this is a piece about my experience leaving maine and living in paris for 4 months.
but more than that, it is a piece about cities, nature, travel, anger, sadness, queerness, transness, personal identity, and friendship.
the name "saving the pigeon" comes from a true story. my friend tara and i were in a park when i noticed there was a bird in a tree, but not as a bird normally is in a tree. it was a white pigeon, and it was stuck very high up, its foot tied to a branch with a piece of plastic. it was flapping its wings desperately trying to break free. but it couldn't, and it was throwing up and bleeding as it struggled, hanging upside down, absolutely unable to do anything.
we spent the next 4 or so hours trying to free the bird. there were many moments when we thought that maybe all we could do was sit with it as it died. we even alerted the crows that it was happening, and the crows cawed and cawed to bring it to attention. but they were crows, and they couldn't do anything, so they gave up.
but we never gave up, and as other people started to take notice and get involved, it became a community effort. Rocks on ropes, ladders, poles, and a wide array of weird objects were used to attempt to free the bird.
the police came on the scene and did nothing to help, except tell us that the fire department was on their way. so we waited, but one of the people in this Pigeon Saving Brigade called the fire department, and they had no idea what we were talking about. typical-- the cops lied to us and then left.
so we the people of the park continued. we were many at this point-- me and tara, 2 other american university students, several old french women, a few men who were maybe trying to demonstrate their masculinity (but we weren't complaining), and some teenage girls-- plus others on the periphery, watching and providing silent support.
using the tactic of "break the branch by looping a rock on a rope around it and then pulling on the rope," eventually we saved the pigeon.
i pulled out my knife and we cut the plastic off of its bleeding foot, and wrapped it in a scarf. we pet it and i gave it water out of the lid of my water bottle (i bleached it when i came home).
a nice man named frederick took the pigeon home to care for it, and we all hugged and went our ways.
it was truly a moment of community, of uniting over this common goal, however seemingly small it was. it was the saving of a life, and me and tara know that if we hadn't stopped and starting causing a scene, it probably would not have made it.
released May 27, 2022
i have to thank my friends who created a lot of these sounds, intentionally or unintentionally. they were my inspiration. when we were all angry at the city, or angry at the world, we had each other to release it with and then cheer each other up afterwards.
there are other countless people involved in this piece who may not know it-- musicians in the metro, a little kid singing with her mom and us in a park in amsterdam, johanna's roommate talya's phone call, conversations on the streets, anyone who was around me when i pressed record. thank you to them for unknowingly donating their sounds.
it is with the utmost care and appreciation that i made this piece out of the world around me.
i was thinking a lot about how people warned me that living in a city would be overwhelming with noise pollution. i didn't find that to be true, maybe because my view of noise will never equate it with pollution-- sound just is.
buh, okay, anyway, enjoy. it's okay if you fall asleep while listening, i did too sometimes.
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