I am growing obsessed with tense in my writing. "Is everything in the same tense? Does this make sense? NO!! This is present, not past!" There is very little editing at the magazine so I want to make sure everything is perfect. There's no spell check on the computer so I catch typos by eye.
Yesterday, I left work early to interview the man who runs the propaganda poster art museum. He invited me to come back this morning to hear the lecture he was scheduled to give to the American Women's Club of Shanghai. Both experiences were very good and I hope to sell the article to a publication in the United States. My editor thinks I am writing it for here but I don't think it will get printed here so I'm just putting whatever I want into it. He emailed me yesterday and said, “You sure have a knack for picking the borderline subjects!” or something like that. That's me, always rocking the boat... I don't really think so but I guess my interests do extend beyond wondering what the next soft opening of a club is so we can party and get booze for free. The owner of the publication liked the busker piece enough to print it, so I am lucky in that regard as it's not their typical fare. This is a “high class” joint.
The American Women's Club of Shanghai was exactly what I was expecting it would be. Women in their 40s, 50s, 60s and occasionally 30s, mostly from the midwest, doing woman-y things. They were all very nice and I received an invitation to join. I don't think so though I do enjoy the domesticier side of life on occasion. My ambition at age 11 was to be a 1950s housewife. (Un?)coincidentally, 70% of the club is from Michigan. I haven't had so much midwestern hospitality or heard so much English in one spot in a long time, it was totally overwhelming! "So, how long have you been here? What are you doing? Where do you live? Are you here with your spouse? No? Alone! My goodness, well, we do have a few career girls in the club so please join! We do all sorts of things around Shanghai."
I've been listening to a live Breeders song for the last four days. KIM DEAL RULES
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