Blog #2
On the street corner, a man is shouting some Biblical verses at top volume. When I pass by him I can actually feel the faint reverberations in my chest. He’s so loud that he almost drowns out the rattle of the cyclist scudding past in the street lane. There aren’t many cars on this block at this hour, but there are a lot of cyclists, most of them running food deliveries. The soft whir of their wheels forms a pleasant ambient backdrop to the more specific details of the evening soundscape (chatter at outdoor restaurants, snatches of conversation caught from pedestrians, the tap of my own shoes on the sidewalk). Much fainter, further away, sirens and car honks muddled by distance; or more immediately, the occasional sudden rumble of a subway from beneath the metal grates, accompanied by a hissing woosh of hot air. With the exception of the corner preacher, these are all more or less familiar noises to me. Less expected is the woman who runs out of the front doors of my dorm, clasping her...