Long Lived the Queen

Scott Hardie | September 8, 2022
Thoughts on today's passing of Queen Elizabeth, or on her long life?

I read somewhere that her reign has been 30% of the time that America has been a country.

Steve West | September 8, 2022
One of my favorite memories of the Queen was about 15 years ago when she agreed to box a gigantic kangaroo. It was a prize fight to memorialize soldiers who had died in WWI. Predictions were consistently "early knock-out" by the monstrous marsupial (he was easily 6 feet tall and 250 pounds). One jab would have put me in the hospital. The kangaroo landed the first jab but the Queen remained standing, spitting at her opponent. However, a second jab sent her down for the count. But the badass Queen, predicted to be unconscious in under a minute, defied the odds by getting demolished in just over a minute.

Erik Bates | September 9, 2022
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Scott Hardie | September 13, 2022
Yeah, I forgot until her passing how much some people hated her, like the video going around of an Irish football stadium singing "Lizzie's in a Box." I think it's good that people are expressing a wide range of sentiments, because the monarchy is a necessarily complicated thing, (And I think it's a really bad thing that British people can be arrested for criticizing the monarchy under a new law, making this feel like 1722 instead of 2022.)

The British could eliminate the monarchy if they wanted to, but they won't, not for generations to come. It's such a popular touchstone in their culture that they let the royals get away with far too much. The monarchy is a symbol of Britain itself, and deep down, the British aren't ready to give up the idea that their empire was a good thing despite its long list of misdeeds. We have very similar problems with denial here.

Steve, my favorite memory of the queen was that time she visited Los Angeles and attended a baseball game. She didn't seem too happy to have to pass along the drinks and hot dogs to people in her row, and Reggie Jackson made her uncomfortable by trying to walk up for an autograph or something, but at least she got to hear the national anthem beautifully performed by the opera singer Enrico Pallazzo.

Erik Bates | September 14, 2022
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