Hank Pierce

Emily Conger and Aisha Ansano

We first met with Emily and Aisha when they hosted a Dinner Church that we went and recorded. They call their gatherings Nourish. As the website–NourishUU.org [http://nourishuu.org/] says “Dinner church is all about nourishing bodies and spirits through food and ritual. It is a worship service and a meal woven together to tap into the heart of what it means to be in embodied spiritual community with one another.” We later visited them for a sit down interview along with (at the time) a 9 month old of Emily’s.  This made the interview interrupted slightly but that's what it means to be multigenerational. We decided to keep some of these inserted detours in this episode. Talking with them both really showed us how YRUU has spread beyond the program itself. How it impacts family life and how ministry can look. www.whyareyouyou.org

Lisa Feldstein

Lindsay recently caught up with Lisa Feldstein for another perspective on the Common Ground process and what it was like to work in the LRY Office.   www.whyareyouyou.org

Hank Pierce

Hank Peirce’s name came up at the very beginning of this project as someone we should consider talking to. He tells the story of how the name Young Religious Unitarian Universalist, with the acronym YRUU came to be.  But listen closely because he doesn’t take credit for coming up with the idea but rather was the messenger to the group. Later on in the process we received an email from someone who remembers a young woman had presented the name YRUU during the first Common Ground session.  It wasn’t until the second Common Ground session that they decided on a name. It is unclear if that young woman was even in attendance then. Hank of course has many amazingly fascinating anecdotes. So buckle up!  www.whyareyouyou.org

Sam Ames

Lindsay ended up doing a solo trip to Washington DC where she met with a few folx for interviews.  Sam Ames was one of them.  They met in a strange hotel right by a busy highway. Sam was so trusting of Lindsay to be in this weird place with framed pictures of squirrels and a small circular cushion that Lindsay sat on to listen to them. www.whyareyouyou.org [http://www.whyareyouyou.org]

Dana Taylor

In the summer of 2023 Lindsay traveled with her family to SUUSI.  Southeast Unitarian Universalists Summer Institute.  Her goal was to have some fun but also to meet and interview a variety of voices.  This episode we will hear from Dana Taylor.  After we looked through her photos and old t-shirt collection we sat together on a rainy day in North Carolina to hear her YRUU stories.   www.whyareyouyou.org