The Power Nap
by Sienna Wildfield

The ride into town is a good 40 minutes long. It’s a time my 4yo daughter can get in a power nap, when she’s not domineering the radio dial through whines and wails (which she can dish out for the full 40 minute ride … and back!)

She likes neither talk radio, nor music without words. “They just talk, talk, talk and just keep talking, and they don’t even say anything!,” I’ve heard her complain on several occasions.

So the news and classical music are off limits when she’s in the car. For the sake of my own sanity I try to introduce her to an assortment of kid/mommy friendly music, ranging from Uncle Rock and the Beatles, to Nate King Cole and Squirrel Nut Zippers.

But as much as I love Uncle Rock, sometimes a mom needs a little Bach to soothe the nerves, or to hear the honest voice of Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. I decided to take her over to visit Marla BB at WXOJ-LP 103.3FM in Florence, MA. She’s the hostess of the Marla BB’s Blues & Etc. radio show every Thursday from 10am-noon. I wanted to give my daughter a behind the scenes look at how all this talk she so vehemently protests reaches our ears.

Back in my pre-child days in Connecticut I did some engineering and production work at WPKN 89.5FM, a community radio station in Bridgeport, CT. I loved that station and feel that WXOJ-LP has a lot of potential to serve our community similar in ways WPKN does in CT. I was very happy to bring my daughter to the station to introduce her to the process of radio production.

When we arrived Marla was game, welcoming my daughter in as her on-air guest. She was a natural. She stepped right up to the mike with her head-set on and shared her thoughts and discoveries. Of course I was worried she’d share a little too much, if you know what I’m saying, but she stayed within the confinements of her preschool priorities and our family secrets were kept safe (for the time being).

She shared the song Make New Friends she learned at preschool and sang it solo into the mike. She sang it much slower and more intently this time, probably because she could hear herself through the head-set. As she was singing I stood behind her and caught myself mouthing the words in an exaggerated style, as if she could see me… something any mother would do, I imagine.

In between chatting on-air Marla continued playing her Blues music and my daughter would sit and listen to the music through the head-set. She becomes transfixed when she listens to music this way. When we have our family date nights down in Northampton we always stop by the local used record shop. She sits in the sampling corner and listens very intently to her music selection through her head set, or “ear-muffs” as she calls them. This is often how we find new music for those long car rides in and out of town.

When we left the radio station she still wouldn’t let me listen to the news or classical music. When I tried to negotiate with her by explaining how people had listened to her and Marla talking, she said, “Yeah, but mommy, they could turn it off if they didn’t want to listen.” I took offense at the thought of someone turning her off, but she did have a point, so we listened to her favorite Halloween CD instead. She likes to have me put the repeat button on The Monster Mash. Five minutes later she fell into another power nap… thank goodness!

Sienna Wildfield, Editor & Writer

Sienna is the Founder and Director of Hilltown Families and lives in the Hilltowns with her family, chickens, gardens and cat. She is the Hilltown Families chief editor, writer, & photographer, serves on the Chesterfield Cultural Council, and is a board member of the Hilltown CDC.  She is a life-long activist, published poet, accomplished photographer, and the producer/co-host of the Hilltown Family Variety Show (WXOJ 103.3 FM Northamtpon) with her daughter. [LinkedIn] hilltownfamilies@gmail.com