My Story

As a child, I learned to identify some sounds earlier than kids born in the suburbs or rural areas. Yes: the chirp of sparrows and caws of crows, the screeches of cats and the howls of dogs, the hover and thump of police helicopters and the urgent cries of sirens—from the quick whirs of a cop car to the longer screams of fire trucks and ambulances. Then, there were the kak-kak-kak of gunfire, the sudden screech of tire rubber and the thumps of sneakers slapping against the asphalt. The shouts of angry men and the cries of frustrated women.

Maybe those sounds led me here. Maybe my fear and fascination of the action bubbling beneath those sounds led me here. Maybe not understanding the point of it all, the fearlessness and fearfulness that lead all of us to hurt each other. The ‘why’ and ‘was it worth it’. The need for answers so that I could sleep in the silence like those kids in places that I read about and never looked like me…