Below the Surface Caroline Masson

Ashley Abercrombie is an author, podcast host, and champion of people. She has written two books, Love is the Resistance and Rise of the Truth Teller. Additionally, she co-hosted a podcast titled ‘Why Tho’ from 2018 to 2022. Ashley was in ministry in the nonprofit justice world for over 20 years, and she recently pivoted to the creative world. Ashley was raised in North Carolina by a single mom, and her experience growing up largely informed how she understood the term feminism. 

In this episode, we discuss the power of advocacy, while emphasizing the importance of picking your battles. We are a fragile people, and fighting tooth and nail to get every person on our side of history for every single issue is only wasting our own time and energy. We can only do so much. In the midst of the chaos of this world and the energy-sucking work of disagreeing… disagreeing… disagreeing, we talk about the importance of leaning on your people. Finding good people that see us and love us as we are. They fight for us. They fight with us. This makes all of this a lot easier, and it restores some of the energy that was sucked out from all of that fighting.



Sources:


"Is Less Really More?" An essay from my substack, After Hours https://ashleyabercrombie.substack.com/p/is-less-really-more 


Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans  https://www.amazon.com/Year-Biblical-Womanhood-Liberated-Covering/dp/1595553673 


Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible's View on Women by Sarah Bessey https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Feminist-Invitation-Revisit-Bibles/dp/1476717257


Prey Tell: Why We Silence Women Who Tell the Truth and How Everyone Can Speak Up by Tiffany Bluhm https://www.amazon.com/Prey-Tell-Silence-Women-Everyone/dp/1587434784


We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie https://www.chimamanda.com/we-should-all-be-feminists/


Favorite Ted Talk “The Danger of a Single Story” https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/comments


Why Tho Podcast: "Why Women Are Still Not Equals Tho" https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/why-women-are-still-not-equals-tho/id1437939954?i=1000434667357 


The Will to Change by Bell Hooks


https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Will-to-Change/bell-hooks/9780743456081


Love is the Resistance: Learn to Disagree, Resolve the Conflicts You’ve been Avoiding and Create Real Change by Ashley Abercrombie


Rise of the Truth Teller: Own Your Story, Tell it Like it is, and Live With Holy Gumption by Ashley Abercrombie




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Dr. Jennifer Buckley is an Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Azusa Pacific University. After attending Azusa Pacific University for her undergraduate degree, Dr. Buck received her master's at Fuller Seminary and then her doctoral from Claremont Graduate. She was raised in a Quaker Christian church in Friendswood, Texas, so much of her Christian education was formed around the promotion of women being encouraged into leadership positions in Christian spaces. Thus, when she arrived at higher education, she fought for a more equality-based understanding of women’s role in the church through an Egalitarian interpretation of scripture. 



In this episode, Dr. Buck addresses three of the main arguments employed by those who do not believe in elevating the female voice in Christian spaces. By offering context into different scriptures that have been used to argue against women in Christian leadership, Dr. Buck opens the possibility for a new and fresh understanding of scripture– one that seeks to liberate and promote rather than silence and oppress— this is the word of God that we know and love. This is the Jesus we know and love.





Sources:


Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church by Nijay Gupta 


A Church of Her Own: What Happens When a Woman Takes the Pulpit by Sarah Sentilles


 To Be Welcomed as Christ: Pursuing a Hospitable Evangelicalism and the portion “Herstory: Reclaiming Women's Voices for the Evangelical Tradition” by Dr. Jennifer Buck




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Dr. Carol Lynn Patterson has been practicing ministry for over 20 years. She has been in pastoral ministry for the last 15 where she served on the staff of a large church; she has been the transitional pastor of a small church, a regional pastor within the regional denomination of American Baptist churches, and she is currently the associate pastor of a church with 5,000 members. 

Dr. Patterson offers insight into the reality of the intersectionality of race and gender for Black women in the Christian church, especially as it pertained to how it affected her experience becoming a licensed minister. She explains why ‘feminism’ has a history of excluding Black women and therefore why ‘womanism’ is a more inclusive term that centers women’s stories while ensuring the stories centered aren’t specific to only allow space for white women. She also talks about how so much church hurt, as valid as it may be, could be prevented by living out the hospitality as it is defined by the gospel. 





Sources: 


Beyond the Stained Glass Ceiling: Equipping & Encouraging Female Pastors by Christine A. Smith


Marvin McMickle


Robert C. Rogers



Music: Avocado on Hash Browns by baegel




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In this episode, I am joined by my sweet, talented, and creative friend Ava Thigpen to have a conversation about burnout. In 2022, burnout seems to be affecting people at a more intense and more frequent rate than ever. Most people I talk to about this subject confirm that they have experienced some level of burnout within the past few years. 

SO, In a post-covid world, how do we navigate a new pandemic of widespread exhaustion? 

One point of comfort is that we really and truly are in this together. You are not alone in this feeling of complete emotional fatigue bordering on despair.

In our 45 minutes together, Ava and I unpack our personal experiences with varying levels of burnout. We also take some time to reflect on various experts' research on the matter. An incredibly helpful source that informed much of our conversation was Emily and Amelia Nagoski's book, Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. 

I loved having Ava, who is and has been an artist for most of her life, on the podcast to discuss the ways in which we can recognize early signs of burnout and work to prevent them. We also offer advice on how to get out of the kind of burnout that feels so completely suffocating.

I have honestly listened to this episode 3 times since we recorded just to remember all the useful bits of wisdom that were dropped in an attempt to pull myself out of mild bots of burnout. Hope you guys enjoy it just as much.

Let's dive in!

Song: Much Too Much by Lennon Stella


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In this episode, I am joined by my friend Carson Thorpe! 

Carson bravely shares her experience with addiction & substance abuse of prescribed drugs. Throughout the episode, I am repeatedly and consistently astounded by her honesty and authenticity as she reflects on all of her feelings surrounding her struggle with addiction.

We cover so many topics under the general umbrella of addiction, so there is something for everyone in this episode.

Some things we discuss include the harm of stereotyping, the experience of hitting rock bottom, mental health first aid, college's effect on addictive behavior, the isolation of struggling with addiction as a young person, and why reaching out for help is the bravest thing any of us can do.

What I can promise from this episode is a unique perspective that will offer you the chance to elongate your spectrum of empathy. 

Let's Dive in!

Song: Good Looking by Suki Waterhouse


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In this episode, one of my closest pals, Emma Grace Condon, returns. 
This time, however, she is asking me the questions. We cover the changes I have seen in myself as a result of the past year of living away from home, and we unpack why it is that no one wants to talk about how lonely the transition can be. We also discuss where I land on the introvert/extrovert spectrum, how much we hate ice breakers, how both good and bad change is hard, finding the lifestyle that brings you the most joy, the stereotype of college students becoming liberals, and what I missed most about Louisiana.
My first year of college was a combination of exceeded and unmet expectations. managing disappointment and relishing the freedom of independence. learning so much I was fairly certain my brain would explode and unlearning concepts/ideologies that no longer fit with my values. 
I'm not exactly sure why it's so rare to receive advice about the difficulties of freshman year of college, but it is. And that lack of transparency and honesty about the painful reality of life away from home made the struggle I felt in my first semester extremely isolating. Come to find out I wasn't alone in my struggle. Not even a little. 
The fight to establish a new identity with no external expectations while holding on tightly to the parts of myself I hoped to keep was both empowering and terrifying. I no longer had the safety net of my family and friends who had known me my whole life to remind me of my character when I was feeling lost. All I had was myself.
I always said I wanted to leave home so that I could become an individual outside of the expectations the people in my life had unwittingly placed on me, but when the time came, was I ready? 
I wasn't... but I don't think anyone ever is. 
I think that's part of the bravery of it all. Stepping into something you're not ready for but learning how to manage along the way. In retrospect, I recognize the courage it took to move across the country and start from scratch with friendships and with myself. I also recognize the bravery and vulnerability it took for me to show up authentically every day to new and unknown people, striving for deep connection. 
It may feel like I just gave away the entire episode, but there's so much more, so,
Let's dive in!
Song: Little Freak by Harry Styles


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