Sound Walk

As I waked around Washington Square Park, I concentrated on all of the sounds that I could hear around me, it allowed me to pay attention to subtle ones that I never noticed. The rustling of the leaves blowing in the wind was an obvious sound that I am familiar with each time I am walking somewhere during the fall. But it was the sound of bike wheels hitting the pavement with each cycle and the bell of the man pushing an ice cream cart that caught my attention. The bicycle sounds were subtle compared to the bell on the ice cream cart which was meant to garner attention of the school kids walking by. This connotes the busy afternoon bustle of the city as children were getting out of school and loudly chatting with each other around the park. Pigeons hastily fought over a piece of bread near a bench where a couple was arguing with each other. It was difficult to focus on one of these sounds since both of them were occurring at the same time. As the couples voices grew louder, the birds were silenced and flew away as if they were disrupted by the loud conversation that the couple was having. I found their argument particularly interesting because even though this part of the city is extremely loud, especially with all of the nearby traffic and car honking, they managed to draw a lot of attention to themselves and drown out the other sounds around them.