SoundWalk

Living next to a busy turnpike, you’d come across a lot of familiar sounds browsing the city. The shy hum of car engines merge together as a deafening roar as they speed down the asphalt. And with a hospital and a firehouse both within arm’s reach, sirens would constantly dopple passing through the local streets. Birds would yell over roofs, like how birds from New York often do. They wouldn’t always chirp like how you would imagine them to, but they would gargle, screech, and sometimes it may even seem like they time their calls like a periodic alarm. Occasionally, a tree branch or two would shake in the wind, but what’s more deeply felt would be the leaves gliding across the sidewalk, or crunching under peoples’ feet.

However, with all the action taking place, the scene is rather quiet. Paired with the ambient sound of cars passing by on the turnpike, planes flying overhead add their engines to the mix, enclosing the neighborhood in the sounds of people just trying to get from point A to point B. Leashes would jingle of dogs passing through on their daily walk. People would pass through the streets sometimes, but their conversations are often kept on the down low, or just not interesting enough to project at any louder of a volume. When the local schools dismiss, it’s much more of a happening scene. High schoolers would take their time walking through the local streets yelling and laughing at each other. The elementary school kids would be full of excitement and stories of the day to tell their parents, with the zippers of their bookbags clanging with every step they take. When they run or walk, you can hear their jackets shuffle and their sneakers shuffle. But once night falls, everything starts to die down.