"What I Hear"

I was walking around the East Village area specifically Astor Place off the 6 train stop with the goal in mind to eventually make it to my friend's house in Alphabet City. I'm familiar with this area because it is where I do a lot of my thrift shopping and vintage shopping for unique pieces of clothing. It was at night around 8 PM that I was listening to the symphony of honking cars trying to make the green light as hasty city-goers walk against the rules. It is busy for a Friday night and you can hear it all around, different conversations going all at once, different layers of pitches and the occasional abrupt laughter that breaks the sound of talking. I guess because I've grown up in New York that the sound of ten different conversations going at once is less distracting than the sound of hospital siren that makes everything go quiet. I can hear the sound of the pavement meeting with the sound of women's heels and men's heeled boots. I'm walking closer to the East Side and more and more bars are coming up so I can hear the sound of clinking champagne and wine glasses and the sharp sound of forks, knives, and spoons hitting plates of food. I hear the sounds of squeaky doors opening for restaurants that have survived the high New York rents. I think all of these sounds represent the buzzing energy of New York City nightlife. All of these sounds are meaningful to me because I was rarely allowed out as a teen in high school. A lot of my other friends were from families that were more lenient in their rules and in safer neighborhoods. I, on the other hand, am born and raised in the Bronx in a not so safe neighborhood far away from the parties in Brooklyn and Manhattan that my friends would through. Nightlife had a beautiful unattainability that I always yearn to be apart of and it has an energy to it that is unmatched to New York City life in the daytime.

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