Calisse Weidner

Hello Prairie, Hello World! My name is Calisse Weidner, and I say this greeting because I have realized that my boundaries on being a “welcoming community” extend to not just Prairie, but our community and beyond.

I thank my father, Charles Hughes for this one…He was a cultural anthropologist and told stories of his travels far and wide; from Nigeria to the St. Lawrence Island in northern Canada! I was fascinated, and felt a connection to People–near and far–from his experiences and stories.

Religions have always fascinated me as well. Growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah (!) I saw a lot of a certain religion that was quite interesting to me, and I realized that religion is something very powerful in shaping the lives of so many. For me, I also realized that it needs to be what resonates from deep within me, and no institution nor creed should or could tell me how to Be or feel from inside my spirit to out into the world.

Being curious and willing to learn and hear about others’ guiding principles is so fundamentally UU to me, which is why I choose to proudly call myself a Unitarian Universalist Journeyer! I hope to spend time with kids, young adults, their parents and grandparents. I want to learn of their spiritual and religious experiences and hold good space learning with them about the world, the beliefs that shape people, and be brave enough to go out into the community, proudly and confidently curious!

I serve as Lifespan Educator, and can be reached at [email protected].