Most days in Xining (China’s quaint, backwoods Louisiana equivalent) it’s easy to feel as if you have been transported back in time to the 1980s.  Maybe it’s the knee-high leather boots the girls wear.  The Cyndi Lauper-like multi-pattern post-punk skirts. The new-wave envious hairstyles.  The guys, unashamedly, donning hot pink sweat-suits.  Whatever the tell-tale signs and omens are this city subliminally reeks of Max Headroom commercials, Phil Collins, and dandruff-inducing hair gel.

Today’s laughable case-in-point:

Christa and I stepped out of our classroom building onto our college campus.  What sounds were there to greet us–blaring over the school’s intercom?  Not Beijing Opera, Asian bubble gum pop, or Eminem.

No, we were met by the nostalgically familiar sounds of Jefferson Airplane,…uh Jefferson Starship, well, Starship, anyway, singing, "Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now".  Now you’d think since I was born in 1974, I wouldn’t be very familiar with this leftover hippie band…but, let’s not forget they made multiple comebacks in the 1980s!  Of course, they had to change their name a few times to get away with it.  I would have preferred, "We Built This City (On Rock N’ Roll)" nevertheless, I quickly found myself singing along (quite accurately) to this lesser-known hit.  If you have a Best of the 80s collection, check and see if this song is on it.  It’s a pretty funny one.

I keep waiting to spot a random gray Delorian (sp.?) or a "skater" wearing black-and-white checkered Vans to ensure that the end times are indeed nigh…