A small police provocation elicits a major outcry of police brutality; a trivial success is the occasion for large-scale celebration.
In the 2010s there was a proposal for a large-scale celebration of the 100th anniversary of Balboa Park, but the plans were abandoned when the organization tasked with putting on the celebration went out of business.
I am not arguing for large-scale celebrations, renaming of streets, a special issue of postage stamps or even an anniversary lecture by Simon Schama on the BBC, although none of these would be unwelcome.
Plans for government-sponsored, large-scale celebrations fell through after a local exploratory committee charged with organizing it presented the projected cost, $50 million, to be paid by the city, county, state and private businesses.
In a veiled demonstration that China has its own values, the authorities in Beijing this week staged the capital's first large-scale celebrations of Confucius's birthday (his 2,561st) since Communist Party rule began.
Officials also told people that the money would be returned to them in 2012, the year of planned large-scale celebrations to mark the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the late Kim Il-suNorth Koreaorea's founder and the father of the country's current leader, Kim Jong-il.
But her parents, David and Joyce, weren't planning any large-scale celebrations for her - just cake and Irn Bru.
All four ceremonies, which are not public events, take place at about 08 00 BST and will be followed by large scale evening celebrations in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff.
That we still do it on such a large scale is more a crime than celebration, and at least here, St. Patrick's Day is the public holiday equivalent of a crying clown.
The Public Theater and the festival are collaborating with Redcat (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) and the Center Theater Group to create a large-scale, international celebration of contemporary theater.
That we still do it on such a large scale is more a crime than a celebration, and at least here, St. Patrick's Day is the public holiday equivalent of a crying clown.
