Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Sophia Hembeck
0 Plays2 seconds ago
Sophia Hembeck is a bilingual writer and artist based in Edinburgh. She has published three books (Things I Have Noticed, 2020 & Things I Have Loved, 2023 & Thiings That Are Different Now, 2025) which are compromised of her essays and short prose as well as artwork that she specifically created for the books. They are part of her poetic-memoir trilogy." She’s a fierce advocate for literary essays and teaches essay writing classes for writers of all levels.
You can buy her books here.
Instagram: @sophiahembeck
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of Podcast and Hosts
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to Something Rather Than Nothing. Creator and host, Ken Valente. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer.
00:00:16
Speaker
This
Sophia Hembeck's Background and Topics
00:00:17
Speaker
is Henry Lottner with something rather than nothing podcast and I'm really excited. have Sophia Hembeck here um from Scotland, originally from Germany, but I'm going to talk podcast philosophy writing. I know you love talking about writing, just wanted to welcome you to the show.
00:00:40
Speaker
Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm very excited. Great opportunity. Thanks for taking the time. I've had so many great... dynamic writers on my show, so I feel real blessed. I've spoken to Al Cash a couple of times. um I have local Pacific Northwest writers like with an energy and like a verb that like you know um talking about writing, being excited about talking about writing, talking philosophy, talking change, which you do.
00:01:19
Speaker
But before we drop fully into the writing, ah I get kind of excited when somebody starts a new podcast. I was excited see that you had of the things change.
00:01:32
Speaker
And
Inspiration Behind 'Things Change' Podcast
00:01:33
Speaker
so just out of curiosity, what it's been like for you starting the podcast, having these conversations with great authors? Yeah, it was basically, to be honest, a quite kind of selfish um thing because I just, when I was writing my book, Things That Are Different Now, I was obviously thinking a lot about change because the book is about change.
00:01:58
Speaker
And while
Reflections on Podcast's First Season
00:01:59
Speaker
I was writing it, I genuinely was like, how do other people deal with this? And specifically also other writers, other artists.
00:02:10
Speaker
And it was sort of like my little, my basically my way to talk to people that I admire and ask them all the questions that, you know, I've i've been asking myself and or when I was reading their work, you know?
00:02:27
Speaker
so um yeah, it's been really great. I basically wrapped up the first season, um which is a very short season. i only do six episodes, I decided. and But I'm already planning the second season.
00:02:41
Speaker
and And don't know, it's been really interesting to, mean, some of the people I knew before, like Al Nash, for instance, is a good friend of mine. um And I feel like it was just interesting to have this sort of one hour and talk to someone specifically about change, transformation, and how to yeah how they go through this process. Because I feel like change is the only i mean change is the only constant. We're constantly going through some sort of change.
00:03:16
Speaker
And i think the better you you know, how to embrace it and to kind of flip it for you, you know, like make something productive for you, um the the easier it will feel.
00:03:32
Speaker
And I think
Philosophy of Change and Flow State
00:03:33
Speaker
that's also kind of what flow ma maybe is, you know, to be in a flow state is to accept change, is to accept the fact that You cannot be e static. You need to be in movement.
00:03:47
Speaker
Did you start exploration, not to jump in, but did you start that <unk> because like the you were struggling with change or anxiety or people trying to figure out a way, okay, this happened? just like Did that send you curiosity of being like,
00:04:06
Speaker
Because I know sometimes with changes, like I feel like I'm doing pretty good. um It's like, oh, shit. like This is all fucking jacked up. like No change. I want everything same here. like Was it terrible for you?
00:04:25
Speaker
No, I totally hear you. And I think that so the reason why I wrote the book or the reason why I felt so compelled is that I'm known to change a lot of things.
00:04:36
Speaker
um i I think that I embrace change a lot. like I ah used to have a different hair color like every other week, so to speak. and I mean, I moved so many times. I moved ah abroad.
00:04:52
Speaker
So I'm not afraid of change, but I realized, and that kind of came out of, so the the book that ah that is going to come out, Things That Are Different now, it's the last one of a trilogy. So i wrote two other books before that.
00:05:10
Speaker
And when I wrote the second book, Things I Have Loved, which heavily about relationships, but also about family, specifically my relationship to my father.
00:05:21
Speaker
And I realized actually while I was writing it, kind of finishing it, that they that there was something, ah pattern I had never actually looked at.
00:05:34
Speaker
And that was the relationship to my mother. So the third book is actually a lot about this relationship. and the blind spot that I kind of carry throughout my life.
00:05:48
Speaker
And I believe that we cannot ever truly change if we cannot see the blind spots around us, which obviously is an endeavor that is impossible because there will always be blind spots.
00:06:03
Speaker
But and the specific case, I finally could see it. I could see it. I could see
Personal Blind Spots and Change
00:06:10
Speaker
the blind spot and I could see it's shifting.
00:06:15
Speaker
And I think that was what intrigued to me about the change at that specific point in time to kind of illustrate how the reason why it's so hard to change is because everyone around us can see what's wrong with us.
00:06:33
Speaker
That's a quote from Mad Men. Thank you for that quote. You know, like everyone sees what's wrong with us, but we cannot.
00:06:44
Speaker
And that's why it's so hard to change. And I try to, I'm fully aware that I still have lots of blind spots and that's also something I write about.
00:06:56
Speaker
But I think it it was sort of like an attempt to to get closer to the blind spots, to get closer to my personal patterning, I guess in the hope to maybe reveal some blind spots to others, you know, to maybe create the change that they need in their life to get unstuck. Because I think that's the thing, like you want the change, then you get it, then you don't want it. And it's this like, yeah. back and forth
00:07:27
Speaker
um yeah i yeah I, I, I am like, I'm just fascinated by your investigation into it. And of course, it's totally like philosophy and art turf, you know, as like, as a writer, right. Like, um,
00:07:42
Speaker
you know, is there an ideal kind of concept of things? And like, within Constant Change, how, like, where's the identity, right? Like, where are you? new I've had a couple of authors on recently talked about concept the concept of home, like, very specifically. And I just, like, felt like, um and those authors, Megan Lamb and Craig Randall, both talking about home And when I was looking ah at your writing, thinking about what you picked out, it's like it comes up a lot in writing, like where's home or change and comfort with change.
00:08:26
Speaker
You had a quote. I hope it's your quote. Goodness. I can feel the longing of a future self waiting patiently to take me to the other side of things. Yeah, that's my quote.
00:08:40
Speaker
Yeah, I wrote down as a tribute. It must be, it must be selfish. But just that energy towards, like that excitement towards in that unknown, all philosophy stuff. Since we're talking philosophy, here we go.
00:09:00
Speaker
What is art?
00:09:05
Speaker
What is art? What is art?
Art vs. Craft: Weaving as Context
00:09:08
Speaker
um That's such a good question because so i recently learned how to weave.
00:09:16
Speaker
um I was in Mexico for five weeks and I did an artist residency there. And we actually talked a lot about how certain things are considered art and other things are considered craft art.
00:09:31
Speaker
And weaving, for instance, is considered generally as craft. And the only, like, when does it cross over art?
00:09:43
Speaker
And I think, I mean, maybe not to get totally um into the whole capitalism, Western society thing, but I think that has something to do with that, that obviously,
00:10:00
Speaker
um If you, let's just go with an example. If, if I now learn how to weave and then I create an exhibition and I hang up three wall hangings on a white cube, you know, like have this sort of like environment, it will probably be considered art.
00:10:25
Speaker
if you would go to the market and buy something for maybe, i don't know, 10, 20, 50 pounds, whatever, buy a master weaver, you'd consider that, um, a product or like a, a,
00:10:41
Speaker
um ah thing to use, whatever it is. um like That wall hanging would be a different thing. It would be decoration. I'm fascinated by that lake.
00:10:52
Speaker
Is there an institutional anointing or by pulling that out of the context to say you're supposed to look at this in this way as art as opposed to strict commerce. I love because there's some sort of magical or weird twist in there that happens in my head.
00:11:13
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I think it ties like what it roots down to is that we learn to like separate beauty and sort of necessity or utility that we don't.
00:11:32
Speaker
And which I think is a big problem because that's why things are so ugly these days because, um, There's sort of... um
00:11:45
Speaker
We're not used to creating beautiful things just for the sake of it, like just making something beautiful. It has to be either elevated as art or um or it's craft or it's just sort of this other thing. And I feel like um that's very...
00:12:06
Speaker
That's very sad because to me, art is actually just expressing yourself, like maybe to give a definition, expressing yourself, letting the world connect with you and be in connection with the world and, and creating something out of that.
00:12:24
Speaker
And, and that to me is art. And is it good art that we could argue, you know, that's sort of the, that's another question.
00:12:36
Speaker
um I really enjoy that. And um everybody, just to recap mention Sophia Hennel's work, again, the newsletter and muse left on Substack, Things Change podcast, first book first book in the trilogy, Things I Have Noticed, ah second, Things I Have Loved.
00:13:01
Speaker
There are things that are different now. And you talked about that. I saw it published in May 2025. I'm going to catch up. Is it out? Coming out soon?
00:13:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's coming out next week. Oh, my goodness. 15th of May. I'm very excited because... Congratulations. It's the end of the trilogy. It's such a weird thing to...
00:13:29
Speaker
kind of I mean, the whole thing happened in a way completely unplanned. I never planned to write a trilogy. I never actually even planned to necessarily self-publish in the way that I'm doing this.
00:13:44
Speaker
So it's been quite and interesting path to be on because, i mean, it all started with me having... severe depression during lockdown and just starting this newsletter, the newsletter, um, that started in actually in May, 2020. So like literally five years ago, and then out of this and kind of gaining a readership, I thought, Oh, why not write a longer essay and create a zine? And I was doing these cyanotypes at the same time, like kind of,
00:14:20
Speaker
mix it with my artwork. And then this Kickstarter, this crowdfunding campaign sort of felt reasonable to, you know, fund the printing. And then it grew into a book.
00:14:32
Speaker
And that literally happened in this fever dream of two months where I was just writing. And basically from a 40, initially it was supposed to be like 40 pages zeine style book.
00:14:45
Speaker
And then it just grew into like 140 pages into this essay collection. And and i was reaching a lot of people and I was collaborating with indie bookstores. And I think it was really, and then I also decided I'm going to basically found my own publishing company.
00:15:10
Speaker
like It was really not planned. And also the second book wasn't... So I didn't know it was going to be a trilogy. And basically three years later, I went through this terrible breakup. didn't have...
00:15:23
Speaker
i was ah didn't have Well, I basically had to move out and didn't have a home for two months. I'm not going to say I was homeless because I had friends and everything, but I didn't have an address.
00:15:35
Speaker
Let's just say like that. Precarious, you know. Yeah, and so I went on the Camino de Santiago, which is this like pilgrimage path and in Spain. I'm so fascinated.
00:15:50
Speaker
you know I get excited sometimes. I've long been fascinated with that pilgrimage. haven't done it, but I have people close to me have done it multiple times. Yeah.
00:16:01
Speaker
The road Santiago de Compostela. Yes, yeah. Yeah. I'll go on. Oh, you have to do it. It's honestly, it was one of the most magical experiences of my life. And basically what happened is I was one day in Bilbao and I, it was raining and I was just kind of looking for shelter. And I ended up in this beautiful old library Bilbao and they have this reading room and I just sat down and I was just kind of journaling in my, in my notebook and
00:16:32
Speaker
I suddenly just had this idea and wrote down the title, things I have loved. And I just realized in that moment, I will write the second book. I will write another book and it will be a trilogy. And in that moment, I also already had the idea to, to write about change after the second one.
00:16:56
Speaker
So it really kind of was this intuitive process. Um, I guess this is how I usually do things. like I feel something, i have an idea, or somebody tells me something and I'm inspired and then I just kind of just go for it.
00:17:15
Speaker
um Yeah. Why'd you do the pilgrimage?
Camino de Santiago Experience
00:17:19
Speaker
Like deep down, like what was like the reason? Kind of like you, I've always been drawn to this pilgrimage. I've had a couple of friends who've done it.
00:17:30
Speaker
um i had a friend who I think she was sort of like the person who inspired me the most because she said to me, honestly, Sophia, you can just do it. You don't have to worry. This is so like, because it's not, it's not like wilderness survival.
00:17:45
Speaker
Like it's, it's, that's not the kind of hike that you're on. It's just, um it's very, um, You don't need to plan a lot. You need to have some good hiking boots and obviously some clothes with you.
00:18:01
Speaker
But technically, you could probably... like organize the trip in like a week and just go because it's very, it's very well. um Like you literally just follow ah path of seashells. Like there's signs everywhere. Like you cannot miss it. You wouldn't even need a map.
00:18:21
Speaker
And there's also so many other people who are also going at the same time. So you're not even really alone alone. Like there's stretches where it's just you,
00:18:33
Speaker
and the forest or the mountains. But you see someone walking by probably and like at worst every three hours and at best every 10 minutes.
00:18:46
Speaker
So it's not like you're not isolated. And then there's these beautiful hostels that are... um that basically volunteers run it and you don't need a lot of money because it's all donation based.
00:19:04
Speaker
So if you don't have a lot, five euros is fine. um Or if you don't have any money, it's fine too, but you should donate um if you can.
00:19:15
Speaker
And it's just really, it's a magical trip. And there's this thing that everyone says, like when Camino, And it's this idea that also the path will provide.
00:19:27
Speaker
And there's, there were some moments where I was like, I'm going to quit. I'm done. This is terrible. And then I just trusted that the path will provide and it did.
00:19:40
Speaker
So i don't know. It's yeah. It's me think about a million things. Thanks for sharing the, um,
00:19:49
Speaker
I grew Catholic, so I understand every aspect fact why that's there and the pilgrimage and the enduring and the and the stations and the rest and the church at the end.
00:20:12
Speaker
I'm agnostic, but there's parts of my personality where it's just intuitively understanding the why, which would be difficult to explain. so I'm really drawn to it. The gorgeous chapel. at you know well which What did you feel when you got to the end?
00:20:30
Speaker
Well, I didn't actually. So I did it for three weeks. But I kind of decided that um I chose a section along the coast.
00:20:42
Speaker
So I went basically from the border of France to Santander, which is sort of like in the middle. So i would have and I would have needed six weeks to do the whole to arrive in Santiago.
00:20:58
Speaker
But it's interesting because like once you're on it, you also realize that it doesn't really matter whether you... arrive in Santiago, like it, it's the end is, is not the, you know, that's not, the goal is not to arrive.
00:21:13
Speaker
The goal is the journey and to meet people and to have these conversations. And, um, I definitely will go back though. And I think maybe that's also why I did it this way, because I felt like,
00:21:26
Speaker
I wanted to have something to come back to. and Heck i I understand. I do that with, I read the best book series the entire universe, like every nine volumes, 15 volumes, whatever.
00:21:42
Speaker
and I'll leave that last one or two being like, no, I'm not going to finish after I try to put people around. Yeah. How can I that? I don't want to know that. I'll read it in five years.
00:21:53
Speaker
Now getting older. I make different existential choices. I'd read going bad. Right.
00:22:02
Speaker
yeah not necessarily important ah ah no thanks wow thanks for chatting about that I used to work in an independent travel and language bookstore outside of Washington D.C.
00:22:18
Speaker
and I remember didn't even hear of Santiago Campostello at the Camino walk the path and they had a like a guidebook and a map so like you know the store was slow like i get the map holy shit, what is this thing? I had never heard of it.
00:22:34
Speaker
It's a Catholic from the East Coast the You don't know anything about Santiago. But anyways, that was the coolest thing. And I'm like looking at this map, I'm like, holy shit, people peoplell do this? Because i'm thinking...
00:22:47
Speaker
more Muslim tradition in Islam of the pilgrimage. It's not my first intuitive thing growing up as a Catholic. It's like, where's the pilgrimage? Because it's far away, you know? But, all right.
00:23:01
Speaker
ah There's other philosophy questions we got. What's the role of art then? you i loved your response, thinking about arts and crafts and why things here are there. But, like, what what's the role in...
00:23:17
Speaker
Is the role different nowadays, 2025, this chat, than it's been?
00:23:26
Speaker
I mean, I feel like art has many many purposes and and and reasons why it it's there for us. um I think to me personally, art, the role that art plays in my life is about...
00:23:44
Speaker
connection and to be connected with others and to, you know, we're kind of born into this world and, you know all kinds of things happen to you.
00:23:57
Speaker
and
00:24:01
Speaker
and I think to me, it was always important to kind of make meaning of, you know, this so-called life situation we're in and like trying to figure out like why and Like, and I feel like art is a way to connect and to ask these questions and to feel that you're not alone, you know, that you're not alone in the world.
00:24:31
Speaker
um
00:24:34
Speaker
I think that as an artist, we have definitely some responsibility to um I think the responsibility we have for ourselves is to create things that we actually truly want to create and not because there's some sort of gain or some, you know, maybe you'll make more money if you do this or you'll get more appreciation if you if you bend it a certain way.
00:25:04
Speaker
and I think also that never really works out. um I think that's sort of like a false... um like a false dream or false hope that, you know, that you could actually ever really but bend anything without, you know, losing yourself.
00:25:22
Speaker
um Yeah. But yeah, i guess the simple answer would be the role of art to me is connection. Yeah. When did you, you do visual art, you mentioned some the other visual components you do, you're a writer. Yeah.
00:25:41
Speaker
think a lot of more writing. For you the artist piece, did you see yourself at a particular moment as artist, writer, like in terms of identity?
00:25:55
Speaker
I think so I'm one of those writers who I've always been a writer. Like I've ah've written since I was a child. It was very imaginative, um, sometimes to my detriment in terms of nightmares and things like that. Like it was also a very scared child in a way, very afraid of my imagination sometimes. And I guess still to this day, I'm i'm not a fan of horror movies and stuff like that, but, um,
00:26:27
Speaker
What's your conversation with Dale Neff and the horror? ah sorry i did actually We did actually talk about the Blaowicz project. um The thing is, I'm also, I'm still, you know, I'm also drawn to, to horror and my, and facing my fear. So it's not like, it's not an aversion. It's more like a deep respect for it.
00:26:50
Speaker
I, I mean, i totally see for instance that The Shining is an incredible work of art. Like to me, that's one of the best horror movies.
00:27:01
Speaker
I think it's more that um it does actually really haunt me when when something's truly terrifying or scary. So I need to be, just need to be like careful with that.
00:27:14
Speaker
But to back to your question. didn't mean to jump in there, Rachel. You brought up horror. And I was like, wait a second. I wonder what those conversations are like. But um I didn't to jump in there about that. Yeah, thanks for the indulgence. I heard horror.
00:27:27
Speaker
Nothing can continue to until I disagree very quickly. go ahead. Sorry. um No worries. um yeah So I think there was definitely a moment where I professionally decided I'm a writer now.
00:27:41
Speaker
Like I'm going to take this seriously. And that was basically, I was studying theater and media studies, which was sort of like a compromise to, um I guess, study something that is some sort of science.
00:27:57
Speaker
it It obviously isn't. It's still a liberal arts degree, but in my head that was sort of Let's call it a science, but we need to call it a science. Exactly, exactly. It was like the compromise between going to art school or like going to do like a creative writing degree and, um I don't know.
00:28:15
Speaker
i I mean, you're so young when you make these decisions. like I was 19 when i decided that. so But when I was actually 21, um twenty one I did like a semester abroad in Vienna and I was writing this play and I was also an assistant, um like a directing assistant at the theater there.
00:28:39
Speaker
And I just realized I had this conversation with a friend and I was like, I need to take this seriously now and really choose this life or, or I don't know, like I need to,
00:28:52
Speaker
fully go for it. I need to fully commit. There's no wishy-washy in between for me because i just don't want to do anything else.
00:29:04
Speaker
So that's, that was sort of, yeah, a really sort of, that was a moment for me. And ever since then, i kind of just made every decision based on that, that whatever I want to do,
00:29:21
Speaker
art and writing comes first and is the thing that it's so tied to my identity now that I almost, I mean, I guess that's probably what most artists are creative people, like it's, it's not a job.
00:29:42
Speaker
It's your life. It's yeah. It's like who you are and how you, do anything really is as a, as a writer, as an artist, um, it's nothing that you can, you don't clock off like there's nothing.
00:29:59
Speaker
yeah You're always on the clock. There is no clock. You're just. I love that point. It's like, I thought about it a lot because like my day job, which is day night job as a union rep union organizer out here in Oregon, but As I develop my own art, like, in sense of creating art, like, photography, painting, and with the podcast, for me, it's been, like, organizing, like, in my head, like like, connecting people, like, which is what art is. Like, the energy behind art is, like, this person does this.
00:30:35
Speaker
That person does that. Holy shit, that person's an expert on that. And it's the way my brain works, so it continues to work in that way. And it's been...
00:30:48
Speaker
It's been crucial for my health. So it's been a nice thing to find for me, like a way being. But you've, particularly with writing, you felt that the entire time.
00:31:03
Speaker
I just had a curiosity. Do you write in German as well, predominantly? I only write in English these days. i Yeah, basically...
00:31:16
Speaker
It kind of happened slowly and then all at once in a way. So
Language Transition in Writing
00:31:21
Speaker
when I moved here six years ago, I joined this writing group and I was working on a novel that I guess I have abandoned now, but it's been this long project.
00:31:33
Speaker
Everyone has this like decade long novel. I love how you, cast you away. it's um one day, well, probably not. Anyway, so I joined this writing group and I um had to translate it for them to, you know, be able to read it.
00:31:51
Speaker
So that's kind of how it started. And then I realized i actually really enjoy writing in English. And obviously when you are surrounded by one language all the time and and that's what you speak every day and and you start to think in English it just really made sense for me and obviously a third thing is that writing in English exposes me to a larger wider audience and it's more accessible um to write in English and as I am writing essays which are kind of niche as like a genre ah it was also
00:32:34
Speaker
Yeah, it just made sense and in so many ways to kind of, yeah, write in English. But I miss German, to be fair. um I think it's a beautiful language. I think there's a reason why feel like particularly Americans are quite obsessed with all these words that we have that you don't have.
00:32:56
Speaker
i um So I'm starting to, I actually started to translate English. other people's work, like other like German essayists has been like a little passion project of mine um that I started this year because I feel like there's so many beautiful essays out there that you know English speakers or only English speakers they can't access.
00:33:25
Speaker
And that's such a shame. I don't know. you know um They have the past to be at present to do the translation but i always noticed it's when I was particularly when i was in academia, where like, if you're interested in a thinker or like a movement, then like, you could have like, like really incredible thinkers like of a generation in the country, like getting to that whole thing.
00:33:54
Speaker
But you might never really get into this like this philosophical idea. It's like, not that they figure it out after it's philosophy, but it's like, that exists. don't know what they're saying. I know they're saying something.
00:34:09
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I guess that's kind of life, right? That there's always books and things that you just will never be exposed to and that you kind of have to be okay with the fact that um there's so many things you you won't be able to try and to experience.
00:34:26
Speaker
And Is that of thought amongst the book obsessed? I encounter that everywhere and feel it. The book of what? The idea of not getting to like what's there of the book that you haven't gotten to.
00:34:43
Speaker
It's like a haunting, like romantic, book obsessed thought. Mm-hmm.
00:34:50
Speaker
All right. Things change podcast. Things are listed in all your books. This is the something rather than nothing podcast. Like, we have to be talking about things and have to talk about the titular.
00:35:05
Speaker
Like, we should be eminently qualified, you and I, Sophia, to like, and or at least approach. Why is there something rather than nothing?
00:35:16
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:35:19
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:35:22
Speaker
I don't know what your relationship to the word thing is, but I, to me, it just, it's, um,
00:35:34
Speaker
it's making something tangible. That's not tangible, you know, like, or that yeah it's, everything can be a thing in a way, you know, it's like, um, very vague way of describing.
00:35:52
Speaker
Something rather than nothing. How do
00:35:58
Speaker
you feel about that?
00:36:04
Speaker
how did you how do you how do you feel about that i um Well, when you ask the question, beyond what is the nothing, right? I always think this question, there's two problems with the question and I admit it, you know, it's the titular and biggest issue.
00:36:22
Speaker
One is exactly what point out, what is nothing, right? And the other bit is some folks say, you said, how how is it that there is something? Because there's an evidence that there is something.
00:36:40
Speaker
My own personal approach is that I do look at nothing and in a different way from a Buddhist perspective, like that there's no thing there.
00:36:51
Speaker
like When you're talking about the constancy, if that's the right word, of change, right? they ah For me, looking at what you write about, it's like that deep question of
00:37:09
Speaker
Is it all just that flow? And how do you say something is there? Buddhists say, I'm pointing out there a tree, but that's just me picking out a word to materialize something that's just a phenomenon.
00:37:25
Speaker
So the nothing way think about it is more iftiness. has can do It to it, but lacks inherent existence. In the Western bit, nothing is like the thought of dialism, right?
00:37:41
Speaker
It's like you and I are talking, there's a self-evident injury piece, I think maybe for us, like we're experiencing something and and not the absence.
00:37:53
Speaker
So it's clumsy question. I always ask it clumsy, but the way I extensive it for me is that the nothing is more like emptiness of inherent existence and things are phenomena in the words.
00:38:13
Speaker
And this is where the writers come in like you. Like how do we use words to give body to like yeah why that relationship was so shitty or like
Concept of Lacuna in Writing
00:38:29
Speaker
why that political protest happened.
00:38:33
Speaker
I hope I'm making sense. i i I think I get what you mean um specifically with the like no thing thing.
00:38:44
Speaker
And um there's um there's a word that I felt really drawn to in my second book, which is called the lacuna.
00:38:58
Speaker
And like a lacuna is sort of, it's an empty space where something used to be. And I was kind of obsessed with this idea that the lacuna says, tells you that there was something, but it's not there any longer, but you can still feel its absence.
00:39:24
Speaker
And I think it's just an interesting concept to think about that you can feel, i guess that you can feel something rather than nothing. You can feel the lacuna. You can feel this. I don't know if that's the right word, but it's something like that.
00:39:42
Speaker
but it's But it is definitely not there. And um for instance, then in the third book, writing about the blind spot is like,
00:39:53
Speaker
you're not even aware that it's like, that is not even in your, you cannot touch a blind spot. You just, it's like trying to catch your shadow. Like it's not possible. Like you just can't.
00:40:12
Speaker
Um, so yeah I love that word. I haven't heard it in a bit, but i remember encountering and trying to find, like, the meaning within it And I like the ambiguity in such ideas. Like, there's resonances.
00:40:26
Speaker
You think, like, ghosts or echoes or, like, palimpsest or, like, markers that point to something sort of or at point they did man that's a good word i really love it it also sounds pretty great so it does it does well hey we get to indulge yourself with words on the on the podcast and um talk and writing um
00:40:58
Speaker
visual arts. yeah i saw some of the things she did and looking at even folks' listeners back in time, Sophia's Pink Moon visual print, which is really beautiful. and um I always, and when folks are great writers when they dig into and get into writing what's it like for you on the visual arts or painting or that creation and what's the experience for you and like does it feel more complete or is just like a different voice completely that type of
00:41:44
Speaker
I mean, I feel like I've always felt also drawn to art. Like I i used, I actually applied to, um to go to art school in my early twenties and I was painting a lot of sort of like portraits and very colorful, like figurative paintings.
00:42:01
Speaker
um Didn't get in probably, probably for the better because i I feel like I really like i I'm enjoying myself as a writer um more in the sense that I feel like art is so joyful to me. um It's kind of nice that it's not like I it is maybe even probably my purest expression because it usually like it doesn't have to do anything necessarily.
00:42:27
Speaker
i mean, I sell these prints now but they're more um ah usually create things that I just want on my wall as you can see that it's like I just create things that I would love to have in my environment um um which is also how I started this weaving um class because I just felt really compelled to create these like textiles and I don't know I feel like To me, the way I create my visual art is very much through um their means to create beauty for me.
00:43:08
Speaker
um
Integration of Visual Art and Writing
00:43:09
Speaker
And not in this, not purely decorative. There's all there's always, they're usually tied to my writing. So for instance, the pink moon, there's actually a reference in the book about the pink moon and the,
00:43:27
Speaker
song by Nick Drake, Pink Moon, and without spoiling too much, but it there's, there's a reason why i created these prints um in connection to my book. And like my first book, I created these cyanotypes, which cyanotypes are also called or they were used as blueprints. Like that's literally where the word blueprint is coming from. Okay. Because they were away.
00:43:51
Speaker
It's an old photographic process. And they were used back in the day to to create blueprints and create copies basically and but also of plans and other stuff. But anyway, it made sense to me to use this technique as well because the first book in a way is the blueprint of my life.
00:44:10
Speaker
So I kind of like to yeah connect the words with the art. um Yeah. So I feel like to me, it's all very... It has to be organic, you know? it has to kind of grow...
00:44:27
Speaker
um from from something that I'm doing. um i was I really kind of actually struggled because I had set up the first book um as blue.
00:44:40
Speaker
So the whole book is printed in blue with blue ink. And the second one is printed in red and has these like red vignettes, photographs.
00:44:52
Speaker
And then the third one is green. And I struggled a lot with what kind of green artwork I would do And for a long time, I thought I was going to do collage because it made kind of sense with the way that I was writing the book, which is very kind of like a text collage.
00:45:12
Speaker
Um, almost like a, but also maybe like a tapestry. But I realized, which is actually how I got into weaving, but that's another story. But anyway, then I ah finally landed on the pink moon because as I said, it made sense with the, with some reference in the book, but it was really hard because almost i like I gave myself a task and i was like, no, I don't know how to finish it so that it fits.
00:45:41
Speaker
Um, Yeah, but it's really important to me that it fits, that it makes sense. a I was, joint when you mentioned weaving, I remember when I was younger, I was just taught basic components of how to weave.
00:45:57
Speaker
And for me, it was like breathing. There's something about the repetition and how you pulled it together for me that I didn't know was like 11. was like fucking early therapy, like early repetition and rhythm for me. And so it was good to hear you talk about I had time here in Mexico and and working with that for me was just the mechanics of it.
00:46:26
Speaker
like I obviously loved the little thing that I made. mom Mom and Papa were proud. It was just, I want my hands to move this way. That's awesome too.
00:46:41
Speaker
I mean, it's very much about rhythm and and patterns. I mean, patterns on the textile itself, but the the repetition, the pattern. um I mean, there is a reason why textiles, the word textile comes from text, like text or a means to weave in Latin. Like it's all, it's so connected.
00:47:04
Speaker
um, the world of weaving and the world of writing, like you weave stories, like it's all, it's yeah, there's this. poem together It's, it's, it's pulling together for me. Like there's a component i initially thought of.
00:47:21
Speaker
Um, I grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which is like the birthplace of the industrial revolution. hmm. U S um,
00:47:32
Speaker
1780-something. I was taught in elementary school. But the that was just fueling the weavers and the, what do you call it, the water power fueling the mill right there in the 18th century.
00:47:49
Speaker
And so like where I grew up, Rhode Island was such a textiles manufacturer and massive hub for a haunted history. So...
00:48:03
Speaker
There was even a carryover why I would be in a city school and be a male in the 80s and learning some basic components of weaving. think it was tied to the history. But it's like, I don't I find that stuff so fascinating. When you were talking about the stories too, obviously, you know, it's something that's been referred to before, but there's a truth of like this integration.
00:48:28
Speaker
going to start weaving like wild now. That's what happened with this interview.
00:48:34
Speaker
Honestly, I think it's um it's, it's really meditative, like the it, it, it kind of, yeah, you get really into your own rhythm and, and, and your own thoughts. And I also think like, I mean, any sort of art that you do, any sort of thing that you create with your hands, it's always very grounding. And, um and I think actually fairly, like, i think, especially weaving, I think it's actually I mean, it was hard, but you can learn pretty fast.
00:49:09
Speaker
like Yeah. It's not like drawing. I think some things are way more difficult to... I took the weaving pretty quickly. ah It's so wonderful to talk about weaving.
00:49:22
Speaker
um Sophie, you've got to ah be deliberate and let listeners know we're like, find your books? I know you're over there in Scotland, but a lot of people read your sub stack. Like like find, find things?
00:49:45
Speaker
Yeah. so I think, so to buy the books, um, the best way is to just go on newsletter, publishing.com. come Um, then you literally buy it from me, the distributor, um, which is always the best thing to do.
00:50:04
Speaker
um if you, if you are in the U S which I guess probably most of your, um, listeners are the ebook is also on online. You can, you can find it.
00:50:17
Speaker
Um, and yeah, otherwise I'm, very often on Instagram, even though I try to not be, um, just by name, Sophia Hembeck and yeah, the things change podcast is available anywhere. You can get your podcasts, Spotify, Apple podcasts.
00:50:39
Speaker
I don't know where else you get the podcast, but it's, it will be there. And, um, yeah, sub stack, the museletter.supstack.com.
00:50:50
Speaker
Um, yeah. Any teasers that there has to be for season two or what you're focusing on the podcast or podcast? I think for season two, I already have some guests secured and I mean, currently because my book is coming out next week, I'm like totally like I have a book tour.
00:51:14
Speaker
I'll be going to Berlin next week. I'll be in Dublin. I'll be in Vienna. I'll be in London. So for the next two months, I'm pretty um focused on that. But this the season two, I hope I'll be recording in June.
00:51:31
Speaker
And then um it'll come out maybe end of June, August. That's the that's the plan for now. That's great to hear. Congratulations on all this too. And good luck on the...
00:51:45
Speaker
on the tour and a lot of folks listen to something rather than nothing podcast. Yeah, primarily US, even Pacific Northwest audience, but bunch of folks in Scotland listen in Australia.
00:51:59
Speaker
have a decent amount of German listeners. I found a podcast that was in German. I didn't have the capacity to understand your your thoughts there lots of places um uh to find you and uh it's been really great to talk to you um yeah it's been really uh i feel very um yeah i'm still gonna think about a couple of things i think after this yeah and that's what's that's what's fun about even just that you know more
00:52:35
Speaker
Lacuna? Is it lacuna? look The lacuna, yeah. The lacuna. And I've seen other writers say that, and I'm not like overusing it, but just being like, what is this word? And it's like one of those that writers really dig in. Mm-hmm.
00:52:53
Speaker
So awesome, the chat with you. um Good luck and things oh and and on on the podcast. Good job having a plan of X amount episodes.
00:53:05
Speaker
I'm trying to end her season. Something else in Muffin Podcast. I'm heading towards 300. I want to the first season of 300 episodes, maybe six.
00:53:17
Speaker
second one I don't know what to do. so Good job on your side to have a good plan to go forward. Thank you. Well, this has been really great. yeah Yeah. um One, and this is an indulgence on my part, okay? Okay. And pardon up front, but whenever here in Berlin, I adore painting.
00:53:46
Speaker
And I adore who? I adore painting in general. yeah night And 1920s Berlin painter in the city broke.
00:54:01
Speaker
And I've read so many books about the culture and all these things. I don't want to romanticize it, but um yeah what's just for you,
00:54:16
Speaker
what What's Berlin like as an art city? Me and this, here in the woods in Oregon. What's Berlin like <unk> like and as an art city? It is interesting because I kind of famously wrote about leaving Berlin in my first book, Things that I've Noticed. and um i so I lived in Berlin for five years.
00:54:42
Speaker
I studied playwriting there and
00:54:47
Speaker
I mean, in a way, but Berlin has taught me so much, but at the same time, I personally, as an artist nowadays, i i just couldn't handle Berlin um any longer.
00:55:01
Speaker
i i think Berlin has... um There is a certain sense of brokenness, and um it's very... It's a very...
00:55:12
Speaker
it's it's a very um hectic and sort of like people, I think what you kind of move there. Like when I moved there, had like blonde hair, colorful clothes.
00:55:26
Speaker
Two years later, ah had a micro fringe, blue hair and was only wearing black. And so it it it changes you. And um I feel like it's a beautiful place for a for a while But, you know, like Joan Didion says, you can stay too long at the fair.
00:55:50
Speaker
and it's sort of, ah guess that's how I feel about Berlin, um as a fair that I love to visit yeah every once in a while, but not as a place to live um any longer.
00:56:03
Speaker
i think it's, yeah, I live in Edinburgh now, and feel like that's the exact vibe or energy that I need to kind of thrive, which is a bit more,
00:56:15
Speaker
Just a bit more community um driven and a bit more um cozy and friendly. Wow. It's not an intelligence to ask for.
00:56:31
Speaker
Thank you so much for chatting a bit about Berlin at the end. Everybody really check out Sofia Handeggs writing, visual art, the places that we've mentioned. And I really appreciate your time and being able to kick around some philosophy and art with you.
00:56:53
Speaker
Yeah, well, thank you for having me. This was, yeah, ah really liked it. And yeah, thank you.
00:57:10
Speaker
This is something rather than nothing.
00:57:19
Speaker
And listeners, to stay connected with us and our guests, visit somethingratherthannothing.com. Join our mailing list for exclusive updates and access to guest-created art.
00:57:30
Speaker
If you enjoyed this episode or any episode, please like, subscribe, and leave a review on your podcast platform. People really read that shit. Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread our community across the planet.
00:57:45
Speaker
This is a global show and we like to give a shout out to our many listeners across the world, including many listeners in Canada, Spain, Germany, UK, Argentina, Brazil, India, Thailand, and so many more places.
00:58:00
Speaker
Be sure to follow us on Instagram. at Something Rather Than Nothing Podcast for behind-the-scenes content. And the best way to help the show is to tell your friends about us.
00:58:12
Speaker
If you love it, they'll love it too. Tell your friends who love it. We love you. This is Something Rather Than Nothing Podcast.