Vexilloid Tabloid
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Portland Flag Association 1 ISSN 2474-1787 Portland Flag Association “Free, and Worth Every Penny!” Issue 67 December 2017 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: A Theory of City SOB Flags A Theory of City SOB Flags 1 By Ted Kaye known as “The City of Roses” for 2 more than a century. The “city” November 2017 Flutterings We’re tracking over 100 city flag Roundup 5 represented by that motto is the re-design efforts on the PFA web- The Flag Fusions of Pedro Lasch 6 entire city, not just its government. site, and I’ve been involved in New Flag for Burlington, Vermont 8 However, in the past few years, city many of them personally (see p. 8). The Thirteen-Star American Flag 9 government vehicles have changed Oregon Flag Registry Update 9 When describing these in presenta- to sport a new motto: “Portland— Travels with Flags 10 tions at the recent ICV in London the City that Works”. Now, that’s The Flag Quiz 11 and the NAVA meeting in Boston, not a commentary on the industri- 12 Portland Flag Miscellany I’ve received insights from fellow ousness of Portlanders. It’s a pro- Next Meeting 12 vexillologists. motion of the dedication of city government employees. www.portlandflag.org For me, the most interesting insight involves a confusion about Cities that believe the flag repre- just what a city flag represents. sents the city government may be more likely to adopt an SOB—a It appears that in many cases, a “seal on a bedsheet”, using the city city’s leaders confuse a) represent- government’s symbol, the seal, ra- ing the city government with a ther than a simpler and more com- flag and b) representing the city as pelling design. Thoughts, readers? a whole with a flag. That is, does the flag represent the city’s govern- We meet the second Thursday of ment—mayor, council, bureaus, odd-numbered months. Please employees, OR does it represent mark your 2018 calendars for PFA the entire city—all of its residents, meetings at 7:00 PM at the following its institutions, its territory? This dates/locations: is similar to a country’s distinction 1/11/18 John Schilke between a state flag and a civil flag. 3/8/18 Patrick Genna This confusion may help explain 5/10/18 Jessie Spillers the predominance of city seals— 7/12/18 Ted Kaye the ultimate symbol of the city 9/13/18 Joyce & William Gifford government—on city flags. 11/8/18 Dave Anchel SEAL ON A BEDSHEET Thank you to our generous hosts A term, intended to be derogatory, Here’s another example of that describing any such flag that bears a confusion. Portland has been for their hospitality to the PFA! seal (as opposed to another form of charge) upon a plain field. If you wish to compliment the editor, or to contribute in the future, contact Ted Kaye —FOTW’s Dictionary of Vexillology at 503-223-4660 or [email protected]. If you wish to complain, call your mother. 2 The Vexilloid Tabloid November 2017 Flutterings You Need to Know In our November meeting, hosted by David Ferriday, 15 PFA mem- bers enjoyed an eclectic 3+hour evening of flags. In the usual role of the host, David moderated the discussion. He began by discussing his flag designs, pointing out many adorn- ing his studio walls , then described his “trooping” of primary and complementary colors on a flag. Mike Hale gave a book review of A Flag Worth Dying For, out in July. David Ferriday shows a design demonstrating primary and complementary colors. Max Liberman continued his supporting the police. The flag exploration of flags for the queen merchants added their perspectives of Canada, including the use of on sales of the variants. maple leaves and crown—as well as in orders and insignia. Dave Anchel shared the flag from his stepson’s bar mitzvah, a flag Fred Paltridge led an extensive dis- used in Mexico celebrating Colum- cussion of the “thin blue line flag”, bus Day, and a marking for bike spurring inquiry about its origin lanes using the Portland flag. and variants, and its co-opting by groups with agendas beyond Mike Hale gives an enthusiastic review of A Flag Worth Dying For. The entryway to David Ferriday’s Max Liberman shows a proposal for a Fred Paltridge explores the support- studio welcomes PFA members. flag for the queen of Canada. the-police Thin Blue Line Flag. December 2017 Portland Flag Association 3 Patrick Genna waxes enthusiastic over the flag of Eritrea, Dave Anchel explains a bike lane with and explains its origin in the EPLF flag. the Portland flag. (See p. 12) He told the story of globe-circum- navigating Saudis on Harleys buying $200 of flag merchandise during the August solar eclipse. Ted Kaye brought his usual file of clippings and many flags and relat- ed items to give away. He then displayed his collection of flags representing schools and universi- Ted Kaye displays the flag of the ties, including the U.S. Naval USNA Brigade of Midshipman, which Academy (Annapolis) and the U.S. he had acquired in honor of his father, Military Academy (West Point). USNA ’53. John Niggley followed with his Scott Mainwaring shares Whitney experience at National Capital Flag Smith’s 1978 proposal for an Antarctica flag in International Orange. providing West Point with a flag for the Corps of Cadets. updating the bylaws to allow universal voting (he represented Patrick Genna distributed a the PFA), and showed some of the handout on the flag Eritrea— flags he sold there under the trade the “three triangles flag”, and dis- name VexiCool Flags, including cussed its predecessor (the EPLF) Whitney Smith’s 1978 proposed and its unusually-oriented star. flag for Antarctica. He’s also now Scott Mainwaring reported on tracking over 100 U.S. city flag NAVA 51 in Boston and the re- change efforts on our “Municipal sults of the annual business meet- John Niggley finds the flag of the Flag Improvement” web page. ing votes electing a new board and USMA Corps of Cadets. Continued on next page 4 The Vexilloid Tabloid Joyce Gifford brings up the finalists in the Burlington, Vermont, flag effort. In honor of Veterans Day (formerly Armistice Day), Michael Orelove and Kathleen Forrest unfurl her Poppy Flag, a reference to the 1915 poem In Flanders Fields. displayed a U.S. flag certified as David Koski showed a graphic having flown over the USS Arizona depicting all of the aspect ratios (for WW2) and showed a Poppy used by the 243 countries and Flag (for WW1). dependencies listed in Wikipedia. It includes a symbol he’d devel- Ken Dale also commemorated the oped to represent the concept upcoming Veterans Day, with a William Gifford gives away 4”x6” flags of the aspect ratio: a cross with as part of a guessing game. recitation of the Gettysburg Ad- arrow-point ends. dress and his reminiscences as an officer commanding a Titan II Our next meeting will be at the Joyce Gifford followed Ted Kaye’s missile launch group in the 1960s home of John Schilke on 11 January. report on Burlington, Vermont at the height of the Cold War. Ken took the Portland Flag Associa- (see p. 8), showing the seven final- tion flag home for him, the custom- ists and eliciting comments. ary task of the next host. William Gifford gave away 4”x6” flags, asking each person to take one unseen from a box, then iden- tify it. The group’s consensus was correct every time, even if some individuals faltered. He described Oregon City’s new ban on “feather flags”, learning that Mike Hale had invented them when running Elmer’s Flag & Banner. In honor of Veterans Day, Michael Orelove (in camouflage uniform and medals) and Kathleen Forrest Ken Dale recites the Gettysburg David Koski explains his graphic Address and recalls the Cold War. depicting flag aspect ratios. December 2017 Portland Flag Association 5 Roundup Monongalia County, West Virginia, flag, designed by Andrew Riley and A flag for Vegetarians, an initial idea adopted 11 October 2017. by John Niggley. A high school student recently won Inspired by the recent Vegan flag a contest to design a new flag for (described in VT# 66), John Monongalia County, West Virginia. Niggley presents his initial thoughts on a Vegetarian flag: Reader Erik Herron reports that the winning design is exactly what the “Similar but more complicated contest rules were designed to pro- or more options than Veganism. duce. They recapitulated the princi- Yellow to include eggs and cheese ples in Good Flag, Bad Flag, but or the sun—or for no reason. changed “No Lettering or Seals” to: Veteran Ken Dale recites the Gettysburg Address at a 2017 Veterans Initially I put the green on the “The county seal must be used in Day breakfast. He stands before bottom, but chose to match Port- some form on the flag”, and a 48-star flag to honor veterans of land more closely since we have so “The year the county was formed, World War II. many vegetarians.” 1776, must be on the flag”. Sherlock and Flags Michael Orelove notes that in the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor Sher- lock Holmes says “It is always a joy to meet an American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone years will not prevent our children from being someday citizens of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a quartering of the The Italian Vexiday celebration for 2017, held in Genoa at Union Jack with the Stars and the Museo Navale dPegli-Genova—image sent by Bandiere Storiche.