I read a lot of children’s books these days. It’s one of the many benefits of parenthood. Some of the books I know from my own childhood, such as Richard Scarry’s, "Busy Busy Town," with its excitable, anthropomorphic citizens.

The Dalai Lama has given Nicholas Vreeland, director of The Tibet Center in New York, a daunting new assignment. On July 6, Vreeland will be enthroned as the new abbot of Rato Monastery in southern India, one of the most important monasteries in Tibetan Buddhism.

How often do you pray?

“Forgive me, Lord, I have never prayed for them.”

This confession occurred at 2 a.m. one night after some loud commotion outside my window jolted me awake.

The Spokane Concentration Meditation Group will host its next meeting, “A Honed and Heavy Ax: Samatha and Vipassana in Harmony,” on July 1.

Local resident Brian Gavin will lead the meditation instruction and reading.

What do you think of when you think of Eve?

I think of women coming together since the beginning of time to help raise their children together.