Michele Chavez: July 2008 Archives

Last night was different. Each Thursday Night has a different feel, a different crowd. This one was decidedly not very friendly.

Still, we had a good time, and I actually spent some time at the Democratic booth and the bike club booth.

A guy who had been talking to the Democratic Club president about environmental and transportation issues started directing his comments towards me, and eventually I had to tell him that I should get back to MY booth, and he was very surprised because I seemed to knowledgeable about the issues. Or at least, I bothered to listen to him.

Later, I headed over to the High Desert Cyclists booth on the other side of the Square, and helped Lynn, who was manning the booth by his lonesome, talk to a lady about the club. She was thinking that we were a store selling bikes. I guess that's because we are raffling off a BMX bike for kids. We explained that we're a club for riders, and she got excited because her husband goes out and rides at 5 am every morning. She took our flyer and said she'd tell her husband about our meetings.

Richard sets up our table at Thursday Night on the Square

Every summer, the City of Palmdale hosts a festival called "Thursday Night on the Square," which takes place in downtown Palmdale's Poncitlan Square across from City Hall. For eight Thursday nights, there are different bands playing in the gazebo and different activities for both adults and children. For example, an upcoming Thursday night's theme will be "Fairy Tail Doggies." People will bring their dogs and have a doggie parade.

In preparation for our first Thursday night making others aware of the Nichiren Shu Sangha, we made a new sign saying, "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo: The Sound of Awakening." Reverend Ryuei Michael McCormick gave us three big boxes filled with pamphlets and copies of the Nichiren Shu News for us to pass out. We printed cards with the Odaimoku on them and another set of cards with contact information.

We were excited about our first night at the festival this year and we were not disappointed by the reception we received from the people who came by the booth.

A young man who is interested in theology and in learning about different religions came by and recounted his spiritual adventures. He asked to be on our email list.

A woman who is a healer and was passing out flyers for her practice of the healing arts told us that she used to practice Buddhism with another organization and that she missed chanting the daimoku.