Portland Flag Association 1 ISSN 2474-1787 Portland Flag Association “Free, and Worth Every Penny!” Issue 74 February 2019 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Gender and Vexillology Gender and Vexillology 1 By Scott Mainwaring One might speculate that there January 2019 Flutterings 2 Vexillology is a diverse field in is some intrinsic reason that men 4 Roman Numeral Flags 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 pale 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- Awards 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 or 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 Vexilloid 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 canton 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 escutcheon in the place of the Lone started out in Texas, and after Bullard, Portland’s newest restaurant. Star, 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 rose—the symbol of Portland He named the restaurant “Bullard” (“the city of roses”).