy to nurture ourselves. Join in as these two spoonies share a heartfelt laugh over their affinity for a good complaining session with fellow disabled folks. Nothing quite compares to the camaraderie...