Thank Goodness We're Free

My place I visited stand in stark contrast today.  One is a happy tale of a place that brought me nothing but joy, and the other is a rant.  Let's be joyful first, shall we?


It's spring time in DC, finally.  Maybe.  Okay, okay, maybe the temperature is supposed to drop back down by twenty degrees this week, but that's fine.  It's spring-ish.  It's at least winter-neutral.  So in celebration, I headed down to Eastern Market on Sunday for the first time in months and was delighted to find all my favourite vendors back with their wares.  If you are ever in DC, it is my #1 recommendation on a weekend.  It may be a little crowded, but totally worth it.  I bought some apples and strawberries and enjoyed the sunshine and live music and hustle and bustle of a busy market.  Someday, I will live in that neighbourhood.  And I will buy local hummus.  This is my version of the Red Hat Society.


And now to the anger.


I am never ashamed to be girly.  As my parents will readily attest, I was the most princess-, pink-and-purple-, frilly-dress-obsessed little girl you had ever met. Meet me at age...um...little with my brother and grandmother.  Notice the pink dress and frilly socks.  Those were standard beach wear.  So I get this whole "everything feminine is mocked mercilessly which proves we all hate women" argument.  99.9% of the time I agree.  And I agree with this anti-backlash, pro-royal wedding argument that the backlash came from the fact that feminine silliness gives us a negative gut reaction in a way that masculine silliness does not - why exactly are women idiots for going all gaga over this wedding but no one makes a peep when men sit in front of a tv for hours watching people in ridiculous clothes throwing balls at each others' heads?


However.


If I have to hear about this stupid royal wedding any more after this week, my head may very well explode.  And here is why.
1. Kate Middleton is not an everyday girl.  You could not be Kate Middleton.  I could not be Kate Middleton.  I mean she is not titled, but she is insanely wealthy and insanely beautiful and would never have met William if she could not have run in those circles.
2. We are celebrating rich people marrying each other and increasing the already staggering income gap in the UK that is continuing to grow there and here.  We are increasingly becoming a society where we only live, go to school with, marry and reproduce with people of our same class.  How charming of us all.
3. They seem like jerks.  I won't try to explain it here, but if you ever go to Oxford, you will see their counterparts, and you will know I'm right.  Also, I just don't get Will as a person.  If I had watched my mother chase after media attention and then get killed by that pursuit, I would never want cameras anywhere near me.  And I get that they were going to be harassed regardless, so maybe it's better to invite them in and get control of the situation, but it still seems like too calculated a move for someone who lost his mother to this kind of media frenzy.
4. I would still really like to be a princess, and now the only option left is the ginger Nazi.  No thank you.