As the politics of hate grip our country, we have to find ways to find peace Urban environments contain countless noises that would disrupt our inner lives if we did not filter them out: the beeping of a delivery truck backing up; the siren of an emergency vehicle; impatient drivers blasting their horns as if surprised to encounter traffic while driving downtown.
I find detachment in various ways — from turning my phone ringer off, to listening to music, to sitting on my roof deck gazing at the moon.
Often, when I am there with a glass of wine in the evening, cheers rise up from a nearby soccer field. At home in the city, we still need moments of solitude.
Some afternoons I spend in a garden owned by the nonprofit Resources for the Future on a quiet street across from First Baptist Church.