Once upon a time, I listened to the radio and I tuned in to my music by twisting a dial, which slipped me past sudden squawks and ghostly wisps: voices from other stations. What were those voices saying? Couldn’t tell you. Back then, I knew exactly what I wanted and had zero interest in what I didn’t.

Today, well, maybe I’m in some other part of the galaxy, catching those squawks and wisps as they slip past me, for those radio waves continue to travel, expanding out through the universe. And maybe now I’m getting hooked, trying to imagine who’s talking, and who they’re talking about, and what comes before and after the words I catch.

That would also describe how I felt during my recent stay in New York.

On the streets of Manhattan, in loud clear voices, people say astonishing things – to their phones, to one another, to the air. I transcribed the squawks and wisps as they passed my ears, then converted the transcriptions into placards, where I adjusted typefaces and layout to capture the moods of what I had overheard. I assembled the placards – every bit I overheard, in the same order that the words reached my ears – and discovered that the phrases often connected, though spoken by strangers in distinct locations on different days.

I’ve collected the placards into a movie, which you can watch on YouTube from the link below.

(I’m calling this movie a “rough” cut until my current internal debate concludes: part of me says it’s kinda long so I should cull the weakest; while the rest of me says that the Overheards need to be kept together without cutting or editorializing.) (You are welcome to join this debate.)