“Women of faith, discussing complicated things.” That’s how  authors Susan Hinckley and Cynthia Winward describe At Last She Said It, and they don’t expect the knots to untangle themselves. Even with two very different personalities and a decade or so between them, as their friendship developed they kept stumbling onto what felt like an uncanny amount of common ground in their church experiences. Often their conversations ended with, “Why isn’t anyone talking about this? Someone should do a podcast!” So they did. They had a hunch they weren’t the only women wishing they had a place to discuss the things they were thinking about, a lot of which they’d never said—or heard—out loud. That hunch was right. Their 200-and-counting recorded conversations have been downloaded some two million times. Hinckley and Winward have learned, right along with their listeners, that there’s no power quite like finding out you’re not alone. 

Their book now asks Latter-day Saints to think about old ideas in new ways. Stretching can be uncomfortable, but the willingness to consider diverse perspectives—even on the things we hold most dear—feels essential in an evolving world. So does being open to changing our minds, including how we think about ourselves. Faith is alive when it’s growing, and growing means change. Hopefully, these conversations will be the beginning of thousands more.

 

Susan M. Hinckley is a storyteller in words and pictures. A longtime exhibitor with the American Craft Council, her art is held in private collections across the United States. She writes and reflects on her faith and church experiences as co-creator of the At Last She Said It podcast. She’ll travel any distance for good green chile or a glimpse of her grandkids, splitting her time between the Southwest and Midwest. Wherever she is, her heart roams the desert—preferably in a fast convertible.

Cynthia Winward makes her home in Provo, Utah, although she will always be a California girl. Before pouring all her creative energy into the At Last She Said It podcast,  she was the owner of an online embroidery business. Her kitchen is her happy place, where she enjoys making the world’s greatest red-chile enchiladas. She prefers salty over sweet, TV over movies, and early mornings over late nights. She enjoys the good life as an empty nester with her husband, Paul.