Walking in my neighborhood of Washington Heights located on the upper west side of Manhattan the term noise pollution comes to mind as you are constantly bombarded with the most dissonant of sounds. Everything from cabs honking their horns to get people or other cars out of their way--which you never hear in any other parts of the city. Somebody blasting god awful music inside of their apartment or car with the bass cranked up to such levels that you can barely decipher whether they re listening to a song or a live recording of a jet engine being crushed. And to accompany all of that you have the beautiful sound of passing traffic through the countless highways and bridges that sandwich the area on each side. One bridge leading to the Bronx, the other to New Jersey. Street merchants hustling their products, everything from bootleg shoes to blenders. On special occasions you can hear the bums arguing over nothingness around the corner or in between the buildings. Oh how I love it! Once a year . . . probably on your birthday or something like that you can actually hear birds chirping, trees aplenty, don't get me wrong its a beautiful area to live in visually, but if you are someone looking for piece and quite, run, run as fast as you can! Layer upon layer of noise to the point that when you get a chance at some silence you are unable to enjoy it because your ears are ringing as if you were front row at a the worlds longest death metal concert. It has gone to the point that it is impossible for any certain sound to phase you as you slowly learn to tune the world out via mp3 player or cell phone chatter.
