Studio window, San Francisco

Apr 07, 2020, 01:42 PM

San Francisco lockdown sound recorded by Cheryl Leonard.

"Recorded out my studio window on March 25, 2020 starting at 8:24am. A neighbor’s pet pigeons coo a low drone. A raven was hanging out on the top of a backyard tree, then flew to a nearby rooftop. 

"Distant buoys toll from the Pacific Ocean out near Marin Headlands. Buses and a few cars go by. 

"Things have changed so quickly. Much of my (former?) life/world has been abruptly stripped away, yet, at the same time we still have so much. However, the options that remain are increasingly disembodied, remote, heavily mediated. 

"Things that can still be done in person are now imbued with a rawness and intensity that wasn't there before. It's like when I eat dinner on a backpacking trip and cheap macaroni and cheese with a cup of hot cocoa becomes a gourmet banquet. 

"As a sort of meditation practice I’ve been listening and recording out my window each day, bearing witness to the changes around me. I’m trying not to feel trapped. 

"Instead, even though my physical movements are limited, I am trying to listen and see more, to envision possibilities."

Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds