Byrd's Chicks

The "Go Home Zone"

When I first tried explaining some of the facets of my personal buddhist practice to a dear friend of mine, she heard the word "Gohonzon" in a different way. Her unique interpretation of the word "Gohonzon" became the "Go Home Zone". So now she asks if I am chanting to my "Go Home Zone".

Sarge learns not to take things for granted

Michele Chavez

In March, on my last day of bike mechanics school in Oregon, my husband fell at work and injured his left knee. He didn't want to worry me, so he didn't tell me just how bad the injury was.

On the night that I returned -- after 24 hours on an Amtrak train -- he had to pull the car over twice because of the pain and took hours to get to the train station to pick me up. That was my first indication just how bad the injury was.

Some background: Sarge is a marathon runner. He's been a runner all his life. Running came easy to him. When he was in grade school, there was only one person in the whole school who was faster than he was. I'm convinced that if his mother had let him participate in sports like track and cross-country, he would have gotten into college on a track scholarship. But he never had that opportunity.

Here's how easy running came for him. For years after we were married, he would run the Los Angeles Marathon every year -- WITHOUT training for it. That's right. He'd just run the 26.2 miles! And then not run again until the next marathon. I kid you not. That's what he'd do.

Crazy for God

Michele Chavez

Recently, I read a memoir called Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer. Schaeffer's parents were evangelists who founded L'Abri, a Christian mission in Switzerland. He grew up in an environment where almost every conversation and interaction with others involved talking about God and/or trying to convert others to what his family considered true Christianity.

Schaeffer and his family became involved in the Religious Right and Pro-Life movements, which he ended up leaving, eventually finding a spiritual practice that he was comfortable with in the Greek Orthodox Church. Over the years, he has been a Christian documentary maker and a fiction author. Nowadays, he writes frequently on the Huffington Post, criticizing the Religious Right. His upcoming book is Patience with God, a book for people who don't like religion.

Buddhist Buckaroos

Howdy partners!

Welcome, this is xtnlion, back from a hiatus.

Today I just got back from a children's rodeo. My dad is in town, and I live in the heart of Cowboy land, so that is what we did. No, REALLY .

It featured kids from about 4 to 16, and such memorable events as the sheep riding competition. Imagine, if you will, a small kid clinging, ticklike, to the back of sheep. Then, of course, cow riding. We missed the goat roping, but saw the sack roping event.