Saturday, April 30, 2011  On the royal wedding: a note to its
cultured despisers  3-year-old Grace van Cutsem is not amused.
Some of my friends apparently identify with the kid on the
balcony. The royal wedding? How anachronistic: "Who giveth this
woman to be married to this man?" How tiresomely patriotic: all
British Empire and military display. How clichéd: "England's
green and pleasant land." What a colossal waste of money - a
 £50k forest in Westminster Abbey! Some of these critics are
even women.  I confess: I hear them, and I more or less agree
with them, and still I got up at 4:00 a.m. and watched the
wedding, every minute of it, just as I watched Charles and
Diana's wedding 30 years ago, hanging on to every word, every
image.  In the evening I came back for more, and when I turned
on the TV news, I knew why I can't tear myself away. What are
the options? Shelling in Syria. Rising death toll
from tornadoes in the American South. Libyan civil war spilling
over into Tunisia. Endless political bickering.