WHY ARE YOU YOU?

Bill Sinkford

This interview with Bill Sinkford was the most anticipated interview we conducted.  The reason we wanted Bill to be interviewed was because he was the president of the Unitarian Universalists Association when the decision to defund YRUU took place. But what you will get from this interview is a deeper understanding of the life Bill had growing up and growing into leadership. We met him in Portland, Oregon where the 2022 Unitarian Universalists General Assembly was taking place. Our hotel/studio offered us a quiet place to chat.  www.whyareyouyou.org

Aileen Dashurova

Dawn connects with Aileen Dashurova for a very candid conversation about what it was like to be a youth advisor. www.whyareyouyou.org

Matt Meyer

This episode features Matt Meyer. MATT HAS LED WORSHIP FOR HUNDREDS OF CONGREGATIONS, TRAVELING THE COUNTRY SHARING A MESSAGE OF LOVE AND JUSTICE, THROUGH RHYTHM AND SONG. He is currently the Director of Community Life for Sanctuary Boston. One of our original ideas in making the documentary was to highlight different organizations that are continuing the ideas from the YRUU program. Either through their practices or by being led by someone who went through the program.  So, although we didn’t explicitly highlight Sanctuary Boston we used images from one of their worships in the film. Matt truly encompasses the spirit of YRUU and you will hear that through his words and singing. www.whyareyouyou.org

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