Category: Vexilloid Tabloid

It’s October, which means the latest issue of our newsletter is here for your vexillological pleasure.  It features:

• Mississippi Furling (Ted Kaye)
• Tulsa, Oklahoma Adopts a New Flag
• Vexiday: The Third World Vexillology Day in Portland (Scott Mainwaring)
• De gustibus non est disputandum (Carl Gurtman)
• The 2018 Gresham Teddy Bear Parade (Michael Orelove)

And, as always highlights from our last meeting, a roundup of flag news and notes, sightings of the Portland city flag, and the What’s That Flag quiz.  (This issue’s quizmaster: Ted Kaye!)

If you have items you would like us to consider for publication in the Tabloid, or would like to be added to the email distribution list so you never miss an issue, please contact editor@portlandflag.org.

The August 2018 issue of our newsletter has arrived, featuring:

• The “Essential Flag” (Ted Kaye)
• The Centennial of a WWI Service Flag in Dayton, Washington (Michael Orelove)
• Density Map of Stars on National Flags
• Flag Day 2018 in Gresham (Michael Orelove)
• A Flag Faully (Michael Faul)
• For Those Who Think Africa Is One Country
• The First U.S. Flag Sewn in Oregon? (Ted Kaye)

And, as always highlights from our last meeting, a roundup of flag news and notes, sightings of the Portland city flag, and the What’s That Flag quiz.  (This issue’s quizmaster: Tony Burton of the Flag Society of Australia.)

If you have items you would like us to consider for publication in the Tabloid, or would like to be added to the email distribution list so you never miss an issue, please contact editor@portlandflag.org.

From the August 2017 Vexilloid Tabloid #65
By Michael Orelove

About two years ago I wrote a  letter to the Chicago Fire Department requesting an old Chicago flag that had flown over a fire station.  I just received the flag.

It flew over Engine 83 which was 2.6 miles from where I used to live in Chicago.

I wanted to find a new home for the flag so I went to Troutdale Fire Station 75 and asked if they knew any firefighters with a Chicago connection.  They referred me to Joe Griffin of Gresham Fire Station 76.

I connected with Joe, who has family in Chicago and goes to back there about once a year.  I gave him the flag.

As with other flags the stars and stripes represent different things.  On the Chicago flag each point of the stars has a different meaning.  For example, the second red star represents the Chicago Fire of 8–10 October 1871.  The points of the second star signify religion, education, esthetics, justice, beneficence, and civic pride.

Chicago adopted the original version of the flag in 1917.  Since then, it has added stars, and now flies extensively throughout the city.  The design has been voted one of the best in the country and has inspired other city flags.

 

 

 

From the August 2017 Vexilloid Tabloid #65

As the recent 4th-of-July-weekend Blues Festival began, Portlanders continued their tradition of protest, often using flags.  At times that involved burning them.

The right-wing group Patriot Prayer planned a two-hour “Freedom March” at Tom McCall Waterfront Park with “a small amount of speeches to promote freedom   and courage”.  On Facebook it said “Fear will not silence Americans in these liberal strongholds.  Please bring your best behavior.”

The opposition group Rose City Antifa [anti-fascist] organized an opposition rally called “Enough: Stop Patriot Prayer Now!”  On Facebook it said “We will not allow our community to be overrun by fascists and those who make excuses for them.”

Most demonstrators had passionate but peaceful conversations.   However, one fight started after some Antifa protesters burned flags.  One man tried to hit others with a broken flag pole.

This behavior follows an incident where anti-Trump protesters burned American flags (and one Texas flag) in Pioneer Courthouse Square downtown on 20 January, Inauguration Day.

In response to that event, veteran Eric Post went to Willamette National Cemetery and recorded an emotional Facebook video at gravesites of Medal of Honor winners, inviting protesters to take a tour.  It went viral, with over 2 million views in three days.

 

 

 

Travel into the future with our December newsletter available now here in November!

Issue 67 features:

• A Theory of City SOB Flags (Ted Kaye)
• The Flag Fusions of Pedro Lasch (Scott Mainwaring)
• A New Flag for Burlington, Vermont (Ted Kaye)
• Travels with Flags (Michael Orelove)
• Oregon Flag Registry Update

And, as always highlights from our last meeting, a roundup of flag news and notes, sightings of the Portland city flag, and the What’s That Flag quiz. Keen eyed readers may also spot a terrible flag joke, not counting the visual pun below (and, please, send us better ones!).

 

Another edition of our colorful bimonthly newsletter, The Vexilloid Tabloid, is here! It features:

• Capitols on Capital City Flags (Michael Orelove)
• Redesigning the Oregon Flag (Liam Dubay)
• Composable Alphabet Flags (Scott Mainwaring)
• Portland Police Bureau Flag (Ted Kaye)

It also includes our regular sections:

• The What’s That Flag? quiz
• A flag quote (see below)
• Roundup (news items)
• Flutterings (highlights from our last meeting)
• Portland Flag Miscellany (news about the Portland city flag)
• Next Meeting directions (13 July at Ted Kaye’s house)

To subscribe to get on the email distribution list, to submit items for a future issue, or to otherwise let us know your thoughts, email editor@portlandflag.org. For back issues, visit our Vexilloid Tabloid page.

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