The Politics of Noise and Silence
“Silence was more than the absence of noise; it was an aesthetic to be revered,” Xochitl Gonzalez wrote in 2022.
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One of my favorite descriptions of New York City life comes from a 2022 article my by colleague Xochitl Gonzalez:
New York in the summer is a noisy place, especially if you don’t have money. The rich run off to the Hamptons or Maine. The bourgeoisie are safely shielded by the hum of their central air, their petite cousins by the roar of their window units. But for the broke—the have-littles and have-nots—summer means an open window, through which the clatter of the city becomes the soundtrack to life: motorcycles revving, buses braking, couples squabbling, children summoning one another out to play, and music. Ceaseless music.
“I remember, the summer before I left for college, lying close to my bedroom box fan, taking it all in,” Xochitl writes. “Thanks to a partial scholarship (and a ton of loans), I was on my way to an Ivy League college … I didn’t yet know that you don’t live on an Ivy League campus. You reside on one. Living is loud and messy, but residing? Residing is quiet business.”
When Xochitl arrived at college, she learned that “silence was more than the absence of noise; it was an aesthetic to be revered. Yet it was an aesthetic at odds with who I was. Who a lot of us were.”
One of the things I love most about Xochitl’s essay is that in addition to exploring the dangers of demanding silence, it also expresses the pure joy of noise. Today’s newsletter takes a closer look at how noise and quiet appear in our communities and in the world.
On Noise and Quiet
Why Do Rich People Love Quiet?
By Xochitl Gonzalez
The sound of gentrification is silence.
Why Everything Is Getting Louder
By Bianca Bosker
The tech industry is producing a rising din. Our bodies can’t adapt.
By John Biguenet
In the noisy modern world, peace and quiet come with an increasingly hefty price tag.
Still Curious?
- The future will be quiet: Even sirens, airplanes, and leaf blowers may make less noise.
- City noise might be making you sick: For a century, urban commotion has been treated as a moral failing of individuals. Fixing it will require systemic changes to environmental noise.
Other Diversions
- KitchenAid did it right 87 years ago.
- What happened to baseball jerseys?
- Your phone has nothing on AM radio.
P.S.
Curious how nonhuman beings relate to noise and silence? Read my colleague Katherine J. Wu’s explanation of how female frogs tune out noisy males.
— Isabel
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