This March design celebrity and charismatic podcaster Roman Mars gave the first ever TED talk on vexillology (the scholarly study of flags and their design), entitled Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed. This marked a milestone in visibility for vexillology. Mars calls his design podcast 99% Invisible, and "99% Invisible" is actually not a bad characterization of vexillology.… Continue reading Mars (and Kaye) Bring Vexillology To TED
Category: Posts
The Flag of HDYNATION
Flosstradamus is a highly vexilliferous Trap music duo from Chicago with followers who deem themselves HDYNATION (Hoodie Nation, after the DJs' 2011 decision to rebrand their look by wearing black hoodies and sweatpants). The HDYNATION flag is a black-and-white version of the US flag with the stars replaced by a "general warning" sign comprising an exclamation point within a triangle.… Continue reading The Flag of HDYNATION
This Thursday: Meeting with Alexander Baretich
Dr. John Shilke will host the next meeting of the Portland Flag Association at 7 PM, Thursday, May 14, 2015 at the Mary's Woods retirement community in Lake Oswego. For directions, please see the Next Meeting page. We are pleased to have as guest speaker local flag maker Alexander Baretich, bioregionalist and designer of the Cascadian flag.… Continue reading This Thursday: Meeting with Alexander Baretich
John Agard: Flag
Agard's Flag is (as far as we know) a rare example of a poem exploring the nature of flags, a somber and nuanced look, far from the patriotic outbursts that tend to characterize flag poetry. Flag What's that fluttering in a breeze? It's just a piece of cloth that brings a nation to its knees.… Continue reading John Agard: Flag
The Flag of Gresham, Oregon
Flag Proportions 2:3 Adopted 24 July 1984 Design The flag is white and has the city seal in the center, with flowering lilac branches at each side. The seal contains two concentric circles with an image of Mt. Hood in the center, reflected in a lake. Curved within the top part of the ring is the… Continue reading The Flag of Gresham, Oregon
A May Flag
... Cape May County, New Jersey, that is. Here's what the county's web site says: In 1955, a contest was held by the high schools of Cape May County to design an official county flag. The entries were submitted to the Board of Chosen Freeholders and the County Librarian and the top three winning designs… Continue reading A May Flag
Mexican-American Flags
Today is Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday that is celebrated more in the United States than in its country of origin: a Mexican-American holiday more than either a Mexican or American one. How can Mexican-American-ness be expressed through flags? Most commonly, of course, the Mexican flag is used for this purpose, often in conjunction with… Continue reading Mexican-American Flags
May the Fourth Be With You
Happy Star Wars Day! The caption for this reads: This photograph from what is estimated to be 1944 supports the previous evidence we've presented of Imperial involvement in earth's conflicts. These soldiers atop a conquored building are securing a flag bearing a modified Imperial symbol. Rumors exist of AT-ATs and AT-STs marching all over eastern Europe during World War… Continue reading May the Fourth Be With You
What’s that Flag? (from VexTab #43)
Rihanna: American Oxygen
In Rihanna's latest music video, the Barbadian immigrant uses imagery of the American flag to unpack its meaning in terms of American dreams and nightmares, ultimately declaring "this is the new America / we are the new America". Jake Flanagin in Quartz calls it "a surprisingly powerful statement on immigration" (surprising given Rihanna's reputation for non-political dance music);… Continue reading Rihanna: American Oxygen
Portland Flag Association 