Episode 235: Is it Too Expensive to be a Latter-day Saint? | A Conversation with Natalie Brown
At Last She Said It
“In all my angst about if I would marry and if I would have children and if I would have a career, I did not fully consider how the ideals in this proclamation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reflected a certain moment in white, middle-class America’s economic history,” writes Natalie Brown. Most Latter-day Saints have absorbed a lifetime of talks and lessons centered around an “ideal” family model in which a father goes to work and a mother stays at home with the children. This arrangement is no longer economically possible for many American families, and the...
info_outline
Episode 234 (Bonus): Navigating Transitions 3 | ALSSI Listener Stories
At Last She Said It
We asked, you answered! In Bonus Episode 234, more women from the ALSSI community share their stories in response to the question: What triggered your faith journey?
info_outline
Episode 233: Embracing Your Journey | A Conversation with Jen Dille
At Last She Said It
“Deconstruction doesn’t just happen to lazy learners,” says Jen Dille. “It's often the most true-blue Mormons and the people who are all in who have this experience.” In episode 233, Jen joins Susan and Cynthia for a conversation about her personal journey. It’s a story of old wheels coming off, and the new ones taking their place. “I dream of a time where we can each just have our own experience, and be okay with that, not be scared or threatened by it,” she explains. “If we could find other ways to be LDS and still come together, that's the dream.”
info_outline
Episode 232: Let's Talk About Sanctuary
At Last She Said It
Diana Butler Bass wrote, “To belong is to be, for belonging is ultimately a question of identity: Who am I?” For many Latter-day Saint women, a place where they can just “be”—whoever and wherever they are right now—feels elusive. That’s what the ALSSI project aims to create: a community where women can speak honestly about the complexity of their church life and/or faith journey, feel seen and validated in their experience, and find support. Episode 232 explores ideas about spiritual sanctuary. What does it mean to create it for ourselves? And how can we provide it for others?
info_outline
Episode 231 (Bonus): Navigating Transitions 2 | ALSSI Listener Stories
At Last She Said It
What triggered your faith journey? In this short bonus episode, more women from the ALSSI community share their answers!
info_outline
Episode 230: Creating Your Future | A Conversation with Jody England Hansen
At Last She Said It
“I can take as long as I need on the edge of the chasm of the unknown,” writes Jody England Hansen. “I can experience the terror of moving into the future for however long I feel it. I can turn again to the past if I choose to deal with that pain. I can create my future, choosing to step forward on a path that I might not see until I am in the next moment, the next place I step.” In Episode 230, Jody joins Cynthia and Susan to discuss approaching whatever’s next in our lives with active hope and love. She reminds us to “create reasons to create.” This is a conversation about...
info_outline
Episode 229: What About Empathy?
At Last She Said It
How can we know if we’re getting it right when it comes to meeting others with empathy? “Empathy is a tool of compassion,” writes Brene Brown. “We can respond empathically only if we are willing to be present to someone’s pain. If we’re not willing to do that, it’s not real empathy.” We’re living now in a time and society where people actually talk about the sin of empathy. But for followers of Jesus—charged to mourn with and comfort others—how can being present to someone else’s pain ever wear the title of “sin?” In Episode 229, Cynthia and Susan take on empathy,...
info_outline
Episode 228: Embracing Your Journey | A Conversation with Abby Maxwell Hansen
At Last She Said It
For many Latter-day Saint women, a faith journey begins as their personal experiences pile up and dots begin to connect. Abby Maxwell Hansen began to see a thread of internalized misogyny in her own story emerge like this: “Every time I went to church, I had some type of message—whether it was really overt or whether it was just sitting down at conference, and they didn't come out and say women's voices aren't as important, but all the speakers were men except for two. So whether it was implied or overtly stated, I got the message over and over that women are not as important as men.”...
info_outline
Episode 227 (Bonus): Navigating Transitions | ALSSI Listener Stories
At Last She Said It
What triggered your faith journey? In Bonus Episode 227, 10 women share their answers.
info_outline
Episode 226: I Am a Woman of Faith | Tackling Imposter Syndrome
At Last She Said It
Sometimes it’s hard to untangle specific beliefs from our ideas about faith. Is struggling with church policies or doctrinal tenets an indictment of a Latter-day Saint woman’s faith? What does it even mean to have faith? And who gets to measure ours? In Episode 226, Cynthia and Susan take on a topic that comes up frequently for church members who find themselves on a journey of expansion or redefinition: Imposter Syndrome. It’s a conversation about faith vs. knowledge, Churchianity vs. Christianity, the place of doubt in a religious life, and finding hope by leaning into personal...
info_outlineAs the centerpiece of Sunday worship and an ordinance pointing directly to Jesus Christ, the sacrament holds deep meaning for many Latter-day Saints. In Episode 181, Cynthia and Susan turn their grace-peddling to a conversation about the sacrament. What matters more: worthiness, or willingness? When did this simple remembrance of Jesus become about “renewing our baptismal covenant,” and what does that mean? How might the evolution of personal faith impact the way one thinks about and engages with this ordinance? Can a ritual that is so familiar take on new significance as we change and grow?