Enough cannot be said of the kindnesses I have encountered here during my stay in Berkeley.  From the gratitude of my children to the availability of neighbors to the invitations from young, intelligent and cheery new adults I have met, I am overwhelmed with appreciation.

Here is what I have picked up about this oasis of the Bay Area in my short stay in a residential neighborhood.

The residents are serious about their impact on the world and their environment.  They feel better walking or cycling than driving around even if they own a car (a hybrid of course), they compost, recycle and re-use.  As you walk down the sidewalk, – shoes, books, toys, furniture etc… is left for whomever needs or wants it.

You have to take your own bags everywhere you shop because unless it is a fancy gift at a boutique –  ordinary grocery, produce and Walgreens type of shopping requires you to carry your own re-usable sack.

It is a diverse, multi-cultural, multi-racial, ageless and vibrant community.  There is an openness here that you intuitively synchronize with or dislike according to your own lightness and comfort of being.

It is urban but not posh.  It is cosmopolitan but not chic.  It is filled with sophisticated scholars that know they have so much more to learn.  It is a world of readers, artists, workers, musicians, walkers and intellectuals with souls.  Every social, monetary, religious and political class co-exists in harmony.  The young and the old, the hetero and the homosexual, the poor and the elite – are living together inside a few miles of land, both city and residential.

It humbles everyone.  It feels balanced.  It somehow works.  The beat of this town’s drum lies low, its rhythm is steady, its tone is on the edge.  The sound, the look and the feel of Berkeley are remarkable, authentic, stable and explosive all at once.  The more I visit, the more I fall in love with its vibration.  The deeper I explore its streets, the deeper I pulsate with its inhabitants.  Experiencing the pizzazz of Berkeley is like combining a multifaceted lyric into one composition of a gemstone.Simple sidewalk chalk art speaks of the creative juice that stirs this city’s poetry – individuals in their own sphere of existence embracing each other.