Warning: Mir rambles quite a bit in this entry...

Here's something I've been thinking about lately. This year is my ninth year of marriage to a Caucasian man. We fit together rather well...I guess that's why we've been married for so long. ;) I don't really think about the racial aspects of our relationship anymore. Its so widely accepted, nobody really bats an eyelash when they see us as a couple.

Except for maybe when I first introduce myself as one who has an Irish last name (I took Hubbo's last name)...and then they get a Chinese lass! Oh, the initial look of surprise is always hilarious.

Anyways, in writing the manu (about a bi-racial couple, the heroine is Chinese-American), its forced me to revisit my feelings and thoughts of my teenage years/twenties. How did I navigate and manage the clash of the Chinese and American cultures? I honestly don't remember right off the bat. In college, I was the lone Chinese in an all-white crowd. But I did make an effort to "get back w/ being Chinese", for example, trying to order food only in Chinese if I went to a Chinese restaurant, even striking up conversations and charming the waitstaff into giving me free tea because I still spoke the language (I speak Chinglish), despite being born here. These days I've abandoned all pretense of doing that anymore. The waiters speak English well. They know it. I know it. So I just point.

"Let me have the #35 please?"

In terms of a boyfriend, I always preferred a white boy, because they are more open emotionally then Asian guys. Let me qualify that, white boys who are sensitive to Asian culture or open to learning about it.

So in terms of the manu, in me making the hero a white boy who is a Marine who was in Iraq...I've kinda trolled around the web trying to construct the archetype of one who is such (by reading milblogs and the plethora of soldiers/ex-soldiers detailing their experiences in the Gulf). So far I am leaning towards making Dan one who, though a soldier, does not support the war and the reasons behind it. One who wouldn't cheer Lee Greenwood warbling I'm Proud To Be An American as Lee Greenwood parachuted into Baghdad during the early days of the war as some type of psychological assault or declaration of American dominance (not that the singer would or did, I'm just saying that image and all that it connotes is one that I am against). Two milblogs that I visit regularly, Turning Tables and Lt. Smash are good examples of contrasting opinions (though there seem to be more who take Smash's stance).

So here is Dan, an ex-soldier whose poliitcal ideologies mirror mine the heroine's (libbie) AND is sensitive to Asian culture. Heh heh. A tall order indeed.

So anyways, this is something I'm still stewing over in my head. I'll let you know how it goes. :P

BTW, for those of you wondering why I am so preoccupied with writing a story about a Marine, I point you to Suzanne Brockmann, who has written numerous romances about Navy seals. Though she never let politics become a factor in her stories. :p