I'd say closest to a jackhammer.
Repetitive, loud, defeating actually: A combination of work being done, masses of people and more than anything else, incessant cars.
I had to will myself to stop listening, which is actually possible as it turns out.
In fact, willing yourself to not see things and not to hear things has a bad rap. It's used as shorthand for immorality or an immoral amorality.
Actually, in very explicit ways, it's how we get through our day. Without being able to funnel stimuli out, we wouldn't be able to prioritize certain sites and sounds over others. If we insisting on taking in and responding to everything, we wouldn't be able to dedicate ourselves to anything at all. Overstretch= complacency.
But whereas in some other places selective blindness and deafness may be the prerequisite for a decent level of focus, in New York, it's a prerequisite for keeping your sanity.
That's the reason this city wears on people - or at least on me. After a week here, I literally crave silence.
I love the fresh smells, the pretty base color green, but more than anything else- it's the lack of noise, the ability to stop filtering out sounds and do something else with that dose of attention. It's energizing to leave New York. Recuperative....
There is increasing research on noise polution leading to stress, hypertension, further health problems, bad decisions, divorce, meanness, ugliness- you name it. I channel those studies personally.
Cities make noise- so is the answer to decrease cities, or just get out oneself?
There are other ways. Bikes- for one.
The best recent thing to happen in NY has been citibikes ... Let's see how pre-k compares.
And of course forays out of the city and into the silence.
