Latina Indescretion

I am hooked on Latino 96.3 FM. It's a Reggaeton/Spanish Hip Hop station and has jammed a whole new spanglish world through my speakers into my apartment.

Pixie and I usually listen to the classical station but I was getting skittish the other day and scanned the radio until I chanced upon this schmorgeborg of unrestrained testosterone and really really bad (or is bad good these days?) music. If nothing else, it's really fun to dance to. Most of the DJs speak an arbitrary mix of English and Spanish and think all women are their personal playthings. Like today I heard them say "Ramon is en la esquina de Fairfax y Wilshire con a group of sexy senioritas."

I'm fascinated by Spanglish. I guess English is Spanglish in a lot of ways - we just don' t realize it anymore. A huge percentage of our words are directly taken from different languages. But it's cool to hear a language and culture evolve right over your radio station and that's what we're getting at 96.3. A lot of the latino people I meet here in LA claim not to speak any Spanish at all but I wonder if most of them can understand spanglish. Some of the commercials are totally in Spanish, others are a healthy mix, and then there are a few pure white boy ones thrown in for the gringas like me who are listening in sick fascination.

I'm going to have to kick the habit soon since the musical content and DJ commentary can be pretty obscene and I don't want Pixie to grow up thinking I'm into that. But I justify it for now as a cultural experience and a chance to brush up on my Spanish and break dancing moves. Please, anyone who is reading this in LA, don't feel like you need to listen to the station. I would feel really bad if I got any of you hooked on my little latino indiscretion. Stick with classical. One day I'll realize I'm a 26 year old white, white, white mom and come crawling back to stuffy old Vivaldi. But for now, VIVA REGGAETON! Aye Aye Aye!!!