For paper #2, I will be using “Living with Music” by Ralph Ellison and the sounds of pandemic New York to talk about the significance of sound. Although there are times that we wish for silence, the sounds we hear can bring light into our lives and uplift people especially in times of need. In “Living with Music”, Ellison describes how he was agitated listening to noisy sounds from his neighbor in his New York City apartment. However, after a while, the same sounds had inspired him to play music again. After he moved, he missed the sounds he had become accustomed to. During the pandemic in New York, every night at 7 pm a lot of New Yorkers came together to cheer on healthcare workers and first responders. They have been through a lot of sorrowful times during the pandemic and needed some joy. The joy that was brought to them was the sounds; the sounds of the city coming together cheering on its heroes. To conclude, the sounds around us can bring delight into our lives that we never knew we needed.