What I Hear

For this assignment, I walked along the East River from 30th street to 10th street. First, I tried to pay attention to the background noise - sounds that I wouldn't normally try to listen for. The most obvious one was the sound of the water hitting the pier. When I closed my eyes, it was actually very calming to listen to, almost as if I wasn't in New York City, but rather a remote tropical island. However, the fact that there is a highway just a block over quickly took me out of my mini-escape and landed me right back in the city atmosphere. I could hear so many cars speeding by, and if I listened more closely I could hear the sound of bicycles whizzing by me on the bike path that runs along the river. As many times as I've walked up and down the river, I never even took notice to the loud noise created by traffic. In my hour walking around, I didn't seem to hear many sounds that were meant to attract attention. I heard a couple of ambulance/police sirens, a boom box blasting hip hop music from a car, and the beeping of a streetlight intended to notify the blind as to when it was safe to walk the street. Even though I left my cellphone at home, I found myself checking my pocket anyway when I heard the classic iPhone text jingle coming from a strangers pocket. It was around 9pm, so there weren't many people outside making sounds or having conversation. I was pretty surprised by how many different noises I heard, but I live across the street from an ambulance garage, so I normally have to deal with obnoxious loud sounds coming through my window. Living there has made me more aware of the noise that is produced in new york city, but it was interesting to just get away from my ipod and listen to the natural sounds around me.