"What I Hear"

            Living in Brooklyn, walking around my neighborhood is a visual showcase of all sorts of people. Adding audio to the show is going to be interesting to say the least. I am programmed to have a pair of headphones in my ears without them I feel like I am somehow exposed.

            Stepping out of my apartment I immediately hear the kids next door playing, but it sounds more like their being murdered as one of them screams "ice cream". At least I know they're not being murdered, but ice cream monsters are a terrifying thought. I see the super of my building cleaning the sidewalk where the aforementioned children have drawn with chalk. He is singing something in Spanish, something I can't make out in my limited Spanish vocabulary. We exchange greetings and I continue on my walk. Two Pakistani men are yelling at one another, but knowing Urdu myself I am able to decipher that the one man is congratulating the other man on being a father. I find it funny how other people may look at this two men and how it might reinforce preconceived notions about Muslim men.

            I run into one of my mother's friends. Usually I am have headphones on and am able to pass her by with a quick hello, but today without headphones I guess I am sending out a "I want to talk" vibe. After a talk about how your son could use my help with his math homework I am starting to hate this assignment. I am finally able to maneuver my out of this conversation and continue with my walk with to the subway station. I am only half way there and I am actually a little nervous about what else is waiting for me up ahead.

            I am lucky though because the rest of my walk is through a Jewish neighborhood and I am pretty confident that no one will there knows me so I am in the clear. Walking undisturbed and without the fear of being ambushed by fifty some year old Pakistani ladies I begin to hear the purpose of this assignment. The birds chirping, cars having trouble starting, people mingling with one another and it odd how I have not registered these sounds. It is definitely interesting to be exposed to these sounds and gives my surrounds more depth than just simply being my surrounding.