SOUNDWALK: “What I Hear”
It’s 1:30pm when I begin my sound walk in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It’s just stopped raining and as I exit my apartment building I immediately hear a cornucopia of sound. The most intense sound signals are the whooshing tires of moving vehicles on the wet streets of Eastern Parkway. The keynotes of car horns and fire truck sirens are heard just down the block. I walk along the Eastern Parkway promenade and I’m surrounded by pedestrians talking, it’s almost a mumble because of the loud sounds of the wet tires of cars driving by. Birds are chirping above. The metallic clinking of bicycle spokes stands out as a cyclist passes me along the promenade. I take a couple more steps and hear a few fat rain drops plop on an empty plastic bag. Everything begins to register in this auditory chaos. I stand on the corner waiting to cross the street and hear what sounds like an old or dirty wiper that squeaks and scrapes the windshield of a Prius. A delivery man passes me and his wad of keys attach...