It’s a never-ending commotion. As I stand there, I can pick which sounds I want to concentrate on. I can block out the conversations and only listen to the train, although when the train comes, the conversations get blocked on their own because it’s so loud. “Wait until the train passes” I hear somebody scream into their phone. It’s funny to me because the response of the person on the other line was probably “what?”

I hear music playing outside of a food store. It’s an uplifting tune, probably from 1990s. The man sings about the girl he loves and how their lives are complicated because he is a marine, but it is a humorous song, not sad.

As I enter a food market it’s a whole new mix of sounds. I hear people having their own conversations, kids screaming, cashiers screaming out “next.” Someone is arguing with the butcher that he gave them a bad piece of meat. Another customer is asking for “Litovskiy” hleb (bread). It’s an organized chaos.

 I come on to the boardwalk. Someone is playing fetch with their dog and you can hear the stick falling on the sand every time the owner throws it. Following, come heavy breaths of the dog that’s running after it to bring it back. All that is covered by the sound of waves; so quiet yet so loud. You hear every wave breaking against the stones and washing up on the shore, but as soon as you’re ready to keep following up on that one wave and hear the sounds of water calm down and diminish, another powerful wave covers it over with a loud “woosh” and the first wave is nowhere to be seen or heard. The beach is quiet and peaceful. Because it’s so big, any conversation can be silenced if you walk a few feet away from it. People come to meditate, people come to jog, people come to play with their dog. As I stood in one spot, I heard a couple pass by me, they seemed to be on a romantic walk. I heard a jogger run by, breathing heavily with every thump his foot made when it touched the sand.

Standing on Brighton 3rd and hearing cars passing by, honking, and a conversation between 4 friends.

Music from one of the stores on Brighton Beach Avenue about the marine and his love.

Another song from a store on Brighton Beach Avenue. There is a sound of a train passing by at 00:35 which blocks out the song.