Ep. 9 ｜ Elisha Krauss On Feminism, Homeschooling, And The Importance of Conservatism
Episode Stats
Words per minute
177.0051
Harmful content
Misogyny
52
sentences flagged
Toxicity
3
sentences flagged
Hate speech
17
sentences flagged
Summary
On today's episode of the Classically Abbie podcast, I chat with conservative media personality Alicia Krauss all about feminism, homeschooling, and the importance of conservatism, particularly for women. All this and more on today's ep!
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Chatting with Alicia Krauss all about feminism, homeschooling, and the importance of conservatism,
00:00:07.460
All this and more on today's episode of the Classically Abbey podcast.
00:00:37.920
Actually, I don't know the last time we saw each other in person,
00:00:42.660
Yeah, I think it might have been I was pregnant with my third and now I'm pregnant with my fourth.
00:00:59.720
I mean, this weird rain we're having, I told my husband the other day, I'm like,
00:01:03.640
did we just like transplant to Seattle and nobody told us?
00:01:11.140
I think it's been good because the aqueducts are filling up.
00:01:15.160
It's been good because it exposes government incompetence, but it's been bad because I'm sure
00:01:20.440
that you've heard in the San Bernardino Mountains, like Arrowhead, Big Bear area.
00:01:24.080
I think there's something like 11,000 residents stranded and without power.
00:01:28.860
And Gavin Newsom is sipping margaritas at a five-star resort in Baja.
00:01:39.280
We're going to even talk or even going to touch on this topic on you staying in L.A.
00:01:42.600
But let's get started here because not all of my subscribers know what you do, and you
00:01:48.480
have been in the conservative movement for your entire career, kicking butt and taking
00:01:53.660
But can you tell my subscribers how you got started and what your mission is?
00:02:01.920
I'm a homeschool nerd from the Bible Belt whose mom ran for public office twice, who was the
00:02:08.140
She'd write a weekly op-ed in the local newspaper, tackling cultural and political issues of the
00:02:18.000
My paternal grandfather was a district judge, and I remember being interested in watching
00:02:25.640
I'm 37, so I'm a grandma millennial and a geriatric pregnancy, by the way, in case you
00:02:30.840
And I just remember just being fascinated with news and politics from a very young age.
00:02:35.920
So at 18, I moved to New York City to go to college and had always had a job, so I was
00:02:41.980
bored just going to school full-time and Googled internships and got started interning at
00:02:46.980
WABC, which is the radio station that originally syndicated Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and I
00:02:53.700
believe even Rush Limbaugh, and felt like always love to talk radio.
00:02:58.540
And that, I don't know, I joke, I dug my grave, so now I have to lie in it.
00:03:02.320
That was at 18, and I haven't left the conservative media world since.
00:03:08.080
And I would say that I think my purpose has definitely shifted.
00:03:11.500
I think in the past, it's been a supporting role for other people and other talent, whether
00:03:17.900
But then, weirdly, being like on-air colleagues with people as well, never anticipated that
00:03:25.240
And I think now being freelance and consulting and speaking with YAF and at conferences and
00:03:32.080
stuff, I think really my mission is to speak for those who can't speak for themselves because
00:03:38.460
college campuses, specifically in the United States, are the battleground.
00:03:43.220
We're seeing all of these cultural battles that we're having to fight politically and
00:03:50.880
And so I really appreciate and enjoy it when I hear from women, most of my audience is 80%
00:04:00.880
And when I hear from them, hey, thanks for saying that thing because I took it to my mommy
00:04:05.400
and me play date, and I was able to say what you said and be like, hey, look at what this
00:04:10.540
chick said and open up a conversation with my liberal friend.
1.00
00:04:13.680
Or, hey, can you come to our campus and talk about these issues because I can't talk about
00:04:19.220
Um, so being a voice, I think, for the voiceless and if little of me can do that, then I think
00:04:33.640
I'm actually speaking with YAF, uh, on a campus in a couple months, which I'm excited about,
00:04:38.400
but, um, it is, it's so important for us to show women, college students that there is
00:04:47.040
a place for you and that you can speak on these topics if you're brave enough, or if
00:04:53.000
you're not, if you're in a situation where, you know, even if you were brave, it would
00:04:55.960
be totally inappropriate for you to speak on it.
00:04:58.120
There are people out there who support you and who believe in what you're saying.
00:05:01.920
Yeah, there's a lot of, uh, every single time I say something like that, the mainstream
00:05:06.220
would dub as controversial, uh, like men cannot be women.
00:05:09.260
I hear from women in areas and I tell people, I'm like, listen, if you can avoid going to
00:05:14.260
politics or be a talking head, like, please go do something else.
00:05:17.360
If I were smarter, I'd be doing something else.
00:05:19.740
But if I could go back and change my name and, and not drop out of college, maybe I'd
00:05:24.540
be doing something else, but, uh, I'm doing what I'm doing and, but we need other people
00:05:30.000
And I often hear from women in STEM and women in tech in the Bay area that work for social media
00:05:36.300
companies that are showrunners and executive producers of mainstream content that you and
00:05:42.160
I watch every single day, people in fashion and finance that are like, Hey, I love my job.
00:05:47.840
I believe like, this is my purpose and my passion, but thank you for speaking out on this because
00:05:53.020
it enabled me to go to HR and be like, Hey, why did you have this caveat about LGBTQ stuff
00:06:02.660
So could you please consider covering my maternity leave and better and alternate maternity care
00:06:07.880
for me instead of encouraging me to go get an abortion and really giving those people
00:06:12.320
the tools and the freedom to be like, they are not alone and how important those aspects
00:06:17.600
of society and the economy are and not underestimating people.
00:06:22.660
Cause I think we can all, we're all guilty of just getting in our own bubble, um, and being
00:06:27.040
like, well, I need to be on Fox news or I need to run for Congress in order to make a difference.
00:06:34.800
So what makes you a proponent of conservative conservatism and traditional values?
00:06:42.800
What do you think makes these things important and gives women in particular a better shot
0.99
00:06:47.880
at happiness and fulfillment through these traditional values that we're both, I think,
00:06:53.340
Yeah, I think, um, the ability to be created and treated as equals, um, is something that
00:07:04.000
Um, and then the reason specifically with conservatism that comes in is, and I think there's a faith
00:07:09.180
component to this as well is how everyone is unique.
00:07:13.340
Uh, inserting the faith is like designed in the image of God, but even aside from faith,
00:07:20.660
Scientifically, if you're looking at it, you and I are both female, but we are both incredibly
00:07:27.200
So it's actually kind of not fair because your parents are way smarter than mine.
00:07:35.740
Um, so, um, but I think that from the political perspective, it's understanding the beauty of
00:07:44.220
that individualism and that, um, independence and wanting everyone to have the right to make
00:07:51.300
decisions for themselves and their own autonomy and then their own core family.
00:07:56.300
And that as a society, when men and women get married, they tend to be more economically
00:08:04.180
They tend to, um, take care of not only their selves and their families, but the community
00:08:10.280
around them because of how it affects their family unit.
00:08:16.100
And it's a bigger bonus when the government gets out of the way and allows people to do
00:08:25.800
So let's talk feminism for a second, because I feel like anybody we're in a
1.00
00:08:31.960
time where it's as if feminism is supposed to be recognized as obvious, as obvious truth
1.00
00:08:39.200
And if you're not explicitly, I'm totally feminist, right?
00:08:47.500
Do you think feminist ideology helps or hurts women?
0.56
00:08:50.740
And I use the word feminism broadly here, but obviously if you want to like define it a
1.00
00:08:55.720
little differently, because there are so many different uses of that term, go for it.
00:09:00.320
I think it's fascinating to me that, uh, this semester with my AF speeches, I've been talking
00:09:07.960
It's been about why women need guns or school choice or pro-life issues, but it's, it's interesting
00:09:16.020
And I've seen even influencers and commentators and friends on the left that have identified
00:09:21.900
as very left-leaning feminists really taking issue with the movement as a whole.
0.99
00:09:27.620
And I love to start my speeches when I talk about feminism with the dictionary definition,
1.00
00:09:32.740
although dictionary definitions do change occasionally nowadays.
00:09:35.460
So I've screen grabbed it and saved it just in case.
00:09:37.880
Um, I, if, if, if we are looking at the dictionary definition of feminism would talk, which talks
0.99
00:09:50.740
The problem is when you have planned parenthood and Nancy Pelosi and the AOCs of the world and
00:09:58.480
Michelle Williams and the women's March identifying what they think and mainstreaming their leftist
00:10:05.440
agenda of feminism, then I think that people left, right, and center view that as feminism.
1.00
00:10:11.740
And then everyone tells you, well, unless you are this, you cannot identify as a feminist.
1.00
00:10:17.120
I think with you and even my girlfriend, Liz Wheeler, who are like, no, we're not feminists.
00:10:21.260
I actually think like, yeah, much like I want to take over and, and rebuild California.
00:10:26.600
I think we need to take over and rebuild feminism because based on the definition of feminism,
1.00
00:10:32.060
I would argue that I'm a feminist and that you are a feminist and that I'm raising feminist
1.00
00:10:37.260
And I love to see people on the left, like, Ooh, when I say that.
00:10:41.280
Um, but I think that it actually sometimes, and it has more, more so recently opened up
00:10:47.440
constructive dialogue and debate with women on the other side of the aisle, because we
00:10:54.440
And then we can, um, in a friendly way, agree to disagree on other issues because I'm not
00:11:00.440
going to budge on abortion and there may not either, but we can agree on the equality.
00:11:05.600
We can agree on things that need to change culturally.
00:11:08.620
We can agree on some things even that need to change politically.
00:11:11.660
And so when we're just like feminism bad without defining what we are against, I think that that's
00:11:20.400
I have been kind of, I've been trying to nail down how to approach this topic because I've
00:11:27.000
always said, or initially I said, you know, feminism is something I agree with when it
1.00
00:11:33.700
We have equal rights under the law, a hundred percent.
00:11:38.500
I mean, we have the same worth, but men and women are different.
00:11:41.720
Now, when we move into the Christina Hoff Summers definition, I mean, that was the book that
00:11:45.660
really like clarified things for me, her book on, on feminism, um, when she started talking
00:11:50.560
about gender feminism and how there's a Marxist ideology underlying modern feminism, which says
00:11:56.700
that women are always victims and men are always oppressors.
00:12:04.500
I can't agree that men are going to always be winning.
00:12:07.580
Even when we have, you know, Taylor Swift making 300 worth $320 million.
00:12:11.660
I, I think that women should have equal rights, right?
00:12:16.840
I think that Selena Gomez has as many followers on Instagram as Cristiano Ronaldo, right?
00:12:21.600
Or I could argue that women are better at some things like, hello, having and making babies.
1.00
00:12:26.500
Men can never do that because they can't even handle a minor cold, but they also go into
00:12:30.780
battle and they spend six months on an oil rig.
00:12:34.880
I don't think that's a job that you want to sign up for.
00:12:38.160
And so I think that, and that's what I talk about in my feminism speech is celebrating
0.99
00:12:42.360
the beauty and the differences and how, when we see each other as cohesive partners and
00:12:48.380
teammates, um, I mean, I feel like I'm almost talking about marriage, right?
00:12:52.620
But it's like, if men and women in society could treat each other, like you kind of have
00:12:57.020
to in a marriage, then professionally, it's going to be better.
00:13:00.080
And professionally, we want women in the workplace because men stereotypically tend to not be
00:13:05.560
very communicative or emotional creatures and women are men and women report being happier
00:13:11.400
and more successful at their jobs when they have a female boss.
1.00
00:13:15.040
Because a female boss will check in and be like, how are you doing today, John?
0.93
00:13:19.960
Not in a nosy or inappropriate way, but making sure that if he needs to get off at three o'clock
00:13:24.660
to go to his son's basketball game, that's a possibility.
00:13:27.380
A male boss ain't going to do that or isn't going to have the same level of caring or interest
0.76
00:13:34.900
And I think that that's an example of like, Hey, if it's good for men and it's good for
0.81
00:13:46.140
Um, and so I think left, right, and center, there's definitely moves that can and should
00:13:52.080
be made, but thank God we're in the United States because women here are a heck of a lot
1.00
00:13:57.020
better off than in any other nation in the world.
00:14:01.760
So you're a mama to three girls with another baby on the way.
00:14:06.240
I don't know the, I don't know the gender of your baby yet, but we'll have to wait and
00:14:13.840
You're constantly working in the movement, including travel for speeches around the country
00:14:18.720
with Young America's foundation, as we talked about.
00:14:21.000
So how do you balance all of your responsibilities as a wife, mother, and conservative commentator?
0.96
00:14:27.200
I think that's like the top question that I get from my subscribers when they listen to
00:14:32.720
They, I'm talking to all of these incredible women who are doing these incredible things
1.00
00:14:37.720
And they're kind of like, how do you do all of it?
00:14:42.420
Uh, I'm in my mostly completely renovated kitchen.
00:14:49.100
Um, my husband helped me with the tech setup because I'm not tech savvy, uh, but he would
00:14:55.400
I said last week, and I'll say again, this week at a YAP speech that I could not be on
00:15:00.640
the road if it weren't from my husband being an engaged father at home.
00:15:05.560
I have the freedom to do that because we're a team.
00:15:10.240
Uh, he, unlike the stereotype, I'm currently barefoot, pregnant in the kitchen.
00:15:17.260
Like if ask our girls any night of the week, they prefer daddy's food over mommy's food.
1.00
00:15:28.160
And I think in that case, it really takes a village.
00:15:31.040
And in, I mean, even in circumstances where I think it's amazing when religious organizations
00:15:37.540
or churches or friend groups get together to help those single moms in those scenarios.
1.00
00:15:43.220
So they can work and they can engage with their kids and they can pursue their dreams because
00:15:47.100
I think it's really important for kids, boys and girls to see their mom and dad, um, not
00:15:55.280
struggling per se, but really sacrificing for one another and sacrificing for the family.
00:16:00.680
To showing them like what it takes and that one day they can and should do the same for
00:16:06.860
I loved what Rihanna said, um, when people were like, Oh, are you sure you want to like
00:16:12.800
Like right after having a baby, cause her baby wasn't even a year old.
00:16:19.480
She was like, no, that's exactly what I want to be doing.
00:16:21.520
Cause I want my son to see that even after becoming a mother, it actually empowers me to do
00:16:30.120
And so I would just encourage those women.
1.00
00:16:32.380
It sometimes the laundry has to wait because you have to go do something.
00:16:37.160
And then sometimes you need to like really learn to prioritize your time.
00:16:41.740
And I've been married for almost 14 years and we have number four on the way.
00:16:45.260
And I still feel like it's something I'm learning.
00:16:49.460
My girlfriend, Mary Catherine Ham says this so well, she says, give yourself grace, but
00:16:55.280
And I think when you kind of take that through life day in and day out, especially as a woman,
00:17:01.480
because we are different and we have like mom guilt and bog ourselves down.
00:17:07.580
And I used to say this on our lady brains podcast when we had it of like, when you're at home,
00:17:12.480
sometimes like struggling to feel like you should be working.
00:17:15.000
And then when you're in work mode, struggling and feeling like, should I be at home?
00:17:19.320
And I think that feeling, I don't know if it ever goes away, but I've learned how to
00:17:25.660
process it and kind of self-diagnose it and be confident and like letting my yes be yes
00:17:32.040
and my no be no and not wasting the time that I have in both of those spaces.
00:17:38.100
I think that that's been something I'm learning with only one, one little baby that it's just
00:17:43.000
all about prioritizing time management and trying to be, find those people that you're
00:17:50.020
like, you know what, if my baby can't be with me today, at least he's with his grandma
00:18:01.080
Not that I'm, you know, I generally am home, but for me, like right now, my mom put down my
00:18:10.940
It's good for him to create a relationship with people outside of his mom.
00:18:16.000
And even though he knows that he has a secure attachment with me, because I'll always be
00:18:22.600
And that's a really beautiful thing for him is that he has a whole group of people who
00:18:27.400
love him and care about him and want to take care of him.
00:18:30.140
Well, and my kids are kind of social like me, go figure, but each of them is different
00:18:36.920
in how they interact with people or how they get to know people and how they engage.
00:18:40.460
And I think that as a parent too, it is incredible to see from the moment that they're born, the
00:18:45.380
differences of those personalities where my oldest, I could hand her to a stranger on
00:18:50.340
the corner and she would be like, Hey, what's up?
00:18:53.600
But my middle like hated strangers for the first year of her life.
00:18:57.820
And if you were a man without a beard, because my husband has a beard, it's like, do not
00:19:01.180
even look at her or she'd scream in your face.
1.00
00:19:07.840
But, and so, but, but now she like runs her little class and, and the teacher's like,
00:19:16.020
Um, and that you, so the scenario that you're surrounded saying with your mom is like when
00:19:21.240
kids have a healthy home life and they can see the confidence and comfort that their parents
00:19:26.620
are displaying, um, around other people, whether that's an auntie or a neighbor or a Sunday school
00:19:33.520
teacher or grandparent, then it creates a safe environment for them to understand.
00:19:40.400
This is the hierarchy, but these other people are trustworthy as well.
00:19:44.180
And my husband and I talk about this all the time, especially as our kids are getting older,
00:19:48.660
And I'm like, before we know it, she's going to be like a preteen.
00:19:53.540
And we need to have people in our lives that we trust that she can trust because even the
00:20:00.200
good kids like reach a point where they don't want to talk to their parents about everything.
00:20:04.180
And so you need to have those people in your community and in your life that you can lean
00:20:10.620
on as a parent, but that your kids can eventually lean on as well.
00:20:17.500
So I wanted to talk about homeschooling a little bit with you because I am, as my son
00:20:23.780
is growing up and getting older, I'm getting more interested in the possibility of homeschooling
00:20:29.260
And I know you grew up in Oklahoma, you were homeschooled.
00:20:37.160
And what do you think are the benefits or maybe not the benefits?
00:20:47.060
And the older I get and the more children I have, the more I think that there is no one
00:20:52.340
size fits all for a family when it comes to education.
00:20:56.660
Our two oldest are currently in the same school.
00:21:01.520
They seem to be doing well, but I've kind of seriously joked that this is a test year
00:21:06.240
because I homeschooled our oldest and our niece for two years during COVID.
00:21:11.080
And so it was a, my oldest, like I said, she's such a people person.
00:21:19.860
She has the ability to remember names and details like everybody says Bill Clinton did.
00:21:28.400
So she's my kid that I've been able to see now through third grade of being like, oh,
00:21:32.840
maybe she's kind of the child that was made for the classroom.
00:21:35.520
We did fine homeschooling, but I don't know how much longer based upon her learning ability
00:21:41.680
and my teaching ability that I could have taught her maybe past like fifth or sixth grade.
00:21:45.640
Cause I just taught my niece up to that level.
0.99
00:21:47.560
And after that, I'm like, this gets a little more difficult and I'm not great at the math.
00:21:51.580
Um, my middle, our youngest will have to wait and see, um, they're all summer babies too.
00:21:59.360
So I've held them back, but my personal experience with homeschooling, I absolutely loved it.
00:22:04.040
Uh, of the three girls, I'm the only one that my mom homeschooled all 12 years.
00:22:09.160
It worked for us because we were in a rural area with really crappy schools at the time.
00:22:15.740
So he had really weird hours where we'd take family vacation in November and he'd be home.
00:22:21.580
Sunday through Wednesday, and then gone the rest of the week because of his travel and flight
00:22:25.520
schedule. And so it really enabled me to have the freedom at 14 to get a job.
00:22:31.280
And I always loved working and making my own money and taught me a lot of like time management
00:22:37.920
skills, but I think then helped me when I went to college and entered a professional career
00:22:42.680
because it kind of forced me to self-start and it forced me to time manage and instead of just
00:22:48.640
being like told what to do. Uh, and so I think that those are huge benefits that it had. And
00:22:54.980
because it gave me the freedom of time to travel with my parents, to be on the campaign trail with
00:23:01.700
my mom, to not be stuck in a school room, to excel in English and history and literature and be held
00:23:09.260
back a little bit. Cause I wasn't great at algebra, right. Um, that you don't typically get in a school
00:23:14.320
environment. And so I think I just tell any parent good for you start with preschool. Like you can get
00:23:21.760
a little curriculum for when he turns three, three and a half, four, understand that he's a boy. So
00:23:27.120
he's going to be different than if you had a little girl who will sit there and like color and trace and
0.62
00:23:30.820
be all excited. Like my three and a half year old does. Right. Um, and kind of just see how it goes.
00:23:36.460
See if you are both thriving, um, because you want and need to be thriving and know that when you
00:23:42.680
homeschool, there's going to be really awesome days where you're like, yeah, we did it. We checked all
00:23:47.040
the boxes. We did all the subjects and we did the extra science project. Um, and then there will be
00:23:52.120
other days that you're like, you know, this site word, why are you not saying it when I hold up the
00:23:56.760
card? Um, they are human too. And just like you and I have good days and bad days or good night's
00:24:05.020
sleep and bad night's sleep. So will they, and that affects their performance and their demeanor
00:24:09.500
and how they learn. Um, but I think, and I think that it's so important based off what you're saying.
00:24:15.780
I really like the idea just, and it's true of parenting generally of just going off of your
00:24:20.760
child, understanding your child's personality, what they need. Some kids, like you said, thrive in a
00:24:26.900
school environment and other kids really don't. And don't, I know a few people who, whose parents
00:24:33.080
took them out of school to homeschool them because they found that they had lost a love
00:24:37.120
of learning. And so I think it really just depends on the kid and that's important to
00:24:42.460
keep in mind. Not everything is just going to be okay. Here's your path because this is
00:24:46.340
the path everybody says, and we're done. Like no, you reevaluate and you go off the kid's
00:24:51.780
personality. Yeah. And I think this is why I'm such an advocate for school choice because
00:24:56.620
I don't think even in one family, if you have three kids, every kid is going to need the same
00:25:02.340
level of education or attention or environment to learn. And I think that for some kids, it's
00:25:09.360
a competitive nature, right? For some kids like my oldest, it's a congenial nature. It
00:25:14.500
could be for some kids, they just like learn very well between these specific times and
00:25:19.600
checking the box of their projects where other kids might need more ebb and flow and need to
00:25:23.720
go into the woods to do science versus just reading about it in a textbook. I often think,
00:25:29.460
and, and I don't know, cause we don't have boys, but I look at boy moms that I know and
00:25:33.620
I'm like, somebody needs to start like a wilderness school for little boys, because I don't think
00:25:38.300
that a kid under the age of like seven or eight years old, like a boy, like you have belong
00:25:43.440
in a classroom because it just is not a very conducive environment to just their personalities
00:25:50.600
at that. And they're the way that they like need to touch and feel and play and, and wrestle and
00:25:55.800
learn. Um, I totally agree with you. And I think it's really sad that in American society, we strictly
00:26:03.540
determine, uh, a child's educational future, which will then turn into and positively or negatively
00:26:11.100
affect their future financial success based on where their parents can afford to live.
00:26:16.360
And I don't see that as a partisan issue. I think that that's an issue that every mother in
00:26:22.940
the country should be able to agree on. And I've often said if the California GOP wanted to start
00:26:27.260
winning, this is an issue that they would run on because, uh, data shows that over 70% of even
00:26:33.260
liberal minority mothers in the state of California are pro school choice.
0.92
00:26:36.900
I believe it. I totally believe it. And it's like, for me, I just think to myself, and again,
00:26:43.100
I don't know the stats on this, but just the number of boys who are told they have ADD, ADHD,
00:26:49.580
it may be accurate, but it seems high based off of kids just not being able to sit in a classroom
00:26:55.720
because they're boys and they want to move. Like, I just, I don't want to ever put, you know,
00:27:01.300
that, that situation that worries me for my son is that he would be in a situation where people are
00:27:07.580
thinking, Oh, he has some sort of attention deficit disorder when it's really just, he's a boy and he's
00:27:13.980
And then the bigger problem of that is, is then they want to drug him or they want to punish him
00:27:19.360
or they want to delay him or put him in a special needs class because maybe they're getting an additional
00:27:24.900
government grant for every seat. And that special needs class that's filled. My mom is ADD. My older
00:27:31.100
sister has ADD. Um, they've coped with it and lived with it for a very long time. And I mean,
00:27:36.620
it gets on my nerves because she likes it's there and like taps her fingers while you're talking and
00:27:40.120
she's, but she can be extremely focused and extremely successful as a politician and small
1.00
00:27:46.740
business owner. Uh, when she's like geared toward doing something that she is interested in,
00:27:52.300
she's incredible and can do numbers in her head that I cannot do and remember stats that I cannot
0.97
00:27:57.480
remember. Uh, and it's really honing that. And she always tells young moms that come to her,
00:28:02.740
whether their kids are homeschooled or in public school. And they're like, what should I do? My
00:28:06.580
seven-year-old, the teacher says he's a problem child and he won't ever want to do his homework.
00:28:11.120
And she's like, cut out the sugar, make sure they're getting enough sleep at night and make
1.00
00:28:16.560
them run around the yard for like 30 minutes before you sit them down to do like school that they have
00:28:21.060
to be physically kind of like get through that energy before they can tune into that, like mental
00:28:26.880
part of their brain because the physical at that age is just so it's normal. And it's really sad that
00:28:32.700
our education system in this country is so geared towards that perfect little five-year-old girl
0.99
00:28:36.560
that's going to sit there in her uniform and, you know, do her, her ABCs, like trace them just fine.
0.99
00:28:42.600
Not every kid is like that, but we especially see a difference there between boys and girls.
00:28:46.860
Absolutely. So I am so glad we got to do this interview. So now let's move into our faith talk.
00:28:54.660
This week's Torah portion is Titzaveh, which means command. The Torah portion also is the
00:29:01.200
Parsha in Hebrew. So in this week's Parsha, Chabad.org says, God tells Moses to receive from the children
00:29:08.480
of Israel pure olive oil to feed the everlasting flame of the menorah, which Aaron is to kindle each day
00:29:14.220
from evening till morning. Now here's where we get into the meat of the Torah portion. We're talking
00:29:19.800
about the priestly garments and everything that the priests wear in the tabernacle. So the priestly
00:29:26.780
garments to be worn by the Kohanim, that's the priests, while serving in the sanctuary are described.
00:29:34.200
Al Kohanim wore the katonet, which is a full-length linen tunic, linen breeches, a linen turban,
00:29:40.700
a long sash wound above the waist. In addition, he also wore an apron-like garment made of blue,
00:29:46.960
purple, and red-dyed wool, linen, and gold thread, a breastplate containing 12 precious stones inscribed
00:29:52.580
with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, a cloak of blue wool with gold bells and decorative
00:29:57.600
pomegranates on its hem, and a golden plate worn on the forehead bearing the inscription,
00:30:02.560
Holy to God. There's also a section including the detailed instructions for the seven-day initiation
00:30:09.140
of Aaron and his four sons into the priesthood and for the making of the golden altar on which
00:30:14.140
the incense was burned. So this is the portion of the Torah. We're kind of going through a couple
00:30:20.580
sections in Exodus that are much more law-focused and a little bit less story-focused. So my question
00:30:27.760
is, why is there an entire Torah portion dedicated to what the high priest wears? Why are his clothes
00:30:34.940
important? Who cares? Like, why? Why did it even matter? Because it did matter. If he didn't wear
00:30:41.320
the right clothing in the holy temple, he could be killed when he entered the holy of holies. Like,
00:30:46.240
it was possible that God would be like, okay, you're done. So why is that? So this to me relates a lot to
00:30:53.360
what I talk about on my channel regarding modesty. Our bodies are not entirely separate from our souls.
00:30:59.700
Sometimes people think that our bodies hold us back or that the physical world inhibits our
00:31:05.640
holy ascendance and closeness to God. But the truth is, is that our bodies are the gateway to
00:31:11.500
being able to experience God's presence. By dressing in the holiest of garments when working in the
00:31:17.440
tabernacle, as close to God as any person could be, the high priest is elevating his soul through what
00:31:24.100
he wears. So what can we learn from this? What we wear matters. Wearing clothing that glorifies the
00:31:31.480
body as separate from our souls or focuses on the sexuality of our body rather than its beauty as
00:31:37.280
gifted by God takes us further from God's presence. When we dress modestly and beautifully, we are
00:31:44.080
glorifying God's name. We are using our physical presence on earth to bring us closer to God. And that's
00:31:49.940
a huge blessing. But I'm interested to hear your thoughts because modesty is a little bit of a
00:31:55.040
touchy subject nowadays. And I also am very clear on my, on my, you know, channel, on my podcast,
00:32:02.040
that modesty for me, what it looks like for me as an Orthodox Jew is very different than what I expect
00:32:07.860
from like the average person. I'm just like, if you can cover your cleavage, covered the bottom of
00:32:13.180
your butt cheeks and cover your midriff, we're good. Like you're doing good. But I'd love to hear
0.99
00:32:18.380
your thoughts on modesty. And I mean, if it relates to faith for you.
00:32:24.520
Yeah, I think there's a, the, much like my political views, there could be the religious
00:32:29.240
perspective and then like the scientific, like cultural perspective. And I think culturally
00:32:33.920
for young women specifically, uh, and there's this mom that I follow, uh, on Instagram. She had this
00:32:40.440
whole thing about, cause her son like went to an eighth grade, like homecoming dance. And she's like
00:32:44.660
the way that some of these girls were dressed and then how the mothers are like, oh, you know,
0.99
00:32:48.640
well, everybody's doing it. So how do I tell her no? And she, so then she started posting like all
00:32:54.100
these pictures of like Chippendales type people. And she's like, is this who you want to roll up and
0.86
00:32:58.820
be like, well, you know, my son's in a thong because everybody's doing it. And like, if boys were doing
00:33:03.640
the same thing, how would people react? Right. They'd be like, oh, they're so creepy. They're so
00:33:09.020
predatory, but like when young women do it, it's like supposedly no big deal. Um, when we over
0.99
00:33:13.900
sexualize them. Um, so I think that secularly and culturally, we have studies that show that women
0.99
00:33:22.020
who are promiscuous, that women that dress a certain way, um, net have negative experiences with
0.67
00:33:28.140
their own self-esteem, their own self-worth, their self-consciousness, like so many things,
00:33:33.580
depression, anxiety, they tend to be more promiscuous. They tend to have then more
00:33:38.760
physical and emotional ailments from, from that like activity and secular studies showing like
00:33:45.360
that is not good for women. Um, and I love that, even though I would take it from the Christian
1.00
00:33:50.620
perspective of, um, being complete in Jesus and our body being a temple and my mother, like
00:33:57.680
kind of hounding that into me as a kid of like, it's not just your outward appearance that, that
00:34:03.360
you're exuding and representing, you know, your faith and your family, but it's like what you
00:34:08.400
choose to put in and do with your body as well. Like, um, whether that be destroying your lungs
00:34:14.300
through smoking or using recreational drugs or overusing alcohol or choosing to be morbidly
00:34:20.740
obese, one of the seven deadly sins, right. Um, of how we are supposed to take care of our temple.
00:34:27.500
And that includes like what we're putting out in the world. And I think that I like to look nice.
00:34:33.800
I want to look like sexy for my husband and pretty on camera, but there's like a lot in between in
00:34:39.700
there that it's possible to be feminine and attractive and classy and not dress like,
00:34:52.860
Right. Exactly. And it's so sad because it's like Instagram and OnlyFans in many ways are
00:34:58.020
indistinguishable except one is free and one is not. Yeah. I mean, if, if you look at like,
00:35:03.980
when I remember like reading about the description of OnlyFans and what people wouldn't, would not be
00:35:08.180
doing over there and like Bella Thorne and some other people were like, well, I'm going to go over
00:35:11.760
there. Cause at least I can make money. And I'm like, how is that any different than like what their
00:35:15.580
car, car Jenners do? I mean, how is it any different than, you know, what a lot of celebrities are
00:35:20.980
posting on their Instagram. And by the way, they're still making money for it because
00:35:24.960
as Chris Rock said in his latest special, that's the number one way to make money is show your
00:35:30.240
yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. No, it's funny. I have a friend on Instagram who has talked to me. We've
00:35:38.200
talked to each other about this because we're both more like traditional. We both are modest on our
00:35:43.020
Instagram posts. And we've said, you know, if we just did this, if we just exposed one area of our
00:35:50.020
bodies, we would go up 200,000 followers the next day, like, but we would never do it because to us,
00:35:56.720
it's not, it's a hundred percent not worth it, obviously. But even more than that, it's just not,
00:36:01.480
it's not good for you as a person and people who, you know, look, I am very used to being sexualized
00:36:09.440
on the internet at this point. It really doesn't matter what I post, but at the end of the day,
00:36:13.240
yeah, it doesn't matter what I post. It doesn't matter how covered I am. It doesn't matter.
00:36:17.760
But at the end of the day, the people who are going to sexualize me, who are choosing to
00:36:22.580
sexualize me, the trolls would sexualize me no matter what. But that doesn't mean that I have
00:36:27.760
to then lean into it and give them an opportunity to see things that are to me, precious and to my
00:36:34.060
husband, precious. And private. Yeah. And private. And it means that that's what I don't get about the
00:36:39.880
Emily Ratajowskis or, um, you know, even like the Lena Dunham's of the world. They're like, well,
00:36:45.520
it's my body. And I, if I control what's out there, then I have control. And, and it's like,
00:36:52.320
but then why are you revealing that intimate part of yourself? Like why it's just like revealing
00:36:57.100
intimate information. Right. Um, and another thing that, you know, Chris Rock said in his special,
00:37:02.440
it's like, well, I can do this in like this, uh, sex act on somebody and not have not never call her
0.96
00:37:08.360
back. I mean, it's crap, but it's funny because it's true. But he's like, I remember how many women
1.00
00:37:13.580
whose hands I've held. Right. And it's almost like if I were a public school teacher teaching
00:37:19.520
sex ed, I would just like clip that and be like, so yeah, maybe you should be careful of who you're
00:37:24.900
engaging with and who you're showing your body to and who you're giving yourself to, because no
00:37:30.380
offense to men, they really don't care and have one track minds and they will remember whose hand
00:37:35.980
they held or who they told they loved for the first time. Um, but they're not going to remember
00:37:40.660
for you for the hot bikini shot, other than it being a brief moment of like sexual pleasure for
00:37:46.300
them. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that right there is exactly it. And the thing that we should all
00:37:52.860
keep in mind moving forward. So now let's move into my premium subscriber questions. If you are
00:38:00.420
interested in becoming a premium subscriber to my sub stack, make sure to head over to
00:38:04.320
classicallyabby.substack.com where you'll get access to a ton of exclusive content, including my book
00:38:09.820
club, as well as weekly exclusive articles and being able to submit questions for podcasts just
00:38:15.900
like this. So let's head into question number one, which is, it seems like women are being erased.
1.00
00:38:22.320
What are the best ways to fight back? Um, I would say my daily motto of, of what we tell our girls to
00:38:30.920
be is strong, sweet, and smart. And when you are a strong, sweet, and smart woman, you cannot be erased
00:38:36.900
even as much as society tries to tell us that men transitioning to women are better at being women
00:38:41.740
than we are, which I find really personally insulting for women everywhere. Uh, and, and I think
0.99
00:38:48.100
really just being confident, a part of that inner strength is being confident in like your purpose
00:38:53.400
and, and your calling. And like that helps you move through every single day. It helps you move
00:38:58.980
through every moment, uh, whether it's good, bad, or ugly, it helps you move through a week. It helps you
00:39:04.160
move through a month and like plan for the future. And when you have a trajectory that you are confident,
00:39:09.380
um, in pursuing and know that you're on the right path, people can try to tamp you down and can try to
00:39:16.540
erase you and try to highlight masculinity over femininity or men trying to be feminine and culture
00:39:24.680
currently lauding that. But I don't know. I think that that's going to crumble and it already is
00:39:30.020
crumbling. And this too shall pass when it comes because when even feminists on the left are like,
1.00
00:39:35.440
Hey, this isn't what I signed up for. You know, the, the left has a problem in this battle that
00:39:40.920
they've so chosen. Yeah. I think that really, it starts with being brave enough, which is a ridiculous
00:39:48.160
thing to say, but it's being brave enough to say, yes, men and women are different. Men cannot become
00:39:53.920
women. That's it. Let's start there. And if we can just say, men are not women, they are not the same,
0.95
00:40:01.280
then you can be confident in you as a woman and what being a woman means because it means so much.
00:40:08.580
Yeah. And, and I think that it's important. I sometimes women on the left criticize me of like,
0.52
00:40:13.420
Oh, well you only value womanhood if that means making babies. And I'm like, no, it doesn't because
0.80
00:40:18.280
I have many friends who literally cannot bear their own children. I have many friends who are
00:40:23.780
single by choice or childless by choice. And the individual freedom part of me is like, Hey,
00:40:29.680
being a mother was like the greatest blessing that I've happened upon. And, and I would, and I hope
00:40:35.000
that others want to pursue that as well. I think it's good for them individually and as society,
00:40:38.720
but I don't have a problem with women who choose not to, or cannot to follow that same like
0.97
00:40:45.040
path for a family and what a family may or may not look like to them. There are so many other
00:40:50.700
intricacies of who women are other than just being these childbearing things. And it's so funny that
1.00
00:40:56.740
women specifically, and even men on the left. Sorry, we have a crying baby. Quick interruption
0.94
00:41:05.340
for my baby who just woke up from his nap, very angry that I wasn't the one to pick him up, but his
00:41:11.240
grandma picked him up. So he's okay. So go ahead and continue from where we left off.
00:41:15.640
My three-year-old's probably currently getting hangry while she hangs out with her Mimi.
00:41:21.080
I think it's fascinating though, that that argument tends, even though the left likes to label like
00:41:26.120
rich white Republican men as the ones that want us to be the baby bearers that, you know, live in this
00:41:31.980
society, like handmaid's tale. It tends to be the people on the left that are arguing with me as a
00:41:39.960
working wife and mom and kind of doing it all right. And I say doing it all in quotations because
00:41:45.120
can't ever do it all or have it all that they're attacking me for my life choices, doing what I want
00:41:53.040
with my body using an argument that they say the other, the bad guys use. So I just always find that
00:41:59.000
laughable. Yeah. And I think fair enough. I mean, my take on, on womanhood is that womanhood is more
0.99
00:42:08.280
is in our nature and then whether or not we can have children, you know, that is still going to
00:42:16.040
be expressed in ways that we don't necessarily expect. Right. So being nurturing is so inherent
00:42:22.120
to womanhood that even if you don't have children, you're going to end up being nurturing in other ways
1.00
00:42:27.340
that are really important. Feminine strength is so beautiful and it's not only shown through
0.96
00:42:32.300
motherhood, it's just exemplified in motherhood. Yeah, I would agree. And there's areas in which
00:42:38.640
like if you even look statistically at the types of jobs that women tend to go into and excel at
0.99
00:42:45.040
compared to the types of jobs that men go into and excel at, that is a perfect example of how it
00:42:51.540
speaks to our nature, uh, and our innate abilities and skills and differences that I think are a
00:42:58.400
beautiful thing. Yeah. Yeah. So question number two is I've seen on your Instagram, you talk about
00:43:05.860
being a doula and a big proponent of home births. Can you talk more about that? Yeah, this will be my
00:43:11.840
fourth home birth, uh, with my midwife who's amazing. And if you're in LA, DM me and I'll send you
00:43:18.260
her info. Uh, and I just have like doula for a handful of friends and taken an online course and,
00:43:27.260
uh, really just kind of happen where friends are like, can you be there to support me? Most special
00:43:31.680
is probably being there for my little sister for the birth of my first nephew. She just had her
00:43:35.540
second nephew and they're just so cute. Um, and I think that it is such a beautiful thing because
00:43:41.680
it really, I always joke, like I am not a sports person when everybody compared, uh, labor and
00:43:47.860
delivery to running a marathon. I was like, but I hate running. Um, and I always tell people,
00:43:53.960
I'm like, I'm the biggest wimp on the face of the planet. And if I can do it, anyone can do it.
00:43:58.140
Uh, but this has really, I think this experience and then other health experiences that I've had in
00:44:03.340
the last year or two have really opened my eyes to the lack of informed consent when it comes to
00:44:09.000
women's health in the country, uh, whether it's birth control or the COVID vaccine or abortion
00:44:14.440
or a whole bunch of other issues. Uh, I really just want women to be completely informed and to
00:44:21.260
be their own advocates. And we have to be our own advocates when it comes to our full mental,
00:44:27.080
physical, emotional health, because the medical community as a whole in the United States,
00:44:31.420
ain't good at representing our best interests. I mean, even up until what, like 70 years ago,
00:44:37.700
they were just doing studies on men and thought like the male liver and the women's liver,
00:44:42.060
like we're totally the same or the brain, our brains were totally the same. Like turns out
00:44:46.980
they're not, and our hormones are not. And we got other parts that they don't, um, hence why they
00:44:51.600
can't become us. And so I also give this example and had some leftists in a recent speech actually
00:44:58.300
be like, Oh, we agree with you on that point. Because I was like, if the left truly cared about women,
00:45:02.980
uh, then they would be advocating for as many studies to be done about pregnancy challenges,
00:45:08.800
specifically when it comes to minority groups in the country that are really mistreated by the
00:45:14.160
medical community and not listened to and not advocated for. Um, and they would be spending,
00:45:19.140
uh, I don't know, maybe more than $10 million a year looking at pre-menopausal menopausal issues
00:45:25.000
that affect every single woman in the world compared to the $90 billion that they choose to spend on
1.00
00:45:30.460
erectile dysfunction medication and studies. Um, so I, it's where my, I kind of become like a hippie.
00:45:37.540
Um, and anti I'm not anti doctors. I'm not anti like science. God bless them. It's needed. It's
00:45:45.100
necessary. I'm just pro women being their own advocate and becoming informed and choosing a
00:45:51.120
practitioner, whether that's birth center hospital or home that is going to serve them and their
00:45:58.520
medical needs. And while they enter into like one of the most challenging and beautiful days of their
00:46:03.740
lives. I love that because I feel like it is, I feel like I'm not always, uh, one of many when I'm
00:46:14.620
like taking a huge interest in the process of birth, pregnancy, labor, all of that, because I think it is
00:46:22.160
fascinating. And so I think it's really important for women, as you say, no one is going to be a better
0.58
00:46:27.640
advocate for you than you. Your doctor is not always going to be the best at making a tailor-made plan
00:46:33.800
for you, as opposed to just the patients he sees. And that doesn't mean he's a bad doctor. It just means
00:46:39.460
that if you don't know enough to ask the right questions, you may not get the care you wanted. And if
00:46:47.000
you want to have a great birth experience, then being more informed can only help. It can't hurt.
00:46:53.740
Yeah. And any doctor or midwife or nurse, midwife or nurse or anybody who questions you,
00:47:01.320
that's your sign to get out the door. I think that's a good piece of advice.
00:47:07.980
So as a mom of three daughters, what are some lessons you want to teach them about navigating
00:47:14.220
the modern world? Oof, uh, try to keep them off a cell phone as long as possible.
00:47:20.540
Oh my gosh. Yes. That's like something I'm going to teach them about the modern world.
00:47:25.220
Um, I think it's so interesting. Like every age has its different questions and challenges. And
00:47:31.260
even from the time that they were like one asking why, you know, your son's going to start that soon.
00:47:36.520
It's like mama, dada, and why are like the, oh, and no, um, words that they tend to like spew first.
00:47:43.380
I would be like, no, ask a complete question or ask a complete sentence. And it's amazing and fun to see
00:47:49.020
the things that they observe in the world. And then the questions that they come up with.
00:47:53.780
So I feel inadequate 90% of the time to answer those questions, but really, uh, thinking about
00:48:01.160
how I answer them and answering them in an age appropriate, but detailed way. So they're never
00:48:06.860
doubtful of me or their dad having the answers to like what's happening in the world and life's
00:48:12.680
problems. And, you know, living in Los Angeles, you see homeless people on the street. Well,
00:48:17.560
why is that person, you know, asking for money? Why, why do we give that person fruit? Like,
00:48:22.640
why does he, his sign say he's hungry? Um, why do so-and-so and such-and-such have a baby and
00:48:28.140
they're not married? That's just, those questions are just going to naturally come up when you're a
00:48:33.080
parent. And sometimes you like can mentally prepare for them and sometimes you can't. And,
00:48:38.540
and so I think that my biggest thing though, is obviously we're instilling in them Judeo-Christian
00:48:44.320
values, but I don't talk to them about politics. I don't, um, really, they know that mommy's on TV
00:48:51.760
sometimes and travels for speeches, but I don't even know if they know what they're about. And I
00:48:57.140
would love it if I could keep it that way for as long as possible. And for them to come to their
00:49:01.820
own independent conclusions on like what their core beliefs are just based on how
00:49:07.360
they see their father and I operate in our everyday lives. That's beautiful answers the question.
00:49:14.740
You know what? I like it. And then to me that that's exactly what it should be is, you know,
00:49:20.880
I think often we see people kind of inculcating values in their children without giving them
00:49:26.580
necessarily the basis or understanding for why they have those values. They're just like,
00:49:31.760
this is what it is and this is what's right. And it's, it's a dangerous game to play when they get
00:49:38.340
to college and all of a sudden they're being faced with something that's entirely different than what
00:49:42.280
they grew up with. And they don't know necessarily why they're believing what they believe as opposed
00:49:46.640
to, Oh, I saw everything around me. I asked questions. I learned about where I stand. And that
00:49:54.300
is why I believe what I believe. Yeah. And I think that there are things that,
00:50:00.880
and my parents did a really good job of that. And even though I was in this like Bible belt bubble,
00:50:05.560
we still traveled. We still knew people that thought and lived their lives differently than us.
00:50:11.460
And my parents did engage me and it wasn't often that they were like, because I said so sometimes as a
00:50:16.560
parent, you do have to say that. Um, but why don't we jump on the couch? Because I said so,
00:50:21.620
but, but I think it is so important. And even at 18, I joke that I've spent all of my adult life in
00:50:29.520
liberal Meccas, but I think that it's like much like conservative students on college campuses
00:50:33.800
today. It really hones you and challenges you in those personal beliefs and can build on what your
00:50:40.260
parents taught you or, um, or an example of to you. And it doesn't mean that it'll be easier to come
00:50:46.900
to those conclusions. It doesn't mean that it'll be easier to live your life in that way.
00:50:50.900
Uh, with those core principles and morals, but I think it helps you have a better foundation for
00:50:57.780
that future and for those struggles and those questions that you'll be asked, not just asking
00:51:02.220
yourself, but complete strangers asking you as well. Yeah. I think that's, that's definitely true
00:51:08.140
and accurate. So the last question that we've got here is, uh, we kind of touched on it at the very
00:51:15.900
beginning. So now we're round, we're coming all the way back, which is you've been vocal about
00:51:21.300
staying in Los Angeles and fighting the good fight. What makes you think you should stay as the state is,
00:51:27.220
it feels like is turning bluer and bluer. Yeah. And my husband and I've been here for 10 years now,
00:51:33.240
which is crazy to think about. Um, we, uh, have like a small community of people. There's all,
00:51:40.780
once again, like most of my answers, there's like the mainstream kind of like secular scientific answer
00:51:45.880
and then political answer. And then there's like the faith answer. So my first answer would be the
00:51:50.180
more political one, which is, as our, uh, four time infamous former governor, Jerry Brown often said,
00:51:56.840
as goes California, so goes the nation. Um, whether there's a Republican in the white house and holding
00:52:02.540
the house in the Senate, or whether that's, uh, held by Democrats, you see the leaders of California
00:52:08.660
become the leaders of the left and the leaders of think tanks and the leaders of, uh, PACs and
00:52:14.120
democratic party at all different levels of bureaucracy and government on the federal level.
00:52:18.660
And you see the bad ideas that were implemented here trickling down to even the reddest of states like
0.88
00:52:25.080
Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. Um, and some of those states, you guys have better ability to fight
00:52:30.900
it, but it's still happening. Um, additionally, I think the culture war from a political perspective
00:52:37.500
is important and it's really been interesting since COVID and since, uh, friends, like I teased Dave and
00:52:45.300
Dave Rubin for abandoning us and, you know, doing the New York Jewish thing and like relocating to South
0.76
00:52:50.160
Florida, like what New York, you doesn't do that. Right. Um, but, and your brother and others,
00:52:56.060
but, um, I, I, on a serious note, it's been really interesting to see libertarian, independent
00:53:03.400
thinking, even like classical liberal minded people come out of the woodwork and I meet them at events
00:53:08.440
or functions that are not like FOA conservative type gatherings, right? They're not like flat waving
00:53:14.440
anti-vax, um, rallies, uh, cocktail parties and screenings and, uh, you know, lunches out, uh,
00:53:22.620
in Beverly Hills where people were like, thank you for not leaving. Thank you for fighting. Cause I felt
00:53:27.100
so abandoned and I'm finding more people like me in the industry that work for Apple TV, that work at
00:53:33.920
Netflix, that work at Google that are kind of like open to having a discussion and we're not okay with
00:53:40.880
the wokeism that's happening. And we know that if it happens at these corporations here, and if we
00:53:45.040
don't put a stop to it here, it's going to be affecting like the small businesses and other
00:53:49.780
corporations all over the country. So that's like my political answer to that. My religious answer is,
00:53:56.020
um, you know, when in the old Testament, God is talking about, uh, like when he's dialoguing and I
00:54:02.940
just went blank, it's not Joshua, but, um, you know, Sodom and Gomorrah, like God, how many people will it
00:54:08.460
take? And, and how many people will it take to save a city? And I am a not perfect person.
00:54:17.920
Yeah, I was at the 10. And I wouldn't even say, I would not be vain enough or self-righteous enough
00:54:23.260
to say that I'm one of the 10. But I guess my question from a religious perspective is like,
00:54:27.100
who are we to say there's no one left here to save? Um, and that's not my position to say that.
00:54:33.600
And it's not my position. I don't think to abandon the people that are here that need to be saved.
00:54:39.660
And, uh, we have friends on the mission field in other countries, and we have friends that are on
00:54:44.720
the mission field here and we cannot forget the mission field here. And my husband and I, for
00:54:50.240
the 10 years that we've lived here every year, every few months are like, we good, we going to stay,
00:54:55.520
how we doing, what are we supposed to do? And during COVID, when everyone was leaving and
00:55:00.660
there are post-apocalyptic skies because of fires and helicopters because of the riots,
00:55:06.060
I remember having a kind of like internal freak out moment of like, is this like, should we like
00:55:10.380
pack up and go to a cabin in the woods? Like what the heck? And he was like, we're not going to flee
00:55:14.340
in fear, but we're not going to stay because of pride. And so for us, I think that's where we try
00:55:20.260
to step in day in and day out of like, we're not going to stay because of pride, but we're not going
00:55:25.400
to flee in fear. And like, what's our individual purpose? And then what's our family purpose? And until we
00:55:29.720
have a different answer from God of what that is, we're staying.
00:55:36.080
Well, I'm glad that you are. I'm glad that we've got somebody back there
00:55:39.560
fighting the good fight. It's important. Well, thank you so much for coming on my podcast.
00:55:46.040
Thank you for having me. It's been a lot of fun.
00:55:48.400
Tell us where we can find you, where we can follow you, all the places.
00:55:52.700
Well, just on social media, your brother once told me I have a Jewish dude's name. So it's
00:55:56.940
T-L-I-S-H-A-K-R-A-U-S-S. And that's where I am on Instagram, Twitter, my website. Yeah. So
00:56:05.020
if my Instagram stories are like my brain, I actually find that Instagram is my favorite
00:56:09.660
platform. I'm like, nah, on Twitter, even before Elon bought it. So, but you can find all my thoughts
00:56:16.480
there. And I usually post all of my interviews like this there as well.
00:56:20.100
Perfect. So everyone give Alicia a follow and we will, I will see you in the next episode. Bye.