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Portland Association 1 ISSN 2474-1787

Portland Flag Association “Free, and Worth Every Penny!” Issue 74 February 2019

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Gender and

Gender and Vexillology 1 By Scott Mainwaring One might speculate that there January 2019 Flutterings 2 Vexillology is a diverse in is some intrinsic reason that men 4 Roman Numeral for Years terms of approaches: history, are naturally more interested in “Bullard” Flag in Portland 5 design, textile art, political science, flags than women. But as with Flags in Fortnite 6 sociology, retailing, and collecting, participation in STEM fields, such Flags of the World Jigsaw Puzzle 8 effects if they exist at all in Roundup | Visiting Flags in Idaho 9 to name some of them. However, in terms of gender, it skews male. comparison to social effects— “Sun Setting on the British Empire” 10 norms of how any particular field The Flag Quiz 11 Why is that? And should vexillo- logists care about increasing its ought to be gendered. These Portland Flag Miscellany 12 norms are strongly influenced by Next Meeting 12 gender diversity? how visible women are in a field How gender-skewed is vexillology? and especially in its leadership. www.portlandflag.org There isn’t a lot of data on this, Consider also the different ways one but currently NAVA’s member- can engage with flags, and how ship is estimated at 12% female, these are differentially valued (for and the PFA’s 16%. Of NAVA’s whatever reason) by men and 17 presidents, two have been women. The core of vexillology is women (Grace Rogers Cooper and perceived to be the study of flags Doreen Braverman, who served in in the public sphere (such as those the 1980s). And of the 44 Driver of national states and political enti- for best presentation at ties) from the perspective of histor- NAVA’s annual meeting, three ical description and intended sym- have gone to women, including bolism, which I suspect skews Annie Platoff winning twice. male. Other facets of vexillology Why is this? Gender divisions in are perceived to be less central and the general population regarding of less merit, but may be more bal- interest in flags is certainly part of anced indeed skew female. For the answer—though it’s hard to example, decorative banners, measure this to know if differences personal and social expression in engagement with flags and vexil- (in textile arts and other media), lology are more or less than would and flag production and commerce I don't judge others. I say if you be expected. have been considered (to the feel good with what you're doing, extent they are considered at all) But the underlying question is: why? let your freak flag fly. “less vexillological”. —Sarah Jessica Parker If you wish to compliment the editor, or to contribute in the future, contact Ted Kaye

at 503-223-4660 or [email protected]. If you wish to complain, call your mother. Continued on page 4 2 The Tabloid January 2019 Flutterings You Need to Know In our January meeting, hosted by Jessie Spillers, 12 PFA members enjoyed an evening of flags and conversation. Jessie moderated the discussion, beginning with intro- ducing our guests: neighbors Israel Núñez and Roberta Krogman.

Fred Paltridge, wearing a German Patrick Genna explains the symbolism army coat with a flag shoulder of the Nunavut flag, 20 years after its patch, displayed three national flags adoption in 1999. asking their connection (answer: Host Jessie Spillers moderates the the Finno-Ugric-speaking coun- meeting. Patrick Genna showed the flag of tries) and challenged PFA mem- Nunavut and distributed a handout bers to name their top 10 national (and Scott Mainwaring found flags at the next meeting. online comments by the late Peter Orenski at its adoption), describing David Ferriday shared several flag it as the only flag with a central items, including an article on Jasper symbol of “a bunch of rocks”. Johns’ Flag, and his newly-created “Flag of Anonymity”. Scott Mainwaring commented on Fred Paltridge, wearing a German the famous Jasper Johns painting, Michael Orelove described his army coat (with flag patch), asks the Flag, describing how upon when it latest write-to-request-flags project, assembled to guess what connects the was shown in 1958, the Museum this one to the governors of the three national flags he’s holding. of Modern Art declined to buy it, Mexican states, and showed three fearing a backlash due to its treat- he’d received: Chihuahua, Sonora, ment of a revered symbol in an and Baja California Sur. era of anti-communism. Scott then shared his designs for flags representing the years 2018 and 2019, based on nautical signal flags for the Roman numeral letters rep- resenting the numbers (see p. 4).

Michael Orelove shows the flag of David Ferriday sees through his new Scott Mainwaring describes his the Mexican state of Chihuahua. (transparent) “Flag of Anonymity”. flag for the year 2018. February 2019 Portland Flag Association 3

David Koski interprets his new mug bearing nautical flags.

Leo Gardella (left) presents the succession of Northern Marianas flags.

Leo Gardella showed flags of Northern Marianas, and broke out a home-made historic English colonial flag, showing how Gover- nor Endicott of Massachusetts Bay Colony removed the cross from the in 1636.

Ted Kaye described NAVA’s 2018 Israel Núñez explains his design concept for a flag for Oregon City. publications, including Vatican Max Liberman discusses flags used to Flags (edited by Scott Mainwaring), represent languages on websites. circulated his usual flag clippings, Israel Núñez, from Zaragoza, David Koski showed off a mug shared British flags from past UK Spain, explained his proposed flag customized by his daughter as a travels, and showed the “Oregon for Oregon City along with several Christmas present, bearing four Republic” flag conceived at our other design ideas. nautical signal flags (“TUNB”) May 2017 meeting (see VT #64)— Roberta Krogman described her with no apparent meaning beyond artwork by Alexander Baretich. artistic interests, which may soon signifying “nautical”. include flags. Max Liberman continued the discussion of flags representing languages, for example when websites need a button imaged to click to choose a language.

Our next meeting will be hosted by Patrick Genna on 14 March in N.E. Portland. Patrick brought a new casing for the Portland Flag Association flag and will fly it at his home, the customary task of the next host. Ted Kaye unveils the flag of the Roberta Krogman peruses back issues “Oregon Republic”. of the Vexilloid Tabloid.

4 The Vexilloid Tabloid Roman Numeral Flags for Years By Scott Mainwaring MM (represented as two white sal- tires on blue fields), on top of Every New Year’s flag geeks ask which are depicted the rest of the themselves, “how would I design Roman numerals. Artistic license a flag for this year?” (the old year M D C is allowed! and/or the new year). So for 2018 (MMXVIII) and 2019 Here is my idea from the most (MMXIX), below is what I came recent celebration: write the year up with (I invite you to make up L X V as a Roman numeral, convert the your own!). letters into their corresponding maritime signal flags, and use When and where would flags for these as the basis for a flag. Larger years be used? Perhaps to celebrate I values correspond to larger flags birth years, graduation years, or for Here are the relevant signal flags to within the overall design. other anniversaries, in academic pro- play with for the Roman numerals. cessions where people are marching Since we are now in the 21st centu- according to year, or, of course, in Gender and Vexillology ry, this means starting by placing New Year’s Eve revelries. continued from page 1 This may go back to the founding of the field, most prominently by political scientist Whitney Smith.

Why should vexillologists care, apart from an abstract interest in gender equity? For a small, niche field of vexillology, continually attracting new participants is of existential concern. Implicitly ignoring half the population as not being much interested in flags is A Flag for the Year 2018 (MMXVIII). unhelpful. Furthermore, diverse perspectives can only make the community’s scholarship stronger and its events more vibrant.

I think there is much that could be done, including increasing the visibility of women in vexillology, targeted membership outreach, and diversifying what are considered important concerns within the world of flags. What do you think? Please send your ideas to me at A Flag for the Year 2019 (MMXIX). [email protected].

February 2019 Portland Flag Association 5 “Bullard” Flag in Portland

The fictional “Bullard” flag, a Texas/Oregon mash-up, hangs on the wall of Bullard, a “Tex-Oregana” restaurant in Portland.

A new restaurant opened in Portland Looking like a stretched guidon with in December, under a new flag. a subtle swallow-tail fly, the design is fundamentally a Texas flag with an Chef and co-owner Doug Adams in the place of the Lone started out in Texas, and after Bullard, Portland’s newest restaurant. , which is reduced in size and going to college in Montana came to moved upward. Oregon, where he cooked in Vitaly Paley’s Portland restaurants and saw The escutcheon, based on that on his career take off after a top-three the Oregon flag, simplifies the scene finish on season 12 of Bravo TV’s depicted, using Texas longhorns to “Top Chef”. draw a covered wagon and including a —the symbol of Portland He named the restaurant “Bullard” (“the city of roses”). The on after his home town—calling it the has changed from “THE “a little football town in East Texas UNION” to “BULLARD”. where I did not fit in”. In the recently remodeled Woodlark The flag itself, mounted as if it were Building, now a high-end hotel at an antique, is roughly 3” x 6”. It is 813 S.W. Alder St., Bullard is now sewn, with the escutcheon printed, welcoming customers. attached with large cross-stitches.

Adams’ fictional flag of Bullard— The Oregonian’s food critic, know- a cross between the flags of Texas ing the restaurant is meant to reflect and Oregon—hangs prominently in both Adams’ Texas upbringing and the center of the main wall, visible his current Oregon home, calls the from the street. food “Tex-Oregana”. The Woodlark House of Welcome.

6 The Vexilloid Tabloid Flags in Fortnite By Nathaniel Mainwaring Fortnite Battle Royale is a very popular on- player-versus- player game for up to 100, gaming alone or with teammates. Released in 2017, it has over 125 million players and earned its maker, Epic Games, $3 billion in 2018.

Fortnite uses flags extensively to identify players, mark territory, and track success—calling them “banners”. The game takes place in seasons of 10 weeks; seven Llama, Season 7. seasons have occurred so far. Werewolf banner in action in Fortnite. (Fortnite Save the World, a more story-driven game, has an entirely different set of flags.) his name) or an enemy (if the play- er loses); in some weekly challeng- The banners have a distinctive es a banner can also show loca- shape: five-sided, like a square with tions where a player has visited. a triangle appended below. They Banners from earlier seasons can- all have a single-colored field not be obtained in later seasons, so (slightly graduated from lighter at they can show how long a player the top to darker at the bottom) has been playing. with a single (called an “icon”), depicted in solid white. The banners’ charges are stylistic representations, drawn in a The 21 colors, chosen by the “cartoony” style. Through Season Shooting Star, Season 3. player, range from yellow to gray. 7, I count 96 different icons that Banners indicate how long a player have been “unlocked”. They can has been playing the game— sometimes follow themes, for beginning in Season 2, players example, Season 6 included several could “unlock” banners, earning Halloween images (such as a ghost, them by solving challenges and werewolf, , and skull). Over building experience. A banner can 45% of the icons represent physi- identify a player (appearing next to cal objects; over 25% represent animals; symbols and celestial objects are also common.

At times, banners represent certain “outfits” (how the player looks), such as Cuddle Team Leader, Color selection screen with 21 default Skull Trooper, and Tomato Head. Viking Ship, Season 5. colors. Continued on next page February 2019 Portland Flag Association 7

Skull Trooper, Season 6.

Battle Pass Season 4 Icons, used on Fortnite banners.

An additional use of flags in My favorite icon is the donut, Fortnite occurs when payers because it has the right balance can choose the outfits for soccer of simplicity and detail. players: the selection screen uses I wish there could be a website national flags. where you could submit proposed I feel the banners make a great banners for inclusion in the game. addition to Fortnite, but they could Some that I would like to see Donut, Season 3. be used more extensively and have include a hamburger, a pickle, and designs that more closely correlate more tools representing utilities to aspects of the game. (like the spray can). The banners can also represent items used in the game, such as a camp fire, ice cream truck, and shopping cart—and locations, such as a Viking ship (for a Viking village), a floating island, a hero (for the hero’s base), and a villain emblem (for a secret lair).

Some represent abilities in the game, such as a spray can (creating a design on a structure), a golf ball (playing golf), and a pickax (destroying objects and structures). National flags used to select soccer outfits.

8 The Vexilloid Tabloid Flags of the World Jigsaw Puzzle

Michael Orelove and John Niggley both recently completed this jig- saw puzzle featuring world flags— including that of South Sudan. Apparently the box image did not quite match the actual puzzle!

February 2019 Portland Flag Association 9 Roundup

Web programmer Toph Tucker has designed an algorithmic version of the US flag called the “Flag of the Popular Vote”, where the size of the stars and stripes are proportional to the current populations of the original 13 colonies (stripes) and current 50 states (stars). They appear to be sequenced in of admission to the Union. He has also created a very compelling animated version that shows the flag evolving from its beginning to the present— aggregating stars and growing them in size over time. https://beta.observablehq.com/@tophtucker/flag-of-the-popular-vote/3 Visiting Flags in Idaho By Michael Orelove on the represent some of Kathleen and I recently took a bus Idaho’s natural resources: mines, tour to Spokane, Washington, and forests, farmland, and wildlife. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Flags were The tour included a visit to the involved. Cathedral of Saint John the The Idaho flag is the standard Evangelist in Spokane. Inside the seal-on-a-bedsheet flag. Idaho cathedral were flags representing has the only state seal designed by the parishes of the Diocese of a woman—Emma Edwards Spokane. Michael Orelove and Kathleen Forrest Green. She designed the original hold the Idaho in front of great seal which was adopted by their tour bus. the first legislature of Idaho in 1891. Her painting is held in trust The seal depicts a miner and a by the Idaho Historical Society— woman representing equality, it is rich with Idaho symbols. liberty, and justice. The symbols Parish flags hang in Spokane’s cathedral.

10 The Vexilloid Tabloid “The Sun is Setting on the British Empire” A compelling artwork based on British Columbia’s provincial flag hangs on the exterior of the Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

With a focus on the Canadian and British Columbian avant-garde, Vancouver’s post-war art history, and emerging local artists, the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (renamed in 1995) holds one of the largest public collections of art in the province.

In a commission for the exhibi- tion To refuse/To wait/To sleep (January–April 2017), artist and “The Sun is Setting on the British Empire”, by Marianne Nicolson, 385 x 650 cm, activist Marianne Nicolson, MFA, digital print on banner, Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia. MA, PhD (b. 1969) reworked the B.C. flag by repositioning the Marianne Nicolson’s heritage is Union below a setting/rising Scottish and Dzawada’enuxw (a sun recreated in the traditional member tribe of the Pacific North- style of Pacific Northwest Coast west Coast’s Kwakwaka’wakw Indigenous art. Nations. Working in a variety of media, her artworks are contempo- Nicolson believed that the flag’s rary expressions of traditional (actually the arms’) original orienta- Kwakwaka’wakw concepts. tion (1895–1906), showing the sun Arms of British Columbia (1895–1906). above the , suggested “a A painter, photographer, and in- cooperative situation and mutually stallation artist, Nicolson first came beneficial alliances between the to prominence in 1998 when she and Indigenous nations”. scaled a vertical rock face in King- come Inlet, B.C., to paint a large- These were reversed in scale pictograph—the first in the the current arms and flag design in inlet in more than 60 years—to 1906 and “symbolically reveal a mark the continued vitality of her relationship of oppression, theft, ancestral village of Gwa’yi. The flag of the province of British and genocide”. By returning the Columbia, Canada (1906). symbols of the flag to their original Since the late 1950s, works of out- relationship, Nicolson’s banner door art have been collected by the intended to “invigorate the hope University of British Columbia to for and assertion of Indigenous enrich the campus environment. rights over the land, which today This banner is the third to hang on the Belkin Gallery’s wall. remain largely unresolved”. Varying logos of the University of B.C.

February 2019 Portland Flag Association 11 What’s that Flag?

By John Cartledge Identify these flags and explain what lyrical attribute they share (hint—see 1.)

Answers in the next issue...

What Was that Flag? Answers to the last quiz

These are new versions of the worst-rated flags in NAVA’s 2004 survey that have since been changed (or nearly changed, in the case of Milwaukee and Portland).

Congrats to solver Bill Neckrock.

By Dale Grimes Back row, left to right: Gadsden, Kudos to solvers: Tony Burton, These historic American flags flew Grand Union, First Continental John Cartledge, Bill Neckrock. for Vexiday 2018 along the road- Regiment, Star-Spangled Banner, Dale Grimes is a member of the Chesa- side in Sparrows Point, Maryland. Washington Cruiser, Bedford. peake Bay Flag Association and recently Front row, left to right: Bunker Hill, The Star-Spangled Banner “doesn’t retired from Baltimore County Public Bennington, Rhode Island, Betsy belong”, as it dates from the War Schools after teaching over 20 years of Ross, Moultrie, First Navy Jack. of 1812 while the rest date from high school math (which is why he asks the Revolutionary War. so many questions).

12 The Vexilloid Tabloid Portland Flag Miscellany

Ted Kaye shows an Ultimate Frisbee jersey, inspired by the Portland flag, presented to him by the “Portland Ivy” “A few flag proposals for the unlikely case that Portland is taken over by fascists” team (see VT #73). as posted on reddit.com/r/vexillology last year.

March Meeting

The next meeting of the Portland Flag Association will be at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 14, 2019, in the community space at the home of Patrick Genna: 1865 N.E. Davis St., Portland, OR 97232.

See the map at right.

We look forward to seeing those of you who have missed recent meetings and engaging in provoca- tive flag-related discussion. Newcomers are welcome!

If you can’t get to the meeting, perhaps you can give the editor something to share with readers. The Vexilloid Tabloid , founded in 1999 by the late John Hood, is published bi-monthly by and for the Portland Flag Association—Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. Find back issues at www.portlandflag.org.

February 2019